Didn't They Do Well! DELTM, English UK and Cardiff.

We couldn't be more delighted to be able to congratulate Lea Brophy - The Vice Principal, Lewis Richards - Director of Studies (Exams) and Sue Hodgson - Assistant Director of Studies and Social Media Manager on passing their DELTM (Diploma in English Language Teaching Management) Qualification after nearly 18 months of studying.

They have been studying for this qualification since September 2014, completing five assignments, a project and ten monthly face to face sessions in London.  The course effectively ended when they handed in their final projects in November 2015 with their results being given in the first week of March.  The assignments and projects were then moderated by Trinity College, and the certificates were finally presented at the English UK Management conference held in Cardiff 10th and 11th March.

The conference was really informative, with many superb speakers giving talks.  One that had almost every person spell bound was from Geoff Burch, author, business expert and TV personality. His talk was inspiring, thought provoking and hugely entertaining.

Also, our own Lewis Richards gave a talk on observations which was very well received.

All in all, it was a great success and enjoyed by all who attended.

The Great South Run with Jenni, Lara and Annabelle.

At the end of October, thousands and thousands of people joined together to run ten miles for fun and for charity. The seafront was filled with runners, supporters, charities and volunteers. 

One of our teachers Jenni trained hard for months before to run for a charity very close to her heart DEBRA and with such determination managed to raise over £750 for her cause. Her passion for the event persuaded two students in her class to also join in on the run.  Here is their story:

To see more details about the run click here to go to the official website

What a Fantastic Year So Far - Joel

2015 has proven to be a pretty good year so far for Joel.

He has just been promoted to be the GE / Exams Assistant Director of Studies.

Joel joined LSI back in 2007, since then he has taught General English as well as IELTS and the Cambridge exams. He has taught in Mexico, Spain and here in Portsmouth, and so has a really broad experience of cultures.

With his new position Joel is excited to be part of helping others develop and make the best of their teaching, and also keen to develop his own skills as much as possible.

This year he studied for the Delta (Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), passing it in the summer.  Not only that but he is also studying for an MA in Philosophy, and... earlier in the year moved into a new house that "needs loads of work". This is one industrious individual!

As well as all the other things Joel has achieved recently, he is also a very keen musician who plays the guitar and sings.  For some reason (;-) this has been put on hold for a little while but he is now restarting and ready to go.  On top of all that Joel is a keen outdoors man who enjoys cycling, running and swimming.

Welcoming Adam to LSI Portsmouth

In the Summer, a lot of new staff joined LSI, one of our new members was kind enough to introduce himself in a blog piece, which although now is a little belated, is still lovely!

My name is Adam, I am one of the newest members of the LSI teaching team, and I am an IELTS teacher. I have only been teaching at LSI for 1 month (6 months now), so I am still adjusting to the new work environment, still learning names, and still haven't eaten in the cafeteria.

LSI isn't the only 'new' in my life, I am new to Portsmouth, having just returned to the UK from Russia, where I taught English for 7 years, Japan for 2 years before that. So, I totally understand the frustrations and joys of learning a new language and living in a new culture.
I am also a new father, my daughter was born just a few days before I joined LSI, and I don't think I've slept since.

Before teaching at LSI or changing nappies, I was teaching IELTS online. My good friend Matt, the founder of theieltsteacher.com, invited me to join him teaching on his website. It is a website aimed at students who want one-to-one lessons to learn IELTS test strategy and improve their English within an IELTS context. Before joining Matt I had been teaching independently online and I had worked as part of a team designing and teaching online academic writing courses for two Russian universities, MIPT and ITMO.

For me as a teacher, I didn’t have to travel to a school, I could sit in my office, with a wall covered in clocks for different time zones, and work from there. Or, I could sit in my pajamas planning lessons and developing material. 

I remember when I first moved to the Portsmouth area, I had scheduled one final lesson with a student called Zhenya. On the day I moved to Portsmouth, we were going to have a speaking lesson just before she went in to do her IELTS speaking test, in Moscow. I arrived at my new flat one hour before the lesson was due to begin, two hours before her test. Imagine my surprise when my landlord told me that unfortunately we wouldn’t have internet access until the next day.

However, I quickly found a solution and I made sure that I was there to give Zhenya the IELTS speaking coaching she wanted… I also gave a bar full of people the same speaking coaching. 

Thank you Adam for this - we'll persuade one of the other new teachers to do a piece soon!

