10-4-23: Hello anyone and everyone reading this! I applied to student teach abroad in late September of 2023. I first heard about this opportunity a little over a year ago and was instantly interested in it! I’ve never been outside of the United States, but I love to travel and see beautiful scenery, so I’ve always dreamed of going abroad and experiencing a different country and culture. I also know that this is such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will impact my life tremendously and prepare me greatly to be a teacher. I’ve been reading blog posts from past program participants, and I am so, so excited at the possibility of this! My first choice is Ireland, and I am crossing my fingers and hoping that I am placed there! I will be keeping you all updated throughout this experience! I have my interview on Friday, October 27th with Mrs. Martin and Mrs. White. 

I also recently submitted an application for the WKU Global application and the CEBS Passport application, so I am anxiously waiting to hear back from those and hoping that I get some scholarships to help cover this trip! 

10-25-23: I found out I got a scholarship from WKU Global that will cover my flight and likely more! I am SO grateful for this huge help! I used to substitute teach on some days when I didn't have class, but because I will be student teaching everyday next semester, I know I will not be able to work and have been worried about paying to go abroad. This scholarship is so, so helpful! 

10-27-23: My interview went well! I met with Mrs. Martin, and we just discussed different parts of teaching abroad. She informed me about past experiences and what to expect, and I was able to ask questions about it. My first choice is Westport, Ireland, and she said I most likely will get to go here! She just has to hear back from the hosts to make sure they have enough spots for us, but it sounds very hopeful and promising! YAY!

11-29-23: I have officially been accepted into the program and will for sure be going to Westport, Ireland in April! This is awesome! One of my best friends, Ronnye Jo, is also going, and we are so, so excited! 

1-17-24: Hello everyone! I have been student teaching for two weeks now and am placed in kindergarten! I am really enjoying it, and it took a little bit to get adjusted to being at school everyday since I was so used to being there once or twice a week in clinical. However, I’m now gotten into a routine and am really enjoying kindergarten. I’ve never had a clinical experience with students this young, so that was also very new, but they are so sweet and loving. I have started leading some small groups and will teach my first formal lesson next week and will be observed by my supervisor. Today is non-traditional instruction (NTI) day #2 due to snow, so I am ready to be back in the classroom! We have been doing Google meets today and yesterday, so it’s good to see the kiddos, but I’m ready to see them back in-person. I also have been waiting to see what I will for sure be teaching in my formal observation lesson because the NTI days may have messed up our schedule a little. 

Anyways, now to teaching abroad… I am waiting to hear from the Ireland host to know when our official travel dates are. From there, we can book our flights and plan what we would like to do. I know that they are on Easter break for the first week of April, so we should be able to either travel early and enjoy other nearby countries or Irish counties, or we may wait and travel right before we start our placement in the Irish school. Ronnye Jo and I are most likely going to travel early and either go to another nearby European country for a night or two, or start traveling around Ireland! We will discuss more when we get our official dates. I’m really hoping we get those soon because I know April will be here before we know it!

1-26-23: I received my travel dates today! Schools are closed the first week of April, so I will be able to travel Ireland during this week if I choose to. My first day in the schools is April 8th, but I can stay at the bed and breakfast starting April 2nd. I will fly into Dublin, and then, Louise (our program manager) will have someone pick us up and take us to the train station where we will then ride to Westport. Our program ends on April 30th. I am so, so excited and will start preparing to book flights and other accommodations. 

1-30-24: Today, Ronnye Jo and I booked our flights! We will be flying from Nashville to Dublin

3-5-24: Wow! Time has already flown since the beginning of student teaching. I just began my second placement in 4th grade yesterday. I finished my first placement in kindergarten last week. It was so difficult to leave my sweet little friends whom I grew so close to, and I was also very sad to leave my mentor teacher and aide. I was honestly so feverous to be placed in kindergarten since I had never had clinical experience younger than 1st grade. However, they were such a sweet and fun group, and I now can’t imagine life without those kiddos. While I am sad to no longer be with them each day, I am very excited for my 4th grade placement and am loving it so far. Although, this placement will be much shorter than my first placement. I knew this all along, but now that I am in March, I am realizing I will really have to make the most of every moment in the classroom! My solo week will be in a few weeks, which seems crazy since I feel like I just finished my solo week in kindergarten. However, my county has a few days in March that are for PLC/PD days, so my solo week has to be even earlier than I expected to ensure that I get everything done before going abroad. 

