New Internship

A couple of weeks ago I started my Junior Social Work internship through NYU at the International Rescue Committee in Manhattan (IRC). IRC is a non-profit organization that has a resettlement department which essentially does all it can to provide comfort and opportunities for refugees to thrive in the United States. Refugees are people fleeing from persecution and war in their own countries which had become no longer safe for them. Asylees are also assisted at IRC. It was explained to me that the difference between an asylee and a refugee is that a refugee applies to enter the country and tries get into the country, whereas an asylee is a person already in the U.S. who applies for government support as a refugee, usually because his/her country had become too dangerous for them to return.

My role as an intern, other than typical office work, is to make life easier and more comfortable for the clients as well as the staff. I have done the filing type stuff, but the other things I need to do are: set-up a clients home before they are planning to arrive in this country as a refugee, that means going shopping on the small budget that the government gives them, and then going to their apartment (usually in the Bronx) to prepare and have food ready for them too. Once they arrive they have lots of paperwork and appointments to go to, which interns (me) accompany them to. Appointments like social security, bank, medical, you name it. IRC also works with them on their language barriers and employment because many come in with very poor knowledge of English and the better they are at English the more likely they are to get a better quality job and to keep that job.

The entire experience is very interesting, and I don't get bored ever. I always feel bad for people waiting in the waiting room for hours not knowing when they're going to be seen because they may or may not have understood that they were asked to wait. I also just feel bad for them waiting because a lot of the processes involved with being a refugee or an asylee also involve a lot of waiting and exhaustion. Many of them don't want to be here because the only reason they left their country is because it is too dangerous for them to be there: where everything they know, speak, eat, and have a community with are still sitting.
I couldn't imagine moving to another country without an option of when, where, how, or even who with; not to mention the huge language barrier that I would have to work through in order to feel the least bit comfortable while trying to survive and use all of the policies to my benefit rather than allowing them to make things more difficult for me. And believe me, some governmental policies concerning these issues are more likely to make life more difficult than any easier and are often very unfair. A prime example of the unfairness is this; A refugee has three months to find a job in this country (fair) and each refugee is given $900 a month to get on his/her feet (fair). However, refugees are placed all across the country in urban, suburban, and rural settings, but still all begin with $900 a month (not fair). A refugee placed in Manhattan has to survive off the same amount of money as a person living in Podunk-No-Where. Refugees can request to be placed with friends/family who are already in the United States but ultimately have no say in the matter (not fair).

Overall the policies tend to be the things that frustrate me most, and I have barely dipped my foot into the pool I am about to swim in.

My first day my clients were two couples, one with a baby. They had just flown in from across the world the day before, and the next day they had to wake up bright and early to spend at least 6 hours on the metro and waiting in waiting rooms. I was with them for 4 of those 6 hours. My job was to take them to register at social security. Lots of waiting, lots of required patience and slow discussions. The most difficult is the language barrier, especially with people who speak n0 English, and I speak n0ne of their language. Spanish only comes in handy here once in a long while, mostly for Cuban clients. French and Arabic would be a lot more helpful to me right now. I feel like I'm losing my ability to speak and understand Spanish as it is, so I was a little disappointed to find that I wouldn't have many opportunities to practice with clients.

My third day I sat in on a case management meeting concerning employment for clients. I sat quietly, because I am not qualified to say anything, and also because I didn't understand a lot of the acronyms that were being thrown around. Social Work has a lot of acronyms. I need a spreadsheet of codes to learn. The meeting was extremely productive and even funny at times to hear how some clients participate in their employment. Cultural differences can be funny sometimes. I'm sure we have a wide variety of personalities that can be found in our cliental. If I could just sit in on case management meetings all day I would be happy.

The IRC office is moving from Grand Central Station to near Times Square, so I guess that means I will be seeing Time Square a lot more often now since that's where my metro stop is. It's kind of exciting. I feel like seeing Time Square on an almost regular basis is like a confirmation that I officially live in New York City. Having a job here is cool, even if it is an internship that my school hooked me up with. Not lame at all.

I'm sure I will write more in the future, but probably not very frequently. Keep reading!

Back to NYC

I'm settling back in to my new home in the city to start my second semester in NYC and my third semester at NYU.
Being back here feels weird. It felt so right being home with my family and friends. Not that it feels wrong right now, but the city was never home for me, so I feel like I have moved to a new place all over again. Even if I know where the things I need are and my brother is here if I need somebody, it still doesn't feel like home.

I've been seeing some of my friends here and there and I've started up classes. It's very exciting  to be back and finally getting into my major! All of my social work classes are tomorrow so fingers crossed that tomorrow is the best day of my week.
Something I am definitely really excited about is living near one of my favorite bagel places of all time! Probably not the best for my health, but I am definitely in love with New York bagels.

My parents stayed all weekend and it was a  lot of fun, I miss them when we're apart. Even if we're fighting I miss them. Love is torture haha

Now to find a internship for my social work field placement! Forgot to do that.

Patriots are going to do great against the Giants at the Super Bowl.
Tom Brady, woof.

