Month: November 2023

Here she is, the letter U in all her green glory. I took my dog for a walk to find a “U” out in the world and then realized I’d taken it with me.

I chose to look at job postings in three cities: Rome, Vilnius (Lithuania) and Amsterdam. One of the many reasons I decided to attend this program was that I wanted to eventually have a job that could take me to other countries. My husband and I have been talking seriously about moving to Italy in the next five years, and we’re looking at a small town called Ostia, just outside Rome. There’s good surfing there year-round and it’s a short train ride into the city.

My mother’s family is from Lithuania and I’ve spent many summer there; Vilnius has a very special place in my heart, and I’ve always wanted to spend enough time there to become fluent in Lithuanian.

I’ve only visited Amsterdam once but it was the most fun four days of my life. I loved how vibrancy, noise and night life are juxtaposed with the quaintness and quietude of the canals and gardens. There seemed to be something to do in every mood.

None of the cities I searched for had salary listings for the jobs posted, but I searched for average graphic designer salaries on Glassdoor to kind of fill in some blanks. I haven’t decided what field I want to go into so I searched for “designer” jobs as a catch-all.

I was very surprised to learn that Amsterdam might be my best bet when taking into account the cost of living with the average pay. I’m not at all surprised that jobs in Lithuania pay the least, but I had really thought that it would still be relative to the low cost of living there. But it just isn’t.

Amsterdam, here I come!