New Friends

Matt from Kent trying IBC Rootbeer...he is such a "cheeky monkey".

Experiencing Firsts...

So here's the interesting thing about being hostess to Sam this week... I am privileged to be here with her as she experiences the "first" of many fun things she is sure to encounter as she takes up residence in my beautiful town of Northbridge. In some respects I am eagerly anticipating my own "firsts" when I arrive in her town of Abergavenny, but for now, I am enjoying watching her be the star of the show as people ask her a million questions about her life, all in an effort hear her Welsh accent. I have watched her eat her first grilled burger, hot dog, clam chowdah, lobstah and steamahs. I have watched her walk into SuperWalmart and a Shaws grocery store...both of which I am assured are larger than anything I will find on my trip. I have watched her try her first Margarita and sip rootbeer. I have watched her savor many bitefuls of triple chocolate something Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I have watched her gaze in wonder at every house with a swimming pool. I have heard her many comments about the lovely landscape and green trees and large houses as we drive through town. It has all been quite interesting...and while I would gladly snap many photos of her experiencing all these new firsts, as a new mother would, I happily respect her photophobia and so I too, as all her friends back home, only have stray body parts in my photos. There is another first left... driving... I will let you know about the first drive in my car.... enough said.

Fulbright Orientation - Washington DC

Something I have always known is that teachers are often the worst audience. We talk while others are talking, we fidget, we hide our phones to send text messages, we are late to "class", we come to class unprepared, and we all learn with multiple teaching styles... in short, we are much like our students. Add to all of this the challenge of addressing a multi-lingual, international group of 120 of teachers, and you better have some good tricks up your sleeve. When one is preparing to "teach" this group "of teachers one should plan on being extremely creative to address such a diverse group or it could be a long week. While it was an overall positive experience, there were times when I felt like I was sitting in pointless professional development meetings and I was impatient with anticipation to talk with Samantha about our own individual schools, curriculum and lives.

Throughout the whole of our communications with the Fulbright AED staff in the US everything has been very organized, the few snafus we have had have not been their fault, namely the crazy hoops the American contingent had to jump through to get our visas. My counterpart had a very organized "field trip" to the British embassy for all the UK participants where they quite nicely got their visas in an expedited process. Makes a lot of sense to me - so overall, for the participants next year I hope that the British Border Agency steps up and makes the process a bit easier. The AED staff is a crew of young, polished, professionals who have worked very hard with the Department of State to make our experience with our Fulbright journey a successful one, and overall the orientation week was a great experience, however a bit of adjustment could be made including more one on one time with our individual partners and more dynamic presentations and cultural tours or experience to provide one on one time with our partners and other teachers from all the other countries represented.

The hotel accomodations at the Renaissance M, on New Hampshire Avenue, were very upscale and clean with a very friendly staff - so friendly at times I wondered if indeed I was really in Washington, DC. Americans eat a lot - three full meals a day - so the food was always plentiful, although there were times when in the middle of a break I was looking for something salty and a can of coke - when all I could find was a glass of ice tea - which was also good. The Illy coffee cafe at the hotel was fabulous and I quickly discoverd my coffee drink of the week , "the caramello machiaotto" to go. I found myself sitting on the sidewalk cafe, savoring this very drink, when I first spied my exchange partner, Sam alight from her shuttle bus. I had no idea what this young lady would look like, as she is extremely photophobic and never posts any pictures of herself, so all I had to go on was a description of "long, curly hair" - luckily she was the only person to fit that description so she was not hard to spot at all...and I just observed her from afar as she gathered her baggage, bantered with other travelers and made her way into the hotel. I decided I would not follow her into the lobby, but I would let her check in and I would wait for her to come down to the lobby in her own time.

I gradually made my way from the hotel coffee shoppe to the hotel bar, and as I was indulging in my favorite drink, a margarita, I spied her at the Fulbright check-in table, called out her name to which she promptly responded and from the first moment we met I could tell that I would like her very much. I am generally very guarded and my circle of very close friends, who serve as whole-hearted confidantes are few - but yet from the start I had a feeling that she would become one of them. Certainly the week I have spent with her has proven to me that I am definitely making a life long friend in Samantha - "Sam" as she prefers - and despite the fact that our exchanges will be spent apart, I know we have become fast friends. I think, that in this process, bonding with your exchange partner is a crucial part to the success of the exchange experience.

The week in Washington, DC, for many of our fellow participants was the one and only time these people had to actually meet in person, chat and spend time together before departing for each other's homes and schools - and sadly, there was a lack of opportunity in this short, fully scheduled week, for personal bonding as we spent most of the time in "professional development" lectures, which varied from very interesting and enriching, such as the very last session of the week on Friday with other Fulbright alumni where we were inspired to organize our own cultural projects and/or exchanges with our students, to sessions that were irrelevant to our personal experiences and exchanges.

In the end, the five hour walk through the city that Sam and I engaged in proved to be the most valuable part of our week. When finally given our first "official" session with each other we decided to escape from the hotel, despite the "debriefing" session we were asked to attend, and we took the Metro across the city to the Smithsonian Museums. We wandered through the Native American Indian Museum and the National Air and Space Museum and then meandered our way through the city, all the while chatting non -stop about everything from curriculum and discipline procedures at our schools, to taking care of our respective pets and commiserating over past relationships. In those five hours we soldified the foundation of our friendship and worked to develop trust with each other, both of which will ensure that this exchange is successful. We are also lucky in the fact that Sam has "moved" into my home under my guidance and we have this entire upcoming week to share more information about our school's and our lives before I depart for "Whales". NO, I did not make this typo... it was actually spelled this way in our email contact list.

