Day 1

Day 1.

Stage 3 of the gap programme has begun and I am pleased to be writing my second blog about my trip to the north of Barbados!!

After a successful 8 and a half hour trip to the island, a night spent getting to know our families and catching up on sleep.. It was time to start work! Well, I say 'work', today was just a meeting.

Sharon and I have been given a rental car to get around the island which is brilliant! We have our own music player to play our iPods, the roads are pretty good and the car itself is top notch. The car is an automatic which meant that it took a couple trips to get use to. However, now after a few trips in the car I would like to say I'm somewhat used to it. It's just weird not doing anything with your left foot!

Our meeting was scheduled for 3:00, so this meant we had the whole morning and early afternoon to ourselves. Both Sharon and I went to bed early yesterday, at about 8:30-9:00 so this morning we were feeling very refreshed. I was up at 7:30 to watch the Arsenal game! Of course the time difference of 5 hours means that the game was significantly earlier here in Barbados. A nice 1-0 win meant I could start the day right!

After Sharon and I both ate our delicious breakfasts, we decided to visit the beach. Which is a very straight forward 10 minute drive. The beach was unbelievable, it was like looking at something from a travel agents catalogue. Bright blue water and white sand. The stereotypical Barbados was certainly living up to its name.. in a good way!! We stayed at the beach till around 1 o clock before deciding to go home, get changed, have lunch and then go to our first appointment of our trip!

The meeting was hugely informative and gave us an insight into what the programme is all about. We were given our schedules, double club classroom equipment, sports equipment, Brewster trust uniforms and a trusty map to help us get around the island! That should be a challenge! Axel seems very organised in comparison to the typical Barbadian which is always a good trait to have.

After the meeting, we went to another beach called Brandon beach to see the sunset go down and just chill out with Aran and Evan. Aran and Evan are two other arsenal gappers who are on the island with us, working in the east! After both squeezing into a parking space and watching the sunset go down it was time to part ways back to our host families.

An awesome first day!! Can't wait for the next 9 weeks!! So happy with my placement, Im staying with a lovely family on a beautiful island teaching kids and coaching football. Sounds like a very decent next 9 weeks if you ask me!!

All the best!!

Luke