I may be back home now but the blogging still continues. I've got some big news to tell you about but first, here's what I've been up to since my return to the North West.
I must say, as good as Mallorca was, it's great to be home. Now a week has passed since I touched down at Liverpool John Lennon and I have thrown myself back into the domestic life I was once so accustomed to, a practice of what is to come in the upcoming Uni years. Despite subtle changes here and there, home remains much as I left it which is always comforting for anyone to know. The week began with three days worth of reunion with my former college-Aquinas. Monday was the A Level Certificate Evening, a swanky-ish do at Stockport Town Hall, Tuesday I went into college to get tickets for the college production of Les Misérables amongst other things, Tuesday evening was my Spanish lesson buddy Natalia's (Reino Muchacho) birthday night out and Wednesday evening I went to see Les Mis with Andrew, Ella and Ashleigh followed by a customary trip to the Bamford Arms over the road. It was really great to catch up with friends and my former teachers again over these 3 days, sharing stories of the past 3 months and updating each other on what we're up to these days. At times in Mallorca I did feel a bit lonely so these moments of reunion have been quite special. There's still plenty of friends that I am yet to see over the holidays and I hope I can find time to do so.
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| Collecting my A level certificates from the Aquinas College governors at Stockport Town Hall |
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| Graduated members of my form and me with Principal Danny Pearson, 7B8 love! |
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| Came home and saw Quidditch in the Metro, Ollie Craig will like this, it's spreading! |
Understandably, I've been getting a bit Christmassy. I did all my present shopping on the saturday with my friend Olly which culminated in a visit to the Manchester Christmas Markets (a much better version of the markets in Palma) for a mug of gluhwein and a bratwurst. Fully indulging in some of the more mancunian christmas traditions! For anyone who hasn't been, the markets in Manchester are an essential pre-Christmas trip in the North West with all kinds of products on sale and food to sample from all kinds of European countries. Speaking of markets, the following day I played a set at the Christmas Teenage Market in Stockport Market which meant frantically learning Christmas songs in the space of about 4 days, safe to say I was a little unprepared. Yet,clad in Christmas jumper, my covers of 'Little Drummer Boy', 'Christmas Lights' by Coldplay and 'Merry Christmas Everyone' by Shakin' Stevens seemed to go down well with the small-ish crowd as well as my cover of Vampire Weekend's 'Diane Young' and one of my original songs so I guess I pulled it off! Ethan filmed much of the performance and if any of it is good then I'll stick it on my Youtube channel (Fraser On Tour!), if not then regular viewers will know that I do a Christmas cover every year and that should be up before the end of the year.
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| Manchester Markets |
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| The singing moose, a personal highlight of mine every year |
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| FOOD OF THE WEEK: Bratwurst, can't beat it. Goes well with a bit of Glüwein |
Further bits of activity-I've now caught up with much of the TV and news I missed when I was away including Misfits, Fresh Meat and The Big Bang Theory as well as cinema trips to see the Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug with Ethan and Anchorman 2 with Josh. Despite this binge TV/Film watching, you would be surprised to hear that I've been getting back into my sport and exercise! While in Mallorca I found that I didn't do that much exercise and probably over-indulged slightly in the fine cuisine and beverages on offer so I've had a huge fitness drive to help combat the impending feasts of the Christmas period. The day after I returned home, I went for my first swim training session back at Marple SC which was utterly terrible, I felt really sluggish and by the end just about every muscle in my arms was aching, even muscles I didn't know existed. Since then, I've been to 2 further swim training sessions (one session in which I did 169 lengths consistently in 1 hour), gone running 3 times with the dog, been to the gym 3 times, played 90 minutes worth of non-stop football as well as some home workouts. Bring on Christmas dinner.
That's pretty much everything I can think of in terms of being back home, now onto the big news I promised. After weeks of planning, panic and e-mailing, I can now reveal that my next gap year destination will be... BELGIUM! Yes, I will be spending two months in the Belgian capital, Brussels, working as an Au Pair once more from January to the end of February.
I may have already shared this information with some of my friends and family that I've encountered since I returned home but I can imagine the question/exclamation on most people's lips is: "What the hell Fraser!? I thought you were going to South America?" Now, I can explain. Originally I began job searching back at the start of November for something to do in January of which my main objective was finding somewhere where I could use my TEFL qualification, preferably in South America. This proved very difficult as there weren't many jobs available for English teachers mid-academic year, many posts required a University degree and those that didn't were largely voluntary or on long contracts that I couldn't commit to. This meant that doing a TEFL job this year looks pretty much like a no-go. I then got in touch with my American cousin, Michael, who did part of his University degree in Bogota, Colombia so he would be a well-connected individual for me as far as getting to South America is concerned. Michael then put me in touch with many of his friends to see if they could find me some work in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico however I soon realised there wasn't much work available at such short notice and even when so, flights there in time for January proved to be pretty costly. Going there in January didn't seem possible however I plan to maintain the connections Michael has provided me with a view to doing something later in the year.With January drawing ever closer and the prospect of ending up being at home with nothing to do looming overhead, I reverted back to what I know about-Au Pairing. I translated my profile on Au Pair World back from Spanish into French and changed my preferences to a short term contract in a francophone country before sending out tonnes of applications and hoping to get a positive response. Sure enough, 2 days later, I received a positive reply from a family in Brussels. We had a succesful skype interview, agreed the terms to a contract and I booked my travel tickets all in the space of about one week. Sorted
Another question you may have is "why Belgium/Brussels?", here's why:
1. Since finishing my A level exams back in June, I haven't really had any reason to use my French skills as the only places I've been away to have been in the UK or Spain. In order to avoid excruciating under-practice once I arrive at Uni in September, a period spent in a Francophone country was always going to be essential for my Gap Year and
2. I've never been. Apart from driving through on the way between Holland and France on a few occaisions, I've never really experienced Belgium as a country and considering one of my goals for this year was to travel to new places, it's a great destination for me especially when you take into account how relatively inexpensive it is to get there.
3. In my final few weeks in Mallorca, I realised that I'd really enjoyed being an Au Pair. It was something I was good at, it's a cheap and easy way of finding work abroad, allows you to experience the day-to-day life of a different country/culture
4. Fear. I really didn't want to be stuck at home in January when most of my friends will be either back at Uni, college or work
5. Location. Brussels is one of Europe's major capital cities and is within touching distance of many other places in Central and West Europe. Bruges, Lille and Rotterdam are within roughly two hours driving distance and the family have already organised trips to Alsace and Paris. Plenty of travel and a broader cultural experience is expected for these next two months
I could think of more reasons with probably better backing to them but that would be me rambling. Anyway, Christmas day beckons. I'll let you know how that unfolds. Have a good one all of you!
#FraserOnTour
FP
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