Elle

Since starting A2, time has been rather limited, hence the lack of blog posts recently. With Christmas and New Year fast approaching, I thought I would take a moment to reflect on 2017 and summarise some of the best moments of the year. My time at home is quickly coming to an end; in September, all being well, I'll be off to university. I didn't realise until quite recently how much I take for granted while I am living at home. This year has been a year of change and a year to grow up, turning 18 has made me realise just how soon independence is going to come. Perhaps it is this growing independence that has caused 2017 to be the busiest and most eventful year to date. It's been a year of exams and planning and looking around universities and opportunities. Yet it's also been a year in which I feel as though I've appreciated the incredible friends around me. Without further ado, here are just a few highlights of 2017. Skegness  This trip seems like a lifeti...

This isn't quite like my usual post, however, this year, a one day visit to Poland has made me want to tell as many people as possible about what I have experienced and explored. In March, I was selected after a process of interviews to represent my school on a trip to Oświęcim, funded by the Holocaust Educational Trust. The day long trip saw us fly to Krakow and then travel by bus to the infamous concentration camp: Auschwitz - Birkenau. I've now written about my experience numerous times. In my monthly column for the local magazine; in a lesson in which I taught Year 7 students studying The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and in the essays I had to write for the Lessons from Auschwitz project once I had visited the site. Despite this, however, I am still unable to put my feelings entirely in to words, nor write enough to cover everything that I saw and felt both prior, during and post my visit. It is a strange thing to stand in a place where millions have died and feel the s...