Most people follow a fairly rigid path throughout their lives. Most of my friends went to school, went to college, some of them went on to study for their degrees and then they go out and get a job. Fifty years later and it is as if they have all done the same thing. I think though that the world is changing and people don’t have to stick to this blueprint for life. I am the perfect example. Like most of my friends I got good grades at school, and again like most of my friends I went to college and specialised in a few subjects that I performed best in. This is where my path deviated from most peoples’ though. During my College courses I became disillusioned with my work and I started to question just why I was doing what I was doing. I realised that my College course was not what I wanted to do, and the only thing that made me study was the thought that it was what I ought to be doing. I wanted to travel, and to see the world, while I had a chance.

After a lot of soul searching I decided to drop out of my courses and save up for a flight to the other side of the world. I decided that I had enough savvy and knowledge to be able to work my way round the world for a year or two and I planned to come back and enrol in a degree course when I returned.

I was twenty five when I started my degree course and I was lucky enough to come across a company called Kaplan which allowed me to study in a flexible manner from home. Five years down the line and I am a fully qualified teacher and I can say to myself that I gave myself the opportunity to see the world, and I got back on track with my life.