A Fulbright Adventure

The quote under my Senior Picture in my high school year book says "In order to discover new oceans, you must have the courage to lose sight of the shore." It has always been a quote I felt I connected with, but never really lived up to. I wanted to be the person who could "lose sight of the shore" I was familiar with, but something always held me back. Until last Fall. Teaching and living abroad is something I have wanted to do since college, and last Fall I decided I was actually going to try to do it, instead of just think about it.

That decision lead me to Fulbright for several reasons. I didn't want to quit the job I have at Lakeshore High School, because it is a great place with great people. Participating in the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program means I get to go back in a year and continue teaching in the community and with the students and people I have grown to love. All the other international teaching programs I looked at would have required me quit LHS. (Sidenote: I have to say thank you for the administration at Lakeshore for supporting me by allowing me to do this) Fulbright also appealed to me because not only did I get to go abroad and teach, someone from another country would take my place for a year! I couldn't imagine a cooler thing for the students I work with to have the experience of an international teacher in their classroom. In an age where our world keeps shrinking and a global education is so important, this is such an amazing opportunity for them.

Once I decided to apply to Fulbright I began the application. I don't know what I expected the application to be like, but I didn't expect it to be as long as it was! Looking back now, it makes complete sense why it was so in depth, but when I first began, I remember thinking it was going to take me forever. And it kind of did! Many, many rewrites, proofreads, and hours later, I finally hit submit. I was fully expecting to get the "thanks, but no thanks" email in return, so I was suprised and thrilled when I heard back that Fulbright wanted to schedule an interview. It was like that every step of the way; I kept thinking "they will tell me no eventually," but eventually never happened. I will never forget opening up the email that said I had been proposed for a match in Hungary. I couldn't stop smiling and I'm sure the kids in the hallways I walked through that afternoon thought I was crazy. The same scene repeated itself when I received the email telling me I had been matched with György Liptàk from Bèkès, Hungary.

Now, it is June and I leave for Hungary in about 6 weeks. It still seems slightly unreal, but I am so excited about what the next year has in store for me and my students (both at Lakeshore and in Hungary). It will be an adventure for all of us! Which, incidentally, is why I named my blog Kaland - it means adventure in Hungarian.

I went back and forth about starting a blog for a while. I am not big on sharing a ton of personal information online and I am notoriously slow at uploading pictures. My friends finally gave up asking me to put pictures on Facebook after years of  begging me to hurry up. So, blogging will be an adventure for me of a different sort! I finally landed on starting a blog because I wanted a way to share my experiences with friends and family back at home without having to send 25 emails. Additionally, a big part of this next year for me is how it will impact my teaching and my students, and I didn't want next year's students to miss out if they wanted to check in once in a while and see what I was doing. So, to any students who decide to read this blog, I hope that I can still teach you something next year, even if I am not standing in front of your classroom everyday : )

Disclaimer

This blog is a chronicle of my year teaching in Hungary. It is in no way an official Department of State website and the views and information presented are entirely my own and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the Department of State. It is meant to share with my friends and family and for me to use to remember this year of my life.