My Ideal Destination...

So as I mentioned in my last post, I've been filling in the next application form for the STA WTI and one of the questions I'm finding the most challenging is the one that asks 'what is your ideal travel destination?'. I mean, come on...that's hard! That's like asking me what my favourite film is...impossible! There are just too many to choose from.

For anyone who knows me, it'll be obvious why I'm struggling with this one. I can't make decisions. Ever. Life is too exciting, there are so many opportunities to be had, so many places to visit, so many adventures to be, well, adventured. I want to throw my all into everything, to explore the unknown, to work out who I am and what I like and who I want to be. As I said in my application video, I've been told by my friends that I'm [quote/unquote] "in everything", and I think that's a perfect description of me. However, this also means that I can never just pick one thing or one place.

So in response to your question STA, I say this: I cannot choose just one. The world is too vast and too exciting to limit myself to just one destination - I love different places for different reasons. Obviously I have formed my own idealisations about certain places I am yet to visit, and have favourite destinations that I've already had the pleasure of travelling to, but to tell you just one of these would be to ignore all the others and take away from what they can offer. I'll be happy anywhere, as long as I'm out there exploring; seeing and learning new things, meeting new people and discovering new ways of life, ultimately changing my perspective of the world.

For more details have a look at my profile and if you like my answer, give me a vote!

Top 50 baby!

Yesterday was intense, with a capital TENSE! As I checked, refreshed and checked again on the STA World Traveller Intern homepage my heart was in my mouth, a million questions running through my mind...what if I haven't made it? What if my video wasn't good enough? What if all this effort and panic and fun and stress hasn't paid off and they don't like me enough? What if I'm not what they're looking for?

Those 30 or so minutes when the website went down and displayed the message 'we are currently updating our website' was the most insane, surreal experience, with twitter going crazy, full of messages from my fellow applicants, fingers, toes and everything crossed, waiting for the very same thing I was.

Whether I win or not, this has probably been the most rewarding part of the competition, getting to know all these other traveller types, who live for the adventure and excitement of the open road, just like me. And yes, I know it is a competition, so I shouldn't really get too friendly but the way I see it, if I did by any miracle, actually win, I could be travelling with one of them! So there's no need to burn any bridges. As a group, we as applicants have been so supportive of each other, blogging and twittering about our experiences, helping each other out. I'm excited to meet some of them at the STA meet up next week, maybe make some friends to travel with in future? Who knows?

Anyway, back to the competition...so at about 5pm yesterday evening, when the suspense was really getting to me, I got a tweet from Paddy telling me that the results were up! With baited breath I clicked refresh and there it was...there I was. In the Top 50! Me! I couldn't believe it. Here's some proof...so I never forget:

I'm still in a bit of daze to be honest...and I can't stop smiling. This might sound smug, but I'm really proud of myself for actually doing it and for giving it a go. To know that I made the effort and was successful in my attempts is just fantastic. That goes for everyone else too...congratulations to all the other 49 finalists...WE DID IT!!

So now my attentions turn to the next round...the application for the Top 20. Keen bean that I am, I've started answering some of the questions already.

I'm gonna make this next application form the best that STA have ever seen.

P.S. To all those who voted and campaigned for me...I love you I love you I love you. thank you. x

Artwork

Thought I'd use today's blog to put up some of my artwork from over the years - mostly A-level and Art Foundation stuff, paintings/drawings/photos...let me know what you think.

 

To See More visit: My Flickr page

P.S. Sorry about the random messy placing of the images...it keeps going crazy!

What Are You Doing To Me?

23rd of March. D-Day. The moment of truth. Or so I thought. Imagine my dismay last night when I went online to find this:

So...STA have extended the deadline for the first round for the World Traveller Intern competition and as much as that's great for those who hadn't gotten around to entering yet, for those of us (Paddy Doyle, Emma Sparks, Harry Harris, Sophie Collard etc etc) who've all been eagerly and impatiently awaiting the day we find out if we've made it into the top 50...this is AGONY!
I don't think I've ever wanted anything so much in my entire life and I think that's because I feel like it is a job that would suit me down to the ground. This competition is honestly all I think about, I'm utterly obsessed! But I've enjoyed every minute of it.

