So let me reintroduce myself

Hello reader.

My name is Kaycey and I am a university student in the UK. I study tourism and my course is 4 years long. The third year (this year) I have to work in the tourism industry for 40 weeks thus I by God's grace ended up in the city of Barcelona and have a home and work placement here until next year summer.

I chose to study tourism because I wanted to do a subject with hints of geography and languages. I feel I wasn't intelligent enough or good enough at science to do Geography (one of the most underrated subjects in this world) and wasn't good enough at Spanish to study Spanish. Though those points seem negative, it is the truth and it lead me to study this amazing subject at a wonderful university - in fact the best in the country for tourism. I have always loved travelling and going on holiday (like every single normal human ever) and wanted to know more about this wide 24 365 industry. I liked that I could study subjects like environmental studies, which looks at eco tourism and the pressure tourism puts on nature fauna and flora; I could also study tourism operations management and tourism development and planning. French was also available as a module which allowed me to pick up from where I left up with French in year 9 and many management subjects, like finance, marketing, economics and managing people - which can all be implemented in many fields of work.

I will concentrate on Spain in a later post and Korea and Malta which I have visited in the past year.

I sincerly thank you for reading and hope my blog is something of interest to you. #reboot

International heart?

I started to write this post when I had one week to go until my big adventure but now my big adventure has almost ended so I have a lot to tell you :)

First I wanted to share a little summary of my first year of university and some things to come. I have a great year at my university home or 'beachland' as I like to call it. I really feel at home there and it is an amazing place. Perhaps my course isn't all I expected it to be but I still enjoyed it so much and passed year 1 with a merit which I am proud of so I can't complain! (Even though I could have done better). Bring on second year tourism management! This year of course I have to be ever more cautious of my grades as they contribute to my final year mark and the grade I graduate with. This year I must also start to look for a placement which I will really be praying over; there are certain lands and fields of tourism on my heart.

I'd like to think I have an international heart. I think I mentioned last year how I get confused as an international student as most of my friends are international students. (A bit annoying that that is the assumption as if international students should only hang out with each other) but I love to learn from them. Sharing different cultures and customs, learning bits of other languages and of course the awesome food; I find it all so fun! I sometimes go this international café and of course everyone asks where I am from but get confused that I am a British student (especially since my english fails a lot) and that I  want to learn from them about their home cultures. I still have not figured out how exactly I identify with foreign students. Is it a personality thing? A selfish thing that I am just friends with people from certain places as I want to learn their language. I am not sure but I am a proud back up for the international team at Christian Union, global buddy for next year and geography & languages enthusiast

I am currently at a crossroad, not knowing whether to take on French again next year or not. I enjoy learning it, but could I possibly be assessed on it at a higher level?

So I write this post from a hairdressers in Seoul, South Korea as I wait for my friend to get her hair done. I finally made it here guys, and though my adventure is almost over, a real big one starts tomorrow ;)

...updates coming soon

Discover Patagonia

Some of you may know that Patagonia (a region shared between Argentina and Chile) is like my dream location and I have done a lot of research on it for various school projects and personal interest etc.

An opportunity came up, for my Environmental Studies unit, to create a leaflet promoting an adventure trip for a protected area in the world and my first thought was obviously PATTY! It isn't the best quality leaflet (the majority was done at 7am after a night out - I am a fresher...leave me alone lol.) I may be biased, but I am in love with it and would want to go on this trip! One day, you will be mine Patagonia..

Happy New Year!!

Greetings loyal / new / wandering readers! I hope that the Winter break was enjoyed and peaceful for those who had a break and that 2015 will be good for you all!

I decided (NEW YEARS RESOLUTION...though January is almost over) I really have to dive into blogging again so I will be hopefully having minimum weekly posts and multiple updates coming soon as I have some time on my hands.

So here we go~~

I follow a really beautiful twitter page called viajerosblog on twitter (it means travelers blog) and my friend tells me I spam by retweeting my 'paradise porn' pictures. I can't help it! Check out the glorious pictures of various worldwide destinations they post!

I received another box filled of lovely Korean goodies from my amazing Korean friend - I realised I still have not shared what was in the first box and what I sent! (Major procrastination) so an update on the two coming up!

I mentioned a blog called 'fluentin3months' a few months ago on my 'Esperanto' post and recently bought his (Benny Lewis') book with the same name as the blog. I have not started reading yet but the book is 'Tips and techniques to help you learn any language'. It should be a good and helpful read!
 

