Sunday, June 26, 2011

Pre-Departure Business and Planning

So, I was trying to think when to start this blog. Do I wait until I am Italy? Do I start a few weeks before I leave? Well, I cannot wait so I am starting now. Actually, I was going to start the day I got my acceptance letter, but I stopped myself. That is however, the day I created this blog, got the URL and found my background for this blog.

Here is what I am going through now:
** I have gotten emails from people in Florence,
** I have received my pre-departure packet with papers I have to fill out,
** I have been assigned pre-course reading as well as pre-course work.

What I have not done:
** Emailed them back
** Filled out the info

** Bought my books
** Booked my flight.

To be honest, it took me the longest time to send my deposit because I was not sure if I was really going to go. There has been some stuff going on in my life that just made me think twice about my decision. However, I know that if I do not go now, I never will. Therefore, I am going for sure! It was on my graduation cap so it is official!

October cannot get here any sooner. Italy here I come!!!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Benvenuti!

Hey!! My name is Mia. Well no, actually, it is Maria Elena but my closest friends call me Mia. I am a 23-year-old Mexican-American from Napa, California. I recently graduated from the University of California, Davis where I studied English and Italian. I was unsure what the next phase of my life would be. Would I go to graduate school? Ok, and study what? Would I get a job? Doing what? Since I could not make a final decision on what to do next with my life, I decided to spend some time in Italy. My goal is to teach English for about a year live and breathe the Italian culture and come back completely fluent.

I have been passionate about the Italian culture since Freshmen year of high school, which I believe was in 2001.  My friend Alondra De Haro convinced me to take Italian because her older brother had taken it the year before and told her that it was pretty much like Spanish.  Trying to find an easy A I signed up for Italian.  Who knew that me trying to get an easy A (which it was not by the way) would lead me to chosing Italian for my major in college, that it would take me to an adventure in italy and that it could possibly lead to a future career? Not me.

So, here I am preparing for my adventure in Italy. I will be going to Florence Italy on October 15, 2011. I am getting my TESOL certificate through Via Lingua. I will be blogging about my experience because I do enjoy sharing with others, but mainly it is for me to look back at later. My closest friends will tell you that I have the WORST memory and sadly, I will rely on this blog for some of my memories.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and I look forward to posting about my experience. Look forward to honest, detailed, picture-filled, unorganized, and at times boring posts.