I was a crazy francophile back in 2014 and I’m proud to say that nothing has changed, nearly three years later.  

2014 was a whirlwind of a year for many reasons, but none so significant as being part of the Shared Histories project as a Young Ambassador.  This role took me to many places both literally and metaphorically that I never dreamed I would be able to experience in my last year of high school.  Though the experience of being in France and Belgium is now over, the memories we made and things we learnt will last forever.

I had always considered myself to be relatively knowledgable about WWI and...

It has already been three weeks since the Young Ambassadors’ Tour ended - it feels like so long ago that we were living it up in France/Belgium!  I have been very busy catching up with school work now that reality has kicked back in, so unfortunately writing this blog post has been put on the back burner.  However, I have been able to make a few of the assessments I have been doing for school relevant to my overseas experience, so there has been a lot of time for reflection and reminiscence...

Well, I have surpassed countdown mode and now entered freak-out mode!  With only 3 days until we leave Auckland Airport for Paris, I thought it would be appropriate to do a quick blog post to thank all the people who have helped me get to this point.  There are many people who have donated generously to my fund for the Young Ambassadors’ tour, and I am more than grateful to each and everyone of them. 

Firstly, a huge thank you to the St Hilda’s Star Fund, who gave me a donation far beyond...

May was a very busy month for me, so unfortunately I haven’t been able to devote much time to developing my inquiry.  However, at the end of the month I was very lucky to be able to meet up with Emma, Ailish and Pascale for lunch.  It was really great to catch up with Emma and Ailish again, and so nice to meet Pascale face to face!  I also had a Skype call with Ruth; it was lovely to be able to meet her before we all get together on the 12th of June.  Speaking of which, not long until all of us...

April the 25th saw me, along with many others throughout New Zealand, Australia and the rest of the world, attend an annual Anzac Day service.  Because of the school holidays, I was able to go to our small local community service, held in the Heriot community centre.  Attending this service was like a full circle for me, as it has been many years since I last went to the Heriot Anzac Day commemorations.  In fact, the last time I went to the service was when I did a reading as a Cub Scout in...

The last couple of weeks I have been busy working towards completing a history research internal assessment - a very long but worthwhile process.  I was luckily able to work this internal in parallel with my Young Ambassador inquiry, meaning that over the month since my last blog entry, I have been able to kill two birds with one stone.  The outline of the history internal is to “research one historical event or place that is of significance to New Zealanders.”  I stated the aim of my research...