School's out!

For a while I've been saying that the fact I'm going travelling for a year doesn't seem real. It finally started to sink in when I walked out of my classroom for the last time on Friday.

It was quite an emotional day. I'd already been given a few presents and a leaving book that was really sweet (thanks Fabs & yr9 team), but wasn't really ready for the kids doing a surprise goodbye bit in assembly. When I got up to respond, all the carefully crafted words disappeared from my head as I just tried not to cry (cheesy but true!).

Then the proper emotions hit the fan with the staff leaving speeches at the end of the day. Seeing friends in tears and having really nice things said about me (thanks Paul) got me going, but funnily enough when I got up I just felt relieved and happy to be saying my bit so managed to avoid falling apart.

Sat afternoon/night was fun - thanks to all who came. And since then I've been seeing lots of family, breaking my camera, sorting out last minute bits (the travel agent called me today as I'd totally forgotten to pick up my round the world plane ticket. Oops!), and preparing to think about the possibility of starting to pack.

So next time I write on here I'll probably be in Africa. So it should be a lot more interesting than this.