Ben, our travel-blogging teacher

Hello folks, My name is (Big) Ben and I´m from Yorkshire in the North of England. The first eighteen years of my life were pretty boring so when I turned 18 I decided to do something different and moved to London for a year. After a few months of studying Astronomy at Queen Mary´s University I realised that it wasn´t for me and spent the remainder of the year getting drunk and partying in Soho. I don´t remember much about those few months but it must have been good. 

After twelve crazy months in London I relocated to Cardiff and began a thrilling Politics degree at the University of Wales. Soon enough, three years had passed and I found myself working full-time in a job which was originally intended for earning some extra money whilst I studied at university. With life approaching a dead end at the tender age of 23, I needed to do something drastic and it was at that time I received an email promoting TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) courses in Wales. After further enquiries I decided this was the leap I needed to take and enrolled on a course as soon as I could. Only a few months later I was in Zaragoza about to start my first day at Number 16 School. 

Despite playing a pretty large part in choosing which country I should emigrate to, I didn´t just move to Spain for the siestas and cheap wine - I also came to enjoy the culture and learn Spanish. I was only offered German and French classes at school so I came with absolutely no knowledge of Spanish but I´m picking it up bit by bit. I find that if you use the language every day you tend to remember everything you learn so it´s not going in one ear and out the other like it did when I was learning French and German at school. From 2008 to 2011 I owned an award-winning political blog called Cardiff Blogger but gave it up when I completed my degree and moved to Zaragoza. You can now find me travel-blogging at A Yorkshireman Abroad or on Twitter at @BigBigBen. I need more Spanish followers so come and say hi!