An Accounting Education (Part One)

Congratulate me. Well, almost. I just finished taking the last midterm exam that I will ever have to take. And in five weeks, I will be taking the last final exam that I will ever have to take. Yup, since 2005 I have been going to school. I am a returning student, working on my second degree. I got my first degree, after high school, about 20 years ago, just as most of us do. And just as most of us also do, I never used that degree. So, I went back to school to get a degree in the field that I work in. In five weeks, I will have a Certificate in Accounting!!

Some of my Accounting Books

What does this have to do with travel, you must be asking? Not all that much, really. Except for the fact that the story of how I decided to return to school again is related to my travels. In other words, my travels actually led me to get this degree. Yes, travel can give one great, unexpected, and wonderful travel-related experiences. But every once in a while, travel can also give one something unrelated to travel. For me, this was an accounting education.

Trenitalia – Italian Train

It all started back in 2004 during my five-month solo European journey. One day I was in the Cinque Terre part of Italy (please see a previous blog of mine about this place), waiting for a train. I had read the schedule wrong (yes, this happens to the best of us), and I ended up sitting there for an extra hour than I had originally planned. While I was waiting for the train, apparently other people also read the schedule wrong, and I ended up striking up a conversation with another fellow solo traveler. Ron was also traveling in Europe for several months on his own.

The Eiffel Tower

By this time, Ron and I had both been into our solo travels for several months, and we decided that it would be nice if we could have a travel partner for a while. After exchanging email addresses, and departing once the train in Cinque Terre finally arrived, we decided to meet up a few weeks later in Paris. Yes, Paris! (Ok, so now I should say that the time I spent in Paris with Ron could cover many, many other blogs, so I shall not give too much detail here.) Suffice it to say, that the six days in Paris that I spent with Ron were fantastically fun, and it was really nice to share the sights of Paris with someone.

Anyway, Ron happened to be from Australia. After our six days in Paris together, we both continued our solo journeys, but we stayed in touch with each other via email. Eventually he invited me to visit him in Australia. So, after my five months in Europe, I spent a month back home in the United States, before departing for Australia…

You must still be asking yourself what do Cinque Terre trains, Paris, and Australia have to do with an acccounting education? Please read next week’s blog for the continuing story of how my travels led me to get my degree…

Sweet Travels!

train photo from trenitalia.it
eiffel tower photo from wikipedia.org