If you enjoy to travel and like adventure, excitement and meeting new people, then interning in another country might be for you.  I am a recent graduate from King's and just got back from student teaching in London, England.  I'd like to share some of these experiences with you so that if you are interested or never even thought about leaving college to go overseas for a semester, you can at least find out first hand what it's really all about. 

            My interest in going overseas began when I was a sophomore.  I was majoring in Math and Education at the time and thinking about becoming a math or computer teacher.  During one of my education classes, Dr. Scappaticci mentioned that some of his students were in London student teaching.  At the time, I thought wow, that's kind of cool, but student teaching was so far away that I really didn't give it much thought.  Then after a few more classes, Dr. Scappaticci again mentioned how well his students over in London were doing and if anyone was interested they should see him after class.  So I thought, why not, it couldn't hurt finding out more about it.  After meeting with Dr. Scappaticci and attending a meeting about the program, my interested was piqued.  My next task was to convince my parents and figure out how to pay for it.  This ended up being far easier then I expected as my parents were very supportive and the expenses for the whole trip came out to be close to the same as I would've paid if I had stayed at King's and student taught.

            I decided to graduate before I went overseas so I needed only to fulfill my student teaching in order to get my teaching certificate.  This also enabled me to concentrate only on teaching while I was there. 

            After a summer of preparation, the day came to leave for London.  It was on a Sunday, September 2 at 2:00pm when Alyson (another King™≠s student) and I departed.  The trip was eight hours and I couldn't wait to see London and meet all my new flatmates (roommates).  I had heard from many people that London was a very happening place.  When we arrived we were taken from the airport to our flat (apartment) where we met everyone that we would be living with.  There were about thirty other students from colleges across the eastern United States.  They were all doing different types of internships but only the two of us from King's were there student teaching.  I immediately fell in love with London!  It was a big exciting city with enough things to do and see, it could take years to see it all.

            The first week was great!  Our London coordinators, Elizabeth Watkins and Anita Morgan, planned lots of activities and trips for us to see the city and to get better acquainted with our flatmates.  We saw the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, and ate in some of London™≠s famous pubs.  These activities really helped because it did take some time and adjusting to get settled into our new home for the next three months with four new flatmates. 

            By the second week we were expected to start our internships.  Again Elizabeth and Anita helped us out tremendously with this.  They took us all to our work destinations and introduced us to our new coworkers and supervisors.  Then the second day at work, was September 11.  It was a scary day for all of us.  We learned what had happened from the BBC news around 2:00pm because of the time difference.  We were frightened and in shock, like everyone else; many of us initially wanted to go home to be with our families because we didn™≠t know what would happen next.  A few days later, we went to a memorial service in St. Paul's Cathedral where the Queen and Tony Blair came to pay their respects for all who died.  We all felt we needed to be there, to think, pray and reflect.  The Brits were great; they made us feel that we were all in this together against the terrorists.  For a while, many in London thought they would be hit next.  So we became very security conscious and took precautionary measures everywhere we went.  We even had some bomb threats close to our flat.  It was a scary time and a lot of us did consider going back home, but only one person ended up leaving.  In retrospect, we were probably safer in London then anywhere.

            During the next couple of weeks we were constantly distracted thinking about what might happen next and of the safety of our families at home instead of our work experiences here.  Eventually we all got back on track getting into a routine, taking the tube (subway) to and from work everyday, reading the newspaper, watching the news, and slowly returning back out into the city and sights. Although it was tough, I am definitely glad I decided to stay.

            As far as student teaching, it was very different than I thought it would be.  For example, teachers teach all grade levels, instead of just one or two, and prepare up to 6 lessons per day; many also stay at work until after 7:00pm.  An interesting technique that I learned and now use is handing out whiteboards to students to hold up with an answer each time I ask a question.  If the majority of my students get the answer right, I know that they are learning the material.  If most of the students get the answer wrong, I know I have to spend more time on that area. 

            Probably one of the biggest benefits of teaching in London was meeting and working with new people and learning about different cultures and places.  The students in my school came from not only London, but from all over the world.  Even the teachers were culturally diverse coming from Australia, New Zealand, Kuwait and Uganda, just to name a few.  It was fascinating to learn about different currencies, the daily change in exchange rates and the politics of Europe moving to the Eurodollars.  I also gradually learned to drink tea and looked forward to the half-hour tea break at 11 o™≠clock every day.

            Another benefit was the free time on weekends.  Travel from London is easy and cheap, so I ended up going somewhere new nearly every weekend.  Rome, Paris, Edinburgh, Bath, and the Lake District in England were just a few of the places I was able to explore.  To see, smell and taste the culture and history was something else.  There is nothing like gelato in Rome, walking down Abbey Road, seeing Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower at night and visiting the castles and cathedrals throughout Europe. 

            The exciting weekends and international experience came to a close in mid-November when I returned to the States to complete the last phase of my student teaching in Wilkes-Barre.  These last five weeks flew by and ended up being another positive learning experience with great cooperating teachers and students.  In January I accepted a position in Basking Ridge, NJ at a middle school teaching 7^th grade math.  I enjoy every minute working with the kids and using my experiences from overseas teaching everyday.  I also continue to stay in touch via email with many of the friends I made in Europe.