Well, here I am, getting ready to leave lovely Utah and travel to the Ukraine for four months! This is incredibly exciting and I can't wait to get going! For those of you who don't know the purpose of my trip, I'm traveling to the Ukraine from August 30th, 2010 to December 21st, 2010 to teach English to the students in Kiev! I'm going through ILP (International Language Program), with which I had the choice to go to Mexico, Russia, Ukraine or China! I really debated about going to China or Russia, but decided the Ukraine sounded just as thrilling! (And not to mention my brother, Colbren, is on his mission in Czech Republic, and I can visit Prague while teaching in Ukraine!)
I decided to go through ILP after hearing my cousin, Jackie's stories about her trips to China, and how much she enjoyed her time abroad teaching children. I first started looking into ILP back in March, and put off applying until April. It was a LONG process! I had to get in my application and go through TWO interviews before I knew whether or not I was going to be accepted! I had originally planned on going to Russia with my other cousin, Katrina, but after a while, we both decided we wanted to spearhead our own trips solo! (I really wanted to go to the Ukraine, in other words.)
After learning all I could about Kiev, I got more and more excited to go, and now the day is nearly here! I will be flying out from Salt Lake City on Monday, Aug. 30th around 10:43 AM and heading off to Chicago, where I'll catch my international flight to Dusseldorf, Germany! I'll hang out there for about two hours before I catch my final flight to Kiev, Ukraine! All-in-all, it will be a HUGE flight, taking up all day on the 30th until 2 PM on the 31st! Now, a lot of people have been asking about whether or not I'll be traveling alone. The answer to that question is NO! In fact, several of the girls in my Kiev teaching group will be on my flight once I reach Chicago, and we'll fly out of the country together.
Once I land in Kiev, ILP will meet up with us and take us to meet our host families! That's right: HOST FAMILY. That basically means I'll be living with a native Ukranian family for the whole four months I'm there. I'm so excited about that! During our training, the ILP instructors basically told us the host families we will be living with don't actually speak a lot of English, if any, but the culture experience is worth it. They also told us, though, that many of the host families have hosted a teacher before, so I'm not worried at all about my family. I can't wait to meet them! I won't know anything about them until I get to Kiev, so it will be a huge surprise! (I'll send pictures of them as soon as I arrive so you all can meet them, too!)
While in the Ukraine, I'll have vacation time, in which I can visit all kinds of exciting places and surrounding countries! Like I said, I'll be able to visit Prague, Czech Republic, Vienna, Austria, The Black Sea and many other places! I'm hoping to hit as many places as I can, and see all I can. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I want to make sure I experience the whole thing! When I travel, I'll be going with my Kiev group, which consists of five other teachers and myself, so I'll never be traveling alone! No worries!
I am very excited about my trip, and I can't wait to get out there! I'll have a phone on me and be able to make short phone calls, so expect to hear from me every once in a while! I'll also have Skype, so those of you with Skype can give me a ring, or I can call you! Please keep in mind that I will be 9 hours ahead of all of you, so when it's 6 PM in Kiev, it's 9 AM in Utah! If I'm not replying to emails right away, or I miss a phone call, it's most likely because I'm teaching, traveling, or SLEEPING! I'll try to respond as quickly as I can and let all of you know how I'm doing as often as possible. My host family may not have wireless internet, so I'll have to go to an internet cafe if that's the case.
I'll miss you all and keep you updated as much as possible! I look forward to hearing from all of you and sharing my experiences with you through this blog!
