Ferdinand Magellan, who I did a report on in the 5th grade while wearing a giant newspaper pirate hat, and also who my Remote Year group is named after, was a Portugese explorer in the early 1500s. He is known as the first person to organize a circumnavigation of the Earth.  And that’s also what I’ll be doing this year – going around the world.

My itinerary is:

1. June: Valencia, Spain
2. July: Lisbon, Portugal
3. August: Rabat, Morocco
4. September: Sofia, Bulgaria
5. October: Belgrade, Serbia
6. November: Hanoi, Vietnam
7. December: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
8. January: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
9. February: Lima, Peru
10. March: Córdoba, Argentina
11. April: Buenos Aires, Argentina
12. May: Santiago, Chile

Click here for some more info on each location: http://www.remoteyear.com/itinerary-4

I spent some time last night working on a list of my personal and professional goals for the year.  This was a surprisingly challenging process that involved 2 glasses of wine and a hard look at why I did this in the first place.  So let’s start with the easy goals – the professional ones.

Goal #1: Work with locals to gain insight into country-specific HR trends, needs, and issues. This will allow me to improve HR policies for international companies, based on the needs of each office location.

Goal #2: Gain an insight into the common HR-related needs of employees who work remotely.

Goal #3: Collaborate with others in the tech and marketing industries to help with the launch of a side entrepreneurial project.

In other news, Magellan was also the first person to note the South American penguins, which were thus named the Magellanic penguins.  Expect some penguin selfies from me in Argentina. #RYMagellan