I got an email from the lovely Fran of STA TravelBuzz the other day asking me some questions about the competition, and although I did email him back, and post a response on twitter (click here), I thought I might try to sum up my experience of the competition on here too:

How have you been preparing for the next stage if you were to go through?

As much as I really really want this, I've been trying to think about it just one stage at a time, so I'm not massively crushed if I don't make it through to the next round (although I definitely will be)...but I guess I've just been giving a lot of thought about WHY I want to travel and what it is about ME  that would be so good for this job. I've got a few ideas on the go for another video if I were to get into the top 10 and, like Paddy, I too can often be spotted talking to myself as I answer some imaginary phone interview questions!  But that's a long way off, not even into the top 50 yet!

Note to self: stop getting so carried away.

Any particular views about the competition so far? 
I've been following the US version of this competition since it began and have just been waiting and hoping that one day there'd be a UK one, so when I first got the news I really threw myself headfirst into it. No, really. I was so excited I stayed up all night planning my application video.

I've loved the whole thing...had such an awesome time making my application video (neglected my uni work for a good 2 weeks...oops!) and campaigning for votes by any means possible... ...facebook/twitter/word of mouth, you know the drill. It's also so great to be able to interact (via social networking sites) with some of the other applicants - meeting like-minded people is really what it's all about right? I think my mates are getting pretty sick of me talking about it, so it's nice to have some people who know how I'm feeling!

Have you been particularly impressed with other applicants?

Overall, the videos are great and so diverse, with everyone finding different ways of expressing themselves (Thomas Minnock's is particularly clever and original, with an awesome backing track). It's slightly worrying actually - more and more fantastic videos are being posted everyday, making mine ebb away into obscurity :P

I think my favourite applicants at the moment are Paddy Doyle, Harry Harris and Emma Sparks...not only because of how great their videos are, but also because of how involved they've been...they seem just as enthusiastic and excited as I am, which is great! I'm glad I'm not the only one who's crazy-obsessed with this.

With shameless self-promotion I once again say...vote for meeee!

Bring on the new deadline...Thursday 25th of March.
And please, STA, don't change it again. I don't think my nerves can take it!

I Heart Lists

Was having an introspective moment last night and thought I'd write up all the things I want to do before I die, otherwise known as a Life List...or Bucket List...you choose. The following are in no particular order...I just wrote down what I thought of. This will undoubtedly be added to as i think of more things.

Here goes:

1. Ride on the Trans Siberian Railway from Moscow to Beijing.
2. InterRail around Europe.
3. Spend a year living in another country.
4. Skydive.
5. Go Hang Gliding.
6. Sing on stage in front of a large audience.
7. See Robbie Williams live in concert (lame I know...but I love him).
8. Run the London marathon for Teenage Cancer Trust.
9. Do the London to Paris cycle ride.
10. Road Trip from New York, across the States and down through South America all the way to Chile.
11. Re-trace Chris McCandless' (aka Alexander Supertramp) travels (but don't die, obviously!)
12. Learn to Surf.
13. Win an Oscar. Or a Bafta. Or both.
14. Get a photograph published in a well-known magazine.
15. Send a secret to PostSecret and have it shown on the website.
16. Get a tattoo.
17. Learn another language.
18. Build a house.
19. Fall in love.
20. Make a difference (to at least one person's life).
21. Give Blood.
22. Climb Everest (or at least to base camp).
23. Learn to Scuba dive (and stop being so scared of the sea in the process).
24. Leave home and don't return until I've been to all the countries I want to visit.
25. Have an exhibition of my artwork/photographs.
26. Have a family
27. Live on a beach/remote island in solitude for 6 months.
28. Hold or pet a monkey/lion/tiger.
29. Get into Film School in America (NYU/USC/UCLA).
30. Graduate from Uni with at least a 2:1.
31. Do the Mongol Rally.
32. Own a dog. A Golden Shepherd to be exact. And call him Supertramp.
33. Get really involved with a charity.
34. Pass my driving test.
35. Road Trip through Africa/South Africa.
36. Go to Glastonbury Festival.
37. Teach kids English in India/Africa.
38. Spend a year without technology (see 27).
39. Build a boat and learn to sail.
40. Design or invent something for Apple.
41. Kayak between the Greek Islands.
42. Walk on the Great Wall of China.
43. Visit the Grand Canyon.
44. Ride an Elephant.
45. Write a book...and have it published.
46. Kayak through the Amazon (all 2010 miles of it).
47. Do a ski season and get good at snowboarding.
48. Set foot on each of the seven continents.
49. Buy and own a car
50.

