A few weeks ago Katie joined the adminstration team here at GV Byron Bay. She wanted to let everyone know what she is doing here and so I had a quick chat to her yesterday afternoon. Welcome Katie!

How long have you been working at GV Byron Bay and what did you do before you worked here?

Hi my name is Katie, I’m from Taiwan from a big city just outside of Taipei. I have just recently started working here at GV Byron Bay, and am working to help support Rebbecca and to help with some of the student services.

At home I was an English teacher, teaching kids. I studied Italian at University and spent almost a year in Italy which was great fun in many different ways. It has been really nice to be here at GV to meet all the international students and to meet the Italians here.

I came to Byron as a great friend of mine highly recommended the life here and I had heard that Byron Bay is paradise! I also checked the blog and it looked like a great time! Besides this I really wanted to improve my English and I knew that GV Byron would be ideal for this.

Do you speak another language and what was your biggest challenge when learning it?

Well I obviously speak Chinese (Mandarin), some Taiwanese, Italian, and English. I really like learning languages, I have found that by learning a different language my whole world has opened up, and I find it fascinating to get a real glimpse into other cultures, and I think the only way that you can do that is by speaking different countries languages. I guess the most difficult thing about learning a language for me, is that I have to study after class!!

What has been the single best moment that you have experienced since you joined GV Byron?

I love my job and I loved the interaction with all of the students from around the world and making friends with them all.  I am really thankful to the school for offering me the opportunity to work here and I really appreciate this chance.

What is your favourite place in Byron?

Wow this is a hard question to answer. I have to say there are two places that I really love. One is the bicycle path from my home to school as it feels like going on an adventure every time I come to work. During the day time I can see beautiful trees and animals and in the evening the sky looks so amazing. There are millions of stars and it’s astonishingly gorgeous. The other place I really like is the beach of course!!

Is there anything you’d like to add??

I just want to let the students know that I really understand where they are coming from as English is not my first language either. Please feel free to come into the office at any time to talk to me. If there is anything I can do to help, just let me know!