Today Babette talked to me again about working at AED after graduating. I told her my worries that what I decide to do in the next few years will determine the rest of my life. She waved that away, saying that I could decide to just try working here for a year and then move on if it wasn't fun anymore. Babette has had an interesting career history. After graduating with a degree in economics (because she realized junior year that it was the only degree that would allow her to graduate on time with the random courses she had been taking--sound familiar?), she did various things around Europe to earn money. At one point she owned a shop in Greece for a year, selling clothing that she made. Waitressing filled in the gaps when she wasn't earning money. After several years, she became a demographer (I'm unclear on how exactly this just _happened_), and ended up at AED after working at a couple of other nonprofits. Even now, she doesn't feel tied down--she only works at things that she enjoys. If AED ceases to be interesting to her, she'll move on. It makes me happy to know that there are adults who can and do live this way.
I'm tempted to consider working here, but just for a year at first. Babette is offering month-long trips to various developing countries to study whether/how they use the sort of information that the EPDC puts out, so that we can make it more useful and accessible to them. Also the opportunity to spend time in Sweden working with Gapminder, which looks very cool.
I'm tempted to consider working here, but just for a year at first. Babette is offering month-long trips to various developing countries to study whether/how they use the sort of information that the EPDC puts out, so that we can make it more useful and accessible to them. Also the opportunity to spend time in Sweden working with Gapminder, which looks very cool.
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