I Am Over Half Way Through My Stay In France

It is crazy to think that such a quick decision to leave my job pack my bags and move to France was made in a matter of days. I handed in my notice on my lunch break and saying I was moving to France, I went on easy jet booked a flight and suddenly I had arrived in France. It was an interesting decision but one that I don't regret. I have learnt a lot whilst in France and here are just a few glimpses of my experiences and things I have learnt.

1. I really cant speak French 
I think everyone in my higher French class is reading this and is remembering the times we had where we laugh at my inability to speak French. French is a hard language to understand especially when there are only a few words that I know "bonjour, cherie, salut, mange" to name a few. However by the end of this season maybe my blog posts will be written in French? However I had my first success of going into a coffee shop and ordering in French and paying whilst speaking French!! Onwards and upwards! Update: I wrote this paragraph a while ago and now I am actually able to speak full sentences (under the influence of a few gin and tonics) but I am able to understand a lot of French! So it is true, you can better as time goes on!


2. You don't go out without gloves on in a mountain range
No matter if there is a "heatwave" outside and it is actually above 0 degrees IT DOES NOT FEEL LIKE IT! No matter how sunny! The amount of times I have been deceived by one relatively warm day and unzipped my coat or taken off my scarf does not mean that I do not bring my scarf out on days where it is the same weather conditions because the weather in a mountain range deceives you and it will be bloody cold on the day you don't bring your over clothes out with you.

3. It is true! The higher the altitude the drunker you get!
I was warned about this but I never thought this concept about altitude would actually affect you that much! But nonetheless I can drink half what I do in England and feel more drunk than I ever have before! However once you establish your limits according to altitude you realise that nights out should be cheaper! (However ski resorts will never be considered cheap!)

4. Another thing about bars and clubs in France THEY ALLOW DOGS! 
Never did I ever imagine dogs running around me when I danced on tables with my coworkers on a night out but oh my gosh it makes it makes clubs so much better. Last night there was a cute labrador running round at 2am getting cuddles from everyone! Also another strange thing about bars and clubs in France is that they have smoking rooms so you can technically smoke indoors even though this is no use to me I find it so strange.

5. Working a season is probably cheaper then staying in a ski resort for a week!
I have never been to a proper ski resort before, I have been to Lapland which related to the crazy prices however living in a ski resort has made me realise just how expensive it is. As you go up the mountain prices for this like food, accommodation, ski gear, transport triple! A restaurants average meal starts around 20 euros and can go up to extremes like 40 euros! Its insane! However if you are a season worker you get accommodation and food for free! Let alone major discounts on ski gear and leisure activities. My ski gear rental went down from 850 euros to 99 euros for the season!

6. People in small villages are generally a lot nicer than those in bigger cities 
So classic me that I have lost my phone once and my bank card twice. Each time not going to lie there were small panicky moments such as "I am two kilometres up a mountain in FRANCE without a phone or a bank card." But EACH TIME someone had kindly returned my phone and my bank card to me without using it. They could have gone on a contactless payment spree or used apple pay on my phone but they just gave it back to the restaurant I am staying in. How kind!

7.  It is so expensive! 
I can understand why ski resorts for customers when speaking to my boss about all the tax she has to pay, and seeing the big machinery clear snow each morning at seven am. However the fact that an average meal out is twenty euros didn't really fit my budget. Neither did the expensive gin and tonics and tequila shots, therefore in the eleven days of February I have already spent the 250 euros I planned to spend. However, I have had the most amazing days so you have to way it up but I think the next few days will be quiet nights in watching movies or talking to my friends. However there is a drastic difference between up the mountain and down in the town below. My work schedule and the fact I have no car means I can never go down into the town however my friends  did some food shopping for me and what they bought for twelve euros would be at the top of the mountain close to thirty! So I am really hoping that my next stop of Cambodia is as cheap as people say it is!

