Plans for Lucy's Locations

I've decided not to give up this blog, just as I have decided not to give up traveling! I will be studying Events Management at the University of Chester for the next 4 years but I have several holidays in between terms and I am intending to take a year abroad for my 3rd year and study somewhere cool, so although I am no longer on my Gap Year, my adventure continues!

Due to my degree, my posts wont be very regular anymore, however they will pick up again when I have a trip to talk about, or am planning something like my study year abroad!

Travel plans that I already have:

A weekend in York with Rachael Mole
A possible weekend in London with Klaudia and Lee and whoever else turns up from International Camp

Christmas plans:

Bedfordshire to see Abigail and co'
Welwyn Garden City to see Hedvika and co'
Sandhurst to see Jean/Nana with dad
Mudeford to see Ali, Spike and Ellie with dad

Christmas in Amsterdam with mum, dad and Oli
Hopefully meeting up with Steph Van Balsfoort in Amsterdam

New Years Eve in Carlow with Colm, Glenn, Niall, Conor and anyone else there
(I'm hoping this eventually turns into a tradition as we were there last year too, but the German girls can't make it this year -sad face- )

Long term plans:

This Easter , I will be doing Hitch 2014 to Morocco with my team member Will Duckworth, or Ducky. We are doing this to raise money for a charity called 'Link: Community Development' who improve education in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, South Africa and Uganda. We have already started fundraising, so please donate generously and help us to beat our target of £600. For more information, and to donate, please follow this link: www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/lucyandducky

Summer 2014, I have a few plans that are slowly coming together but I'll talk about those on a later date!

My next ambition, is to study abroad for a year. I have already started to research this, even though I am intending to go in my 3rd year (September 2015 to Summer 2016). I will probably make a separate blog post about how this is organised and about where I intend to go.

For now, that is all,

Lucy from the World xxo

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Content Page - Lucy C from A to B

In summary of my Gap Year:

Places I went, in alphabetical order:

Austria

Vienna

Australia

Sydney, Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise, Mooloolaba, Noosa, Rainbow Beach, Fraser Island, 1770, Airlie Beach, Whitsundays, Townsville, Magnetic Island, Cairns

England

Bedford, Mersea Island, Stevenage, London, Norwich

France

Perpignan, Toulouse, Paris

Germany

Schlangenbad, Klarental, Hannover, Cologne, Munich, Berlin

Ireland

Cork, Carlow, Dublin

Italy

Pisa, Follonica, Punta Alla

Netherlands

Amsterdam, The Hague

Spain

Madrid

Switzerland

Les Crosets

Turkey

Eskisir, Sile, Istanbul

USA - California

San Franscisco, Mill Valley, Fort Bragg, Davis, Mill Valley, Tahoe, Los Angeles

And if you are new to Lucy's Locations, or just want to read about a specific place again, then here is a guide to which countries are covered in which blog posts:

June 2012

England and Spain

July 2012

Spain and England

August 2012

England and the Netherlands

September 2012

Turkey

October 2012

Turkey, France and Germany

November 2012

London and Germany

December 2012

My Interrail trip through France, Austria and Germany

January 2013

Ireland, England and Germany

February 2013

Amsterdam, Cologne and Italy

March 2013

Italy, Amsterdam and Switzerland

April 2013

Berlin, Amsterdam, Switzerland
and Australia
Bondi Beach, Sydney, Palm Beach and the Blue Mountains

May 2013

Australia

Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise, Mooloolaba, Noosa, Fraser Island and Agnes Waters

June 2013

Australia

Airlie Beach, The Whitsundays, Magnetic Island and Cairns

July 2013

USA

San Francisco

August 2013

USA

Mill Valley, Fort Bragg, Santa Rosa and Davis

September 2013

USA

The lake house near Tahoe, Mill Valley, San Francisco and Los Angeles

Returning Home

At the airport

Coming home wasn't as surreal as I thought it might be. I think I was ready to return and this made it a lot easier to settle in. Abigail and my parents met me at the airport with this lovely sign in the photo above. I think I'll be keeping it forever and ever ;)

Nathalie and a few of her friends were doing a trip through Holland so we met up with them for one evening. It was great to see her again and for my two longest friends to finally meet.

Abigail and I finally agreed on a tattoo to get together. We had originally planned to get it together in L.A. but in the end I think Amsterdam was the best place for it. Getting a tattoo is very weird. Abigail doesn't seem fazed by it but for me it was crazy. It didn't hurt as much as I expected, people have said to me before that it feels like scratching sunburn, but to me it just feels like a needle scraping your skin... which I guess is exactly what it is, haha. Anyway, I sometimes forget I have it and get little shocks of "oh yeah" when looking at photos or in the mirror. I know I've always said that I only want one tattoo but I didn't think I'd get one with Abigail back then, so I still want something on my ankle, but if I do, it will take me a lot longer to decide what it is, as it will most likely be my last tattoo.

Before I knew it, Abigail was gone again and I had a few weeks to relax and recover - I had found that since returning I was very weak and exhausted all the time. My mothers theory is that my excitement was over and so my body was finally relaxing and allowing itself to be exhausted... I think I agree. Through my travels, I have gotten ill but it was in Germany and in Italy where I had a consistent 'home'. For the last 4 months in Australia and the USA I was moving a lot, not knowing where my next stop would be, so my body wasn't allowed to relax into a routine. I think that's probably the main reason I didn't get ill until I got home.
(Apparently the body has the same reaction when you put on an event: you work a crazy amount leading up to the event, work even harder during the event and then crash when it's over and become ill for several days/weeks.)

Suddenly I was packed and ready to leave again and finally go to University. It was time to say goodbye to my father again, time to say goodbye to my double bed and my beautiful bedroom view and start a new adventure. My mother has said several times that moving to University felt more final than my Gap Year did. Again, I have to agree, (whoever said "mothers know best" really knew their stuff haha) it's probably because I am moving to a house, a place I will live in for a year, a place that I will eventually call my home. On top of this, I will have 3-4 years in one place. University of Chester - here I come!

My father has asked me "what are you going to do with your blog now?" and I evaded his question a little. I wasn't really sure for awhile what I would do - should I change it to a University blog? Just stop writing? It didn't seem right... I have a half-plan now, and I guess you'll just have to wait and see what it is ;)

On that note, I dedicate this blog post to all those of you who have stuck with me throughout my travels and read my blog. This post is for those of you who made 7,375 views possible. Thank you for the support, thank you for asking me questions over facebook, thank you for sticking by me, thank you thank you thank you. But most importantly; thank you for accompanied me on my dream come true.

Well then, until next time ;)
Lucy xxo