Oliver

Travel information

I am currently

Activities i am interested in:

I'm interested in gardening, homesteading, farming, and animal welfare. A lot of this is new to me and I'd love to know more.

Description

Hi everyone! I'm Oliver, I'm 22 and I'm from Birmingham, UK. I'm a prospective doctoral candidate in philosophy. I'm due to start in October, but I have taken some time beforehand to travel: to gain some new experiences, see some beautiful places, meet new people and make new friends, to center, refocus, and define myself away from entirely academic contexts.
I have grown up and lived in cities for most of my life, so I would really love to see some beautiful landscapes, and contribute to rural and eco-centric communities and lifestyles. That being said, I do love a historic city. So, I would love to travel across Europe, especially southern and eastern Europe, as well as to New Zealand and Australia. I'm still not very sure what I'd like to do in this places at the moment - still collecting ideas.
When I'm not doing research, I enjoy being creative. I love to mess around with fabric and I sew quite often, frequently making clothes for myself and others. I also love performing arts: I was part of, and managed, a large theatre group for some years. This included making costumes, designing and assembling sets, and even rigging lights with lighting and sound design.
All-in-all, I would love to meet some new people and see more the world - hopefully while being useful at the same time!

Interests

Performing arts

Gardening

History

Culture

Farming

LGBTQ

Politics / Social justice

Self development

Cooking & food

Charity work

Books

Art & design

Animals

Languages spoken

English: Fluent

Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

I'm interested in:  

Charity Work

Art Projects

Life at a Farmstay

Animal Care

DIY and building projects

Eco Projects

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Some knowledge of:  

House sitting

Helping with Computers/ Internet

General Maintenance

Helping around the house

Creating/ Cooking family meals

Gardening

Teaching

Being an elderly companion

More details about your skills

I have had gardening experience for many years; growing up, we had quite a large garden which I often worked in. Mostly, I did maintenance, including weeding, pruning, repairing of damage, and clearing of debris. I also did a lot of repotting, usually of flowers, but sometimes of veg and potatoes as well. I would love to do this on a bigger scale, supporting projects that are slightly more purposeful and well as those which are concerned with environmental sustainability.
When I was part of the theatre group, I often did DIY and Maintenance projects. This included painting, making furniture, and building self-standing sets including realistic apartments and supernatural courtrooms. I have transferred these skills into my own life, building furniture for myself. I would love to develop these skills by working on projects that are more hard-wearing and sustainable. Although my skills at the moment are not just domestic, expanding upon them would make them more transferable, so I could contribute to more projects in different ways. Additionally, running lighting and sound design in a theatre has given me a lot of creativity in resolving technical problems, so I would be able to help out with some domestic technical issues.
For the last six years, I have taught in different contexts . I have done placements in schools as part of my undergraduate degree, and I have supported students on a one-to-one basis. These students were adolescent, and I was supporting them in an academic context towards their exams. I have also taught skills, as part of the theatre group. I would like to do this more, and for different age groups.
I also have experience with young people: as indicated above, I have worked with teenagers in a professional context. But, I have a lot of cousins, including those who are children and have children. I have looked after them, in afternoons and evenings, and enjoy listening to them. I would love to do this in a more structured and enriching way, rather than merely my improvisations.
I have personal experience of elder care as three of my grandparents have had neurodegenerative illnesses. As such, I have helped to look after them in non-intrusive ways: cleaning their homes and cooking for them in particular.

Age

22

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies

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  Special dietary requirements