8. If I could do it again I think I would 
My time in France has been amazing and the fact that in 43 days I will be heading on a flight home makes me very sad. I love it here in France, I have the most amazing host family and friends who I have made quite a few memories e.g the drunk ones which I do not talk about but also one such as taking the little one into a hot water spa pool with my boss was amazing. Even though I do not have time due to the many years I will be at university for and the nature of what being a nurse will be like I won't have time I have promised I will be back and watch as little clementine grows up! I recommend a ski season to everyone!

I apologise for the long wait for a blog post, there are many reasons why that is but I will talk about them in a few blog posts that are being written at the moment.

MY FIRST TIME SNOW SHOEING

I had the majority of the day off like some of my co workers and we decided we should do something. However when it was decided and translated to be that we were rented snow shoes and going snow shoeing I had no idea what to expect (at all.) But anyway I got on the bus to the local supermarket where I met my friends and from there we all went to hire snow shoes for the afternoon (it was surprisingly cheap only 4 euros!.)



I got to the rental place and they brought out these sort of tennis rackets that you put on your feet and then they instructed us to go to the tourist office and they would give us a route. So we went along to the tourist office and we were told there is an "easy hour circuit route for families." We thought why not and lets go! We put on our snow shoes and started heading out to the forest. It was literally like walking with tennis rackets on your feet and apparently it was to stop you from sinking in the one and a half metre deep snow! (But it only saved us a few times and many times we simply just fell!

We were walking the family route with our limited time frame as we all had work this evening and the fact that we had no real experience with snow shoeing therefore we didn't think it would be that physically demanding. However boi were we wrong when we were suddenly faced with very steep hills with no real pathway covered in snow. Many times I would just sink or my feet would get stuck underneath me which proved very hilarious for my friends. But we continued going up and up and up and up! We didn't know how far we were from completing the circuit we just kept following the signs which were often covered in snow and also impossible to find.

As the route was a family route part of it was to find certain animal tracks along the way such as rabbit tracks or pheasant footprints in the snow! However it dawned on me that I was in the wild and away from civilisation when it asked me to look for wolf tracks and I am very happy to report that I didn't find any. We did meet other people who were snow shoeing on the way however it was often a competition about following the leader as the person who went first was doing the most physical work by making the pathway for the others to follow on.

After longer than an hour and many times I thought "what if I break my leg and cant get down again" we got to the top of the mountain! And we looked at the amazing view ahead of us and were very relieved that it was only down from now on. However down wasn't as easy as expected and it was incredibly steep which meant that you could fall so easily. But as the route was taking longer and longer it was getting darker and darker and we managed to see sunset but it also meant that our evening shifts were approaching fast! So we powered on and managed to get down the mountain (even though one time I was severely stuck in the snow and couldn't stand up and felt that I had given into the mountain and was defeated!) But we did it! And we have agreed that we will do it again and see different views and challenge our fitness levels! (But on days where the weather in nice and next time I am wearing more thermals!)

But overall my experience snow shoeing was highly enjoyable and I would recommend it! However now I just need to figure out what the real word for snow shoeing is rather than just using the direct translation of it!! Tomorrow I am skiing! Another post will tell you all about the adventures of that! (Hopefully I don't end up in A&E and I might actually have courage to go on the ski lift! Who knows)

I have arrived in France!

Salut!

After an extremely long day travelling I have finally arrived in La Rosiére France. (To be honest I have seen so many Italian flags I don't know which side of the border my house is actually on.) But anyway my journey to France was rather eventful and long but I am very proud of myself for navigating 7 hours on French public transport by myself.

I arrived in Les Eucherts the village I am staying in which is a few minutes walk from la Rosiére and got settled in it was very late at that point so I just went to sleep. I woke up the next morning to tons of snow! Well over a metre of snow probably almost 2 metres in the untouched areas! Like my window is completely blocked with snow which was very surreal when I haven't seen this most snow ever! (Even in Lapland!) But anyway I arrived in France and it is insanely beautiful and there is literally a place that sells crepes every 30 metres! The day after I arrived I had the day mostly off and I walked to the local supermarkets to get ingredients for me to cook (especially as I am vegan but I will do a whole other blog post on being vegan in France when I have been here long enough). So I went to carrefour which is literally really good for relatively cheap food but to be honest when you are a sainsburys girl nothing truly compares. But I walked up to carrefour in the snow as me and buses don't jel well and I bought a lot of very simply ingredients to make quick and easy food. But then I realised walking with heavy bags in heavy snow wasn't ideal and I almost caved to try figuring out the bus malarky but I made it back to my accommodation and called that the achievement of the day!!

