At present time, my generation are given many different names by the media to label them, and explain what kind of peer group they are to the rest of society: Millennials, the Selfish Generation,¹ The Lost Generation (aka Generation Jobless),² Generation Z.³
The list goes on…
Recently, another name has recently appeared on the list that is a little more positive: The Roamers.
I – for one – am definitely a Roamer!
There’s no doubt about it.
Having had grown up in England with foreign parents, I’ll always be one to roam. I’ve been in boarding school since I was 11, so I’ve always been very independent from my family. Of course, I have lived abroad before, and travelled much of my life (thanks to their encouragement).
At present time in Canada, I’m having the most fun, exciting, and intense time I’ve ever had in my life, and I see more of this kind of living on the cards. I quite like it: I get to learn what it’s like to live in another culture, while I earn my living, as I have fun travelling and seeing the world. I’ll probably never settle down, buy my own house, get married, and have kids.
I’m okay with that.
And I also know I’m not alone:
As it says, more and more young people are living abroad from their home countries in search of work. With the recession still going strong, it’s become impossible for our age group to find work near our hometowns, or at least in our home countries. One of the Roamers interviewed says that we’re driven by the heart, not the head.
I agree. I also like the last line:
“Successful, open-minded, creative, employable and romantic – the world can do with a few more people like you.”
When I was at graduate school, the whole idea of “living and working abroad” was really pushed at us, and promoting the claim that we’d be more employable at home, all by having experience working in another country. (Since that it’s highly unlikely I will go ever home, I don’t know if that said statement will turn out to be true at all!)
But working abroad is appealing, especially since there is more of a chance to find what we need, such as relationships and friendships. Don’t get me wrong; we love our families, but sometimes we don’t get to build the life we need around them. By going out there, we are more likely to find someone who fits in with us, and is part of “our tribe” (as my sister puts it) by going out into the world. That said, it’s notoriously difficult to stay together, and long-distance relationship do happen, but Skype and WhatsApp doesn’t sustain it. My ex is a Roamer too, and he teaches English as a Second Language in South-East Asia. We wouldn’t have met in Toronto if neither of us left home, and took the challenging plunge to “fly the nest” as I put it to him.
I don’t think he’ll ever go home either.
That said, we’re taking the opportunities as they come, and feeling alive by the stimulation of living somewhere different. I’m glad I met him, and many of my other Roamer friends. I think I’m finding my tribe bit by bit, and I’m happy for that. We’re our own little family.
We’re not the Lost Generation; we’re the Roaming Generation.
¹ "And they call us the Selfish Generation..." As quoted by Zac Efron's character in That Awkward Moment (2014) in the garden scene. I actually agree with him; we are the selfish generation. ² This article was found upon research, following an article in the Metro today on that we are the Lost in Debt Generation, since college education is now plummeting young people into debt, and we cannot afford to buy our own house. ³ There's even iGeneration, as a nod to our comfort with technology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z [accessed: 23 August 2016]. Note: Image taken from the same EasyJet article. Illustration by Matt Murphy, and original article by Stephen Armstrong.
The Eagle Eye View 