Start of an Adventure

I’m assuming that everyone reading will be friends and family, keeping up with my adventures. I’ve told my story so many times so far but if we haven’t gotten in touch yet I’ll fill you in!

In case you don’t know me at all, I’m Jesye Streisel, and I’m 22 years old. I’m just finishing up my MSEd in Literacy at Alfred University and part of the reason I went into teaching (one of a billion reasons!) is that teachers are needed everywhere. Since middle school I’ve dreamed of living in another country. At the time, the plan was to be an ethologist living in a treehouse in the Amazon. By the time high school rolled around, the dream had changed to teaching in Europe. It seemed so far off at that point but here we are! This August I’m moving to Italy to work as a fourth grade teacher in Milan!

I attended their Cambridge conference in February. At first it was incredibly disappointing- hardly anyone would interview me! Understandably, every school representative that I spoke with was looking for more experience. I was feeling pretty downhearted, but because I had only a few interviews, I was able to attend presentations by school administrators and hear more about these amazing schools and what exactly they were looking for. Though there weren’t any elementary openings, at the end of one presentation I introduced myself to the director of the school, handed him my resume and the ‘business card’ my mom had made for me (I have such business savvy, creative parents!), and asked for him to keep me in mind should any openings come up. I emailed him that night to say how glad I was to meet him and as it turned out, one of his teachers was leaving after having a baby. 24 hours later, I was signing a 3 year contract with the school!

*About business cards: My parents helped me with this as a way to set myself apart from the other candidates.  The slightly blurry line is where my phone number was. Every administrator, whether they offered me an internship or told me they needed more experience, LOVED these and said to call them when I was ready for something new or had gained more experience 🙂

I’m excited, nervous, overwhelmed, terrified, ecstatic, and so proud of myself for taking on this new challenge. The idea of leaving my family and friends, especially after attending a school close enough to home where I could go home for dinner if I was really homesick, is just so scary to me. At the same time, I know that this is the turning point in my life and I want to document it as thoroughly as I can and live it up to the fullest!

I love the Disney Princesses and have always related the most to Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Like her, I love my family and am so content to be curled up with a book, but the line from one of her songs “I want adventure in the great wide somewhere! I want it more than I can tell!” resonates with me so much, and I feel like thats what I’m going into this with. So much fear, and so much passion!