English Teaching Assistant with Andégo

The decision to intern abroad with the Andégo Program was the best one I’ve made yet. To say that I am heartbroken that there was an expiration date would be a gross understatement. This program opened up so many doors for not just myself but my fellow friends from the program. We got the opportunity to build relationships with our students and our co-workers, as well as the host-families we were placed with. Also, having the opportunity to explore other countries was an added SUPER bonus. I can’t speak for all the other Andégoites in this aspect as I don’t 100% know their experience, but I got to travel with the 2 other interns in my region to 3 different countries, as well as numerous parts of Paris in exploration and food searches, and that was amazing in itself. To have other you can relate to and share adventures with was gratifying. These are connections and relationships I know I will have for life.
But of course, it wasn’t all roses and daisies. In the first couple months I questioned my choices and wondered often if I’d made a mistake, and there were plenty of days during the year when I just felt out of sync with everything, my family, my co-workers and just my surroundings in general. And though the check-ins with Andégo and my family helped, I feel like it was a learning experience that needed to happen on my own, in order to understand that sometimes it’s just life, and not everything will be as perfect as we expect it to be. So I would say to someone that is considering this program, it’s okay okay to ask as many questions as you want and be as cautious as you need to be a well, also, try not to put too many ‘what if’s’ I to your thoughts. Don’t even expect it to be the most perfect experience of your life, either. Just go with the flow, because there will for sure be days you don’t expect to overcome, and things you didn’t think you’d need to deal with. But those days will be few and far between, and with them you gain a little more knowledge of yourself and the world around you, with a little French cherry on top! xp

During the 11 months that I spent participating in this internship, I visited 6 countries, learned how to take on the role of a teacher, made lifelong friends, made professional connections, learned how to be a good roommate, how to balance social life with work, and learned who I want to be. While there are many challenges that come with living abroad, it is also an invaluable experience that I encourage everyone to take part in at some point in their lives. While I was initially nervous to make such a big life change directly out of high school, I quickly adapted to the French culture and lifestyle in order to immerse myself as best as I could.
Traveling was something I found easy to plan throughout the year as I could simply take a train 20 minutes away from where I lived, and there was a new place to discover. Being open-minded is very important when taking part in an experience like this in order to really explore a new place. I really enjoyed solo traveling for the first time but I also think it was great to find friends to travel with who were interested in similar experiences. Finding a good group of people is key to making an abroad experience work.
My colleagues were incredibly helpful and welcomed me to their school. They helped me throughout the year both in and out of school settings. I still communicate with many of the teachers I worked with even after being back in the US. Teaching was something that didn’t necessarily come easy to me when I first started. I did a lot of lesson planning and tried to figure out how to cater towards different age groups. By the end of this program I realized that the “fake it ‘til you make it” mentality really worked for me. Faking the confidence I didn’t have in front of a group of 30 plus students led to developing real confidence in my lessons by the end of the first few months. I found that as long as my students were having fun, asking questions, and learning at least one new thing each day, I felt that I was doing my job well. Collaborating with other interns and teachers was something I also found to be useful.
I think the biggest thing that I took out of this year was learning more about myself and what I want to do with my future. Before I left for France, I had no idea where I wanted to go next or what I was going to study. While in the end, I did realize that I don’t want to be a teacher, it was still great to participate in this program. The most valuable things I learned were how to become independent and how to adapt and be open to change. This program changed my life!

The Andego program offered me something I never would have thought would ever happen to me in my life. I never would have thought I would be going abroad. I am so happy and grateful that I was given the opportunity to go to France because now I have Friends all over Europe. I now have a family to go back to in France. I made life long friends who I can now call family. Also now I speak French! My French is now so good that French people think I am French! Teaching was so much fun as well! My most valuable memory would have to be when my students began to speak English while I spoke French to them. Overall a very great experience and I would do it again! Merci Andego.

