Eighteen

An Australian turns eighteen in Poland, emerges into womanhood, travels breathtakingly, and finds first love.This is the diary of Jennifer Phelan written in 1998 during the year she lived in Poland as a Rotary Youth Exchange student. In an era before universal internet or mobile phone availability Jennifer used her hand-written diary to record the challenges of living away from home in a new culture and a new language. With an eye-watering sense of adventure Jennifer discovers the joy of travel, both within Poland and across Europe. Her motto of Do it, be it, live it permeates her approach, taking her away from her innate shyness into an independent young woman. Jennifer also finds love, giving us a candid insight into her emotional turmoil. Keenly observant and philosophical, and interspersed throughout with relevant quotes from Shakespeare, Keats, pop songs and more, this work was written with you, the reader, in mind. It is a work of a maturity beyond her eighteen years.