Where are they now - Hiwa from Kurdistan

Update: 30.09.14

Update (16.07.2015): Hiwa Graduated this week - we are so proud of him!

Hiwa had his MA in Fine Art Final exhibition at the University of Portsmouth last week.  We thought it would be nice to show some of his pictures here.  He explained how learning English opened up a whole new world of art to him, as there had been relatively few art books in his own language available.

Elly contemplating! (It would be true to say that this particular picture 'Shingal'  is an incredibly
powerful piece, depicting the struggle that is happening in Hiwa's homeland at the moment.

Hiwa with his picture 'Shingal' which shows the struggle of the Kurdish people.

  -------------------------------------------

We were delighted to catch up with Hiwa recently, who attended LSI Portsmouth from 2012 until last year. He went on to attend Portsmouth University to study fine art. 

"Well, I had such a great and fantastic year at Lsi, met so many good people.. friends and teachers which i always appreciate that lovely time I had with them .. '' I started October 2012 in IELTS course .. In the morning with (Nick Rickard) and afternoon (first week with Yvonne) then moved to (Rebecca Scott-Becky) .. I stayed in that course until I got 5.0 in IELTS and changed to General English. So, my teachers in G.E were (Kelly, Edmond, Robyn and Nick Rickard) .. After couple of months holiday I started in Pre-sessional course in May 2013 (Becky Elliott) in the morning and (Jessica) in the afternoon .. Until finishing and moving to Uni .. I was at Lsi for almost 10 months"

Hiwa A Perdawood

This is how Hiwa describes his art:

Hiwa A Perdawood (1987, Hawler (Erbil), South of Kurdistan/ Iraq

Makes paintings, photos and drawings. By rejecting an objective truth and global cultural narratives, Perdawood creates with daily, recognizable elements, an unprecedented situation in which the viewer is confronted with the conditioning of his own perception and has to reconsider his biased position.
''My work urges society to renegotiate painting as being part of a reactive or - at times – autistic medium, commenting on oppressing themes in our contemporary society. By exploring the concept of landscape in a nostalgic way, I investigate the dynamics of landscape, including the manipulation of its effects and the limits of spectacle based on our assumptions of what landscape means to society. Rather than presenting a factual reality, an illusion is fabricated to conjure the realms of society imagination.

Moreover, to establish a link between the landscape’s reality and that imagined by its conceiver. These works focus on concrete questions that determine our existence. By applying abstraction, I create intense personal moments masterfully created by means of rules and omissions, acceptance and refusal, luring the viewer round and round in circles.
Also, work doesn’t reference a recognisable form. The results are deconstructed to the extent that meaning is shifted and possible interpretation becomes multifaceted. Currently I live and work in Portsmouth - United Kingdom''.

at work

2009

2011

To see more of Hiwa's beautiful art see his website or instagram page:

His website: http://hiwa-p.com/index.html

He is on Instagram as @hiwaart

Songs and Swear Words - Some of the Advantages of being Bilingual!

What is it like to be able to speak equally well in two (or more) languages?  Luis and Frankie here discuss how they became bilingual, and give tips on how to learn a language (after all they are experts!).

All in a Good Cause - Oxford Fun Run

On the 9th May, as part of the LSI Social Programme, 35 students and a handful of staff jumped on a coach to Oxford to take part in the Oxford Rotary Club annual fun run. It was our first year taking part in the race, and we joined several other language schools from across the country in a 5km run around Oxford University Parks.

It was a great opportunity for our students to do something a little different, meet people from other language schools, but more importantly, to raise money for our chosen charity, the British Red Cross emergency aid appeal. The organisation has been providing much-needed supplies to the survivors of the Nepal earthquake disaster, including food and emergency shelter. The Red Cross volunteers are also searching for survivors through the rubble of the collapsed buildings and have recently built a blood bank in Kathmandu to provide blood to help injured survivors.

We were very impressed with all our students who took part, and although we didn’t win any trophies, everyone had such a great time and tried their best. We’d like to say a massive well done to David Losua, one of our Cambridge students from Spain, who came 8^th overall, and also to Nadja Patriarca, our fastest female! Even those who weren’t keen at running still walked the 5km route and cheered on the other students who were running the course. Everyone wore LSI T-shirts in the school’s signature blue, which were specially produced for the event. The students liked them so much that we will now be selling them in school (available from Belle, our Social Programme Organiser)!

