She is me

She’s sitting on her bed, door slightly askew. The sheet that lines her mattress, turned up at one corner, just like her duvet. Her deep brown eyes droop, the day has taken the life from her. Her only haven is littered, a collection of unwanted items, books half started, a package that had been opened and marveled at, only to be put to one side for fear of spoiling its pristine mask. Cup of tea to her left, laptop on her lap, radio on. It’s 22.54 and she knows she needs to sleep.

I’ve decided to abolish Bookmarks.

I’ve made some progress in inquiring about my interests into the China Internship through i-to-i learning, the young women I spoke to gave me some price indicators and I’m pretty happy with the estimated cost that I spoke to her about. My departure date is too far off for me to book anything yet, but I was re-assured that as soon as the option was available on the website then I could indeed, register.

Following that, I have recently been reading a lot of travel-journalism articles on Thailand, which if you didn’t know is south of central China. One of many that caught my eye was a piece on Chatuchak Weekend Market in Bangkok, seeing as I keep adding page after page to my, ‘Travelling’, Bookmarks on my computer, I figured it’d be a good idea to start something that for now I’m going to call, The List, here on my blog – I know, I know, it’s a pretty rubbish name, any suggestions?

It’s pretty self-explanatory, the feature which will end up forming into a list of places, activities and food that I want to eat/see/experience when I got travelling so, twice a week I’m going to post additions to The List and you’re welcome to make any additions you may feel that deserve a spot! Posts added to The List will be on Thursdays and Mondays, starting next week!

Have a good day all of you, I’m off for a bike ride!

The coolest bicycle in the world (okay maybe I’m a little bit bias.)

I have recently changed my place of work, same company, different branch. What would have been a 40 minute bus ride is now a 40 minute walk/5 minute car journey and perhaps, most importantly for me, a 20 minute cycle! My mum has recently been picking me up and taking me to (if its raining outside) and from work on a Friday, Saturday and a Sunday, although we’ve spoken about fixing up my old bicycle the idea has never been more than wishful thinking – until today.

Mum picked me up as normal after work and took me directly to Halfords where I got the pick of the store – within reason – so, after much deliberation, I bought this beauty…

So although I may be  a LITTLE bit bias, I can honestly say this is the coolest bicycle in the world! Ah! I can’t wait for summer bike rides with friends, a picnic and of course we can’t forget The Pimms!

Karma

I skipped to the end of the book that I was reading.

I can’t find the new book I bought last month to read.

Karma.

The first hurdle!

Oh I really hope so! I really need to change my spending habits if I’m going to conqer my Wanderlust. I’ve created a change jar in my room, to catch the odd penny lying around the house. If I don’t change my spending habits of bank account mass-destruction then I know I won’t be able to go to all of the places I want to go and do all of the things I want to do. The list is growing guys, help?! So first things first, how to save?! For me, it won’t be as easy as simply just not spending money, I like to spend money. The problem is, I spend it on all of the things I don’t need and in order to save. Here’s a few things I’ve thought of off of the top of my head to restrict the use of Mr Devil Debit Card.

I’m planning ahead! By taking out as much as I think I’ll need in two weeks and then I stick to it. I also give my mum my Debit Card, so I physically can not spend any money that I haven’t budgeted for, sorry Em, those last-minute plans are going to have to wait. I think it’s also helping to, ‘train,’ me up for when I’m out in the wilderness on my own. Budget. Budget. Budget.

I figured, if I can’t even do that for a month or two, then I might as well give up now.

If you once were once a spendaholic like me, tell me, how did you tame the urge to splurge?

Night all, Emma

“The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.”

A Critical Case of Wanderlust

Eden, National Geography, Nat Geo Wild, and the Travel channel have become common place on my TV and have entwined the urge to travel to foreign lands into the fabric of my being.

Deep huh? I’m not joking.

It’s such an odd feeling. I would usually sit at my computer screen and scroll for hours through YouTube videos or through the pages of my favourite Tumblr blogs however, somehow, recently I haven’t wanted to do that at all. I’ve been researching into taking a year-long gap year to some of the most beautiful places in the world. It’s a lot harder than anyone would first think, so much goes into planning such a trip, but isn’t that part of the fun? I have a list of places I would like to go to and see however my research has uncovered that I am a traveller that wants to go everywhere and anywhere and so I have had to think really hard about where I want to go and what I want to do.

Ultimately, for me, this would be a learning experience. I hope to become involved in some of the programmes I’ve researched, one being teaching English to children in China for 6 months (easier, and not as costly as one might think.) I want to emerge myself within culture and taste foreign foods, smell foreign smells and see foreign sights. I’m not interested in a tourist holiday, yes I want to see the sights but I wouldn’t mind going off of the beaten track aswell. It’s all early days, but hey, I’m going to need a lot of time to plan.

Here’s my list;

China, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Tanzania, Rio De Janeiro

and here’s my goodnight….

I beg young people to travel. If you don’t have a passport, get one. Take a summer, get a backpack and go to Delhi, go to Saigon, go to Bangkok, go to Kenya. Have your mind blown, eat interesting food, dig some interesting people, have an adventure, be careful. Come back and you’re going to see your country differently, you’re going to see your president differently, no matter who it is. Music, culture, food, water. You’re going to get a sense of what globalization looks like. It’s not what Tom Friedman writes about, I’m sorry. You’re going to see that global climate change is very real. And that for some people, their day consists of walking 12 miles for four buckets of water. And so there are lessons that you can’t get out of a book that are waiting for you at the other end of that flight. A lot of people come back and go, “ooooooh.” And the lightbulb goes on.”

