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May 9, 2008
So... finals went by and... school is over! The last two weeks have been hectic. I was really nervous on the finals I took Monday and maybe Tuesday too. But after taking a couple of them, I realized I had done exams before, and I realized I was being tested on what I had been working on for the whole semester, so I stopped fretting about it. Nevertheless, the week was intense, and I couldn't focus on anything, save exams. This means that my social life was inexistent, my fridge was empty and my laundry pile was enormous. Fortunately, I think I've done well enough so as to take the courses I want to take next semester.
And right after that, on the very moment I finished my last exam, my brain stopped functioning. I've been absent-minded and lazy for a week, and I just cannot believe I used to do so many things in a day!
I started unwinding at the party at our house. It was my roommate's birthday (Courtney's) and the perfect excuse to celebrate, since so many people would be leaving Monterey the week after. I had a lot of fun, and so did our guests I'd say!
This week I've been packing, partying and saying goodbye to friends (not extensively though, saying goodbye is sad, and pointless, when you're going to see that person again).
Apart from that, I attended one more event that GSTI organized. Interpreters representing international organizations and some governments usually come to sit on professional exams. It's a good opportunity for graduating students to showcase their skills and start their adventure in the interpreting market on a good foot. Since these interpreters were at our school, a panel discussion was organized. The panel was made up of the following interpreters:
- Patsy Arizu, Chief Interpreting Division Department of State
- Michael Yan, Diplomatic Interpreter in Mandarin - Interpreting Division Department of State
- Marc Fallow, Chief Interpreter Assigning Unit Department of State
- Marta Scaringi, Assigning Officer in Spanish and Arabic - Department of State
- Melania Ahuja - UN Spanish Booth Head in New York
- Fabienne Youssef, Senior Interpreter - Foreign Language Interpretation - Translation Bureau - Canadian government
They gave us very encouraging and enlightening advice. All of them emphasized the need to read in our working languages. It's not the first time I've been given that advice, but I will surely continue to apply it this summer!
April 25, 2008
Finals start next week. Already! How did this happen! The T&I school finishes a week earlier, since 2nd year students need the extra week for their professional exams. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but I know that when you graduate, you receive your MIIS degree. If you pass your professional exams, you receive an additional mention. Anyway, week earlier or not, the semester is coming to an end.
I have mixed feelings about finals. On one side, they mean that the summer officially starts. On the other, they mean that I'm almost half way through. I do not mean to say that time has gone by very quickly, but it does make me nervous to think that I have to pass the interpretation exams in order to be admitted to the classes I want to sign up for in the fall. I think that the reason we (slightly) fear finals is because they mean change. We leave Monterey, we leave our yearlong friends and we're thrown into the world again. I have some plans lined up to be able to make the most of my summer. First, I'll go on vacation to Europe for a little while to charge up my batteries, I'll visit family and friends and enjoy some relaxing weeks. Then I'll start my internship.
Internships have been on my mind one way or the other for most of the year. Jeff Wood, the Career Manager at the T&I school told us at the beginning of the school year that one third of the students get their internship through the school. I wanted to have the odds on my side, so I started looking for an internship really early, in case I'm not one of those students. I ended up with a situation that was nearly perfect: I will be going to a private hospital to be a medical interpreter intern.
I was lucky enough to know my plans well before the semester ended. Some students have had to look for internships until the very last moment, that is, until the day before finals. Some students still don't have anything lined up.
There are several advantages to this. First, I'll be in the US. This is exactly what I need to get my B language where it needs to be for the second year. Second, I'll be interpreting. Not everything is perfect though. The internship is not paid, but I won’t have to cover housing expenses. I figured that two more months without a salary won’t kill me, since I'm living without an income for two years.
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April 15, 2008
I'm decided on the track I'm going to follow: I'm going to work towards my MACI in Spanish (A), English (B) and French (C). In T&I jargon, A is your native language, and B is the one you know best, the one toward which you can work even though it is not your native. And C is the one you work from but not into. In my case this wasn't a hard decision, this was my initial choice when I started back in August, but also, I see it in a different way now that I've been exposed to the school's classes and activities for a whole year.