Welcome To The Jungle

Just done my first day's work experience at Princess Productions in London (aka the people who make T4) and it was soooo good! So much better than I expected it would be. For starters, everyone is so nice and the atmosphere around the place is so chilled out and relaxed. No one really seems to be stressed or rushed at all, which is nice.
The day started with a tour of the place...offices, edit suite, post-production, the gallery (where the director sits in a room with a gazillion screens to watch what is being recorded) and finally the studio, where I watched (and got involved with the clapping/cheering/laughing) Grimmy (aka Nick Grimshaw) do all the links that will go between the shows on Saturday's show.
I was introduced to everyone (whose names I promptly forgot), and given a few simple tasks to do.
Then things got just a little bit exciting...Jude Law and Forest Whittaker arrived to do an interview about their new film, Repo Men! It was quite strange, to be standing in this studio that I've only ever seen on TV, watching presenter Nick Grimshaw chat to these two massive film stars...crazy.

If you listen close enough, you might even be able to hear me clapping.

Big Fat Fail

The last few days have just generally been rather crappy, and I'm feeling a bit bummed out to be honest. Can't wait to go home to London on Saturday and have a break. But wait...I wont really be getting a break for another 2 weeks, cos Ive gotta do work experience for one of my course modules. I'm working at T4, and I am looking forward to it, hopefully it should be a lot of fun, but I'm also kind of wishing I didn't have to do it and that I could just hang around and relax for a while. Life's been pretty hectic these last few weeks or so, and it doesn't look like there's gonna be any let up any time soon unfortunately.

The rain doesn't help either. Come on sunshine. I know you're out there somewhere to take these winter blues away.

Travel Envy

Wanderlust: very strong or irresistible impulse to travel.

As it comes to the end of term, and loads of my friends are preparing for their course field trips, while I'm stuck in the library, researching for an essay, I find myself with a massive case of travel envy...that's right, the green-eyed travel monster is rearing it's head and my feet are getting itchier by the second. One friend is off to Milan, one to New York and another to California! Just to add to this, my Film course doesn't. go. anywhere. Not in the whole 3 year degree. Not one single trip. So...I figure I'm gonna have to do something about this. Campaign, raise money, really fight my travelling corner. Or just Go. On. My. Own.

There are so many excuses as to why one shouldn't just up and leave and disappear off into the wilderness - no money, no time, too much work etc etc. But I have decided these won't be mine anymore. Screw money, what else is a student loan for? There's always time, you just have to find it. And work? Well, just do it on the plane/train/automobile! This year (whether it be this Easter holiday, or in the summer) I am going to go somewhere. Somewhere I've never been before. A place to adventure in. And I'll come back with tales to tell to all those people who are making me jealous right now.

Serious case of wanderlust: solved.

Happy Birthday James

It would be James' 22nd Birthday today. It's a weird thing, to be thinking about what someone would be like, or what they would be doing if they were still here. Would we still be friends? Would our lives still cross paths? It's been just over two and a half years since he died and there's not a day I don't think about him. Every day it gets a little bit easier, and every day it gets a little bit harder. To think that I have not known him for almost half as long as I knew him is a strange feeling. He was a massive part of my life, and I'm sure if I had never met him I wouldn't be the same person I am today. He has inspired me to enjoy each day, to really live. To do the things that scare me. To embrace my life and the lives of those around me. To not sweat over the little things. To really embrace for the big things. He has taught me the importance of friendship, and laughter, and love. But most of all he has helped me to just be me, because there really isn't any point in pretending to be anyone else.