My week in Washington was an overall positive experience in that I did get to meet many of my fellow UK Fulbrighters and I feel that some of them too will remain lifelong acquaintances and we will always have this experience in common. The first international teacher I met was Gillean from Aberdeen, Scotland and she was very pleasant and I had a wonderful conversation with her on the first afternoon, albeit I had to listen very closely to her when she spoke as her accent was very new to my ear, however, I found myself sitting with her at many of our meals and when I return to the U.S. this winter, she will still be in Virginia and I am hoping that in the Spring she will visit me in Massachusetts. "At the end of the day", as Sam would say, that's what it's all about; to make lifelong contacts, friendships and learn as much about educational systems in other parts of the world.

Football vs Futbol!

Anyone who knows me well, knows that over the past four years of my life, I have spent just about every Friday night, from August through November, and even some Saturdays in December, watching Zachary play football. I have seen most televised Patriots games on Sundays and I have seen my share of other NFL teams play on television too. I do love the game of football. I am a true Ram Fan...I have every outfit conceivable in maroon and white to get me through a football season, from the hot August nights to the freezing New England snow storm in December and even a rainy, rainy, mudbowl!

I will, unfortunately, because of this exchange, miss all of Zachary's first collegiate football season at Assumption. I will miss Tom Murphy step into Zachary's shoes and continue the great tradition of NHS quarterbacks. I will miss Casey Hippert, Ben Richards, Gino Perro, Matt Consigli and countless other outstanding junior football players, play in their senior year. I truly will be thinking the best for all of them and hope they bring home another super bowl championship this year. Go Rams! I will check the on line Telegram and look forward to reading Mr. Mattson's articles in the on line versions of the Tribune...thank god for the Internet!

Fortunately, Assumption has live streaming capabilities for all home games so I won't miss every single second of Zachary's new team play, but there will be no tailgating for me...a college ritual I was looking forward to partaking in...I guess it will have to wait a year. When weighing the pros and cons of participating in this exchange missing football season was indeed one of the cons...but the pro side of that was the fact that this is the season where Zachary will most likely not have that much playing time on the field, being a Freshman. So, while I am truly excited to go on this exchange, football...American football... is one thing I know I will miss.

Also - I am not a soccer fanatic; rather I should say I am not a futbol fanatic... I don't know much about this game. I don't understand the rules. It doesn't hold my interest because to me it is just not that exciting. I watch Micaela play soccer and it just doesn't thrill me; she's very good and very fast, but the game itself is not my thing. It takes forever to play a full game. You can watch a whole game and not have any score; its very frustrating. What can I say, I'm headed to the mecca of soccer in the world - the UK - and I don't like the game. I'm sure it won't make me very popular among my new colleagues or my students...they will have to convert me and show me where the excitement lies - BRING IT ON!

Just when I thought all hope of a seeing a real American football game was lost I discovered a light on the horizon...the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Bucanneers have a NFLUK game scheduled at Wembley Stadium on October 25th! Now what are the chances of that... my home team NFL Patriots are going to the UK at the same time I will be there! When I learned that I set my sights on securing tickets for this game. I didn't know how, when or where, but I was going to do it! Of course everything was sold out on the NFLUK ticket site and I couldn't figure out how to purchase them directly through the Patriots site, nor could I find any on Ebay. I did eventually find some on Stubhub, but they were astronomically expensive when you figure in the exchange rate and I could not justify the expense. I posted pleas on Facebook, mentioned my desire for these tickets to everyone I thought might have a connection to a season ticket holder...but every season ticket holder seems to be traveling to London to see this game... no luck.

In early June I decided that I would write Mr. Kraft a letter...yes, a LETTER. A good old fashioned, snail mail letter, complete with properly addressed envelope and stamp. The great writers of the world from Jane Austen to the Bronte sisters and even Bram Stoker all knew the art of great letter writing, so if they could perfect the art, certainly an artfully crafted letter to Mr. Kraft would do the trick. I wrote a beautiful, albeit concise letter limited to three paragraphs, describing my accomplishment at being selected for a prestigious Fulbright award...a feat not even I understood until my orientation session in May. I described my love of football and the very things I stated above about watching Zachary play and missing all of his first year at Assumption. I described my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see my favorite NFL team play across the pond, and in my letter I requested the opportunity to get tickets to this game at Wembley Stadium.

I sent it off in the US mail figuring I had nothing to lose and everything to gain... afterall, I just didn't send an e-mail, a text, or make a phone call, I took the time to craft a letter, an ancient art by today's standards of communication. I hardly expected Mr. Kraft to take notice of my request, afterall he is a busy man, so just to cover my bases I sent a copy of the same letter to the public relations department of the Patriots. Surely, this is a great public relations move on their part; provide a teacher and her daughter, on location in the UK through the Fulbright program, with tickets to this game...how can they lose! I dropped it in the mailbox and that was that.

Just to put it bluntly, and to use a term I am sure I will come home with as part of my regular vocabulary - this was BRILLIANT! This week on Tuesday morning I received a phone call from Brian in the ticket office at Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots, informing me that Mr. Kraft had received my letter and he was offering me the chance to have two tickets to the game at Wembley Stadium! Sure... they are Mile High seats - and trust me that's no use of hyperbole for this stadium - but I got my wish and my second once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch an American football game with my favorite team in the United Kingdom! I didn't think this exchange could get any better and unless I have tea with the Queen herself it probably will not!!!!

I will hold a sign from my Section 536 seats, Row 11, seats 293 & 294 and maybe I will make it on to the television for all you people back home to see me!!!

Go Patriots!

The Poem that inspired it all....

There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul! ~ Emily Dickinson

AP English & English IV bloggers - analysis please! SOAPSTone model please.

"There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away..."- Emily Dickinson

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!