Once upon a time... okay, just kidding. But seriously, a few years back I decided to start saving money for the chance to attend the FIFA World Cup. Thus, my sights have been set on Brazil since it was announced that the country would be hosting the tournament in 2014. I was hoping that the U.S. would be awarded the World Cup in 2018 or 2022, but we lost those bids, so the closest country that would be hosting the tournament in the next decade was this vast country in South America. Soccer is a beautiful game and has provided me with some unforgettable memories, so I was very excited about the possibility of going to THE soccer country and powerhouse of Brazil.
I graduated this past summer and once I returned from my study abroad trip to Spain, that was it. No more homework. No more tests. No more school. It was time to enter the scary "real world" and get a job, one of those 8 to 5 things, haha. However, I did not have anything lined-up right away and decided to take my relatives up on there offer of living with them in Jacksonville, FL for a while. In addition to helping them move-in to their new home, I joined the North Florida Soccer Officials Association and refereed middle and high school soccer games. This part-time gig paid well and enabled me to save a good bit of money in the couple of months I was there. I also began searching around and exploring possible future opportunities: non-profit organizations, military, and even glancing at some graduate schools.
Meanwhile, my younger brother was living and working abroad in Japan! He had joined the international student organization AIESEC as his university where there's a chapter. My brother has always been fascinated by the Japanese culture and he has studied the language since high school. Through the organization he was able to acquire a six-month long internship with a company in Kyoto. Seeing his posts and photos on Facebook about his experience encouraged me to look in to AIESEC for myself. So after piggy-backing off his idea, I too joined the organization, paid a fee, and gained access to their international database of internship opportunities around the world.
At first I was primarily interested in Spanish-speaking countries because I wanted to live in a place where I could continue to learn and improve my Spanish proficiency. However, nearly all of the paid internships in those countries were for someone who wished to teach English. Some even required teaching/ ESL certifications. My mom is an ESOL teacher and I admire the dedication and effort she puts in to her job, but no gracias. Ha. So I continued to search and worked my way to Brazil, where there were a lot of different AIESEC chapters (the most of any country I believe). Via this search, I found two opportunities at two English language schools: Celil and Wizard. The job description was not to teach a class, but to be a monitor/tutor for the students and assist the teachers. Then I began to think more about the chance to learn another language, experience a different culture, make more friends and increase my international network, and be in the country that will be hosting one of the world's greatest sporting event! How cool would that be!?
There was a gap of a few weeks when my Brazilian correspondents were not replying to my messages and I almost decided not to take part. Luckily, I heard back from the AIESEC chapter in Brazil the night before the deadline I had set for them. After passing the interviews, reapplying to be a student at GSU, registering for a class, paying the spring semester's tuition, paying a matching fee for AIESEC, getting my documents together, obtaining a student visa, purchasing new travel bags and a plane ticket, and consulting my state-side Brazilian friend, I was ready to go. Once the ball got rolling, it was really rolling!
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| Me- before leaving the States. |
[And so you all must be wondering, "Does he have a ticket to the World Cup?" My response is "YES!" At 8am on March 12, I was on FIFA's ticketing website trying to buy a ticket to the quarterfinal match that pits 1A vs 2B. I believe this match-up will be a great one because it will most likely involve Brazil as the #1 team from Group A playing against the #2 team from Group B, which I think will either be Spain or the Netherlands. Unfortunately the server was really crowded, of course, as everyone was on at the same time trying to buy tickets. So after 10 minutes of trying to buy this ticket, when I refreshed the page yet again, the match had been sold-out. So I then had to find a Plan B. I reviewed my notes and searched through other intriguing match-ups that were being played in nearby cities. Most of them were also sold-out, but there was one I had circled some months ago when I was reviewing the group-stage matches, Costa Rica vs England. I lived in Costa Rica for 6 weeks during the summer of 2012, and England is full of premier league stars, so this match definitely interested me. I was successful in purchasing a ticket! It takes place on June 24 in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais.]
:D
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