December 27th- 2018, I set off across the world
to Belfast via a 5-night stopover in Singapore, followed by a few nights in
London. It was a massive shock to the system; going from the 30 degrees NZ
summer, to a blistering cold UK winter, where it got dark around 4 pm. It was
fair to say, a kiwi boy all on his own for the first time- at the other end of
the world, was about to experience a life-changing year. After a prolonged
effort finding a school to work in the UK, I managed to secure a place at Campbell
College, in Belfast, where myself, two other kiwi gaps, and a South African
would spend the next year all in the same flat. The school itself was
incredible; being 125 years old, it sure had some history; I think every taxi
driver I was ever with, always remarked on how it looked so much like Hogwarts.
Settling in was super easy, and after getting
used to the strong Irish accent, where they link every word together, I started
to notice how friendly and outgoing the Irish truly are. Getting to know so
many staff is difficult at first, but as the year went on, the relationships
grew, and with many staff-based activities, it was very emotional when my
working year came to an end. I loved every minute of working with such
friendly, welcoming workmates, and am still in touch with a lot of them to this
day. My working day consisted of kick-starting around 9 am. Us gap students
would tend to mix up our workload; scattering around art, home economics, P.E,
and the junior school. This entailed cleaning sinks, measuring out flour,
carrying groceries, helping coach pe teams and helping the junior kids as a
teacher assistant, but most of the time in turned into endless chatting of what
happened over the weekend. We would also help out in the boarding department once
a week (my job was to take a bus full of boys to Tesco’s once a week, and the
odd weekend duty of sleeping over in the boarding house). All food was catered
for in the dining hall, which was up there with mum's cooking! We worked
closely along the housemothers, who were so lovely. Being a boy only school
(around 1000 boys from ages 11-18, also with a prep/junior school from ages
5-11), there was always constant chatter and mockery from the boys for our kiwi
accent; we always dished it back out!
Belfast was an amazing little city, with an
incredible pub culture which we sure gained a lot of experience from. My
flatmates were more than what I could’ve asked for and it was so cool we got on
so well. In my downtime, I made the most of the school gym, played a lot of
FIFA, planned a lot of trips, went into Belfast more times than I can count,
watched more than enough premier league games and Netflix, hung out with the
boarders and played football for Bangor 1sts. My highlight from Belfast would
be going to Belsonic to see Marshmello, Stormzy, and Jax Jones.
One of the main reasons I decided to take a gap
year was to travel, and we were given 13 weeks off in total, therefore it
would’ve been a waste not to. I sure can say I will be back for another
European summer; the history, culture, landscape, experience, food, people and
not to mention the 35-degree daily average temperature (with it getting to 42
degrees once!). To say it was amazing is an understatement. I started my summer
trip to Manchester, where I was lucky enough to go to Old Trafford, then went
to the beautiful old town York. I then commenced my European travels by flying
to Malaga in Spain and eventually making my way to Barcelona via Seville and
Madrid. Here, I met my mother and we stayed in Barca for a week and then flew
to Angers in France. Spain is a beautiful country; the tapas are delicious; the
atmosphere is lively and the sites I saw were incredible. After meeting some
family friends in Angers, we went to Paris. Paris had always been on my bucket
list, and it lived up to my expectations. We then met more friends in Bochum
(Germany) where we stayed for a week and it’s fair to say that week was one of
my best experiences of the trip; our friends were so kind and were great hosts.
I then continued my travels to Munich and managed to watch Real Madrid,
Tottenham and Bayern Munich play (and also my boyhood club, Man Utd later in
the year), then I went up to Berlin to see Josh Tatham, before making my way to
Vienna. Germany is rich in culture and it’s fair to say they love their beer. I
stayed in Vienna for a week; indulging in their wining and dining, then headed
to Budapest with my gap students and six ex Rathkeale boys (Jacob Dickens,
Wynter McCook-weir, Pelle Slothouwer, Thomas Ralls and Josh Tatham). We went to
a four-day musical festival, which we all thankfully survived. The headliners
of the festival were Ed Sheeran, Martin Garrix, Macklemore, Foo Fighters, Post
Malone, and Sigala. We all then continued our travels together to Split in Croatia,
before departing on a four-day island-hopping sail to Dubrovnik; if there was
one thing I could do again, it would be this! The scenery, clear ocean and
friends we made was truly remarkable (the bar tab wasn’t though)- it’s fair to
say I had a bit too many hours in the sun! I then ended my summer travels with
Thomas in Prague and Berlin. Prague has so much history and in terms of the
most beautiful cities, I would easily say these two were up there for me.
It's fair to say I made the most of my time travelling;
stepping foot in a total of 13 countries! I caught up with so many friends and
family, and I believe I now have, what you call the ‘travel bug’ to keep on
travelling! I also managed to travel around Ireland and indulge in Guinness and
catch a few leprechauns, made my way around Scotland for Christmas and NYE with
my dad and his family, see England from top to bottom and got a taste of Wales.
I feel I have learned so much whilst travelling and working throughout the
whole year. I think the main thing I took away was to always live in the
moment; as obvious as it sounds, it truly has helped me look at life
differently and spurred me on to do things I would never usually do. The
experiences, memories, and people I met throughout the year, were truly unbelievable
and will forever stay close to me!
I can’t describe how endlessly grateful I am, and would just like to again, thank
Jim and Liz for offering me this opportunity- and everyone else who supports
the trust. The James Meikle Scholarship helped me achieve things I would’ve
struggled to do on my own- and I will continue to encourage kids to do what I
and many others have done, as it will be one of the best experiences of your
life.
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