Rebecca used her qualification to progress to university to study International Relations with Sociology. She now lives in Greece and works as a writer. Her novel recently won an award at the London Greek Film Festival.
Why did you choose to study an Access to HE course?
It was convenient for me: I could live at home, so cut down on expenses, not have a long commute and spend time really concentrating on my studies rather than have to balance it with a part time job to make living costs.
What was your highlight during your time with us?
The support of the tutors, the chance to re-take some GCSEs that many years ago I missed out on getting a good grade.
What skills did you develop and how did these help with your career?
The best thing about the Access to HE course was the ability to undertake a project that prepared me very well for the Dissertation required at university level. For this, we learnt about the correct Harvard Referencing system, required when writing essays and dissertation at university level. I felt better prepared than A-level students as many told me they hadn't had the chance to learn the referencing system at A-level.
Could you describe your experiences in Greece and Cairo? Would you recommend working abroad?
Straight after studying International Relations and Sociology at university, I then undertook a one month CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) - a Cambridge recognised course. Be careful with TEFL / CELTA courses, there are so many un-genuine ones out there.
It was a very difficult course and prepared me to teach English abroad.
First I taught in Greece for two years, then for the summer of 2010 I had the opportunity to teach at the British Council in Cairo. This summer school experience helped open the door for me to teach at the British Council in Athens, where I came back to and continued my teaching and examining career - both at the British Council and private schools.
Whilst in Greece, I developed my website www.lifebeyondbordersblog.com to help people go beyond the borders of geography and their minds, to see beyond the news headlines. Greece at the time was (and still is, to a certain extend) receiving bad headlines due to the financial crisis. I wanted to present a more positive side of Greece, and travel in general - hence the name of my site.
In 2010 I also started writing my book 'Girl Gone Greek' - a fictionalised version of my life teaching in a remote Greek village and the wonderful, colourful characters met there, with the aim of promoting this gorgeous country in a positive light. I self-published it through Amazon Kindle and Print on Demand in 2015 and it continues to sell well. In November 2017 it was written into a film script, winning Best Feature Fiction Film Script at the 2018 London Greek Film Festival. I am actively seeking to get it picked up for transformation into a film, most realistically it'll be an Indie movie I imagine.
Working abroad? Absolutely. I think it is vital to understanding how other cultures work, think and conduct themselves, to understanding cultural differences. Especially in these fractured times we're living in.
How did you get involved in travel writing?
I fell into it. As mentioned, I maintained my site, and a friend of mine worked for Rough Guides. They were short of a guidebook updater for Greece and the Greek Islands one day, so my friend mentioned me to them. They were impressed with my online presence; my site and social media presence, so they contacted me for a SKYPE interview and the rest went from there.
I've updated two sets of Greece and Greek Islands guidebooks for them, plus Portugal. Since then, I now also contribute to several online and print magazines, airline magazines and the Daily Telegraph Hotel section online. You have to start somewhere, and it helps to get a portfolio of experience behind you. My blog helped me with that - that and also keeping my LinkedIn profile professional and up to date.
I guess you could say I was in the right place at the right time - be prepared to be persistent and not expect things to happen overnight and to work for it. Everything I initially did for my site was for no pay - paid work came because of my site.
Now, with my experience of travelling in general, my experience of teaching, etc. has made me a good presenter and I am pursuing a career in Intercultural Communications: helping people re-locating to foreign cultures to settle, to understand the culture they're coming into, i.e.: CEOs, Diplomats, etc. re-locating to Greece. They need to understand the cultural differences in Greece to their own home countries. My experience of writing comes into this too, plus my degree in International Relations. In the current times we're living through, I believe this is a vital role and I look forward to becoming actively involved.
What inspired you to write your novel and could you describe the journey since?
As mentioned, I was really fed up with the way Greece, my adopted country, was being portrayed by the international press, so I wanted to present a positive side of the country, but in a more digestible 'fun' way, not get on a political 'high horse’. I felt a novel would reach more people and help them to fall in love with it like I have.
It's worked; people seem to like it. I am writing my follow on, I've presented at the Tiverton Literary Festival in 2016 and also Tiverton High School to Year 10 students, I've presented on a Mediterranean Cruise and as previously mentioned, it's been written into an award-winning script.
I just need to get it made into a film now - further promote the country and the notion of 'togetherness'!