And for that I am truly grateful.

So I say this...Happy Birthday James. Thank you for being in my life. You are always missed. And never forgotten. xxx

I Need A Holiday

"It's a beautiful day, but I'm stuck inside, staring at this screen, working 9 till 5"
- Scouting for Girls, 'I Need A Holiday'

How apt. I'm sitting in an extremely busy library at uni, trying to work, earphones in, music playing,  attempting to ignore my rumbling stomach in an effort to just get this done so I can go home and enjoy the sunshine, when this song comes on my iPod. Perfect. There's nothing quite like a good tune to lift the mood. Today has suddenly gotten a whole lot better. I can sit here in the knowledge that I'm not the only one, that the work will get done, that summer is a-coming. That life is round the corner.

So to all those who, like me, have far to much to do and not enough time to do it in, I quote those lyrical geniuses Scouting for Girls once more:

"Cheer up cheer up, don't be blue, don't forget it's home time soon"

What's next? some Rolling Stones? Yes please.

Watch, Listen, Learn...Vote!

Why We Travel

Fantastic article I thought I'd share. It eloquently explains the human desire to travel, to be somewhere exciting and new, something that I yearn for on a daily basis, not because I'm bored with where I am, but because my curiosity takes over. Everywhere else is just more exciting.

"Because work is stressful and our blood pressure is too high and we need a vacation. Because home is boring. Because the flights were on sale. Because New York is New York."

Because New York is New York.

So. True.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2010/mar/14/why-travel-makes-you-smarter?page=all

I Want To Do Something Amazing

I'm feeling the need to do something good. Something that isn't for me, that doesn't benefit me. It's coming up to what would be James' 22nd birthday and it's inspiring me to think of ways to raise money for teenage cancer trust, a charity very close to my heart.
Just trying to psych myself up for a bit of running maybe?
http://www.teenagecancertrust.com/get-involved/as-a-fundraiser/treks-and-challenges/bupa-10000-2010/

So if anyone has any ideas or wants to do do something with me, that would be fab!

Filming Fun

Just a picture of the cast and crew. I miss it already!

Phew!

Filming is finished! it has been a stressful and tiring 4 days but amazing too.
I'm exhausted, by back hurts from standing up for four solid days, I have so much other work that I've been ignoring for too long but it is done! Very excited now to get under way with post-production and get this film out into the world...i think it's gonna be a good'un.

On another note...the STA vid is doing well...1321 votes and 443 views on youtube...almost into the next round!

Almost There

There's just over 2 weeks to go and I've got 1316 votes and 400 views of my video...thank you so much to everyone who's voted/watched...it means everything. Keep them coming!

http://www.worldtravellerintern.co.uk/member/rusja-foster/

Get Me Away From The Internet!

Ok, so I've spent the last 2 hours casually perusing the net for more ways to promote myself and my video application for the STA World Traveller Intern and am now reaching a point where I'm finding it hard to stop! Youtube/facebook/twitter...you name it...my link is there. I'm getting a little bit more than obsessed, watching other people's videos, wondering if mine's good enough, will it get me through to the next round?I hope so. I've never wanted anything so much in my life. I can't wait for this round to be over (providing I manage to stay in the top 50)...then the challenge really begins!

One great thing about the competition is that it's giving me the opportunity to make contact with like-minded souls whose dreams of traveling the world match mine. But we all want to win...a bit of healthy competition never hurt anyone, right? :P

Please, STA Gods, give me this chance!

One More

Baby T

Call my name and I’m there,

I hear laughter and see arms held wide,

Hug, you say.

You stomp around,

Apple boots splashing in brown muddy water,

Running with glee as I chase you.

You trust me absolutely,

I take this and treasure it,

Never letting go.

New game inventions,

Off to the moon with pans on our heads,

Banging the drum in time with me.

Grinning and clapping,

With golden dipped hair,

You dance.

Tell you a story and sing to you,

Those blue eyes you gaze at me with,

How do I live up to that?

Tell me please,

Little lion roar.

A Few More Poems For Your Pleasure

Breaking Out

Let me escape,

Let me see

What else is around.