After the award ceremony, we all headed down to Oxford English Centre for a post race BBQ with all the other competitors. We even managed to enjoy some rare English sunshine whilst we enjoyed sausage baps and drinks in the garden! Our students then spent the afternoon exploring the historic streets and buildings of central Oxford before heading back to Portsmouth on the coach.

 If you’d like to donate to our appeal, or buy a t-shirt, see Belle in room 305.

For more information on the event, please visit the Oxford fun run website:

http://www.oxfordfunrun.org.uk/

Belle

Delighted to welcome Paul Rosenmöller to LSI Portsmouth

We were recently absolutely delighted to welcome the lovely Paul Rosenmöller, the Dutch TV Presenter at LSI for an intensive English course here.  A man with such an interesting and busy life, he was kind enough to take time out to let us interview him.  

Andrew Edwards and Paul Rosenmöller

Andrew: You’ve been here for two weeks, but what was the decision process that brought you here?

Paul: I started to realise in the summer that I wanted to improve my English, my fluency and gain more confidence in English, so I decided in the summer that I would like to follow a course.  With my job it is quite difficult as there’s always the pressure of the work itself, so the first thing was to find time.  February in the Netherlands has a lot of holidays so relatively speaking it’s a quiet period. Secondly, I needed to decide where? I decided that in terms of effectiveness it would be better to do it in a native speaking country instead of just doing it the Netherlands.

Andrew: Why?

“Paul: Someone told me that following a course and stay in a host family in England is the most effective way to make the improvement. If you stay at home you are always disturbed with emails etc., but I wanted to give priority to the language.

Andrew: How did you find LSI Portsmouth?

“Paul: When I started searching for courses on the internet, there was a huge variety of possibilities, so someone suggested I should go via Study Travel!  I had never heard of them, so my secretary called Study Travel who gave me several options, one of them in London one of them at LSI. They were very positive about LSI in terms of quality and teachers and also with a good match with a host family.

Andrew: How did you do this? Was it an interview on the phone?

Paul: It was all by phone, all in Dutch, about my requirements not my level.  I was thinking about London. London is the place to be, visit museums etc, but then I started to realise it’s about my language.  If you really want to be successful, if you really want to give priority to the language, the city itself is not the most important thing, so I decided on LSI because of the combination of the reputation of the institute and the option of having a good match with the host family.

Andrew: So what type of things did they ask you about, your objectives, what type of course, what type of host family?

Paul: Yeah it was very professional, so Erika from Study Travel asked me several questions. Because I am more or less well known in the Netherlands it is not difficult to explain who I am.  It was important to explain what I wanted to achieve and what my goals were, and it was important, the match with the host family. She gave me good advice and suggested a host family that were a retired couple who were interested in all kinds of social, global and international things.

Andrew: Did Erika get it right for you?

Paul: Without any doubt, she got it right. Now I am nearly at the end of the course, I have to say I’m tired, I’ve worked hard, but I’ve made some progress as well in terms of vocabulary, and confidence. You start thinking in English, which is important. With the course we started at 8:00 in the morning. It is intensive, then it’s conversation with the homestay, then homework. The days are long and intensive but the focus is the language and that is the most important thing.

Andrew: You took a super intensive course, 25 hours plus an extra 5 hours and executive lunches, you have a homestay family, you speak English when you do the social programme. Was the course too intensive, would you have preferred 5 hours a day?

Paul: I am used to working quite hard. I was very satisfied with the first week, then there was the start of the second week, the second week was more intensive than I expected.

Andrew: Outside work you are a keen sportsman and keep fit? But not so much sport this week, was the balance right?

Paul: Compared to the Netherlands yes a little less, but I did four runs, running along the seashore and that’s nice, into the wind and with the wind on my back because  my host family lives five minutes from the sea.

Andrew: What kind of city is Portsmouth? Is it what you expected?

Paul: I visited the old town in the first week in the evening and the shopping mall, close to the ships; I walked around a little and got the impression of the place close to the harbour and the sea.  Honestly speaking I can’t give a very detailed description about Portsmouth, but this is a city that is easy to survive here, there are nice restaurants, nice shops, the location of this institute is close to the centre. In the end I am glad I decided to come here instead of London.

Andrew: We tried to personalise the programme to suit your specific needs, do you feel we got it right?

