My 2016 Resolutions

Posted on 4th January 2016

That’s it, the party’s over. It’s time to go back to work, stop eating your weight in chocolate and reevaluate your life! Harsh words in the back of most people’s heads this week. I’m pretty sure that everyone is thinking about the things they want to do this year to help them change their lifestyle or reach their personal goals. To be honest, because my winter holidays don’t start until next week, I’m not really feeling the major festive period hangover that I usually do. But still, as cliched as it is, with a New Year, comes a fresh start so I have been thinking a bit about my goals for this year.
I’m really excited about 2016… come September I’ll be off to pastures new and I have a few trips planned in between as well. New Years resolutions are made to be broken, right? Well, my big goal for this year is to make sure I’m ready for my big move in September and these resolutions are going to help make sure that happens. If anyone catches me breaking them, just show me this and call me out on it… Here we go!

Learn Spanish- This is my first time properly learning a new language with the aim to become fluent. I’ve learned basic Korean while I’ve been here and it’s been extremely helpful. However I’ve never had any real desire to become fluent, mostly due to the fact that I know I will never need to use it when I leave Korea. Also, I don’t feel very inspired to speak the language when I hear old people screaming on the bus- it can sound a bit harsh and aggressive (to say the least!) As for Spanish, I love the sound of it and I know that if I learn it, I will use it plenty! Even after I finally settle down somewhere, as a Brit it’s pretty likely that I’ll find myself in Spain now and then. Teaching English has taught me the importance of immersing myself in a new language, so at the moment I’m being a total geek and practicing every day. I hope that by the time I leave Korea, I’ll be comfortable enough to use Spanish in the countries that I want to go to.
Next time I go to Barcelona, I’ll hopefully be able to say more than “Hola” and “Una cerveza por favor”
Save money- As I’ve said before, Korea is a great place to save some money for a big trip. I have a few tricks up my sleeve that I use to motivate myself and stay on top of my money. It is tough to ween myself off all the things I love. Especially with long hours deskwarming + free worldwide delivery on ASOS, the abundance of cosmetics stores everywhere (one of my biggest weaknesses in Korea) and the price of wine and cheese in this country! But now when I see something I like, I equate that to number of days traveling. When I was in India I got by on just £10 a day. So a £25 top becomes 2.5 days of travel and extra baggage that I’m either going to have to bin or lug about with me.

Get fit- Yup, I’m pretty sure this is on everyone’s list. I find staying fit really difficult in Korea. The air here isn’t very fresh, plus there is always terrible traffic so if I go out running I spend most of my time hanging about at traffic lights, killing my momentum. So running isn’t a great option. I could join a gym? Gyms here seem to fall in to 2 categories and I’ve tried both. There are the really expensive gyms which are part of a fancy bath house- that is an easy way to break resolution number 2. Then there are the really shit (but cheapish) gyms with old men sitting about on the machines drinking coffee and staring at one of the only foreigners they have ever seen. Sorry pal, I’m not an alien, just an ordinary person like you trying to get fit. So the gym isn’t really an option either. The plan this year is to get into the routine of doing something that I enjoy like yoga, cycling or hiking. I think that is the best way to actually stick to any fitness resolution. Plus, it’s much better than making excuses about not going to the gym then staying at home eating chocolate and feeling majorly guilty about the astronomical price of my membership!
Edinburgh half marathon in 2013! Not so fit these days..

See more of Korea- Korea is a pretty small country and the transport system is good but sometimes I get a bit complacent at the weekends and tend to stick to going to the same places. Me and Korea aren’t always best mates and I do often moan about it. So this year, my aim is to try harder to see the bright side of Korea and travel to parts that I haven’t been to before. Besides, realistically I’m probably never going to come to Korea again so I may as well make the most of my time here! It’s so easy to get caught up in planning and looking forward to where you’re going on your next holiday, so this year I’m going to try and strike a balance of planning for my trips while also appreciating where I am NOW!
Cheonggyecheon, Seoul

Take more pictures- Sometimes I love a good photo and am totally snap happy but, more often than not, my camera just lies and gets dusty at the bottom of my bag. On the days that I take pictures, I take A LOT of pictures. I have lots of travel plans for this year so I really want to be able to document most of them- not just the extra special days I feel motivated to document. I recently discovered a new photo editing website, Pixlr, which is a fab alternative to Instagram if you’re editing a lot of photos at the same time and don’t necessarily want to share them there. I’ve been having lots of fun experimenting with all the different features so hopefully this will motivate me to take more pictures!
Remember to follow me on Instagram and make sure I’m staying true to my word!

Blogging- I’ve been so chuffed at the amount of support I’ve had from both my friends and family, and other bloggers! It’s only a month since I started setting up the blog- it’s still a baby and I’m still getting to grips with social media, creating decent content and finding my way around WordPress. I hope that in 2016, Wee Gypsy Girl will continue to grow. Last year, I spent so much time noseying at other people’s travel blogs for inspiration and it was always in the back of my mind that I should set my own one up. Since, starting a new job and having A LOT of spare time at work, I finally got round to doing it. My plan is to post frequently with lots of tips and stories from my travels and reach a wider audience.
So much free time at school, no excuse not to blog!