What It Takes to Get Yourself Abroad

In just two and a half short months, I will make my way to Prague to begin my English teaching career! The process to get to this point seemed to go by both short and excruciatingly long. I stumbled upon CIEE in my search to teach abroad and I was immediately interested in their Czech Republic program. I chickened out of applying before the deadline because there were too many unknowns and I didn’t want to make such a big leap without knowing what would happen. When I got an email saying that the application deadline had been extended that was the message I needed to make the step in trying, no matter the outcome.

I was accepted into the program in the middle of January; 2 short weeks after submitting my application. Then the process of waiting to hear if I would get an interview from a school in the Czech Republic began. While I waited I had an “interview” with CIEE’s contact abroad about my preferences for working/teaching/living overseas. She filled me in on the different types of schools over there and asked me questions about how comfortable I was with teaching on my own and finding my own accommodations. Two months later in March I learned that I had landed an interview with a school! I frantically searched for their website online and read every bit of information about them I could. It turns out that the school interested in me was a Montessori school which I had experience with as a preschooler and kindergartener in North Carolina. I was over the moon about the possibility of working there and nervously awaited my Skype interview with their principal. I was terrified about the interview but once he came on and started talking, I felt completely at ease. It also helped that I had done research on their school because he asked me what I thought and I was prepared to reply. He told me he had chosen me because I am an already licensed teacher, and he was interested in my background having worked at a Science/Technology school. I told him I was already familiar with the Montessori philosophy and it felt like I was meant to teach at that school. Two weeks later on March 15th and I was given a job offer!

What followed until May 1st was the scramble to make sure I had everything in order to submit my visa application. As long as you make sure to do things as soon as you possibly can you shouldn’t have any stress with the process. I did wait until the last minute to get a document translated so there were some overnight shipping fees involved, but I can say that it happened last minute because I did not start working on everything as soon as I possibly could. Getting your documents together takes a lot of shipping things out and having it get signed or approved so it’s important to do it in a timely manner. I will say that every silly little question I had was answered quickly and patiently from my coordinator, Kerry. Even though I was so nervous about having everything correct she made the whole process seem so easy. My countdown abroad has started and the only thing I have left to do is buy a plane ticket! I’m equally terrified and excited and I can’t wait to start this life changing journey!

My big takeaway from this whole process: take the leap. You'll regret it if you don't. And who knows, you might just end up getting the opportunity of a lifetime.