One month from today Micaela and I will find ourselves waking up in a foreign country and looking ahead to the next four months of our lives in Wales and England. Specifically the charming market village of Abergavenny, Wales and Fairfield High School in Hereford, England.
Highlights - the castles in Abergavenny and the Alpacas at the high school. Unique qualities that definitely cannot be found anywhere in Northbridge!
My Fulbright Teacher Exchange adventure actually began in the Fall of 2008 - marked by a healthy desire to travel and explore other lands after having spent nine days exploring Barcelona, Provence and Paris with Miss Sweeney and Mrs. Macomber, along with some remarkable young men and women from NHS. I started to thing of ways I could explore the world in an affordable way and the idea of a teacher exchange came to mind - so of course I "googled" the idea and discovered the Fulbright opportunity.
As my seniors, including Zachary, were writing college essays, filling out college applications and requesting college recommendations from their teachers - I was doing the same thing for the Fulbright program. I am sure Miss Sweeney was not expecting to write a letter of recommendation for me, in addition to all those letters for for graduating seniors she gets asked to complete - but she did, along with Mrs. Mathieu. It wasn't long before I was notified that I had been selected to have an interview by the New England Regional Fulbright alumni - the interview went well, I was cautioned not to be disappointed if a match was not made for me the first time through the process and to keep applying. I was told my application would be sent along to Washington, where I fully expected it to languish in a pile of countless other semi-qualified applicants so you can imagine my surprise when I was notified that a match had been found for me and that I had been selected to participate in the Fulbright exchange program for the following fall semester.
All sorts of emotions went through my head at that point and there were many times when I second guessed myself and thought that I really could not do this - I had all kinds of excuses - from Zach's first football season at Assumption, to Micaela's first year of high school, to teaching my AP English class to missing my friend Michael - but I decided to make the first phone call to speak with my exchange teacher partner - Samantha Sheppard.
That first phone call was the toughest - Sam and I both discovered we shared similar trepidations and anxieties but we suddenly seemed to become fast friends. Indeed, over the course of the past five months we have developed a nice friendship through emails and our facebook pages- at least I think so. I am sure when it is all over we will be steadfast friends, having lived and walked in the others shoes and literally slept in the other's bed for five months!
The next step was trying to overcome Micaela's fears at Mom leaving for five months - she was originally not in the plan to travel with me since I thought she would not want to leave her friends behind for the first semester of high school. Finally, after much discussion with our own inner support circles and encouragement from people around us we both decided it was a once in a lifetime opportunity that we could not miss.
Once the commitment was made the ocean of paperwork began. There were times when I thought I was drowning and I would never come up for air. Obtaining the visas was the most stressful thing in the experience and there were many moments when I did not think the exchange would take place - and that Micaela would ultimately not be able to join me. Ultimately it all worked out and the visas were received about two weeks ago. Micaela and I actually began our journey by taking an overnight trip to New York City so we could make a personal visit to the British consulate as we were invited to do so in order to speed up the process of receiving our visas . Watch for the post on that great trip.
So my official start to this whole adventure will begin on August 3 when I meet Sam in person in Washington D.C. at our orientation program. I will return to Massachusetts with her on August 7 and take a week to introduce her around to all my friends and colleagues, help her learn how to drive (a common fear we both share - learning to drive on the "wrong" side of the car and the "wrong" side of the road), show her my classroom and assist her with writing some lesson plans to get her year started.
I will officially depart for the United Kingdom on August 17th and arrive in Cardiff, Wales on August 18th - almost a full 14 hours of travel is ahead of us from door to door. I will miss my friends, family and colleagues (for the most part these terms are synonymous with one another because that's the type of community we are all part of) but I am ready to embrace the excitement, the anxiety and the educational opportunity I will have through this program. I will miss starting the year with my AP English and English IV students as they prepare their college essays and applications...I hope you all will follow my journey and stay in touch through the blog. I will occasionally post an "assignment" for you to comment on...so stay tuned for your very first one to be posted soon.
I once read a line in a poem by Emily Dickinson, before Zach was even born, before I was even a teacher - in fact I think in many ways this quote inspired to become a literature teacher because I wanted to expose other students to many worlds through the pages of my books- this quote has always stayed in my mind and my heart and is often found posted on my classroom bulletin board - "There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away..."
I have only ever traveled through the pages of my books to all the lands of the world - from the London and Paris in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities to the Welsh countrysides of Jane Austen's settings and now I will be able to explore all these places I have only ever read about... it is overwhelming and emotional on so many levels. I will look forward to taking you all to these places with me through the postings on this blog so check back often!