I am loving my uni town and have settled really well here. I love my course (...so far), my Church, my Christian Union, my home away from home and the many wonderful friends I have met here. I went on  trips to a lovely country mansion, the Isle of Jersey and to Brownsea Island I am still into Geography / language related things in my free time.

 I often read 'BBCMundo' when reading the news, my 'Santa Biblia' to read beautiful translated Bible verses in the beautiful Spanish language;

Yes, that is a selfie stick #ftw

I go on lovely nature walks through forests or on the beach,

         

 I cook Korean and sometimes Mexican dishes and I am trying to keep up with my Korean TV shows music and Spanish films! French is going well as well.

Plus, my room has lovely World Maps on the walls ;)

That is it for now. I hope 2015 is prosperous and excellent for you all. 2014 was a big lesson for me and I went through some radical changes last year. 2,500+ page views ↑ we go!~~

 

French?

Hiya readers! Again I have been absent from this blog...with good reason though! I am settling into my lovely university and course. Tourism management is so good so far is all :)
As you know I love languages and have the option to study one at beginners level. Unfortunately, that meant I cannot do Spanish with my course but independently at the library! The other options was Mandarin Chinese, French or Tourism Society and Culture. Though Mandarin would be interesting, I decided to return to my first. It has been too long French! Time to study you with a willing heart.
So I am studying Tourism, French and Spanish and Korean independently. ¡4 idiomas - caramba! I could not be happier!
Hope to update soon once I get my head around this crazy new world!

Sorry for the hiatus, but... are you ready!

Hello all! I welcome you once again to this blog that I have for a long time been neglecting. This summer has just been THAT crazily busy. Good news only; I got into university! 

University and A-Levels

So I am leaving my home to go study Tourism Management in a lovely lovely place! As I have said in the past, my geography grade has always been disgusting but luckily this year, the geography module that I completely failed last time, I got an A in that module - which was enough for my happiness. Another module I basically failed last time went up to a B grade. The rest of my grades were not as impressive (I was really disappointed by Spanish but I took that exam as a completely broken student...lol)  but I am now moving on from the A-Level world. I would have started my course by this time next week.

Spanish

So I finished learning Spanish in school. My sixth year finished of learning this beautiful language - and as some of you may already know - it will not stop there! I am definitely doing a Spanish module at university and hopefully can do a term abroad in Spain or even a placement year out there...when I get more knowledge on things I will decide; but that is all in the future! I have a friend who is like a sister that has gone to do a year of volunteer work in Peru so I am jealous her level of Spanish will overtake me really soon haha :) but I do wish her the best experience for this next year. I have another friend that studies Spanish at university and has gone to Spain for the year as part of her course . 

I went to my school to say goodbye to some teachers recently and had a really nice conversation with one of my Spanish teachers about keeping the language alive in my life, If anyone here is reading this and is a learner of a language, please remember to keep practicing the language or you will forget things more and more. Utilize it whenever you can! I have tried to keep Spanish alive by watching films in Spanish like 'nueve reinas' and 'perdon si te llamo amor'. I will soon watch 'diarios de motocicleta' which is about famous figure Che Guevara. I also have been listening to a wider range of Spanish / latin music (not just the Shakira I am used to) like 'bachata' and reading articles on 'BBC Mundo'.

There was one day earlier this summer I was on the bus and could hear several people having Spanish conversations in different accents and it was killing me because I automatically go to translate and listen to their conversations as if it is a listening exercise! 

I will try to improve my grammar but I think I am getting better with automatically responding in Spanish!

Korean

I must say I have made progress with Korean, mainly because I surround myself with many Korean things and ways to learn. Another mission I gave myself was to learn the meanings of those little things I do not know in a sentence instead of skipping them and translating the words I am used to; also, enriching my vocabulary and trying a bit harder with grammar. The next thing I need to try is stop mixing Korean and English in sentences when I have no idea what to say - I do speak in very broken sentences sometimes haha. 

Our class 'successfully' carried out our annual Korean event, though there were many difficulties that I will try to forget about (the stress was unbearable)! We filmed our drama parody video, performed a dance, cooked and served food and had a really good time. Our hard work paid off and so thank you to everyone that helped made it possible, my lovely Korean teachers and those certain few unnies and chingus that worked hard.

