Hi and welcome to my blog!

My name is Bre and I’m an Australian postgraduate student researching gap year travellers in Europe. I am currently living in France and will be based here throughout 2011 while I undertake my research.

The purpose of this blog is to collect ongoing stories of gap year travellers who participate in this research project. If you are on a break from school, university or work and intend to travel through France as part of your gap year I would love to hear from you. I am keen to find out about where you’ve been and what kind of encounters you’ve had, as well as your thoughts and feelings on the gap year experience and whether these match up to the expectations you had prior to leaving home. If you are interested in participating send me an email at: breanna.jones@students.mq.edu.au.

Please note that you are strongly advised not to use your real name when posting on this blog as all information you post will be available to the general public.

Friday, January 28, 2011

How to post on this blog

In order to post on this blog you will first have to register by sending an email to me at breanna.jones@students.mq.edu.au.  You will receive an email within the next few days via blogspot.com inviting you to contribute (you may need to check your junk folder for this).  To accept the invitation click on the link provided in the email and then follow the prompts.  Please do not use your real name when creating your account and instead select an alias.  This is because this blog and everything you post on it will be accessible to the general public.

Once you have created your account you are free to begin posting!  If you are unsure about what to write here are some guidelines.  Feel free to talk about:

  • Where you are, what you’re doing, why you wanted to visit this place
  • Specific experiences, encounters or particular stories you’d like to tell
  • Your general thoughts and feelings about your gap year and how these might have changed since your previous blog post
  • What your expectations were prior to commencing your gap year and how these match up with your actual experiences

You may post as often as you like and are welcome to upload any photos or videos that relate to your post.  If you already regularly write about your gap year elsewhere (for example on your own blog) you are more than welcome to simply re-post here.

VoilĂ !  If you have any further questions or are having trouble posting just send me an email.

Happy blogging!

- Bre
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