Having figured out where my local food store was I thought I would find out more about the area! I found out they had a moomoos something I never thought I would see in France but I guess moos wants to travel as much as me and when I go I will compare England moos to the France one and see which one is better. Also the place is filled with so many ski shops!! So many!! So of course I searched around looking for skis and today I got my ski boots and skis and poles for 99 euros in total which is an amazing discount (it is all about connections in the end.) And I am now ready to try talk myself into a cheaper ski pass and also have got a discount for lessons already which has gone down to 32 pounds for an hour but tbh I will hopefully meet someone who will teach me for free. But to be honest that ski lift looks so scary and I guarantee I will fall off or loose a ski and wow I am really working ski season! Nobody saw that coming! But anyway I have my skis now and I feel obliged to learn how to ski! Also I walked up the mountain today to see if there was anywhere I could go up high enough to not use the ski lift as I didn't want to pay to use it - gap year budgets!

I am desperately trying to learn French (currently 33% on duolingo) however I constantly find myself speaking "Frenglish" or "Spench." But time will only be of aid to me finally be fluent in French (the dream!)  I feel the resort I am in is where the French come to ski and therefore everyone I meet speaks somewhat limited English but I am sure I will pick it up very fast! (Hopefully anyway!)

The views from the restaurant I am staying in are insane and yesterday there was a clear sky and honestly it was beautiful! And either I have the most amazing thermals or -6 seems warmer than it sounds? But when it is -18 tonight I guarantee I will be using my second duvet to stay warm! The restaurant is one of the most beautiful restaurants I have ever seen! It is so warm and cosy and stereotypically a restaurant that you would find on the side of the mountain with its wooden cabin feel!

Coming to France at the end of December my big question was what the hell I am going to do on New Years Eve. I was working until around 11 on New years but then I went down to the restaurant where they were all celebrating and honestly had the nicest champagne I have ever tried! It was insane! I spoke with some of the customers and staff to find out I was literally speaking to a professional ice hockey player who was serving me free champagne! Then I got speaking to a French family and they invited me along to the fireworks! Never have I been more petrified for my life when I went to this firework display! THERE WAS NO SAFETY NET AND WE WERE ALL METRES AWAY FROM WHERE THEY WERE SET OFF! In France you can buy fireworks in supermarkets very easily and drunk teenagers and to be honest drunk adults were throwing fireworks around and they were going in every direction possible! It was definitely an experience! Also with the high avalanche risk I definitely did not see how we were allowed to set of fireworks but they were literally being set off from roofs, terraces and on top of snowmen! And from family experience I have learnt I will never set off a firework myself! Only let professionals do it so this was a new experience for me!
I went back to the restaurant after where loud music was playing and many drunk people talking and dancing and people buying very expensive champagne for everyone in the house so I throughly enjoyed the cheapest new year I have ever had! Didn't spend a penny! Thank you to the man I know not the name of who set my champagne experience to a whole new level.

Today I did not realise but I would have the whole day off until 7 this evening so I went on another exploration of the area! I found myself walking through a forrest finding out all the shortcuts to connect all the towns together! I also thought today I would try french fries which to be honest were overpriced (I have got used to the weather spoons in sevenoaks prices) and not as good as the ones I hoped for! I went to this little place to get the chips where people were still drinking and dancing as drunk as ever at 1pm on New years day! I was very impressed! Now I am getting ready for my shift tonight which is only a few hours tops and then I think I am going to have an early night but the French family from last night have told me they will be coming to eat again so I will probably speak to them a bit tonight.

