After I graduated from college in the US, I moved abroad to Thailand. It's nothing like I expected.

Teaching English in Thailand has opened my mind to new possibilities beyond climbing the corporate ladder in the US.

Tyler Wetzler After graduating from college, I signed up to teach English in Thailand for a year.

I thought I'd feel like a tourist, but I have felt welcomed by my community and inspired by them.

Living here has helped me build a stronger work ethic , and I'm now staying longer than I planned.

"Same, same." That's all I have to say when I stop by my neighborhood street vendor.

The woman running it already knows my order: pad krapow, a spicy Thai basil stir-fry, topped with a fried egg.

Over the months, she's gradually nudged up the spice level, and I've grown to love it.

My broken Thai has become part of the routine, too.

I left the US for Thailand at the end of September, four months after graduating from the University of Central Florida with a bachelor's degree in human communication and a minor in sport business management.

I did several internships at large companies throughout college in fields like marketing and talent management, and knew by graduation that I wasn't drawn to the corporate ladder.

Instead, I wanted to fully immerse myself in an unfamiliar culture and see how differently life is lived outside the US.

It felt more feasible to spend a year abroad right after school, in my early 20s, than to try doing so many years down the line.

That's what led me to step outside my comfort zone and accept a job teaching English at a bilingual school in Bangkok.

I expected to feel like a tourist — instead, I quickly felt like part of the community I haven't felt like an outsider in Thailand.