I enjoy translation classes here, professors are really good, but interpretation really makes me happy. It's been hard (and I'm not done yet), and I've had 2 to 3 twelve hour days each semester. But hey, I'm paying for it, so it's good I'm taking advantage of it. There are students that choose the MATI track, and their argument for doing it is very intelligent: you have access to two markets, translating and interpreting, you can combine some business travel times with some quiet translating at home. Becoming a freelance interpreter is not as family-oriented.
Each interpretation class requires you to practice outside on a 1 to 2 proportion. That is, if you have 2 hours of class a week, you must practice 4 hours outside the class in order to progress and improve. If you have a total of 6 interpretation classes, 2 weekly hours each, that is, 12 hours of class plus 24 of practice. You may see how it gets so busy now... However, I enjoy interpreting, so it's not an ordeal to spend all those hours in a booth.
Today, though, my friend (Anta, the only other Spaniard on campus with my same language combination) and I decided to skip our practice session and go for a walk. In our defense I'll say that our practice session was 6 to 8 pm today, and our Thursday starts at 9 am. Normally, it's dark when we get in and darker when we get out of the lab. For some weeks now, we've been on summer light saving time. And today it was especially sunny, so... the temptation was too big!
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April 7, 2008
Last Friday the school hosted a Happy Hour. It’s usually once a month, but sometimes every three weeks. It provides a nice environment to mingle, talk to students from other schools, relax and talk to friends that you haven’t seen lately and make new friends. I'm usually just running through campus from one class to the next one, so I appreciate being able to talk to someone for more than 5 minutes between classes.
The one last Friday was especially nice. It was my first this semester, when the previous ones had been held I had either been gone for the weekend or it was too cold or rainy to go. Last Friday, the sun was finally out, and we were already on daylight saving time, so days are longer and it didn’t get dark and cold at 5.30.
This happy hour was hosted by the Afro and the Spanish clubs: there was a group playing ethnic music and some African sculptures. The Spanish club supplied Mexican snacks, and the school provided the drinks (beer and wine). Regardless of the group organizing Happy Hours, they always are environmentally friendly: students have to bring their own cups. Also, they are held on the patio in front of the Samson center, which I believe is the only "green” building on campus.
The definite plus about happy hours is that everybody loves them, so everybody comes with a smile on their face, ready to have fun.
After a couple of hours, Happy Hour was over, and this Friday we had another special event: the Follies. Now, when I signed up for this, I had no idea what kind of event I was attending. As far as I was concerned, it was something that Seda, my roommate, was involved in organizing and students would be performing on stage.
For two hours, I saw some of my colleague students showcase their talents singing, dancing or playing a musical instrument. Also, there were students (and faculty) putting on funny shows, dressing up as celebrities or professional dancers and performing choreography. The songs varied widely: from Abba to Justin Timberlake's latest hit and some belly-dancing traditional music.
It certainly was an interesting cultural experience, and a lot of fun! The Spaniards have decided to contribute next year with some folklore of our own as well!
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March 29, 2008
I was lucky enough to find a house to share with other students very close to campus, on Larkin Street. The house has a backyard with a lemon tree (the lemon tree is pretty much everything there is to it.) We were all very excited at the prospect of a big backyard to sunbathe, garden and organize gatherings with friends and so on.
Well, we discovered over time that there are not that many sunny and warm days to sunbathe in Monterey, so we haven’t been able to use it a lot for that purpose.
I started my own little garden with zero to no knowledge about gardening. I used to take care of it once a week, and I really enjoyed watering the plants and taking care of them… although my love story with nature didn’t last that long, the urban dweller inside me soon came up, and I forgot about my little plants altogether. Strangely enough, a flower (out of ten that I planted) has managed to survive my carelessness. Some of the vegetables are also alive, although my lack of knowledge on the subject will probably kill them before we can eat any of them.
And then we organized a BBQ in the fall, a complete success that we're hoping to repeat in the spring, but again, we're waiting for warmer weather. We borrowed a grill from a friend (IPS student) who lives on our same block, and our friends brought music, footballs, snacks and drinks. We started in the early afternoon and we chatted and had fun until the evening.
Even though the backyard hasn’t turned out to be the hotspot of the house, I couldn’t be happier with my experience: I must say that arriving in Monterey without having any idea whatsoever of who my roommates were going to be made me feel very anxious. Even though there are no dorms or official housing for students, there is a list of housing postings where you can find roommates. Also, Monterey is not that big, so August's Craigslist is dominated by MIIS new students looking for and offering housing.