My adventures in France have so far been brilliant! It is early days and I bet there is so much more to discover and I truly hope next time I write a blog post I will have gone down the mountain on those skis! I will tell you all about that when that happens!

See you soon! À plus tard!

CHRISTMAS IN DENMARK

Merry Christmas!! I have never actually had a christmas in England each year I have always flown over to Denmark to celebrate christmas with my extended family. Having spoken about the usual christmas events and traditions to my friends everyone questions my ones as they are so different to a typical English family's traditions so therefore I thought I would give you an insight into my christmas and why I personally think it is the best time of the year.

Christmas for us starts on the 23rd of December where all of the family meet at my grandparents coming from all around Denmark and of course us coming from England. On this nice we have a tradition of having rice pudding for dinner!! No idea why or what this tradition is about but everyone in Denmark has rice pudding for dinner on the 23rd! How strange! Furthermore in the evening we all get together and drink homemade mulled wine called "glögg" and eat pancake balls called "æbleskiver" and play board games to late at night. Every year in my family we play a danish trivial pursuit game entitled "bezzerwizzer" which is all about Denmark which us Brits always lose especially when playing England vs Denmark. On this evening each year is Home alone 2. Between the 22-24 each home alone is played on the danish version of ITV so on the 22nd is it home alone 1, 23rd home alone 2 and 24th home alone 3. The country apparently just loves it!

The main christmas day is the 24th December which is the european equivalent of the 25th December but that for us is our boxing day which is a whole other story. But on the 24th it is the mayhem in the kitchen day with all the food being prepared and cooked (we had to use our neighbours oven because we had so much food) yet each family member is put with a list of things they had to do that day in order to make the day run smoothly. For example my job was to lay the table, put all the presents  under the tree, find santa's outfit and wrap presents. We do this throughout the day however a lot of the time we also play board games and card games and everyone eats a lot of quality streets. Our christmas starts at 4pm when we all sit down and watch the annual "Disney's christmas show." We all sat down with our gin and tonics and watched the 50 year anniversary of the show which includes episodes from Snow white, Donald Duck and Peter Pan. When we all sit down together regardless of the age of the individual that is when christmas truly begins.

After the show as we usually have many little ones and the danes like to eat early we start sitting around the table and start eating as much food as our heart desires. Typically in Denmark this includes turkey, goose, sausages, caramelised potatoes, red cabbage, brussel sprouts and many more things. However because of the many vegans or lactose intolerants etc we had many vegan dishes including a stew type thing and falafel. We all sit and chat and drink wine while talking and eating around the dinner table. After we have our big meal the food doesn't stop and it is time for dessert after a short washing up break. In this break we also put the presents under the tree if that is your assigned job otherwise you help with prepping the table for dessert. Dessert is a competition of who can eat the most "risalamande" which is a creamy almond pudding. However eating dessert is a competition because there are 3 whole almonds hidden in it and if you find a whole almond you win a present. After this we again clear the table and slowly head to the living room where we gather around the christmas tree. In Denmark as we celebrate christmas eve santa comes to your house and delivers the presents himself. However for santa to come you have to sing and dance around the christmas tree! So as tradition we sing Danish songs and dance around the christmas tree and even do a sort of conga around the whole house!! After this we give out the rest of the presents and then youngest first opens all of them and we all watch each other open their presents. From there we play games and talk until late and we start going to bed ready for the next day.

Like I mentioned earlier the 25th December is our boxing day where for some reason it is a tradition to have Asian food so today we are having an spicy indian curry. We always go to my uncle and aunties house and gather there and today is the day of games and especially the most important part of today the game called "pakke log." This game is a chance to get more presents! You wrap up loads of small things (basically from the Danish version of pound land) and you put in the middle of the table. Then a dice goes around the table and if you roll a 6 you get a present from the table. When all the presents are gone that is when the competitiveness begins and a timer is set and until that timer goes off you steal presents of each other if you get a 6. It gets very competitive and all my family members each year gang up on my uncle (as tradition.) From there we just play more family games and relax a bit and eat a bit more almond pudding and then we mosey back home.

