Jash Cooper, Volunteering Abroad- Italy 2019
Hey, it’s me. Jash. Hey. Hi. Hello. I have a piece of paper that says I completed a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from THEE Tuskegee University, but I don't use that much. I can’t stop moving to new countries. I may have a slight addiction. I’ve lived and taught in Italy, Senegal, South Korea & the BEAUTIFUL tropical island of Haiti. I’m currently a full time digital nomad and preparing to move to my next country. Traveling and teaching became my life since finishing undergrad and opened my eyes to a lifestyle I didn’t even know was possible. Slow traveling the world and experiencing other cultures is what I live for. I've worked in five countries on four continents and it all began during my semester abroad in Italy in 2019. While in undergrad, I always had aspirations to study abroad, but never had the opportunity to do so. I ended up finishing my degree a semester early and taking my new found time to go abroad. With the help of my university, I was able to find a program that fit my timeline perfectly.
At the age of 20, I moved to Turin, Italy where I volunteered as an English teaching assistant and lived with a host family. Yes, I moved in with people I had never met before. Living and teaching in Turin, Italy showed me a completely different lifestyle and I fell in love with it. Being able to fully immerse into another culture, learn a new language, meet new people, and go completely outside of my comfort zone was truly an unreplicable experience. Traveling gives you a taste of another place, but when you are actually living there and interacting with locals on a daily basis and being open-minded about a new way of thinking you are able to gain much more. Living abroad allows you to really learn about yourself, the things you like, and the world around you from a different perspective.
I finally decided to take a leap of faith and launch my platform, Joyriding With Jash, in 2020 to share my experiences as a black, gen z traveler living an “unconventional” life. I show the REAL of life abroad: good, bad and ugly. Sometimes I’m posting about paradise and sometimes I gotta talk about some of the less glamorous aspects of living abroad. That’s what I like to call balance. I also help others move abroad by providing resources, offering advice, and I have a guide to teaching abroad available on my website, iamjashley.com. You can joyride with me on Instagram and TikTok @iamjashley!