THE LIST

I had some of my best years at my secondary school in outer London. I went to places: Italy, Normandy, France. I was singled out and rewarded with certificates and letters home. I achieved good grades, in the most part but I also learnt how to fail. I was blessed with humility and teamwork. I was thrown into situations I'd rather not have been in and come out the other side a little bit stronger. Being forced to study Germ Theory, Pythagoras Theorem, Sonnets, Bar Charts, Velocity, "je m'apelle" and so forth was ironic; after finishing my fourteen years of formal education I've realised that wasn't what I learnt at all. 

The things that I really learnt from my life at school are the things I will be able to apply to the "big bad world". I learnt to laugh not only at situations but at myself, to respect other people's views and faiths, to trust, consequences, to challenge myself to the absolute limits and never give up, best of all I finally learnt what all those cliché's meant! 

And now I've finished and what better way to finish school that a whole years holiday. 

I don't know where I will be in a year's time and after that seems even more blank. In fact, for me, doomsday falls on the day I get my results; August 16th, the day before my birthday - I find out my results and then suddenly I'm an adult and that's it, bam, kapush, boom, end of school, hello "big bad world". Am I ready? Hell no! But that just makes it all that more incredible. Because once upon a time I went into secondary school vulnerable, naive, ignorant and with the sense that I could mould the next seven years however I wished. Now, I feel like I've got that opportunity all over again! I don't know who I want to be, or how I want to mark the world, I just know that here is where I begin. 

I am starting here. Writing this blog. Knowing that they're a thousand different paths, possibilities and opportunities that may come my way. So I begin my quest for the rest of my life, today. With none other than a list. 

I love lists. - although I never did watch the bucket list (note to self: watch the bucket list). 

So here it goes: A BILLION THINGS TO DO IN MY GAP YEAR. - This isn't a gap between school and the rest of my life, this is a stepping stone. Plus screw it, I'm young, wild and freeeee so why not? 

1. Dye my hair a crazy colour 
2. Write a short children's story 
3. Climb a mountain 
4. Go skinny dipping 
5. Karoake in a bar
6. Cliff diving or something similar 
7. Learn to play a song on guitar 
8. Make a 5 tier cake ✓
9. Learn a dance routine 
10. Pass my driving test 
11. Save turtles in Costa Rica 
12. Sleep under the stars 
13. Fly
14. White water rafting 
15. Surfing 
16. Quad biking 
17. Acupuncture 
18. Be able to recite a monologue (Possibly audition with said monologue)  
19. Go to Paris
20. Give Blood
21. Learn to knit