Introductions

Hey everyone! For those who don’t know me, I’m Rebekah Warburton and am currently 22 years old.  I am originally from Leeds in West Yorkshire (North UK), but since I was 10 years old have been living in Yarm, further up North in Stockton-on-Tees.  I have just finished my degree in Psychology and for the past year have been thinking “What the heck am I gonna do after I finish?”  Scared of becoming bored after finishing my studies, I searched and searched on the web for jobs, sending in many applications (ultimately none being successful).  I spotted a leaflet in careers services at my university (Teesside University) for a European Jobs Day up in Newcastle…. I figured why not… Dropped dad at work and went for a drive.



My Desk in the Office in Lille :-)



That was where I decided that some kind of French speaking job / experience was the next step.  My first instincts were to apply for Disneyland Paris (!) but that didn’t happen.  I passed Everything is Possible’s stand and Steve asked me “Would you be interested in volunteering?”… My response was “I would love to but it’s just too expensive”.  Well lo-and-behold, the European Voluntary Service (EVS) doesn’t charge a penny for volunteering as it is funded by the European Commission, a programme that Everything is Possible work with.  The European Jobs Day ended up being the best decision I could have made.

Within a couple of weeks I was in Leeds meeting Ash, the coordinator of long-term volunteering programmes.  After a discussion on what I would like to do, it seemed that Lille, North France, would be the best option for me.  This worked out perfectly because I was visiting Brussels shortly afterwards, so I just jumped on the train and went to meet Yves, the coordinator in the welcoming organisation (i.e. the Boss J ).

It’s now 28^th June 2011 and I arrived in France on the 1^st June, just 4 days after my final exam! To begin with it felt like I must be in a dream, that I really am finally in France, but it has slowly sunk in and I am making the best of my opportunities here.  I want to use this blog to document my experiences here in France and life after my volunteering adventure. I hope you enjoy it!