Paul: Definitely, I think LSI did a perfect job, the programme was personalised. The programme touched on different issues related to education and subjects I brought up.  There was a huge variety of subjects we discussed, there was the focus on presentations, debates, negotiations, sharing meetings, these things are important in my work, not that often in a foreign language, but a good way to make further improvement and so it was definitely personalised, different teachers with a different perspective.

Andrew: Would you have preferred to be in a small group like some of the other students here?

Paul: No, no I took the decision to do 1:1, it is very intensive, but without doubt it was the right decision, I think it is intensive, but it was good.

Andrew: On your first morning you were interviewed by Lea for your objectives. We don’t just train English language but confidence and skills and fluency etc. What were your key objectives when you started and how do you feel about them now?

Paul: My two key objectives were to first gain confidence, because I always had the feeling that my English wasn’t good enough, confidence is essential to make sure you make further improvements.  Secondly, was the fluency, and thirdly, to broaden my vocabulary.

Andrew:  And how do you feel now?

Paul: The most important is the confidence, I had the idea that I could speak at a certain level. You call it advanced; I sometimes have my doubts about that. (Andrew and Sue: “trust us it is!”) One of the teachers showed me something, which was good for self confidence; I gave a presentation, he counted the pauses and the errors, he said “during 6 minutes you made ‘slips / mistakes “so in terms of pauses and fluency it was 99% correct ;-)

Andrew: Do you feel more confident now, and listening and speaking in English is more natural.

Paul: There is still a long way to go. I can say your teachers taught me a lot, I learned a lot, I did my best, they invested in me, I invested in myself . But in the end in terms of confidence and fluency I definitely made progress. 

Andrew: What is your best memory of Portsmouth?

Paul: Depends on your level but my experience is if you really think you have a problem with confidence, go there. They can help you.  It’s really a major advantage to go to a country where they speak the language. It is the lessons at the institute, the conversation at home, the conversation with the students, watching the news in English.  I would definitely recommend doing it the way I did, I can also recommend your institute because I am very satisfied.

Andrew: What would you suggest to a future student from Holland about their options, where they go, what type of course?

Paul: I would say to someone like myself, go to a good school recommended by organisations like Study Travel, with a good reputation. Forget about whether it is a nice city, go for the language, give priority to the language. I’ll never forget LSI, or the host family in the city.

Andrew: Paul, it’s been such a pleasure having you study here, thank you so much for speaking to us here and allowing us to print this – we now hope to get lots and lots of students on the back of this, so we are incredibly grateful to you.

Study Travel in Netherlands

Wikipedia Page for Paul Rosenmöller (in English)

Paul Rosenmöller is a Dutch television presenter and former politician and trade unionist. Between 1989 and 2003, he was member of the Dutch House of Representatives for GroenLinks. After leaving politics, Rosenmöller became a TV presenter for the IKON, an oecumenical broadcasting organisation. He also chairs PAVEM, a government advisory committee on the position of migrant women, in which Princess Máxima has a seat.  He is married and has 5 children.

Twenty Five Years On - Fahad Almalik

We recently got a lovely surprise, with an old friend returning to us to study after…25 years!

Fahad Almalik studied here in Portsmouth back in 1989 when things were very different.  So we asked him if he would tell us a little about that time,  and what brought him back here. 

 Lea and Fahad 2015

“My name is Fahad Almalik, and I am from Saudi Arabia.  I work in the Central Bank in the Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency (SAMA).  I work in the currency department, and I am responsible for the issue of currency, which means I supervise the printing and minting of the project, which is outsourced.  I have worked there for 23 years.  Before that I was the Marketing Officer for four years at the Savola Co (The Saudi Vegetable Oil and Ghee Co).

Lea, Fahad, Peter, Allan 1989

When I worked at Savola, they used to send some employees to England to study English.  In 1989 I came here for six months.  When I first arrived, I was at level one.

I actually came with a friend because in the beginning I couldn’t speak at all and he used to translate for me, but by the time I left I spoke very good English.

Recently the Central Bank asked me to get some training. My biggest difficulties in English are meetings, presentations, negotiations and business letters, and because I had such a good experience at LSI (back in 1989) I started looking to see if I could find my old school.  Of course none of the old phone numbers or contacts still worked, but eventually I found LSI again, and I told them I was here 25 years ago, that I knew Peter (Gray) and Allan (Gray) and my teacher was Lea.  They said ‘Yes this is the same school’, but they didn’t tell me whether any of these people were still there, so I was very happy to see Lea, who is now the Vice Principal.

