I apologize for how snobby the title of this blog post is. “What did you do over the holidays, Genevieve?” “Moi? Not much. Though I did spend Christmas in Paris.” (pronounced Pair-ee, of course) *Vomit.* I sound so privileged when I say things that way, I know, I know. But moving past that, I did […]
Handling Difficult Roommate Situations
We’ve all been there, haven’t we? I think it’s a right of passage into adulthood that you must, at one point or another, find yourself in a difficult situation with a roommate. I have had more than my fair share of awkward roommate situations, and I have learned (mostly through doing things the wrong way), […]
Madrid, Spain: My First Impressions
I officially began my 10 month journey in Spain about six seeks ago. If you don’t already know, I’m teaching English in Spain through the Auxiliares de Conversación Program. I’ll be stationed in the city of Madrid until June 30th (or longer if I decide to renew my teaching contract for another year or so). […]
Teaching with VIPKid: A Six Month Update
If you read my last post, a Four Month Update with VIPKid, you may be wondering what I decided to do. As you may recall, the summer months were particularly hard on me. I had a ridiculous amount of student no shows, my schedule was barely filled, some of my regular students stopped showing up… […]
Applying for your TIE in Madrid
Congratulations! You made it to Spain! You have successfully applied to the Auxiliares de Conversación program. You’ve overcome the hurdle of applying for your visa! You booked a plane ride over the Atlantic and into the land of tapas, vino, flamenco, and bullfighting! ¡Olé! You may be asking yourself, “What comes next?” You should probably begin […]
Preparing for Spain: What to Do Before You Leave
So you think you’re ready for Spain, do ya? Well good, I hope you are! Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind before you decide to hop the Atlantic and head overseas. Make sure you’ve saved enough money! This program has a bit of notoriety regarding payment issues. Some regions have reported not getting […]
My Visa Application Nightmare: aka How I Came to Understand Murphy’s Law
When I initially wrote the post about Applying for Your Visa, I thought everything would be sunshine and roses. All the people who complain about what a pain it is just don’t do their research, I thought. That, for the most part, is true. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen the […]
Quitting My Job to Travel
I don’t get it… You love your job, why would you quit?” – Everyone I understand why I’ve been asked this question countless times. I’m one of the lucky ones. I went to college and graduated debt-free. I had an internship that I loved and it rolled into a career that I loved. Make no […]
Teaching with VIPKid: A Four Month Update
It’s been slightly more than four months since I started teaching with VIPKid. I’m still enjoying my job, but to be perfectly honest, the last month has been more difficult. First, however, let’s start with June! The month of June was by far my best month to date. Here were my completed numbers in June: […]
2 Months to Go: Self Doubt & Second Thoughts
It’s July. My departure to Spain is just two months away. Two short months. And yet, I haven’t begun preparing much of anything. I don’t have my visa (late carta de nombramiento from Madrid). I don’t have my plane ticket. I haven’t mentioned anything to my work about leaving… I’ve only told a select few people […]