Here's the thing. I have no idea what I want my career to be. Hell, I don't even know if I'll be going to college. Right now I'm on a gap year, currently living in Israel. I decided to come here before college because quite frankly, I have no desire to go to college yet. I probably won't even go to college next year. Since I don't know where I want my life to end up, i'll just tell you how I plan on getting there.
My biggest priority right now is to learn as many languages as I possibly can (preferably 5 before I'm 30, and I'll be turning 19 in June). Right now I know... English. Good start, could be better. I'm studying Hebrew right now (I plan on being fluent at it before I go back to the states in a few months) and I would love to study some Arabic as well. I'll probably stay with my family for the summer, but I then have plans for moving to China right after that. I'll live there for as long as it takes for me to learn Chinese (I'll study vigilantly). I studied Chinese in high school for a year (unfortunately it was introduced when I was a senior) and I loved it. To me, it wasn't as hard as everyone made it out to be and I picked up on it quick. When I feel content with my time in China, I plan on making aliyah (becoming a citizen of Israel) and joining the Israeli army (reasons are complicated -- it has surprisingly little to do with the fact that I'm Jewish). I'll probably be around 21 by the time I join, so my time in the service will be shorter than the 3 years that the typical 18 year old Israeli male has to serve. I forgot how long service is if you're 21 when you join, but I think it's around 18 months (or longer if you request). I only plan on doing it for about 18 months, so it all works out in the end. Anyway, after that, I plan on moving to Spain. Just like China, I'll live there for as long as it takes for me to speak and understand Spanish fluently. Thankfully, since I took Spanish in high school for 4 years, it'll be a little easier to pick up (I was never very good at learning languages, especially in school settings, but I relearn it very quickly).
This is as far as I've planned my life so far. Since I would have made aliyah to Israel and served my time, I would have access to free education there. If need be, I might just take that education over college in the states.
After reading about all of the languages I want to learn and study, it might be strange to hear that I have little to no intention of becoming a linguist. In the beginning of my post I wasn't entirely truthful about not knowing what I want to do. I know that I want to have a role in the world on an international level, but what that means and how I end up doing that are still details that I haven't quite figured out.
Anyway, thanks for reading through all of that if you did. I've just been meaning to put my plans into writing for awhile now, so I figured I'd take advantage of this opportunity to share it with the world.