Highlights - the castles in Abergavenny and the Alpacas at the high school. Unique qualities that definitely cannot be found anywhere in Northbridge!
My Fulbright Teacher Exchange adventure actually began in the Fall of 2008 - marked by a healthy desire to travel and explore other lands after having spent nine days exploring Barcelona, Provence and Paris with Miss Sweeney and Mrs. Macomber, along with some remarkable young men and women from NHS. I started to thing of ways I could explore the world in an affordable way and the idea of a teacher exchange came to mind - so of course I "googled" the idea and discovered the Fulbright opportunity.
As my seniors, including Zachary, were writing college essays, filling out college applications and requesting college recommendations from their teachers - I was doing the same thing for the Fulbright program. I am sure Miss Sweeney was not expecting to write a letter of recommendation for me, in addition to all those letters for for graduating seniors she gets asked to complete - but she did, along with Mrs. Mathieu. It wasn't long before I was notified that I had been selected to have an interview by the New England Regional Fulbright alumni - the interview went well, I was cautioned not to be disappointed if a match was not made for me the first time through the process and to keep applying. I was told my application would be sent along to Washington, where I fully expected it to languish in a pile of countless other semi-qualified applicants so you can imagine my surprise when I was notified that a match had been found for me and that I had been selected to participate in the Fulbright exchange program for the following fall semester.
All sorts of emotions went through my head at that point and there were many times when I second guessed myself and thought that I really could not do this - I had all kinds of excuses - from Zach's first football season at Assumption, to Micaela's first year of high school, to teaching my AP English class to missing my friend Michael - but I decided to make the first phone call to speak with my exchange teacher partner - Samantha Sheppard.
That first phone call was the toughest - Sam and I both discovered we shared similar trepidations and anxieties but we suddenly seemed to become fast friends. Indeed, over the course of the past five months we have developed a nice friendship through emails and our facebook pages- at least I think so. I am sure when it is all over we will be steadfast friends, having lived and walked in the others shoes and literally slept in the other's bed for five months!
The next step was trying to overcome Micaela's fears at Mom leaving for five months - she was originally not in the plan to travel with me since I thought she would not want to leave her friends behind for the first semester of high school. Finally, after much discussion with our own inner support circles and encouragement from people around us we both decided it was a once in a lifetime opportunity that we could not miss.
Once the commitment was made the ocean of paperwork began. There were times when I thought I was drowning and I would never come up for air. Obtaining the visas was the most stressful thing in the experience and there were many moments when I did not think the exchange would take place - and that Micaela would ultimately not be able to join me. Ultimately it all worked out and the visas were received about two weeks ago. Micaela and I actually began our journey by taking an overnight trip to New York City so we could make a personal visit to the British consulate as we were invited to do so in order to speed up the process of receiving our visas . Watch for the post on that great trip.
So my official start to this whole adventure will begin on August 3 when I meet Sam in person in Washington D.C. at our orientation program. I will return to Massachusetts with her on August 7 and take a week to introduce her around to all my friends and colleagues, help her learn how to drive (a common fear we both share - learning to drive on the "wrong" side of the car and the "wrong" side of the road), show her my classroom and assist her with writing some lesson plans to get her year started.
I will officially depart for the United Kingdom on August 17th and arrive in Cardiff, Wales on August 18th - almost a full 14 hours of travel is ahead of us from door to door. I will miss my friends, family and colleagues (for the most part these terms are synonymous with one another because that's the type of community we are all part of) but I am ready to embrace the excitement, the anxiety and the educational opportunity I will have through this program. I will miss starting the year with my AP English and English IV students as they prepare their college essays and applications...I hope you all will follow my journey and stay in touch through the blog. I will occasionally post an "assignment" for you to comment on...so stay tuned for your very first one to be posted soon.
I once read a line in a poem by Emily Dickinson, before Zach was even born, before I was even a teacher - in fact I think in many ways this quote inspired to become a literature teacher because I wanted to expose other students to many worlds through the pages of my books- this quote has always stayed in my mind and my heart and is often found posted on my classroom bulletin board - "There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away..."
I have only ever traveled through the pages of my books to all the lands of the world - from the London and Paris in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities to the Welsh countrysides of Jane Austen's settings and now I will be able to explore all these places I have only ever read about... it is overwhelming and emotional on so many levels. I will look forward to taking you all to these places with me through the postings on this blog so check back often!
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