Katie Murray 

 

I’m from the class of 2019, my majors were Government and Hispanic Literature and Culture and I received an English Teaching Assistantship to the Canary Islands. 

 

It sounds like I’m exaggerating, but my experience was better than I had ever imagined. The best part for me was getting to know a new place and culture so intimately and meeting some of the best people I’ve ever met. I had never been to Tenerife before and never planned on going there. I honestly didn’t know much about the Canary Islands before moving there, so I was able to learn a ton about their history, culture, and about what makes them such a special place. Tenerife is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to – I visited the volcano multiple times, snorkeled, hiked through a tunnel of trees, spent half my free time at the beach, and ate a lot of amazing food. However, the most rewarding part of my grant was the connections I made with people. I gave private classes to a number of families who I grew very close to, I made a lot of friends from around the world, and I felt truly at home in a community where I would be stopped almost five times every time I walked to the grocery store by families or kids that knew me from school. My grant was so full of learning, joy, and personal growth and I am so grateful that I had this opportunity.

 

The advice I would give to applicants and grantees is to be exceedingly open-minded. I think you will find the grant and the application process a lot easier for yourself mentally and a lot more rewarding if you approach it with less rigid goals and expectations for yourself than you’re probably used to having at Wesleyan. For me, applying was the easy part and the waiting to find out was excruciating. I approached the whole process in a much more hands-off and relaxed manner than I usually approach things and I think this made all the difference. I kept my life going and continued applying to other opportunities while I was waiting. I basically assumed that I hadn’t gotten the grant so that when I found out I did, I was overwhelmingly excited and surprised by the opportunity. I applied for a grant in Spain and I ended up on a volcanic island off the coast of Morocco that I knew little about. But, I approached it with a flexible and open mindset and, now, I could talk your ear off about how amazing and unique my home away from home is. I think that is one of the best parts about Fulbright. Learning, immersing yourself, and being able to come back and tell others about what you’ve learned and experienced. So, I think above all you need to be open, flexible, and exploratory as you apply and begin your grant.

 

 

Emma Porrazzo

I’m from the class of 2019, my majors were the College of Social Studies and College of East Asian Studies (International Relations Certificate) and I received an English Teaching Assistantship to Taiwan.

Starting in August of 2019, I had the amazing opportunity to teach as an English Teaching Assistant at two different Elementary Schools in Yilan County, Taiwan. The Fulbright Taiwan ETA program is one of the largest and oldest Fulbright ETA commissions in the world and it was very exciting to be a part of a program that was so supportive and had such a long history in the host country. I got to practice my Chinese on a daily basis while also gaining exposure to the Taiwanese education system, learning from experienced co-teachers, and hanging out with some really cool kids. On the weekends, I was able to scooter or take advantage of Taiwan’s fantastic public transportation system to travel all around the island with other members of my cohort as well as friends that I made in YIlan. 

I had a fantastic experience in Taiwan this year and I cannot speak highly enough of the Fulbright Taiwan commission. I learned so much every day from the communities that I was lucky enough to be a part of while I was there. Before I left Taiwan in March because of the COVID-19 situation, I accepted a second year grant to teach in Taipei next year and I am really looking forward to hopefully going back in August. For people applying, I don’t think that my positive experience with Fulbright or with the Fulbright ETA program in Taiwan was unique, but I do think that every Fulbright commission around the world is different and I recommend doing a lot of research before applying to find the grant that would be best suited to you. Additionally, the application is not that long (just two, 1 pg. essays) and so I recommend writing as many drafts as possible and start drafting early because there is not that much space in which to make a case for why you are well suited to a specific grant. I would also tell people not to rule out the ETA grants just because they do not want to teach English as a career- the people in my cohort at least brought so much to their schools in Taiwan just by being interested in cross-cultural communication and by being enthusiastic about learning from a new experience.