 

Like with Spanish, I cannot help overhear Korean conversations to test out translation skills. I did visit Korea Town a few times this holiday and on one occasion I was sat next to a father and his daughter. The father was teaching her Korean etiquette like how to wrap the meat in the lettuce, checking if she knew how to hold her chopsticks properly; as he spoke to her in Korean she would reply in English. I just found that situation really cute and funny - especially when the father told her to eat the hot soup slowly saying '천천히' which reminded me of a key line from a sketch from KBS's 'Gag Concert' called 'Hidden Masters'. I was mid conversation with my friend when I had to stop speaking in case I burst out laughing. Anyways, another reason I listen to others speaking their language is in case if they were to say something bad about me and I could surprise them by understanding. I wouldn't be surprised if that happened to anyone as with my friends we use Korean as almost a code (never for bad reasons) but for secret jokes which I find fun, or to warn someone about something in subtle way. 

Other languages

So at the start of summer I gave myself a challenge to also improve my Portuguese, Chinese and French (I am on absolute beginners for Portuguese and Chinese). I have basically done no French, I have not tried to learn anymore Chinese symbols last time but have worked just a tiny bit with Portuguese lol. I did meet a Chinese girl in a Korean class and she was surprised when I knew the meaning of three very basic symbols '男' '天' '美' when we were reading a Korean article about 3 members of Exo on the cover or a Hong Kong fashion magazine. With Portuguese I just have worked with my pronunciation and try to recognize the words that are similar in Spanish and French. I find that really fun and I just listen to my Portuguese music :)

I resumed reading my book about North Korea 'Nothing To Loose' and my Bible in Spanish. Still many more updates to happen...once I find the time in my busy schedule, but thank you for reading! See you soon!

It is that time of year again!!!...well

What I mean by that is that I am on my way back to London, from a Geography class trip in (of course) the Lake District! My class consisting of one other student, my teacher and I stayed 2 nights near to Glenridding and on our trip we done activities including a steam boat ride, a mountain walk up to 941m(!), collecting some [--some--] information for my Unit 4 exam (The rural landscape - Leisure and Tourism) and of course eating! What an enjoyable trip it was. The sights of course is a big attraction as the views are just amazing to look at. It just leaves you with a feeling, especially when on mountain treks, that you are so small; these mountains are so big yet they are only a tiny portion of this region which is a tiny portion of England which is a tiny portion of this world etc. (How big God is!)
Yes, the sights are so great...when you can see that is! We were so high up that the cloud mist blocked the distance that we could only see a few metres ahead when we were up in the colder part of the mountain at the Red Tarn.
Geography trips are always refreshing! The hike up and around(?) Helvellyn was 5 hours long and so I had a lot of quiet thinking time, self reflection and all that! It is like a medicine, helped with all my worries I guess too - pressed them all into a small ball! I did fall a few times as I was clumbsy, not correctly equiped and not used to the long walks combined with heights (I have a certain fear of hights). So obviously I tore my favourite pair of jeans and ended up almost slipping down a slope to try and save my teacher that had slipped too (no worries, Kaycey stuck the landing! ;]). So this is Kc reporting from the coach going back to London! Hope you all a lovely Easter and a lovely mountain climb when you too go and explore the world outside your front door (...okay, that was a cheesy end but cheesy is my middle name!)

In Patagonia

For part of my Spanish A-Level Unit 3 exam I have to write a case study on a geographical area, a piece of literature or a historical study - the 4th option I forgot as obviously I would go for the Geography option! It has to be a Spanish speaking region and I chose Patagonia. So I am spending a lot of time finding out about the region that is shared between the 'Cono Sur' Southern Cone countries, Argentina and Chile. It really is a drastic, beautiful area and is 'Man's struggles to tame wilderness'!
As a learning aid, I purchased this book by Bruce Chatwin - accounts from his Patagonian adventure. I have so far only read the introduction by Nicholas Shakespeare but it already is so interesting!

Oh yes, 10 days countdown till Valladolid! I found out yesterday I will be working in my selected area of Tourism and it will be great!

Spain 2014

Well hello all! So I just found out today that I am going to do work experience in Spain for a week in February 2014. I am soo happy it is no joke! I hope this will be a good opportunity that I can learn a lot from, improve my Spanish and find a bit more about Spain with my love for the country from being in Spain. I will not know yet if it will be in the hotel but it will help out with applying to tourism management. Wait for more updates :)