Then on the 26th December is our last day of Christmas. This is the day where the really extended family come to us and we have a massive 2 course lunch which is normally a fish starter and like ryebread with different toppings for main. Oh and it always has a lot of snaps involved!!! Then we play even more board games! And we also do our classic walk around the beach. From there we relax and have down time after the stress of being so many of us and talk about our plans for next christmas.

Exciting news that I have checked in to my flight to France which I leave in 3 days time and I have a window seat! Heading to 80cm snow and with my new christmas presents of 4 sets of thermals I am ready!! Just haven't thought about packing at all!!!

But I am on my way and ready and rearing to go!

I HAVE LEFT THE COUNTRY - LONDON TO DENMARK

Everyone says travelling drastically changes you, whether it is in appearance or personality apparently it makes a difference. I think from interailing my focus changed, I no longer was the girl striving for 100% but I became someone who always wanted to visit more places and 'broaden my horizons' and I realised what was truly important to me. So I am seriously interested to see what happens during my 9 month travel trip.

I think I have realised just how long 9 months is recently, what it would entail and started debating whether I was prepared for it. Could I ever be prepared for it in all honesty? When I went interailing I never thought I would be part of a water fight outside Budapest's houses of parliament nor did I think I would meet a 30 something year old guy called Terry who literally slept outside our room in Greece. So how could I prepare for the 9 months of chaos I am about to experience.

I took the fact that I would never be prepared for my trip as an excuse for not packing until the night before after around 16 double gin and tonics. (This proved very interesting by the way.. I forgot pyjamas.) But I am known to be last minute so everyone in my family is very used to it. But I did end of packing for both France and Denmark (I have a few hours in England between them... like 8 hours)  but then I realised I only had one suitcase so I had to empty all of my France stuff out of my suitcase and then pack my Danish suitcase which when a tad more than tipsy was a big inconvenience.

But we set off at 7am in a giant camper van!!!! To the airport!!!! and we waited in traffic for 2 hours which did increase the stress if I am honest as when the m25 was closed it was a bit bit stressful but we managed and I am sitting in Denmark right now. But i actually feel like I am cursed with baggage check they always put my suitcase on the otherside to check it and like I don't pack it badly or put liquids in it but this time there actually was my brothers christmas present in it which we forgot and it wasn't allowed through so it got taken away from us. (How annoying) but luckily my brother did see that we actually bought him something prior to it being binned by the bag checker. But we had enough time to have the tradition of a super unhealthy burger king breakfast in the airport. Whenever we go to Stansted we always have burger king for breakfast (Mainly because of the amazing drinks machine there is that does fanta zero peach fanta (wow it is amazing) and it is free refills and for a girl who loves diet drinks this is one of the best things of my life. But we got through the airport (was very proud of myself because I navigated the way through it for my family as a test run for when I am in Cambodia on my own and did it successfully!!) and we sat on the plane of course our hand luggage was on the other side of the plane but we managed and we were off in the air.

We flew with Ryanair and I think almost anyone can relate to me saying that they are the best company price wise but you pay for what you get and when my plane to France was 4.99 I think I will see this even more. But it was bumpy and when the plane landed everyone was like that landing should have had the pilot fired, it was shocking!! But when we landed we were greeted with the expected weather from Denmark: cold, rain and windy! And when I was greeted with that I knew I was really home and started to feel more in the christmas spirit.

We arrived and had lunch (the lunch I only ever eat because it is amazing and incredible don't slate until you have tried it is pickled beetroot on ryebread!!!! it sounds super yuck and super plain but honestly I look forward to it every year!) And then quickly the cousins started arriving both the older ones and the younger ones (including my goddaughter) And we gave my little cousins their presents as funnily enough they are flying to Sevenoaks tomorrow to spend christmas there. We all had dinner together (11 of us is a rather small number of people around a dinner table in Denmark) and we wait for reinforcements to come to take the number to 20+ like usual.

