On learning how to teach…

Today, I finished the 6th and final day of the Oxford Seminars TESOL course, and am officially certified! YES. Now, when I am finished all sorts of silly courses this fall and save up some money, I can haul my bad self overseas and maybe teach some Germans or Italians a new language! Exciting! Before I do that, however, I think I may want to participate in the Englischhausen program in Germany. Basically, this program has native English speakers from all over the world fly in to a particular location for the sole purpose of having conversations with native German speakers who wish to improve their English. Stay and food is completely paid for; all you have to do is just get yourself to Munchen! The program lasts a week, and seems to be an amazing experience. First of all, I’d be in the Schwartzwald; secondly, I’d be having conversations with people from all walks of life for several hours a day, followed by exploration and going out. What part of that doesn’t sound FANTASTIC? That’s all for 2012, though. For now, I am just going to complete those two random courses I’m taking and focus on getting a job that will pay me enough to keep me alive on my own!

Speaking of being on my own…it’s almost time for September listings to come out! I’m excited to get the hardcore apartment-hunting done and to actually sign a lease. I need to have all this done before I leave for Europe on the 14th of July. These next few weeks should be interesting…

In other, totally unrelated news, this picture cracks me up:

That is all.

Bis später!
-V

Teaching English Abroad?

Being faced with the many incredible possibilities awaiting me after I graduate, I find myself a touch overwhelmed. The prospect of finding a “real job” is scary, so I’ve been trying to think about it as little as possible. However, last night, I went to an information session for a TESOL course and the more time that I spent sitting there, poring over the pamphlets they gave me, the more this idea appealed to me. I love traveling and have been looking for an easy way to get back to Europe and frolic around, completely immersed in culture…so this lined up really well! It looks like I’ll be taking the ESL teaching course after I finish exams, and we’ll see where we go from there. The countries I’m going to be looking at are probably Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Croatia (how great would that be?!), but there’s plenty of time to make decisions yet. This may be the ideal situation for me; taking a year off from all the science I’ve done to explore another country and make money, and then return to normal life and begin looking for a career. After all, I’m young and have quite a bit of time to make something of myself after I graduate…

Moving on. I just scared myself thinking about…the future…and need to take a break. Here’s a sexy car for you (well, it’s more for me):

In any case, there will be updates on this as I try to figure out exactly what is up with life.

By the way, today’s lunch is a chili-seasoned scrambled egg & roasted red pepper spread panini with cut wax beans. Just sayin’.