Last Day in Spain 12/17

Alarm goes off at 630, and I get ready to go to the airport with my roommate. Our landlord comes to check us out and do a quick overview of the apartment. He takes longer than he should and proceeds to make our lives just a little bit more difficult by charging us unnecessary fees and telling us we should have already left for the airport.
Peace out apartment.

Grab a cab.

Sulk.

Get the airport and I check in for my flight that isn't until the afternoon, but I figure if I am here and I have the time I should just get it done.
Go through security and hang out in McDonalds because we are super early.
Go to the gate.
Say goodbye to my roommate. Tear up a little.

Head back to the terminal to put my bags in a locker and get my last fill of the city.
Catch the bus back to the center of Madrid and go straight to the Royal Palace to take a tour.
That took 45 minutes. I grab some last minute gifts because I am afraid that I may have forgotten someone. I probably did.
Meet up with a friend to go shopping.
Get my last jar of Sangria, which I drink most of.
Eat my last 100 Montaditos.
Walking around. Getting my last wind of things in the city.
Bus to the airport.
Grab my things from the locker check and head to my terminal. Meet up with lots of other NYU students heading home.

Fall asleep before take off. Wake up after take off and feel sick and cold.
The food is bad. I sit next to a nice French girl who tells me all about her life. I encourage her to of course.
Land in JFK, collect my things and go through customs.
Leave JFK Terminal 7.
Return to JFK Terminal 5.
Jetblue rules.

Can't find New York bagels. Regrettably.

Dinner, and on a plane to Boston.
Sit next to a guy coming from Sweden.
I have now been awake for 23 hours, even though the clocks say otherwise.
Land in Logan.
Thank anyone and everyone who says "excuse me" or calls me miss.
Wait for my bags for an extremely long time.
Catch my ride outside. I say "thanks for helping me with my bags," kick off my shoes and lay down in the back seat. My eyes close while I listen to classical opera played on the radio. This driver has taste.
Wake up and I see the symbolic Burger King and Shorty's sign telling me that I am off the highway and 5 minutes from home.
Get home, put my bags in the doorway. No one is home. Brother is in New York, and parents are partying in Boston. Go upstairs to get to bed.
Become distracted.
It has now been 26 hours that I've been awake.
Bedtime.

Wake up early to get dressed and go to church to surprise my parents. HI HELLO! I'm home!

I will be writing more in the future about being back home, and what my next plans will be for traveling, so stay tuned.

Thank you to everyone who has been standing by me throughout my travel abroad experience. I had a  lot of downs which my friends and family supported me through, and a lot of ups that I have written about and laughed with my friends about. I am extremely grateful and I feel blessed for every moment, good or bad, that I've had this past year with my travels and moving to different cities. I have learned a lot about myself and what works for me or doesn't, what is best for me when it comes to being happy and healthy. My family has unwaveringly supported me, even when I call and wake them up throughout all hours of the night. I am glad to be home because it is where I belong right now, but I miss Madrid. I definitely loved the city more than I realized. Now that I am moved back home from Madrid I miss all of the imperfections that I complained about while I was there. I am ready to move forward with my life and on to my next adventure. I'm re-awakening to all that I left behind and feeling like I am a 180 from the person I was last year, last semester, or even a couple of weeks ago. This year I have been blessed to travel to Mexico, Dominican Republic, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Morocco, United Kingdom, Belgium and Holland. I feel so blessed to have had the ability to travel, and I hope to do more in the future by way of giving back to the world whatever I have to offer. I owe it all to God and my parents who know that I couldn't have asked for anything more and that I am so grateful.

Thanks to those who read my blog, I appreciate your support and I hope that you continue to read because I will certainly continue to write. As long as I am young, capable, and saving my money... there will always be another adventure down the road. Hopefully not too far down though.

Gran Canaria 12/9-12/12

The last trip during my study abroad travels (which ended December 17th) was to the Spanish island called Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
This trip look a lot of planning and a lot of changing of plans, and I like to think that it was well worth it. I had a lot of studying and writing to do at the time, just like everyone else in college, so my time was basically spent resting, eating, and doing the school stuff. The weather wasn't the greatest because the sun wasn't really out the entire weekend, but I found the slow pace and atmosphere quite enjoyable.

Originally we were supposed to have traveled to stay outside the city of Las Palmas, but because of my own mixups with our hostel arrangements, I changed the plans last minute and my roommate and I ended up on the opposite side of the island at a town called Puerto Rico. The hotels were very cool because they were on cliffs overlooking the water. Our last minute arrangements took us to a nice hotel over the water with our own little apartment for the 3 days we were there.

My favorite part about being in Gran Canaria was the stars at night. If it was just a little bit darker, like New Hampshire gets, than it would have been a perfect resemblance to home. I love laying outside at night, under the stars. There's something that is romantic about it and has a way of calming me down.

During my trip there I went on a boat ride between towns, shopped a bit (obviously), and basically just relaxed. I would have liked to have had time to hike a volcano, but I didn't plan it in advance or look into it enough to do that. I had never even seen a volcano before that so driving through the island just to get to and from the airport was really cool for me.