Lea, Fahad, Sara, Marilyn, Sarah, Peter, Julie 1989

I chose to come at this time because it is the school holidays in Saudi at the moment. I have one month in total, so I will come back again later for another two weeks.

Fahad and Lea top right and lads from Omani Navy 1989

I think I was one of the first students to come here the last time. There were four classes and seven teachers.  The school then was a converted house down by the seafront.  Now there are seven floors, about 60 teachers and over 250 students.  The facilities are so different today, with all the IT equipment and smart boards and technology.  I was very surprised by all the changes.  Also there are such a lot of teachers now.  Twenty five years ago we used to do our own social activities, we used to all sit together and decide, a little like a family, but now everything is organised.  All you need to do is take care of your education.”

LSI Student lounge, Whitwell Road, 1989 

Thank you Fahad for talking to us, and for bringing these photos back to show us.  It has been so lovely to see you again, and we really look forward to the next time you come back.

Hannah and Adam are having a baby!

Our first 'Working at LSI Couple' are having a baby!

Adam (Assistant Building Manager and IT Support) and Hannah (Teacher, Marketing etc)

Lovely Hannah is leaving us today, for the very best of reasons; to have a baby.  Hannah has been with us for what seems like forever, as an amazing teacher, a marketing lady, a welfare officer, party planner and has even made a few cups of tea in her time.  Hannah is always smiling and game for anything.  If you would like to see her in action, watch our 'Happy' video, which certainly wouldn't have been the same without her, and her interviewing Raquel and also her brilliant Quick Tip.  Her students will miss her, the teachers will miss her, all of us will miss her!
At least we still have her on film until she feels ready to come back to us.

Good Luck Hannah and Adam 

Going to New Heights (with a monkey) - The DELTM Course

As LSI continues to grow, so has the importance it places on personal development.  We recently wrote about five of our teachers who are following an inhouse DELTA course.  As well as this, LSI is sending three of its staff to London once a month to follow the DELTM course run by English UK.
Lea Brophy (Vice Principal) Lewis Richards (Exams Director of Studies) and Sue Hodgson (Assistant Director of studies - Executive).  Below is a brief outline of the course from the English UK website;

"This course provides excellent professional development for managers and aspiring managers of language centres, and is run by English UK and validated by Trinity College London.

The course focuses on management at three levels: routine, tactical and strategic, and is run by George Pickering, Terry Phillips and Keith Harding.

It runs in London from September to June, with ten monthly face-to face sessions, and a requirement to complete five 3,500-word assignments and a 5,000-word project. These are practical, with a theoretical underpinning".

The guys below have just completed their third assignment, and as the photo shows are having a great time in London with the other participants (plus a monkey - used during the course to visually explain a point).

From left: Lea, Lewis, Sue, (Monkey), George (Pickering)

English UK Visit website

Saying Goodbye to Bill

Bill Phillips is almost part of the fabric of the school - teaching at LSI since 1994, always with a smile on his face. He is known by his (trademark) bow ties and his catch phrases, for example: 

‘You are like a mother to me’ 
'Let's go kick a*** baby'
'Good morning Officer!' to quote just a few.  Often you can hear him sing little songs on the stairs and in the staff room (and often forgetting the second line ;-).

Over the years, Bill has had a habit of bringing little plants, treats and goodies and leaving them on the side for teachers to take, and it’s probably true to say over the years that everyone has benefitted either from a piece of cake, a small plant or spare pencil case thanks to Bill.

Originally Bill worked in the Immigration Service, but decided to teach English because of his love of language.  You can often find Bill, along with a few other ‘grammarians’ in the staff room, discussing / disagreeing (usually disagreeing) about the correct usage of a piece of language.  That's when he isn't having a quick nap at lunchtime ;-)

Having taught for such a long time, we asked Bill what guidance he would give to someone thinking about going into teaching  “Don’t even think of doing this job unless you like people” he said, which from someone who ‘loves communicating with a smile’ seems like a very salient piece of advice.

Bill kindly agreed to come on camera and talk about some of the memorable moments from the past 20 years, Thank you Bill, we are really going to miss you.

(Bill, I still use the pencil case you gave me 19 years ago! - Sue H)

Bill cutting his delicious cakes!