– Henry Rollins

The meaning of Emma

Today, I learnt that Emma means ‘universal’ or ‘all embracing.’

Others state that Emma can also have the meaning of being, ‘complete.’

This lead me to think, What is it that makes me complete? What do I embrace everyday? And perhaps, most importantly, How am I affected by universal movements and what can I do to improve my universal well-being?

I want to take some time in answering these questions, and so I will answer them in three different posts.

What is it that makes me complete?

This year, just half way through, I’ve come to realise a lot about myself. I haven’t been part of formal education since February, which means for the first time in my life I will recieve no qualifications this year. This vacancy in my life has lead me to uncover a want, no, a need for knowledge. I haven’t blogged because lately, I feel I am becoming illiterate, my ideas invalid because for the first time, I’m not educated. I haven’t worked towards anything solid, not a piece of paper in site with a grade embellished on ivory paper. Though, I’ve come to reason with myself. It is true that I haven’t excelled accademically this year, however, I have excelled in the art of doing. I think we all make life a bit too difficult for ourselves at time, when really it’s simple; do what makes you happy with the people that make you happy and that is exactly what I have done to fill the void. I’ve spent the last five months ammending relationships that were lost due to a great sadness, I picked myself up and dusted myself off and for the first time in a long time I feel complete.

Tell me, what is it that makes you feel complete?

MAY – Make time for things you love doing!

I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t keep the blog up for longer last month and I’m not going to make an excuse that I was really busy because although I was, I just didn’t make time for doing something that I love doing! But fear not! I have a plan.

Gretchin Rubin is the creator of the wonderful and inspiring book called, ‘The Happiness Project’ and I’ve been reading it for the past month and have found how easy it is to relate too. It is a self-help book but don’t let that put you off, Gretchin undertook a project which lasted a year to help improve her happiness. Improve being the key word there – she wasn’t un-happy but she felt she could be happier! The reason why this relates to this post is that this book titles resolutions at the start of every month that she tackles – which is what I’ve decided to do this month.

I’m going to make time for things that I love doing, but often put off to have that extra twenty minutes in bed. Whether this be a blog post, extra reading, video, painting my nails or even going to the gym (yes I actually do love going to the gym but I never find the time to go.) Along with my challenge for May I’m also going to be starting a YouTube channel and posting videos on there – it’s mostly going to be beauty related but if that’s not for you, you don’t have to watch J .

I now challenge YOU, to make time for things that you LOVE doing. The days are long, but the years are short and although many people say it’s a short life – it’s the longest one you’re going to get.

I feel like this is a good thing to remember.

“It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.”  — Leonardo da Vinci

 

This applies to a lot in my life right now, and at times when I’m thinking of giving up I think I would do well to remember this.

Three things I’m not very good at.

1) Budgeting

Every month I work hard, yet I know I’ll still be broke by the end of the month and it all comes down to what I spend and how I spend my money. These plastic cards that banks kindly give all of their customers for conveniance are the work of the devil when pay-day comes around. Every single one of those £3 coffee trips add up, that £1.50 that you just spent on a new notebook – adds up – and these little purchases are the ones that kill my bank account. There’s also the costly effect of learning to drive, along with the immediate desire to save to buy a car, then there’s the insurance, tax and while I’m saving (or attempting to) there’s my weekly bus money that still needs to be paid in order to be able to travel to and from work. Don’t get me wrong, I can afford these expenses however when pay-day comes around I can’t seem to part with my hard-earned money for those boring things. I can’t budget, I don’t know how to learn to budget my money and this month, when payday comes around, It’ll be the same story.

2) Being a domestic goddess

I burn toast, I make white clothes turn pink, I have a floordrobe, I have had a half decorated room for the past six months and I can’t remember the last time I attempted to iron something and there hasn’t been a gaping hole in the middle at the end of the chore. I suck. I would love to be able to cook, I stare endlessly on Tumblr at all the cute little cupcakes that I dream of making but instead of learning how to make them, I buy them from store the store and tell people I’ve made them. I can’t bring myself to learn how to fit these tasks into my daily routine, I’m lazy. Any attempt is dis-heartened – I tried to bake a cake for a friends birthday and it actually shrunk inside itself and ended up being a lemon sponge Yorkshire pudding, it tasted like egg. I convince myself that a floordrobe – ( when the contents of a wardrobe is on the floor) – makes things a lot easier when I’m trying to find something to wear, even when my room turns into an assault course. So although I wish I could be a secret expert in the art of cookery, it’s not going to happen – and as for the washing and the ironing?  That’s why dry cleaners were created, for people like me.

3) Time keeping

The extra half an hour in bed is so much more appealing than catching the early bus to work, the later bus makes me late. Not ridiculously late, but still late. I know that my Manager won’t notice, and I know that I’ll work hard enough to make those ten minutes un-noticeable. But a part of me thinks it’s the principal of it, I know I should catch the earlier bus, but I don’t and I don’t feel guilty either.