I live with an MBA student, Seda (she also writes a journal for MIIS), an IPS-TI student (Amy) and an IPS-MBA student (Courtney). There are not that many students doing dual degrees in school, for some reason our house has a high percentage of them! We didn’t know each other before, but things couldn’t have turned out better! They are the nicest and warmest roommates I could have, I'm happy to go back home after a long day of classes and practice, because I know someone will be there, and we can talk or hang out together.
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March 15, 2008
This is a question my mother, who lives in Spain, usually gets from acquaintances: “How is your daughter doing? The one that got into acting.” They even get more confused when my mom answers: "She’s not an actress, she’s an interpreter, but thanks, she’s doing fine”… What is an interpreter? Why would I come to California if it isn’t to be an actress in the first place? For small talk sake, it’s so much easier for a mother to have a daughter studying medicine, architecture or journalism.
This is just an example of how difficult it is to relate to this profession for the average person. Unless you attend conferences with international speakers in them or know cover to cover how the UN or the EU work, chances are you have not ever seen an interpreter at work. Well, there is an exception to that: You may have seen a certain thriller, with a certain actress in it playing the role of a UN interpreter. Let’s face it… you talk to your banker, doctor, architect, etc at some point in your life… But when are you going to have an “interpreter’s” appointment?
The so-called average person isn‘t the only one thinking that he/she couldn’t be more clueless about the role of an interpreter… I felt like that when I first began interpreting, and I would dare to say that most of my fellow students felt the same.
We’re in the 4th week of the second semester and we’re starting to get a flavor of simultaneous interpreting. During the first semester, the program is focused on translation and consecutive interpretation (which is the kind of interpretation used for press conferences, interviews and small meetings). Simultaneous interpretation is the one that requires a booth and a lot of energy.
As a result, just when you think that you’re getting the hang of it, some unexpected problem or difficulty enters the equation. So far, even though I've been doing this Monday to Friday for the last four weeks, I still forget to turn on the microphone or tune in to the right channel in order to be able to hear the speech… The list of technical problems encountered is long, although not the longest. There are just so many things to be taken care of at the same time, and I’m only able to use so many cells in my brain so far, so… I still have a long way to go!
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February 27, 2008
Translation and Interpretation at the Monterey Institute
There are some 150-200 T&I students at MIIS. Each of them will give you a different answer on what it is like to be here: we all have different backgrounds, take different courses with different professors and choose different electives or activities... There sure is something that glues us all together, but the amount of choices and customizable options available may be overwhelming.
Something that strikes me as unique at this school is the amount of conferences you may attend and interpret at (if you’re a second year student). There are not only talks organized by school, most likely at the Irvine auditorium, but also real life conferences for professionals.
Last semester, the Annual Meeting of the ATA (American Translators Association) was held in San Francisco. There was no interpretation at that one, but by attending we could get the flavor of the professional world out there waiting for us upon graduation.
We have started off this semester with a conference called Connect-Ed, held here in Monterey at the town’s conference center, with attendants coming from all around the world. The subject was Global Education.
On one side, the subject of the panels was very specific: how is English learning evolving in some countries and how universities in Europe and the US are trying to globalize and have a bigger impact on society… On the other hand, the keynote speakers were well known politicians, writers, policy-makers and businessmen. Through their presentations, they shaped some of the XXI century politics and education systems. I cannot believe how lucky I was to attend that conference.
2nd year T&I students interpreted for the Spanish audience at these conferences, and all MIIS students were welcome to attend free of charge. I’m still revolving around some of the ideas I heard in there. Also, you realize that you’re starting to think as an interpreter when you attend these events. You become very tough on speakers: do their ideas make sense? Do they link well together? Does he speak too fast?
Another conference, called the Monterey Model kicked off this Tuesday. The subject this semester is Counter-Terrorism. Students from all programs are welcome to attend a lecture every Tuesday on counter-terrorism, where T&I students interpret to the school languages (Russian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Spanish and English).
After this week of lectures and conferences, the first Happy Hour of the semester was held on Friday. It’s a totally different sort of event, but still glues the community together, which is not to be underrated.
So… even as classes and homework get overwhelming through the semester, I’ll be sure to attend these events, it’s also part of school!