It’s hard to imagine that this time last year I was beginning my gap year journey and now I am writing about it in hindsight! This past year has been fun, exciting, scary, hard, sometimes lonely but at the same time filled with so much love. I couldn’t have anticipated all the places this year would have taken me. Honestly, going into it I thought teaching English would be a breeze…how hard could it be, right? There were definitely many challenges that came with teaching that I had to take on as I went along, but so many rewarding moments. I loved all of my students and I couldn’t have asked for a better group. But standing in front of a bunch of teenagers waiting for you to teach them something was incredibly daunting at first and I doubted my ability to even do so. Then slowly, day after day, week after week, and after every funny, silly and endearing conversation with my students, what seemed impossible became second nature. On top of that, I was fortunate enough to make a group of amazing friends who I will never ever forget. There is something so special about the friendships you build during these types of experiences. We’re all so far away from home and in a weird and exciting place in our lives so they quickly become like your family. We travel together, experience things for the first time together, eat, laugh and cry together and make beautiful memories. This experience is something I will never regret and I feel has changed me forever. I learned new things about myself and did things that I never thought I would or even could do, that I will now carry with me into the future. I can’t wait to tell these stories to my family and friends in years to come.

I met many amazing people and was able to learn a lot about the French culture. One thing that I learned that made my experience more unique was how important protests were to the French citizens. I was able to participate in a lot of demonstrations for things I believed in and was able to travel around France to partake in them with my friends. We went to Lyon for a few protests and also hiked in the mountains to bring awareness to problems with climate change there. I was even able to play my trumpet there for people and they danced and everyone had a lot of fun.
This experience was incredibly valuable to me in terms of personal development and growth. I became a lot more independent and am more outgoing and confident now. I am comfortable exploring on my own and love meeting new people and experiencing new things. I could tell that this trip changed me when I got back and one of my friends immediately said that I seemed more mature. When traveling on your own and living in a foreign country, I would say it definitely makes you more mature. I am very grateful to have had this gap year and I learned so much from it.

Overall I am so grateful I took the leap and decided to do this program. It helped me grow and learn in so many ways and I know it is just the beginning. The social scene in Angers was lovely, and there were plenty of things to explore. The fact that it was a university town was a huge plus too as there were many other students and people my age! It was a bit more difficult starting out given my position was at an elementary school, but my host family was helpful in getting me connected, and the fact that we had a group of assistants there offered a built in community as well. I am very grateful for all of the ways I grew in my year abroad. I gained a confidence in myself learning a new language and trying new things. I feel way better equipped now that I am in college than I would have it I went straight into it after high school. Especially with Covid it was exactly what I needed to grow and regroup. Getting to do something like this so young is not easy but is so so worth it. I encourage anyone with a heart for exploration and community to see if this program is right for you.

I truly don’t know how many more good things there are to say about Andégo Internships Abroad. This program gave me the opportunity to completely change my life and surround myself in the dream life I always hoped I’d be brave enough to embark on. From Robert Zenk’s generous offer of resources, time, and support, to the surprise of finding out what city I’d be placed in, the entire application process, the internship, and everything up until now will be a year with Andégo that I will highlight as one of the best years of my life, for the rest of my life. The opportunity that Andégo gave me to go out and tackle real world challenges (i.e. interacting with your boss… but in a foreign language?!) and also experience the “vie française” that I’d be craving to explore for years helped prove to me that I am capable of so much more than I thought, and I am so much more confident and strong than I’ve ever felt before. From walking down the cobblestone streets of Bordeaux with a croissant in hand, to going to late-night French music festivals with newfound friends, to having my sixth-grade English students give me secret notes that say “You are the best teacher!” in French, my gap year with Andégo was truly a blessing, and I highly recommend Andégo to anyone who is even slightly considering taking a gap year. Trust me - it will be worth it.

I spent my gap year in Annecy, France, working as an English teacher. Teaching English as a 19-year-old and living in a foreign country on your own presents its own challenges, but the skills and confidence I developed will serve me in my future endeavours in college and beyond. I had an amazing host family with whom I still stay in contact and I was also able to travel to 11 countries during my vacations and summer! I encourage everyone to take a gap year if they can; it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for personal growth and this program is a great option!