Jetting Educated

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're saying" I admitted, and automatically, my face contorted in to an expression of confusion and I gave an over exaggerated shrug.  My mumblings and body language were sure to tell him I was a confused foreigner, and indeed, the Italian man accepted his mistake and continued down the Roman street. My heritage pie chart: Guyana, Britain and a little bit of France In Italy I was often mistaken- natives and tourists alike were asking me questions or for directions. One one occasion I said "Hey, I'm new here too, but lets go," and then we ended up going to a science museum together. When meeting other travelers, a game of "guess my ethnic background" has ended with: Greek, Turk, Iranian, Spaniard and Italian among many others. I guess my actual roots from South America is a bit far to consider when people play that game in Europe.  While I am proud of this heritage, once you talk to me I...

I moved to Budapest two weeks ago today and I am still loving it! Last time I wrote, I talked money and my first impression was that Budapest is a strong contender when it comes to offering excellent value for money. Well, I could speak for beer at least, as that had been my main experience of spending until that point. Since then I've continued to have wonderful, wallet-friendly times, whose crowning glory on Saturday was a tasty meal at a restaurant (including wine) for £2.69. But as my friend Sam would say, money should not be discussed. What I have been dissertating at length is  language , because the reason I'm in Hungary is that I'm training to become an English teacher. Specifically a teacher to 'non-native speakers' or as I'm sure Nigel Farage (adj: meaning xenophobic) would say, 'the foreigns'. What a funny language! N.B not so funny when you've trying to teach it... But let's not talk English, even though it is intere...

Since I last wrote, I've had a good time living and working in the Alps, and now I am stopping for five weeks in the Hungarian Capital- Budapest!   For the past 22 months, I have found myself in over 30 locations in 12 countries but this is the first time that I feel I am really living in a foreign land.  The map shows locations I have been to since I left a 'normal' life the UK in July 2013 and stated a more unstable life of adventure It's quite a decent list so far, and actually a lot of my time has been in France. In the ski resorts La Rosiere and Courchevel I stayed for months at a time, and the same goes for my Mum's in western France, but I won't count them as having been experiences of getting to know a foreign country as a resident.           Ski resorts aren't really representative of the country they are in; they are super-commercialised and exist to make money, rather than being a place that people actually live. S...