Looking over this year...

I've always wanted a non structural life. 

I've been brought up seeing people go to school, go to college, meet someone, get married, have kids and work for the rest of their life. Inevitably we all have to go to school and college but I never wanted the things that people did afterwards. 

At the age of 14, I wrote down in a diary all the things I wanted to achieve before I settled down. And looking over things, I have achieved some of those ambitions but even some that weren't on the list and all done in the space of a year.

This year I graduated from University. I achieved a 2:1 in Photography which I was pleased about. I knew I wanted to go on to do Photography and not choose a different path like a lot of people on my course.

So in April, I started looking for Photography jobs. I knew I wanted to get out of Portsmouth (as I'd lived there my whole life). I applied to be a Cruise Ship Photographer. 

I'd always wanted a job that enabled me to travel as I never wanted to have an office job. This job was everything I wanted. Photography and Travel. 

I got the job and I did a tiny bit of travelling before travelling!

I went to Alabama to go to my Brother and his now Wife's wedding (she lives there). We went to Montgomery and I have never met such friendly people! Everyone we met had such kind souls and were so happy to meet an English person! 

In Montgomery, we went to a F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgeralds home. I am a massive fan of The Great Gatsby and I was so happy to go to there house and learn about the two of them. The man in there was so knowledgable about them and the paintings Zelda did I found very interesting too. 

It was an amazing holiday and we also visited Gulf Shores and Atlanta which were also two beautiful places! 

Four days after America I went to Amsterdam with my best friend Eleanor. I also absolutely loved it there! I loved that there were so many canals and everyone went round on bikes. We chilled out mainly here and did what any 21 year old would do in Amsterdam! But we also went to the Anne Frank Museum which I found truly fascinating! 

We also got some bikes out and went cycling around Amsterdam which I'd been wanting to do for ages! 

We spent three days in Amsterdam and the next week, I graduated...

I also got told that I would be joining Aurora three days after my Graduation!

(See about Aurora on my last blog).

Overall, it has been an amazing year and I have been to around 40 different places in the world. 

I've learnt a lot about myself. I've learnt that I like life fast paced and that I also do enjoy the company of others but I also really need time to myself quite a lot. 

Someone once asked me on the ship why I liked going out in Ports by myself and I described it as "I like to enjoy places and if I'm with someone that doesn't share the same interest then you can't appreciate and enjoy the place as much". 

I've also learnt that my happiness doesn't lie within the UK and so after Ship life I will be travelling the world and after that moving somewhere else :). 

AND... that I don't want my life to be structured. I want to be young, selfish and see the world :). 

Aurora

Since July 26th, I have been working on Aurora, a P&O Cruise Ship. When I first left, I was so excited to finally be leaving Portsmouth (where I have lived my whole life) and start a new journey sailing the seas and discovering new places.

My first day I remember so clearly. I arrived on board a scared little girl not having a clue where I was going and what I was doing really. But I met the commercial manager, Simon who was lovely and showed me round. I remember being overwhelmed by all the different sections to the ship and thinking, "How am I going to remember where everything is!". I then had lunch on my own in the crew mess which was an experience. I got stared at by a million indians and I had a curry which was the worst curry I'd ever had. I didn't eat in there for a while. 

I later on met my team which consisted of Shelley (my cabin mate), Jamie, Richard and Dan. They were all so lovely and luckily I clicked with Shelley straight away. I got into the job pretty quickly as you do because you're doing it every day (no days off). 

The shoots I had to do were Soft Focus, Gala Party, Couples, Tables, Sailaway's, Gangway's, Formal Nights, Special Occassion's and also working in The Photo Gallery selling the photographs.

I found the long days quite tough at first as we work 12 hours a day and then go out in the evening to the Crew Bar. The lack of sunlight as well was strange for a while as we have no window in the cabin and The Photo Gallery has no sunlight due to the life boats being outside and the boards of photographs covers the windows. 

The job was rewarding at times as we also did 1-2-1 sessions with the passengers telling them about their cameras and them being so thankful that you showed them a mode that wasn't auto. I also did talks about Photography and often got a round of applause. I also photographed a proposal which was really special as I was the only other person in the world that got to see that special moment of theirs. I also did a wedding and the lady cried looking through her pictures (win!). 

The job was also very tough at times with passengers being very rude and inconsiderate, sometimes we would get shouted at for doing our job which wasn't very nice. 

But I'm back home now and its amazing to look back on all the places I have been. I've been to Mediterranean a few times, America, Canada, Fjords and Caribbean. My favourite cruise had to be the Caribbean cruise. Everyone was really happy and the atmosphere was great on the ship! The ports were amazing. We went to Ponta Delgado, Barbados, Dominica, Antigua and St Lucia. We sat on the beaches and drank rum punch and just enjoyed being young and free, I had no cares in the world. 

My favourite port in the Caribbean had to be Barbados. I went on a photography tour with a photographer from Barbados. We toured around Barbados whilst he showed passengers different ways of looking. It was beautiful! I then got back and got a taxi to a place called the Boatyard. The boatyard is where all the crew go to erm not get drunk! I had a couple of rum punches which were amazing and started dancing in the sea! 

Another one of my favourite ports was Quebec. Quebec is in Canada (not a lot of people know about it) and it is a French Canadian place. It reminded me of Paris. We were there for two days and I couldn't get off till 9pm on the first day. So we did what sailors did and went out for drinks in the evening to a really good club. We all got a bit merry and had an amazing time! Unfortunately my alarm didn't go off the next day and this was because I'd left my phone in the club. So I had to get a taxi to the club and luckily some nice french canadian had handed it in :). From there I walked around Quebec on my own (I often went out on my own) and went down in the cable car to the 'old town' which was absolutely beautiful. Quebec is a place I'd love to go back to and explore abit more. I'd love to go into the Chateaux as I didn't have the chance to when I was there.  

I also really enjoyed Lisbon as well. Lisbon has the most amazing architecture and graffiti. It also has a bridge designed by the same people who designed the one in San Francisco, so they are very similar. I also loved walking around Lisbon on my own and discovering something I didn't see the last time. 

Before I went on the Cruise Ship, I told myself I'd do a little project. I decided to take a picture on my Instax Fujifilm camera in every single place I got off at. So here it is... 

 I have had the most amazing time on Aurora. I won't be going back to Aurora as I am being transferred to Azura which I am very excited about (3 months in the Caribbean!). I can say I have travelled some of the world now and I wanted to do this before I had any other commitments in my life. I'd like to look back when I'm older and say, "Yes I was selfish when I was young, but at least I have no regrets".