Ensemblist

Hello! My name is Charles. I am a 33 yr old, black, gay man. I am currently living in Nashville, TN, which happens to be the city of my birth and where I grew up. I have also lived in Boston, MA, Atlanta, GA, and Oakland, CA within the past 16 years, but most of my adult life has been spent in Nashville. I am single and have no children. I have travelled internationally only once in January of 2016, spending 5 days in London (including 2 days in Windsor and Chinnor) and 6 days in Paris (including 1 day in Versailles). I have always been interested in what was beyond my immediate surroundings. Meeting new people, trying new foods, listening to different music, and just having unique experiences. I am an avid believer that one truly gets to know themselves and express themselves better by engaging the world around them- and the broader that world, the more open and expansive an individual one can be. With this belief and desire in mind, I have decided to actively pursue the lifelong desire to live abroad. I have not exactly decided to where exactly I'd like to travel and possibly settle down, but I know I would like to begin the journey between January and March of 2018. I imagine Europe (London or Paris) is a good place to start since I have been there before and its relatively easy to explore many different places from Europe. But I am very open and interested in other parts of the world as well, especially Africa and Australia, and parts of South America (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru). At this point, my goal is to spend anywhere from 3 to 12 consecutive months out of the U.S.- depending on how the experience goes, how many places I can visit, and how much I can financially afford. I would like to live and work in this/these location as much as possible, to truly get the sense of what daily life is like. Naturally, I am interested in well known places of interest wherever I go, BUT I am not looking for a glamorous, comfy American tourist experience. I want a more substantive and realistic perspective on life in the places I explore- in hopes of finding out about the people, the culture, & myself within said land. Other than, cost of living, safety is my only other main concern. As a person of color and as a homosexual, I do want to make sure I find myself in places where even if I am not in the majority, my very existence and presence is not viewed as threatening or offensive. So I've said a lot here. But I really want to hear about the people here who have gone through this journey and can hopefully provide insight, guidance, advice, perspective on this exciting adventure I am anxious to commence! And maybe make friends I can get to know and meet along this journey!