Hello Again

Hello,

I find myself on one of my few days off and with time to write on my blog for once!! So I thought I would do an update on what is happening in my life, with this blog and what the future holds for me. I thought as this blog receives so many views I wanted to do something constructive with it, to update people on what is happening in my life, to talk about my recovery and be open about it as I don't believe it is anything to be ashamed about but also more as a way to be able to look back on how my life is planning out at what is meant to be "a very important time in my life."

So where should I begin, I am currently busy working three jobs so this day off is really really appreciated today, I am holiday in Spain so I am really taking the time to relax before I start working 50 hours a week again in just a few days time. I have newly started work in a small independent coffee shop, which is interesting since I am not a coffee person yet I sense that the barista life will change me as I find myself sipping on an oat milk cappuccino last Monday. Being a barista is harder than it looks!! And what I didn't know is that all those fancy designs aka latte art are not done by a stencil but by hand and after many hours practising I can still only half do a heart let alone a leaf or a feather, but time will tell. Then I also work in the local pub which I have been doing for one and a half years and become fond of working there and have a laugh with my colleagues on my shifts and then I also do regular babysitting several times a week. So my life is very stressful going from one job to another to running to the next one but there is all reason for this. I am taking a gap year.

I very luckily found myself with IB grades above what was expected for me (especially considering how much school I missed) and found myself getting way above what I needed to get into university. So in September 2018 I am heading to the University of Exeter to study Psychology as my first degree of most likely many. I have chosen to take a gap year for numerous reasons, I knew I would regret it if I didn't take one, I felt now is the chance to take time off and actually focus on what I want to do and my health. I am taking the time out to fully focus on getting myself better from anorexia as I have come so far but there are still some steps to make in my recovery and I feel like one year focusing on getting my health top notch before going to university will be really beneficial for me. In addition, some of you may know that I am travelling for 6 months around Asia for my gap year.

I am mainly volunteering over in Asia and I am leaving on April 1st with currently only a one way ticket (much to my parents worry.) So far my plan for my gap year is heading out to Cambodia for a month helping people who have been through domestic abuse and extreme poverty rebuild their lives by teaching them English which will provide new opportunities for them and teaching them valuable skills that they can use in the future. I think my first month in Cambodia will be a massive shock for me as I living in a small town called Takeo in the middle of a Paddy field with no internet and no phone signal so I will be truly living out of my comfort zone, I have been informed that the nearest internet cafe is a twenty minute drive away so it will be very different. However I am determined to fully embrace myself in the Cambodian culture and try understand what it is like for the locals to fully try be able to understand what other cultures are like and I think I will learn to appreciate just how lucky I am.

After the month spent in Cambodia I will be heading to Da Nang in Vietnam for just a little rest and relax. I am staying in the Mad Monkey hostel so I will hopefully meet some new people and travel round the coast of Da Nang and see what that area has to offer. After a short stop in Vietnam I will be heading to Sri Lanka for the first time helping on a mental health placement over there for 2 weeks. I will be learning about how mental health is treated in Sri Lanka and attending psychology groups as a psychologists assistant. I am really interested in how mental illness is seen over in Sri Lanka whether there are different attitudes towards it compared to how it is viewed in the UK and I hope this two week placement will teach me a lot prior to my degree in psychology.

Subsequently I will be heading to Bali in Indonesia to teach English to local children as part of an after school workshop where I will teach 4 or 5 hour long lessons to the locals who apparently walk up to 7 kilometres each way just for an hour lesson. I am incredibly passionate about receiving an education but I cant imagine walking 14 kilometres just for an hour in burning heat. However these children of all ages are determined to do so and I am really excited to be helping them improve their english which will hopefully mean they will be able to get jobs in the future. I will be staying in Bali for just under a month before I leave to island hop the Thai islands for just over a week. I have been to Koh Samui one of the most known Thai islands before but I am really exited to explore all the small ones just for a night or too.


After the Thai islands I will be heading to the Maldives, not on a honeymoon but actually on a coral reef management project for month. I will be going round many islands but my base will be in Gaafu Dhaalu somewhere I have never even heard of before however that makes me even more excited. Many of my friends and family looked at me really strangely when I told them I was helping on a coral reef projects as I actually have a massive fear of seaweed and aquatic animals let alone there being a warning on the project that there will be reef sharks, eels and manta rays as we are helping in a habitat that they live in. So I am extremely nervous but I am a person who goes all or nothing and i will hopefully have by the end of the month gotten over my fear of basically the sea but i will answer whether I have in just under a year. Also in the Maldives I will be planting trees, doing beach clean ups, teaching english and cooking (I hope they like vegan food)!!!

After the month in the Maldives I have my final (planned stop in Thailand) where I will be touring Thailand top to bottom and the islands which includes a week up North teaching English and then heading to (The VEGAN CENTRE aka) Chang Mai and then staying on floating houses in the middle of a lake where I will have to canoe to and from the place I am staying to anywhere I want to go. I am really exited to do this however I am scared of aquatic animals and seaweed but I am hoping my month prior in the Maldives will mean I will be getting in the canoe with no fear of it capsizing and having to swim with fish amongst seaweed let alone a crocodile!!!! My final planned stop will be going round the Thai islands for a second time island hopping between the two before going to the famous full moon party. That will lead me until the 18th of August the last day I have officially planned, if I am broke and tired I will come home however if I have enough money I might travel spontaneously just round Asia or anyway before starting uni late September.

I am truly excited to go round Asia and I think it will be hard and challenging but I think it will change me for the better and I love doing things that are exciting and out of my comfort zone.

I will hopefully have time to do more blogging and I am hoping that on every Sunday evening I will post a blog post but that is only a plan and we shall see how working 50 hours a week starting again at 7am Friday will change the amount I blog but for now it looks promising but time will tell.

See you (hopefully) next Sunday

Rosie