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February 5, 2008
Weekends at Monterey are perfect, especially from September to November, since the weather is still nice. December, when the weather is cold and the final exams are coming, is a different story. Anyways, it is usually sunny, and the vistas here are exuberant. I have never lived by the sea before, and I'm taking advantage of it! I go biking to Pacific Grove on the bike trail along the coast once a week (my classmates living in Pacific Grove bike to class every morning, they must think I’m crazy since I do it for pleasure!) and I’ve visited some of the natural parks around here.
Sometime in September or October, Professor Peter Grothe organized two cross-cultural field trips to Big Sur. I signed up for the first weekend. It was a great experience at all levels: I got to know students from other programs; we enjoyed the vistas on Highway 1 and breathed fresh mountain air!
We met at the library early on Sunday morning. We drove to the Big Sur, which is one hour away from Monterey. On the bus, Peter asked us to seat next to someone we hadn't talk to till then and converse for half an hour. I sat down next to a second-year guy from Kosovo that had been living in the States for a while, and then next to a Chinese TESOL student that made me a lot of questions on the Translation and Interpretation program.
When we got there, Peter had made reservations for a big hall in the lodge. After some icebreakers, each of us had to present an item from our culture and explain its meaning to the rest of the people. A girl from Costa Rica had brought a very cute coffee maker made of wood and linen. An American girl of Greek ascendant showed us a little box with sweets from her fiancée party. A guy from Canada brought a stop sign written in French and English (Canada is the only country in the world where you’ll find bilingual road signs).
Later on we had lunch outside, by the pool. It was warm and sunny, my favorite part of the day!
Afterwards we played some more games to get acquainted with each others' cultures. In groups of three, we had to come up with three similar things between the three cultures, and three very different things. Many groups came up with different ways of greeting each other in different cultures.
Afterwards, we walked to a waterfall. The walk was beautiful. Nature in this part of the world is magnificent: there were 100-year-old sequoias, and many other plants I didn’t recognize. Peter warned us about a mountain lion, but it seems that the last time someone saw one was 10 years ago…
On our way back to Monterey, the ambiance on the bus was very relaxed, everybody had had a lot of fun, and we all had new friends!
We were back in Monterey by 6 pm, and Peter was kind enough to invite us to dinner at a Chinese restaurant. The food was amazing, and we were all starving. It's surprising how tired can you get from playing games and mingling! This was a very enriching experience, and I must say that I’m still not used to the cultural diversity of the Monterey Institute, it keeps surprising me, and I still have lots to learn from other cultures!
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January 24, 2008
What brought me here?
Back in Madrid, where I went to school, I heard about the Monterey Institute for the first time. I majored in translating and interpreting (T&I), and became an enthusiast of language learning, translating, and most of all, interpreting. English being my B language (the one I’ve mainly worked on, second to my native language), coming to the US was always in my mind.
Upon graduating though, I took a job at a major commercial bank. After a year, I decided to start freelancing as a translator and interpreter. What is life for if you can’t enjoy your job? My language skills had gotten a little rusty, but little by little I started building a portfolio. At the same time I was applying for Monterey. I did look at other schools around the world, but the good name and location of Monterey were key for me. I came to visit sometime in April, although I found the most important information about the school, the programs and so on in this website.
After one more year, and once I had been admitted to the Monterey Institute, I was positive this was a good decision career wise, and I was ready to start!
My first impressions
And when I got here… Monterey was over and beyond my expectations. From day one, professors, staff, advisers and so on have been very generous with their time. I also have a mentor, a second year T&I student who has been very helpful on various occasions.
I found housing in a couple of days. I live with other MIIS students and very close to campus. I was lucky enough to be ready for orientation week just in time! The best part from orientation week was getting to know my classmates... I must say I was anxious about that, after all, I'm going to spend a lot of time with these people!
The first weeks were overwhelming: changing from freelance work to graduate school has been shocking. Days at school are encompassed by classes and practice groups. The hardest part was to acknowledge you are officially in a learning phase of your life once again, and starting to assimilate so many new things. The sooner you get used to your routine here, the sooner you’ll start to really enjoy it!
This is especially true for T&I students: the language level is very high, and we’re all used to speaking fluently in informal situations... But we're not used to translating/interpreting! For the first couple of months, we see ourselves back to basics, focusing on beginner grammar or syntax. Then, sometime in October, your languages are back in place, and your level jumps back up.
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