The Adventures of Jaz

Role Models (incomplete)

jazwalker — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 16:01:00 GMT

I'm pretty sure everybody has had a role model at some point in their lives, whether it be Anna Pavlova when you were an aspiring Ballerina aged 7. Bindi Irwin when you wanted to be a vet at age 11, or your favourite Primary school teacher when you decided you wanted to pursue a career in education during your high school years. For myself, I don't think I ever had a significant role model as a child, but I definitely found one when I was fifteen, sitting half asleep in my year 11 history class. Her name was Sophie Scholl, a girl who had lived a pretty ordinary life until the outbreak of the Second World War. She grew up in the Weimar Republic and rebelled in during the days of Nazi Germany. Her brother, boyfriend and other university students created a Rebel group called "The White Rose", who

New Zealand, 2014

jazwalker — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 15:39:00 GMT

In September of 2013, I made a fabulous friend over instagram; a 16 year old kiwi gal called Jaime. We instantly clicked and shared our lives with eachother despite being so far away. We confided in eachother and helped eachother along through hard times, and then we started skyping on a regular basis. By January, I had begun thinking about what I wanted to do for my 18th birthday (despite it still being 9 months away but ya know), and I decided to take a trip to New Zealand and stay with her in outer Christchurch for her school break and my university break. The next three-four months flew by and the next thing I knew I was boarding my first flight ALONE. ALONE means without friends or teachers, and it was actually a great experience. When I was picked up by Jaime and her boyfriend at the airport ealry Easter Sunday, it felt as if we had known eachother our whole lives. Anyway, she took me to all the touristy parts of Christchurch (which is now mainly made up of earthquake damage, sadly), but it was very interesting! The weekend of our arrival, we drove 2 and a half hours north to Kaikoura and camped on the beach in a tent and caravan below the mountain ranges with Tim's (Jaime's boyfriend's) family. It was so beautiful but I had never experienced that kind of cold before and was being insulted about being an Aussie left right and centre :P Jaime and I also roadtripped for a three day getaway north to the amazing Hanmer Springs, where we bathed for two days in the natural hot water water springs and stayed in a cute, two storey timber backpackers hostel, which was also a new and fun experience for us. One Sunday while Jaime was working, her family took me for another roadtrip to see places such as Alansdale, Lyttleton and Sumner.
Overall, I had an amazing two weeks and wish it could've lasted longer. (Or that we lived closer!)

Safe travels,
Jaz xoxo

Europe, 2013

jazwalker — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 19:52:00 GMT

My second international trip came in my last year of high school. I'd been studying modern history for the past two years and had been looking forward to doing so since I was young. One day, a friend of mine who was in my history class asked why our school didn't run their old European History Tour anymore. Two weeks later forms were sent out and six months later we were all on a plane to Paris.
Being a history tour, we focused on World War One and then World War Two. We saw major battlefields in North-West France and Belgium, Concentration Camps in Germany, many a museum, many cemeteries and many tourist places. We hit up The Eiffel Tower, The Arc de Triomph, The Reichstag, The D-Day Beaches, Paschendale and more. I saw lots of beautiful places with sad tales behind them and visited more Starbucks than I can count. I wasn't impressed by the food (probably due to the fact that we travelled on a budget), but really enjoyed using new languages; French, Dutch, Flemish and German.
This trip really put history into perspective for me and made me feel emotions that I never had before.
This trip inspired me to see more of Belgium, to put HOLLAND on my bucket list, to see AUSCHWITZ (I know, depressing, right?), and someday be fluent in dutch!
Happy travels,

Jaz xoxo

Photos: Past Travels

jazwalker — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 19:21:00 GMT

Photos taken on trips prior to Milan 2014

Italy, 2012

jazwalker — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 19:07:00 GMT

Well considering I haven't left yet, I thought I would talk about my most memorable previous travels, starting with my school trip to Italy in April, 2012.
I studied italian all through high school with a great bunch of girls- many of whom are my closest friends. We went for 15 days, kick starting our trip in Milan. From there, we went to Verona, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Perugia, and finished in Rome. I got to see all the typical (but awesome) tourist sites, such as Il Duomo di Milano, Giuliette's Balcony in Verona, Piazza del San Marco in Venice, The Leaning Tower of Pisa, The Baci Factory in Perugia and The Colesseum and Roman Ruins in Rome. As well as this, I got to make new friends, eat lots of yummy food and practise my italian. It was such a wonderful experience for a fifteen year old that had never been overseas and would definitely have a re-run with the same group of lovely ladies.

Happy travelling,

Jaz xoxo