I need to be free,

You’re holding me back,

Keeping me locked up in

The grey matter

Of this life.

Come with me,

Or don’t

I’m off to explore.

You’d make it better,

Different,

But I don’t need

Your permission.

How can you not

Be curious?

There’s so much out there,

So many different people and

Exciting ways of living.

So don’t stay in your bubble,

Tackle your fears

Head on

Do the things that scare you,

You’ll learn more than

You can ever imagine.

--------------------------------------------

Blanket Me

Blanket me,

Wintry and cold,

Brilliant white.

Your perfect stillness,

Quiet, calm, nothing, nowhere.

Within you I am safe,

Protected.

Invisible.

I can lay here, wings at my sides,

Frozen but smiling,

While you hold me tight.

You cover me,

Touching my face, my hands.

I stick out my tongue,

As you fall on me.

Back-date

Thought i'd just give you (whoever you are) a link to my travel blog from when i went round the US a few years ago.

http://blogs.statravel.co.uk/rusjaintheusa

Sing-a-ling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6eY6N8rkUM
Me having a little sing song. not perfect but enjoy.

Stress Me Out

Today has been stressful. With a capital STRESS.  We start filming on Friday and there is so much to do. My task for today was to finish the storyboard...quite simple, no? Well yes, it would be. If my printer hadn't decided to die on me. Of all the days. When I actually need to print a shed-load of stuff, it says 'um actually no. I won't let you'. I really could have thrown it out the window.

But I managed to relax...and just played guitar instead. Learned a new song - 'Us' by Reginor Spektor. Loving it. There's nothing quite like a sing-song and a good old bash at the strings to calm these anxieties.

I try to just think: Stop stressing. It has to get done. So it will.
I don't know yet whether this attitude will work in my favour or not. We'll see.

On the plus side though, my STA application video has had over 200 views so far, and it's only been up for about 24 hours, so all's good on that front. Keep those votes coming!

It's Video Time

Just thought maybe I should put this link up...have a look at some of the films i've made. let me know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/user/rusjafoster

Keep Them Coming

1243 votes! thank you so much everyone!
 http://www.worldtravellerintern.co.uk/member/rusja-foster/

A Director's Life

I'm Director on my current uni film project and it is hard work...not that the other jobs aren't a lot of work too, but this is my first time directing and although I'm enjoying it, i never realised how much there is to do - shooting script, shot list, storyboard, floor plans...it goes on. not hard, just time-consuming.
But as we draw closer to our first shooting day (this coming friday), I am getting more and more excited, especially when I look at this, the image that will be our film poster:

The best part has been recording a song for the soundtrack. I'm really loving singing at the moment, and had so much fun in the recording studio the other day, I just want to do more and more now! I dont know if I can attach a song here, if I work it out I'll upload it.

A Poem Or Two

Lonesome Traveller

Lonesome traveller,

Watch the fields whipping by,

Block out reality.

Look around at the bareness

That surrounds you.

Feet up,

Plugged in

To the soundtrack of the time.

Float along little girl,

Find your way.

But don’t look too close

Or you’ll miss the most

Important signs.

There are people here,

Who just like you,

Are searching for something more.

Lost but hopeful,

Trying to find meaning,

Looking for the point in it all.

Don’t be afraid,

You’ll get there in the end.

One day it will all make sense.

But for now,

Don’t try so hard

Little girl,

You’re going to be okay.

-------------------------------------------------

Quiet Me Down

This city has fallen silent

Shrouded in a blissful apathy

To cover up our own lost souls,

To bury our truths away.

But when it comes down to it,

Really we’re all just the same.

 

STA World Traveller Intern

so, i've finally finished and uploaded my application video for the STA world traveller intern competition, the most amazing opportunity ever! It is literally my absolute dream and I really want it (just like all the other applicants I'm sure), so hopefully my video will give my votes a bit of a boost and keep me up in the top 50!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT2UsHeye2U

I've spent such a long time on this video and had so much fun making it, i really just want it all to be worth it. So if you haven't already....vote for me!

Now it's just a waiting game...