Travel

Being an Expat – The Best of Both Worlds

Being an expat is not the easiest thing in the world, but it’s certainly is one of the most interesting and enriching experiences one can have. Alexia moved from Athens to London in September 2012, and is still trying to figure out expat life, armed with optimism, patience and lots of enthusiasm. She explains how she finds life… here and there.

 

Here: I meet new people all the time and develop great friendships with people from all over the world. I’m more open socially than I was back home.

There: Although I miss them terribly, I’m so happy every time I go back home and see my old good friends and my family. Every reunion is filled with lots of hugs and happiness.

 

London’s landmark, Big Ben

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Travel

Exploring Australia: Specsavers, Sunshine and Sexism

When I found out I was coming to Australia for two weeks, I was so excited. Australia’s completely the other side of the world to my home in Birmingham. I fantasised about what it would be like: kangaroos hopping round, koalas on every corner, barbecues every night. It would be so different to what I’m used to.
But when I got here, the first thing that struck me was how similar everything was. Getting the bus from the airport, I noticed they drive on the same side of the road as us. When I got to the bus station, the first shop I saw was a WH Smiths. In fact, lots of the shops are the same: Specsavers, Zara, Laura Ashley, Vodafone, Starbucks, McDonald’s, KFC. The first night I was here, I was truly adventurous and had tea at Nandos (although it wasn’t as nice as the ones in the UK and they didn’t have my favourite Wild Garlic and Herb sauce) and then went back to the hotel and watched Homes Under the Hammer, Time Team and Coronation Street.

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Home, Health & Style, Popular

12 Steps to Becoming a Self-Confident Kid

Do you ever wish you were more confident? Do you watch other kids standing in front of the class, and presenting their work, and wish you be that self-confident kid?

We often talk about self-confidence and self-esteem in tweens. These two are linked, but slightly different. Self-esteem is about how you feel about yourself, how you value your abilities and yourself. Self-confidence is about how you feel about your abilities, about trusting yourself to do something.

You could have a high self-esteem generally, but have low self-confidence in a particular area, e.g. doing maths, or standing in front of the classroom and presenting a book report.

We often split people into ‘confident’ and ‘not confident’, but we can all learn to be more confident. It just takes a bit of practice. Here are our top tips for increasing self-confidence and self-esteem!

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