I left Mary Hare in 2008 after finishing my A levels. I made a decision to wait a year before going to University and spend this year travelling. This was the best decision I've ever made and I'm so happy that I gave myself the opportunity to go and visit Africa, India and Thailand.

 

For those of you considering travelling please don't let your deafness worry you. I knew I was going to be with a group of strangers in Africa and I was worried about how they would react and cope with my deafness. My worrying wasn't necessary in the slightest. There were times when I missed what was said but I knew I could ask anyone in my group what I missed and they would tell me.

 

My first stop in my travels was Africa. We did too much to list in this article so I'll tell you some of the best bits! We stayed in a village called Ngxingxolo (ning-nolo) for a night and got an amazing greeting upon arrival. We were taught the ways of their culture and learnt a bit of the Xhosa (kosa) language.

 

Our time in Africa was split between working and doing activities, but the work was strangely fun as well! We did work with trees and plants which was hard graft especially since it mainly involved using machetes!!

 

We also took care of an ill eland (like a deer) every morning and got to play with lion cubs! The dominant male of the cubs, Butch, unfortunately got very ill in the second week. He started to lose his eyesight and was very sick but luckily he made a full recovery.

 

We went to the lion enclosure (which was massive) to see the lions. These lions are known as white lions and are very rare. They're worth about £5 million each! We also studied "seaside ecology" which consisted of all the volunteers sunbathing at the beach whilst one of our guides taught us all about the beach and how it is preserved. I think Mary Hare should consider making this an academic subject in the summer!

 

Since I was in Africa for all of February, I was there for Valentine's Day. It was a Valentine's Day that I'll never forget! There was a rainstorm and we went for a walk on the beach, all of us of course looked like drowned rats by the end of it!! We all stupidly forgot our raincoats and forgot to cover up the tent!  Suffice to say we all ended up sleeping in a two inch deep puddle that night!

 

One day, half of the group went quad-biking through the game reserve and a thunderstorm started!  Four of us got separated from the rest of the group so we carried on along the path that we thought was the right way. We ended up ‘quadding’ about two miles in the wrong direction past two huge rhinos which were about twenty metres away from us! Extremely scary!

 

Eventually we stopped, knowing that we weren't going the right way. We knew our way to the gate at the other end of the reserve about a mile away and decided that that was our safest bet. When we went to start our quad bikes, mine wouldn't start and a wheel fell off another! So we doubled up and headed for the gate only to find that the gate was locked shut!

 

After going past the lion enclosure, the emus and a herd of wildebeest, I wasn't giving up that easily! So I bravely went first at climbing over a very unstable ten foot gate with barbed wire along the top. It was very unsafe, don't try it! Once we were all safely over the gate, we had to leave our quads on the other side and trek back to camp. All in all, a very exhausting afternoon!

 

We were all given the opportunity to go to Cape Town for an extended weekend and most of us went. We went to Greenmarket Square, Table Mountain, Long Street and many more! However the day I was looking forward to the most was Sunday.

 

The group wanted to go shark diving but Sara and I went sky-diving instead. It was a 12,000 feet jump and we both got very excited when our plane took off. As we got higher and higher, the view of Cape Town got more and more breathtaking. When my instructor told me that we only had 2,500 feet to go before we could jump my heart skipped a beat! Then a minute later we were told that the wind had become too strong and we could no longer jump. I was absolutely gutted but we got a refund meaning we got a free flight around Cape Town and an afternoon to go shopping!

 

On the last night in Africa there was yet another thunderstorm but instead of letting it dampen our spirits we made the most of it! The girls in my hut and myself got into our bikinis and danced in the rain like there was no tomorrow. We had an amazing time and have never felt such a mix of emotions all at once.

 

After a quick stay at home in England after Africa, I went to India. It was definitely a unique experience. We got there almost two weeks later than expected due to problems with our visas. We spent our first week working in a cow sanctuary and the second week in a zoo. Cows are considered holy to many people in India so they are never put down. This meant that a lot of the cows in the sanctuary were extremely ill or very badly injured. The doctor came round to change the bandages on all the injured cows one day and believe me it wasn't pretty!

 

Our weekends were free time so one weekend Harriet and I went to Pushkar, a city about two hours away from where we were staying in Jaipur. We were very excited about the expedition, especially at the prospect of riding a camel! However, after three hours on the camels we were very excited about the prospect of getting off! We camped in the desert that night and it was surprisingly cold. It was the first night since being away that we needed to sleep under a duvet!

 

The culture in India is so different to Western culture and it is much stricter in terms of tradition and religion. It was very hard at first to get used to their culture and expectations but once we did, we really enjoyed our stay. In Jaipur they are not used to tourists, so getting photographed and filmed in the street became normal even though it was very daunting. India was a very trying place to stay because of the cultural diversity; nevertheless I loved my time there and had an amazing experience.

 

The experience only got better when I went to Thailand. When we arrived, they were celebrating their new year which is a week-long celebration. They celebrate differently to us, they put clay on peoples' faces (to represent the past) then cover you in water (to represent washing the past away). This meant a whole week of clay and water fights! When we weren't getting covered in clay and water, we went to visit many temples and were amazed by the intricate detail of all their decorations and statues.

 

We spent a week trekking in the jungle which was such hard work. We went through caves and up a VERY steep hill one morning. It took two hours of constant uphill climbing to get to the top but for the view we got from up there it was so worth it.

 

After a very exhausting week of trekking we got to spend our last week in Thailand relaxing at the beach on an island called Koh Samet. It was a beautiful little island with some great stalls, beaches and shows. Every single night we went to watch a fire show which, every night, impressed us.

 

The fire dancers were phenomenally talented and very dedicated. When they finished the show they stayed on the beach and learnt more tricks. They never stopped! Except one night they decided to organise some games for the audience. I took part in one! It was a limbo game, but it was no ordinary limbo game: the limbo pole was on fire!! It was extremely scary and very warm! I, unfortunately, was only runner-up but I still got a prize anyway!

 

Travelling has been the greatest experience of my life and I can't wait to do more. I strongly advise every one of you to consider travelling, even if you only do it for a summer. It'll be the best time of your life and you'll probably end up with the "travel bug" and want to do more!