About Me
Hi. My name is Emma - welcome to my first, ever website! Here's a little bit about me... Originally from Cowbridge, South Wales, I now live in Edinburgh with my gorgeous husband, beautiful little girl and extremely lovable retriever - Gin (yes, of course named after our favourite drink!).
I studied languages at university which gave me some fantastic opportunities to live, work and study abroad in France and Italy. As I gained new experiences and made new friends, so developed a love for travelling and learning about different countries, cultures and languages. I have enjoyed many a ski/snowboard excursion to the European Alps - the photo at the top of this website was taken from the top of Mt Kitzsteinhorn in Austria. I spent a month interrailing round Italy and France but my horizons really were broadened when post-graduation, I spent 2 years teaching English in Japan. I got to travel the length and breadth of this fascinating country, soaking up the beautiful scenery and rich culture, and truly integrating into the Japanese way of life - as much as any gaijin (foreigner) can. Check out my experiences in the diary I kept whilst I was there: Memoirs of a Gaijin. This is just a taster, but if you like what you read, feel free to head on over to my blog with all entries from my diary.
Other travels have taken me to Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, New York and - being proud to call myself European (despite Brexit) - many, many European cities. The most daring adventure however (post-Japan) was spending 3 weeks travelling back from Japan to the UK by train (well, almost entirely by train). Flying from Tokyo to Shanghai, I travelled by train across China to Beijing, where I boarded the Trans-Mongolian railway. With stops in Mongolia's capital, Ulaanbaator, and Russia's Irkutsk, Moscow and St.Petersburg, I ended this trip-of-a-lifetime with a flight back to London. After having spent 18 months, by that time, out of my home nation, there was an overwhelming sense of emotion as the plane flew over London and I got an Eastenders-style view (husband rolls eyes) of the city; complete with newly-built Shard.
The next 7 years were spent working hard in London where my feet have wandered less further afield. The big smoke however was not for me in the long term and I am now living a quieter but equally fulfilling life as I spend more time with family.
And so the next chapter of my life has begun as we grow our family and I delve into the world of front-end development! See how I get along: My Coding Adventure!
