Hello hello, hola, bonjour, ni hao….
Well, for starters, happy new year! It’s always a little strange changing year and having to write 2016 wait no … 2017 at the top of your page.
As the title of this blog post suggests I am going to be writing about 2016 and what it meant for me. To make this a little easier to read I am going to split the year up into months and write a snippet of what I can remember and what stood out to me.
January
Hello 2016! Ah the highlight of January was dressing up for G’s G-themed party as…
drum roll please…
a Galaxy! I hand painted this fabulous skirt and spent over two hours painting my face until I looked somewhat alien. Then I remembered that I had to take the public bus to this party (thanks parents) and proceeded to be the amusement to all the elderly on the bus.
February
Haha, the fancy dress sixth form disco. Oh my oh my. Despite getting caught drinking (sorrryyyy) this was one of the best nights I ever had at school. Imagine being told off by your housemaster but everyone is slightly tipsy and dressed head to toe in mad outfits. Superman, fairies, David Bowie, Harry Potter… you name it.
We also had Chinese New Year and I won a prize in the raffle! For those of you who don’t know, I decided to take up Mandarin for sixth form!
March
I spent the whole of March preparing for my IB Art exhibition, which in the end I was really proud of and came together so well. It was centred around the idea of veiling and surpressing society.
April
My fundraising ball! This event was really the success in my fundraising. I organised and held a masquerade ball for 100 people and I can’t thank those who supported me with this enough. My number 1 mum, the people that came along, the band and the raffle prize donors. Thank you thank you.
May
The entire of this month was taken up with watching season 6 game of thrones (and exams – but we don’t mention those).
I also got to see Seafret with two of my best friends. It was amazing.
June
The leavers ball. Ohmygoodness best end to five years of senior school ever. This was such a high point of the year and so perfect to end on. I’m just smiling reminiscing about it.
July
The start of a new era in my life. Goodbye school, hello world.
August
19th. Possibly THE most exciting day of the entire year (except of course my birthday). This was the long awaited flight from the UK to the Dominican Republic. I can’t possibly even recreate the emotions I felt that day… leaving home, travelling across the globe, going to the total unknown, entering the country that I’d be spending an ENTIRE year at. Goodness. It was intense.
September
Yay. We have arrived in Bombita! Izzy and I started to settle into our Project, I started to get the hang of teaching in a foreign language and we made friends in the village!
October
I lived in La Hoya for two weeks! I loved helping out with the kids there and getting to know another village. And then it went a little mad…. Alice and Eve left 😦 Izzy and I went home #visaproblems.
November
The day of peace march. This was one of the most memorable moments so far. The whole village wore white clothing and marched around waving white flags and singing at the top of their voices. It was an honour to be a part of.
December
My family came out to visit my project! We took such an incredible trip around this beautiful island to Las Galeras, Jarabacoa and Barahona. For sure my favourite day was the horse trek to the waterfalls (despite my horse allergy). Jarabacoa is truly beautiful and I recommend a trip to anyone thinking of coming to the DR.
There have also been a huge number of things that I have loved in 2016. Here are a few!
Music
- Waves (ft. Kacey Musgraves) remix – Rogue Waves
- Petit Biscuit
- Seafret (and I got to see them live this year which was amazing!)
- The 1975 – Somebody Else, Paris, She’s American
- Izzy Bizu
Movies and TV
- Me Before You
- No Escape
- Documentary – The True Cost
- Planet Earth 2
- Game of Thrones Season 6
Hobbies
- Photography
- Blogging
- Youtube-ing and Vlogging – have you seen my vlogmas?!
- Cooking
I hope you all had an incredible year and all the best for 2017!
Sacha xx
Travelling My Globe 