Christmas Baby on the Way

Stop Press:  15/12/14
Nicki P is now the proud mum of Josef Robertz.  Born at 7.30 this morning weighing 7lb 9oz with a full head of black hair.  All healthy and happy!

Our 'Superb Senior Teacher Support' Nicki Pring is leaving to have a baby!  Nicki started here five and half years ago and has made a huge impression on everyone, supporting all the GE teachers with advice and materials.  A brilliantly gifted teacher and very popular with all the staff, she will be massively missed.  She said 'I am very sad to leave, but incredibly excited at the prospect of being a mum, and is waiting for the best Christmas present anyone could have' - her baby is due of Christmas Eve!

From left: Leanne, Ross, Andrew and Nicki.

Bye Nicki, good luck and look forward to seeing you back sometime next year.

A sad day as we say goodbye

Friday was a very sad day for us as we said goodbye to Roy who has been here for 9 months now.  Roy was the captain of the football team and led them to many victories with his passion for the sport.  He was also house manager for one of our student houses. As well as that he was just an all round great student, positive, happy, motivated, hardworking and always laughing.

If you haven't seen Roy and John's video here is the video again!

We wish Roy and of course all the other lovely students the very best for the future.

English vs Bangladeshi weddings - Money or Gifts?

This week we have a lovely video - Arif and Alan talk about the differences between traditional English and Bangladeshi weddings.  Listen to the video to see who gets money and who gets gifts.

How are weddings different in your country? Leave a comment below.

Latest Quick Tip from our teachers

Here is the latest quick tip from one of our teachers. Luis explains the benefits of newspapers when you are learning English.

To be one of the first to see our latest tips  - don't forget to subscribe to our
YouTube channel.

Justine and Constanze Leave Today

At LSI Portsmouth we regularly have interns around to help us, and for them to improve their English and gain experience in an English working environment.  We have been so lucky to have had some absolutely delightful interns with us. Two of these, Justine Rehel and Constanze Karl, have been with us for the last few months and leave us today.  Before they leave we asked them some questions about their time here and their thoughts on Portsmouth.

Constanze (left) and Justine

Firstly we talk to Constanze;

Where do you come from?

Germany

How long have you been here at LSI?

Two months

Why did you come to Portsmouth?

Because I had to do an internship in an English speaking country for university.  As I’ve only heard good things about the South of England, I decided to come here.

What do you do back home? (study / work) and do you have any hobbies?

I study English and Spanish at University and work part time at Siemens.  In my free time I like to meet with friends, read good books, play the piano and travel.

What do you like about Portsmouth

Portsmouth is a great place as it is quite small, so it feels like home very quickly.  Also, having a drink next to the sea is great, especially because the weather has been great – way better than I had imagined before I came here.

What have you been doing while you have been here?

I did quite a few weekend trips with school.  Apart from that I liked to go out for dinner (Portsmouth has many great restaurants) with my house-mates or go jogging at the seaside.

What will you do when you leave / go back home?

I will finish my studies and spend as much time with my friends and family as possible.  And I can’t wait to have a German breakfast! ;-)

Goals for the future?

Be an awesome teacher ;-) Maybe do an extra qualification for teaching German.

Constanze.

Next up is Justine;

Where do you come from?

France

How long have you been here at LSI?

Almost 5 months.

Why did you come to Portsmouth?

I had to do an internship for my studies and as I’m studying Foreign Languages at the University I decided to apply for internships in England.  Then I met someone who did her internship at LSI so I decided to apply here.

What do you do back home? (study / work) and do you have any hobbies?

In my free time I like to meet my friends, go out, go to the cinema, travel and spend time with my family.

What do you like about Portsmouth

Portsmouth is a really nice place to live.  The city is big enough to do a lot of things (having a drink, go to the theatre, the sea etc) but it is also small enough to feel like home and get to meet and know a lot of people.

What have you been doing while you have been here?

I have been trying thousands of restaurants ;-) go to the beach, Gunwharf and travelling around Portsmouth (and Bristol, Winchester, London, the New Forest…)

What will you do when you leave / go back home?

I will continue my studies, finish my degree in Germany, then do my Masters, may in England.  But first I will enjoy my small vacation in France with my family, my friends and FRENCH FOOD!

Goals for the future?

Get a job that I will love and settle down in a place that I like but before, travel as much as I can.

Thank you LSI for this amazing experience!

Justine.

Thank you ladies, we really appreciate all your help and wish you all the best in whatever you do.