Shelby Marlowe | Admissions Advisor

I’m originally from Montgomery, AL, a small town of about 200,000. I’ve had big dreams of traveling the globe for as long as I can remember but I didn’t see examples of how to actually do it around me. Most of the people I went to school with only had aspirations to get a good job, get married, and have kids; which sounded like getting caged in a box to me. I went to university and studied marketing because I really loved seeing how people’s minds worked in a quantitative way and helping to deliver a product that they needed. However, after graduating I realized that my dream of living abroad wasn’t going anywhere and that sitting in a cubicle only made my daydreaming worse.

I started talking to people again about my crazy dream to live in as many countries as possible and slowly the universe started talking back. Everywhere I went someone would start talking to me about teaching English abroad and I do mean everyone, from the stranger sitting next to me at the bar to my uber driver to my next-door neighbor. It was really weird! At first, I brushed it off because the last thing I wanted to do was be a teacher since I never really liked school. Plus, I didn’t know any foreign languages! But the signs kept showing up so finally, I looked into it. I stumbled upon ITA’s website and booked a call and realized that it wasn’t going to be as difficult as I’d imagined getting certified and that I actually could live anywhere in the world. I had found my golden ticket! I then attended the intensive in-person course in Chicago and for the first time in my life felt like I was surrounded by my kind of people. No one questioned my crazy travel plans and some had even wilder ones than I. So I picked a country and started planning to move to Spain. I taught in Madrid for 2 years but after Covid-19, I fled to the beautiful Canary Islands. I have had endless life-changing experiences, made instant lifelong connections, and seen some of the most beautiful places all thanks to taking a little leap. I still sometimes have to remind myself that this is my life, me, a girl from humble Alabama beginnings. So no matter how far-fetched your dreams may seem, I promise you you aren’t alone in your lust for adventure and you should just jump! 

I’m originally from Montgomery, AL but my chosen home is Atlanta, GA. It was always the big city next door growing up so after graduating from University I decided it’d probably be best to make sure I could survive in a big city before moving abroad. 

I didn’t grow up in a family that had the funds for lots of travel so most of my traveling abroad has been as an adult. My first time abroad I instantly fell in love with that lost feeling that comes from being completely immersed in the unknown. It was my aha moment that this is what I’d been looking for.

Spain, Portugal, France, Ireland, Scotland, Mexico, Jamaica, and the Bahamas.

 I lived and taught in Madrid, Tenerife and Gran Canaria. I had high hopes of traveling more throughout Europe but Covid-19 threw a big wrench in my plans.

One of my favorite travel memories was when I was in Tijuana, Mexico volunteering. I had had an emotional roller coaster of a day and decided that a few hours by the beach would be the perfect remedy. While I was sunbathing and enjoying a super fancy Tecate, a surfer approached me and asked if I had seen anyone go near the things he’d left on the beach. I told him no one had been near but asked if I could help him with anything. He then told me he’d lost his keys so I joined the search. We strike up a conversation and found that we ironically have many similarities in life and in our future goals. We eventually find his keys and he offers to show me around the next day as a way to say thanks. This brief encounter turned into my first temazcal ceremony, a mezcal tasting, a taco crawl, a 2 AM drag show, and a lifelong friendship. Almost every great travel memory I have comes back to the people that I have met along the way; people I know I would have never met if I hadn’t been traveling with a traveler’s open heart. 

I love food! I worked in the food and beverage industry off and on from the ages of 12 to 26 so food has always been a big part of my life. Honestly, any cuisine with lots of spices makes my happy food dance come out.

As an ITA alum, working at ITA is a full circle moment for me. I get really excited when I see people in their groove doing what makes them happy and at ITA I get to facilitate getting people to that place.