Update and Request for Help

This is a long overdue update and, more immediately, a shameless solicitation for help. First, a quick update:

The past year and a half could best be summed up in the word: adventurous! Like any story it has its ups and downs, unexpected twists and turns, moments of sheer joy and those of complete desperation. The summer of 2006 found me at the brink of a wholesale life change. I had completed my Masters degree the August before and was coming close to my five-year anniversary with the Environmental Protection Agency. In my short-lived “adult life,” I had excelled at my job, bought a home, made a plethora of friends in a new city, and generally created a comfortable life for myself. But I was reminded all too quickly of my constant desire for challenge and adventure and soon resolved myself to making a complete life change to explore the person I wanted to be and the life I wanted to have.

In the fall of 2006, I took a 4-month sabbatical, spending two months backpacking around Europe by myself and two months with my family in Oklahoma. I have always been an avid traveler and my most recent adventure was no exception! I visited amazing places, met interesting people, and ultimately realized that my lifestyle and career must incorporate my passion for international travel and learning. I went back to Washington in January of 2007 only to quit my job and rent out my condo. I had decided to go to Italy for a “look-see” trip; that is, I gave myself three months to begin to learn the language, acclimate myself within the culture, and try to make a life there.

My time in Naples, Italy, was a challenging yet enlightening experience. I found I was able to secure sufficient work teaching English, pick up enough of the language to get around, and make a life for myself in an unknown place, but the culture shock was intense! To be honest, I did not like Naples or the way of life, but I was determined to give it my best try! Only after two 3-month stints there did I regrettably conclude that I was never going to be happy there, I was never going to reach my career goals there, and frankly, God did not want me to be there.

I returned to Oklahoma in October to live with my parents, giving myself some time to recuperate, to decide what I wanted to do next, and ultimately to find a job. After almost four months, I have learned a lot about what I want to do but am, embarrassingly, still unemployed.

This is where I would use your help! I am looking for employment opportunities with international companies, where I could gain valuable private sector experience and break into the international business field. Anything you know, any ideas you may have, any people you could put me in contact with could take me one step closer to achieving my career goals! So please, let me know what you know. If you know anyone who works at a great international company (in Tulsa or elsewhere) or has done what I am attempting, I’d love to talk to him or her. No piece of information is insignificant. In fact, from all of those job search handbooks I’ve read, I am told that this is the most certain way to get a job.

I apologize for my shameless self-promotion but thank you in advance, as my friend, for anything you can do to help!