'Yes, a sailing trip... well actually a sailing race from London to Portugal,' ...
'Really have you ever sailed before?' ...
'Errm, no but hopefully I'll enjoy it!'
Hahaha, so yes. A sailing trip and no I have NEVER sailed before unless you count a day trip on a boat in Turkey. How exciting right?!?!
Why? You may wonder and well for me...an adrenaline-loving, inquisitive soul searching almost 20 year old I guess it was just curiosity. Ha. Curiosity killed the cat. Yes, yes but I am willing to take a leap of faith. The ocean is oh so vast, swaying from side to side with open arms and it is pretty much waiting to be explored. It appears as completely foreign in my understanding and I suppose I would love to have a chance to understand it that little bit more. Two weeks is probably not nearly enough but I guess this is me dipping a toe in or testing the waters hahaha :P :P :P. Bad joke, I know. Being a part of this experience will, of course, teach me lessons and skills that I will take onboard for the rest of my journey through life and I may love it or hate it out there. However, as long as I come out of the experience with a smile, ready to tell the tail... I would have achieved something I would have never imagined I would! Yes drama queen but it is true!
Why? You may wonder and well for me...an adrenaline-loving, inquisitive soul searching almost 20 year old I guess it was just curiosity. Ha. Curiosity killed the cat. Yes, yes but I am willing to take a leap of faith. The ocean is oh so vast, swaying from side to side with open arms and it is pretty much waiting to be explored. It appears as completely foreign in my understanding and I suppose I would love to have a chance to understand it that little bit more. Two weeks is probably not nearly enough but I guess this is me dipping a toe in or testing the waters hahaha :P :P :P. Bad joke, I know. Being a part of this experience will, of course, teach me lessons and skills that I will take onboard for the rest of my journey through life and I may love it or hate it out there. However, as long as I come out of the experience with a smile, ready to tell the tail... I would have achieved something I would have never imagined I would! Yes drama queen but it is true!
Just under a year ago, before I move to Greenwich/Deptford (I'm on the border) and before I even knew I was going to university, I applied for the Royal Borough of Greenwich's Tall Ships Regatta 2017 from London, UK to Sines, Portugal. It had said on BBC News that there were a number of sponsored places available on board the ship, or you could pay. I then proceeded to do some research as I thought, this does sound like fun! I realised that the only way to get a sponsored space was if you lived, worked or studied in Greenwich and of course I did not. I lived, worked and studied in Essex. The non-sponsored places cost around £1.5k for accommodation, food etc etc. I thought well you never know, circumstances change all the time, I could become a millionaire... not. I actually just figured that life has a funny way of working and if it is meant to be it will be!
And for sure... it was meant to be!
A couple months later I found out that I was accepted into Goldsmiths, University of London, how exciting. As I hadn't actually decided if I was 100% taking the plunge into academia until I had been accepted (mid August), I hadn't sorted anything you're supposed to such as accommodation, student finance and anything else you can think of so I was panicking! I managed to get my ass in gear and by September I was almost ready to begin the new chapter. I was placed in student accommodation around a 20 minute walk from my university in Lewisham and about an 8 minute walk into Greenwich town centre, and for those of you who haven't been... go to Greenwich!!! It is beautifulllll. I will give you a guided tour myself :P.
Now around 2 months after moving into my accommodation I received an email asking me to pay the first instalment for my voyage to Sines. Oh shit, I'm not a millionaire yet and I definitely cannot afford £1.5k now... I'm a student! I had to explain that unfortunately my circumstances had changed and I may have to back out of the trip... however, I decided to slip in the fact that I am in actual fact now by complete chance, a resident of Greenwich (well borderline Deptford but I sprinkled some sugar on it)!! I explained how I've sadly become a poor student but would still be very interested if there were any sponsored places still on offer. To my luck?? the lovely man on the other end of the email replied and explained that they loved how enthusiastic I was right from the start (I had a great application) and they would be happy to offer me a sponsored place - right after my interview! Yippieeeeeeeee. From then on the only way was up baby!
Here I am now, just under two weeks to go sat with my handbook for the Norwegian Tall Ship; Christian Radich. I've read it from cover to cover and will use it as my bible.
For more information about the Tall Ships Festival please check out: http://www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/tallships
Peace&Love,
Willow
0 comments:
Post a Comment