I always see it coming. The Immigration Officer starts kindly enough and uses the same old banter. “Welcome. How long will you be staying? Business or pleasure?” My passport goes in the scanner and it comes up clean. But then she flicks looking for a space to put the stamp. The eyebrows furrow. The questions begin.
It’s time for me to confess; I own a dirty passport. It is littered with stamps from countries far and wide. It has many of the unusal suspects (England, France, Italy). But then there are some wierdos (Argentina, Malta, Burma, Egypt).
I blame my university. They offered a great “study abroad” program and soon I was hooked. Montreal for six months was an appetiser to a year in France. Senior year back on campus felt like a dog year - it was tough not to travel.
Immediately after school I landed a junior account executive role with Hill & Knowlton in New York City. Two years later I was at Edelman Worldwide. After three years there they volunteered to send me overseas. I wound up in Sydney for seven years then three years in Hong Kong. I did go back to the USA but the pull of an international posting had me boomerang back to Sydney. Here I rest.
And in-between I’ve gone everywhere I could. I learned more about communications outside my home country than I could have ever learned back home. How do you get your message across when you’ve not experienced the same upbringing? How does culture influence perception? Can you ever truly understand another nationality’s points of view?
If you want to enjoy a monster puzzle then head overseas. Travel is a good way to start, but try to find a posting outside your home country. If you need to stay in an English-speaking country, try a former British colony - there are plenty! If you really want to test your head go to a country where you need to learn a new language. You can - I learned French through school and picked up Mandarin nearly 15 years later!
Try an international posting. The worst thing that can happen is your passport can get dirty - and you’ll start getting THAT look from the next Immigration Officer!
Note from Me: I just started contributing to a blog dedicated to teaching and mentoring public relations (see: http://www.marcomblog.com/). This posting first appeared on that site!