I had a lie in today, something I haven't had in so long I could just lie in bed and not dread going to work again. But I survived 6 months of hard work and now it is travelling time and I am going to fully embrace it. Today I am going to the border near Germany (very far away) to see my old au pair and her 2 daughters which I am very excited about and tomorrow the Copenhagen cousins arrive! Its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

Full Time Working And More - The Reality Of A Gap Year

I thought I could hack the long days at work when I clicked the defer button on my university application. But when I clicked that I was unaware of what I exactly would be doing. I was holding down a part time job which I had throughout the whole of my studies but I knew that I also needed a full time job at least on top of that. I went to every single restaurant/coffee shop/business in my area and handed out my CV, I applied to jobs in London and for some lucky reason after numerous rejections and the bank account starting to suffer I found myself with 5 job offers. I took the one closest in distance to me which was at my local independent coffee shop.

My colleagues were all around the same age as me and we were all doing the job until we either went to uni, found a post grad job or a permanent job in the city. Many of us used the cafe as a small stop in our life and to get relatively easy money in our bank accounts at the end of the month. Yet what people didn't tell me about working a midi job on your gap year was that it was hard, many days my alarm was set till 6am to work at the cafe until 4 and then go to the pub from 6-11 and then the day would be repeated the next day. I was exhausted, I had no time to do anything else then work. The money was relatively little but because I worked well over 40 hours full time and then up to 15 hours part time a week the money tickled over and was my only motivation to set my alarm to 6am for the next morning.

Many gap year students don't talk about the work side of it only the travel side. So when I decided to take a gap year I was pulled into it by the travel aspects. By the fact that soon I will be waking up in Asia or Australia but they didn't mention the 12 hour shifts or the moody customers. But nobody mentioned to me what I would do when I watched all my friends go off to university and I was at home. I watched countless snapchat stories of my friends enjoying their freshers week when I was on break after having cleaned up a child's pee which is what I definitely didn't think was a barista's job but there i was. I saw my friends move hours away from me and suddenly everyone was away starting a new life when I was waiting for mine to begin. Waiting to be able to take off on that plane and be able to say that this was worth it, these shifts were worth it.

Saturday nights were no longer filled with sleepovers with my friends nor going out clubbing they were simply filled with shifts. In the last 5 months I have only had one Sunday off and no saturday off, and I never thought I would miss schools regular "Monday - Friday" routine as I always said I would way rather be spontaneous and be able to have random weeks then work Monday - Friday but now that I have done that I have come to establish that stability is rather nice. Saving means you sacrifice a lot and that means that just this week I haven't had one day off and I agreed to work overtime and work 9 long days in a row. Right now after I have completed that I am aching, I am so tired to the point that I am tearful about the fact that I don't have to get up in the morning at 6am.

But there is nothing more satisfying then pay day, pay day is something I count down the days too. Nothing will beat the feeling when I paid 800 pounds to go to Maldives and I finally said the words I am going travelling. Today I started packing my suitcase with my ski clothes that I was able to buy because of those Saturdays that I worked tirelessly. It was an amazing feeling knowing that the shifts weren't for nothing, they were to be able to achieve my dream of travelling the world. The most satisfying feeling I have ever had was handing in my notice and saying the reason why was to go travelling. That day whilst serving customers I was glowing, I was so happy. On my last pay day I got so happy whilst out with my co worker that we went and had second dinner in wagamamas and then had many many vodka cokes. Things like that make me realise that it was completely worth it.

Nobody speaks about the part where you are working instead of travelling on a gap year. But I think having this experience has taught me a lot, it has taught me that there are people in the world who's only care in the world is that their croissant gets cooked to the highest degree of excellency and if standard drops it is like a bomb has gone off. It has taught me that kids make so much mess when eating but nonetheless when the mums come in with the "smilers" you cannot be angry whilst tidying up after them. It has taught me just how many people like coming in to a coffee shop 5 minutes before you close when you are ready to go home. It has taught me how to deal with complaints and criticism. I am a solid believer that everyone has to work in customer service at least once. Customer service is so hard to work in and I promise to myself I will never order a coffee when I am on the phone and I will wait an extra minute if I am being served by a trainee and to always say "have a nice day" after I am being served.

