A photo of everyone who attended our training course. (I'm the one pulling the pose on the right).
Well, I guess there's no easy way to kick things off so I guess I'll jump straight into it. To cut a very long (and boring) story, mercifully, short; it all started roughly 2 years ago when a friend of mine traveled to South Africa with a gap year organisation called Project Trust. The idea appealed to me almost immediately, although looking back on it I'm not entirely sure why.
Skip forward about 6 months and I had just sent in my application form to attend a "Selection Course" during which I would be assessed to see if I was suitable for going over seas. I had to travel from my home in Dublin, Ireland to the Hebridean, Isle of Coll off the coast of Scotland which is where Project Trust is based. This involved catching a plane, taking a train, staying overnight in the coastal town Oban and then catching a ferry early the next morning. I had to travel literally by land, sea and air to get to the place...and this was just to be judged!....or sorry "assessed".
Well, after an intense and, initially, a very intimidating week I returned home and soon received a letter informing me I had been selected. I had gotten my first choice which was to travel to Japan for a year to teach English as a foreign language. I was filled with excitement, pride and new found confidence.The selection course had been intense but I enjoyed every second of it and it gave me a great sense of personal achievement.
Now it was time for the next challenge...fundraising. Every volunteer has to raise a lot of money before they travel overseas. For me it was €6000, a disgustingly large amount of money, especially for someone from my economic background. But, with a huge amount of help from my friends I managed to get it together. We raised most of the money through packing bags for donations in supermarkets, a surprisingly effective means of fund raising.
Skip forward another 10 months and I had just returned to the Isle of Coll to undergo a training course. It was similar to selection in the sense that we received both lessons on how to give classes and actually practiced teaching in small groups. We were given training, advice and our plane tickets.
Skip forward another few weeks to today and I am now preparing to travel overseas. I will be travelling, in just under a month to Hokkaido in northern Japan for a year to teach English as a foreign language to children, teenagers and adults. The feelings I am experiencing now are a mixture of excitement, pride and terror. Although there is fear and self doubt in my mind I am confident that I am making the right choice in choosing to follow through with this...At the very least anyway, this blog will be an interesting documentation of my decent into madness. :P
A photo of the Project Trust headquarters that I stole from another volunteers blog (sorry Jack).
Well, I guess there's no easy way to kick things off so I guess I'll jump straight into it. To cut a very long (and boring) story, mercifully, short; it all started roughly 2 years ago when a friend of mine traveled to South Africa with a gap year organisation called Project Trust. The idea appealed to me almost immediately, although looking back on it I'm not entirely sure why.
Skip forward about 6 months and I had just sent in my application form to attend a "Selection Course" during which I would be assessed to see if I was suitable for going over seas. I had to travel from my home in Dublin, Ireland to the Hebridean, Isle of Coll off the coast of Scotland which is where Project Trust is based. This involved catching a plane, taking a train, staying overnight in the coastal town Oban and then catching a ferry early the next morning. I had to travel literally by land, sea and air to get to the place...and this was just to be judged!....or sorry "assessed".
Well, after an intense and, initially, a very intimidating week I returned home and soon received a letter informing me I had been selected. I had gotten my first choice which was to travel to Japan for a year to teach English as a foreign language. I was filled with excitement, pride and new found confidence.The selection course had been intense but I enjoyed every second of it and it gave me a great sense of personal achievement.
Now it was time for the next challenge...fundraising. Every volunteer has to raise a lot of money before they travel overseas. For me it was €6000, a disgustingly large amount of money, especially for someone from my economic background. But, with a huge amount of help from my friends I managed to get it together. We raised most of the money through packing bags for donations in supermarkets, a surprisingly effective means of fund raising.
Skip forward another 10 months and I had just returned to the Isle of Coll to undergo a training course. It was similar to selection in the sense that we received both lessons on how to give classes and actually practiced teaching in small groups. We were given training, advice and our plane tickets.
Skip forward another few weeks to today and I am now preparing to travel overseas. I will be travelling, in just under a month to Hokkaido in northern Japan for a year to teach English as a foreign language to children, teenagers and adults. The feelings I am experiencing now are a mixture of excitement, pride and terror. Although there is fear and self doubt in my mind I am confident that I am making the right choice in choosing to follow through with this...At the very least anyway, this blog will be an interesting documentation of my decent into madness. :P
A photo of the Project Trust headquarters that I stole from another volunteers blog (sorry Jack).
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