Anyways, today, I had a Zoom meeting with all the other IST teachers, alumni, and Mrs. Martin and Mrs. White. It was very beneficial as we heard about their experiences and were able to ask questions. I loved hearing the stories of experiences from each country, and it made me so excited for Ireland. Ronnye Jo and I spent a while after the meeting planning the first week since we will have that week to travel around Ireland because it is their Easter break. We booked a hotel in Dingle, Murphy’s Guesthouse. We will stay one night here and then do the Dingle Sea Safari the next day. We are SO excited for this! We heard about it on Instagram when I saw this reel from an Ireland native who said this was a must-do. It looks incredible since you see all kinds of sea life and also some beautiful cliff views. It costs 70 euros. Then, we also booked a hotel in Killarney, called International Hotel Killarney, for that night, so after we finish the sea safari, we will take a bus from Dingle to Killarney. We are splitting our hotel rooms, so we will each pay about $140 for the two nights in these hotels. However, the transportation is adding up pretty quickly since Dingle is a little difficult to get to and takes multiple ways of transportation since it is not exactly a big town. We did a lot of research though, and these are two areas that we really want to see. We also are interested in visiting Cork, but we may hold off on this to save some money and to give us time to get back to Westport and rest before beginning our Irish placement on the 8th. Honestly, tonight was very exciting since we got to book some things, but I also got pretty overwhelmed thinking about all that I have to do before April. I have been looking forward to this trip for about a year now, and I can’t believe it is less than a month away. I still have quite a bit to finish for student teaching here, and then I also have several things I need to buy for Ireland, as well as some bus and train tickets in Ireland for Dingle and Killarney. The bus website was not working for Ronnye Jo and I so hopefully we can get that figured out soon to make sure we have a way to get to Dingle and Killarney. 

3-24-24: Today, Louise, our program arranger, emailed me to inform me of my placement school! I am placed at Westport ETNS(Educate Together National School) https://westportetns.ie/. Based on the website, it looks to be a Montessori school as I see a lot of hands-on activities in the pictures in their gallery that seem very different from activities done in my past placement schools here in Warren County. In the March newsletter, I saw that some of the upcoming activities are forest bathing, drumming, and swimming. It looks like it is about a six-minute walk from the bed and breakfast, so this will be nice that I can walk to school each day! She also sent me my immigration letter to keep with me as I travel. I can't believe I am about a week out! I honestly have not been able to think much about this as I've been busy getting my teacher work sample finished up and trying to get all of my student teaching requirements finished. It's definitely going to be bitter-sweet since I really love my current placement in 4th grade and have not gotten to spend much time with them. However, I am so, so excited for this experience and know that it will be amazing! Also, I have been messaging with Louise on What's App when I have random questions, and she seems so kind. We had a Zoom meeting with her in February, and she was so helpful and excited for us. I can't wait to meet her! Later today, I bought my round trip train tickets from Dublin Heuston to Westport for April 2nd and returning April 30th. This was about 35 euros for the round trip tickets. Ronnye Jo and I will be on the same trains sitting next to each other. 

3-31-24: WOW! Tomorrow is the day! I fly out of Nashville with Ronnye Jo at 2:24 PM and will land in Newark for a layover before flying to Dublin. We will land in Dublin at about 7 AM on Tuesday. I have been so excited, but it all started feeling much more real this weekend as I began packing and planning more in detail. I'm definitely still excited, but I am feeling a bit more nervous. I'm sure I'll feel better once we land. Today, Ronnye Jo and I changed some of our plans for our trip this week on their Easter break. We were originally planning to go to Dingle and Killarney, but since we are relying on public transportation, we felt like it was going to be expensive and also more stressful to make sure we catch all the right buses at the right times. So, we are now only visitng Dingle, but we will get to stay there for two nights now instead of one. We had to book a stay at a different place since our B&B for the first night is booked already for this second night. We booked a place very close to Murphy's B&B called, The Waterfront. This allows us to really enjoy being in Dingle because before we changed our plans, we were only going to have one night in Dingle and then the next morning to explore around. Now, we get the night of April 3rd and the full day of April 4th. Then, we will head back to Westport on April 5th. I am a little bummed that we cancelled Killarney, especially because I loved the hotel we were going to stay in, but this just gives us more of a peace of mind. Plus, we can always visit Killarney another weekend if we would like to. Relying on public transportation just makes things a little more difficult to plan since we cannot book tickets for Bus Éireann in advance. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly, but Louise has already been so helpful and comforting. She said when we get to the Bed and Breakfast on Tuesday, we can sit and discuss our travel plans with her, and she'll help us find all the buses we need to take! I believe I am all packed up, but I really hope I packed everything I need. I have a variety of clothes since I have been told we can experience all the seasons in one day. I packed several sweaters, a few short sleeve blouses, t-shirts, three pair of jeans (blue, white, and pink), two pair of dress pants, one dress, leggings, sneakers, mules, a scarf, a rain jacket, and a thin coat. I believe that mainly covers it all. Time to get some rest since I have a long day of travel tomorrow. The next time I type on this blog, I'll either be headed to Ireland or already there! Check out the Travel Log section for updates on what I did each day!