I wont forget the old man who orders a regular cappuccino five times a day every day of the year, I will remember the guy who orders a large latte with cream. I will forever wish I had a "turbo chef" in my kitchen which cooks my hash brown from frozen in one minute 45 seconds! I will never forget the time when my drunk colleagues and I signed up as a comedy act who required a coffee machine for Britains Got Talent and we actually got contacted by the show with a time and place for our audition. I will always see people around sevenoaks and know that that man orders a large americano with cold skinny milk, or the lady who orders the darjeeling and earl grey tea mixed together. And one thing I will always cherish with me is the smile people have when they give me a full loyalty card as they say it is time for my free drink.

Working in customer service has been so mixed for me, so many ups and so many downs. But it has got me to where I want to be and that is travelling and I leave in 9 days. We are in single digits now! There were days I starting regretting taking a gap year for the mere reason of working. But today when I only have 6 shifts left I really don't, it was worth it. As many people say, you are so young you should do it now or never! And I guess that is exactly what I did.

PS one thing that frustrates me is that there is no such thing as a black flat white and also skinny milk and whole milk only have 2% difference of fat content but if you are really worried about it go for oat milk and please just ask if you don't know what a cappuccino and a latte is rather then send your cappuccino back because it is too frothy. - the reality of what a barista faces in a day

Photo taken at the Aros museum in Arhus Denmark whilst interailing 

Why Did I Decide To Take A Gap Year?

Ever since I was little I remember telling everyone my goal was to travel, I always wanted to visit Asian beaches, go to New York, go see huskies in Alaska, eat churros in Mexico. When I was around 13 I wrote lists and lists of places I wanted to visit, dreams that I wished to achieve and from then my desire to travel blossomed. So far before my gap year I had only left Europe once and that was go to to Thailand in 2013. I was there for around 3 weeks and I fell in love with Asia, it was like nothing that I had ever seen before. It was so beautiful and I felt that I wanted to see more of Asia then just Thailand. That trip 4 years ago was one of the main reasons that I decided to use Asia as my main destination on my gap year and from there my trip just developed.

I never felt ready to go to university, first of all I had no idea what I wanted to study. I had a place to study clinical psychology but this wasn't what my heart wanted so I decided to give up my place and take a year out. I had a very hard few years prior to starting my gap year, i spent countless days in hospital for anorexia and was going to medical appointments constantly. I was at war with myself and I knew I needed a year out to fully recover. So deciding to take a gap year was a relatively easy decision (despite putting off making the decision for a long time) and I knew it was something I both needed and wanted to do.

The timeline of my gap year was more of a tricky decision. I had to balance finances, work, dreams, friendships, university all into one year. When I first took the decision to go on a gap year I knew I was doing one thing and that was go interailing with my friends. On May 22nd 2017 I left to travel around Europe to 13 different countries in 31 days. It was the first little bit of travelling and one day I worked so hard for. I knew I was doing the trip for probably around a year and a half before the start date and I had been working and saving ever since. Now working full time I laugh at how long it took me to raise 1500 pounds when I don't pay rent or buy my own food but I guess I was in a different position to where I am now: working full time. I went interailing and I loved it: it was an amazing experience and something that I truly recommend to anyone and everyone no matter what age.

After I went interailing I went on my family holidays to Denmark with my mum and to Spain with my Dad (all whilst working in between). This was the last bit of travelling I did before my big trip: the one I leave for in 15 days now (not that I am counting.) The long nine month stint.

I think taking a gap year was one of the biggest decisions I have ever made in my life. It meant not being in the same year as all my friends, it meant not going to university with them and having to find a full time job. However done of that mattered to me, all I knew was that taking a gap year was the decision I had to make and it is one I am sure I wont regret.

Photo taken in Rome this summer