Hey there! My name is Emily and I live in South Shields, in the North East of England.  I'm currently awaiting my A level results in English Language, French, Spanish and General Studie from St Roberts Sixth Form College in Washington.  I also plan to go on to university after my gap year to study Japanese and Spanish at Sheffield University.

I love music and play various instruments including the saxophone, oboe and bassoon and I also race 1/10th offroad R/C cars all over the country which I absolutely love! I also spend my time working in the Children's Library in South Shields (I get to tell people off, class!) and thinking up new and strange colour schemes for my hair.

I'm raising money to fund my gap year which I'll be spending in Chile with the organisation Project Trust.  I'll be mainly teaching English in a deprived area near the capital Santiago, but I'll also hopefully be able to set up 'secondary projects' including music teaching and maybe even a choir!

I was selected to go to Chile in October 2006, so now the race is ON to raise the £4190 I need to go.  Selection was crazy: first there was the task of getting to the Coll (its a little island in the Inner Hebrides with only 170 people!) THEN I had to walk up huge hills (OK, maybe only one... and maybe not THAT big), plough lazy beds by hand (with a shovel...), do gardening, do a BEASTY spelling test, Ceiledh dance...

So now I've been selected, the fundraising mission is ON until I leave next August. I can't wait to get to Chile. I'm crazy about languages and this'll be a great chance to spend 12 months practicing my Spanish.

And I KNOW you'll all be glad to see the back of me for a whole 12 months... everyone'll get some peace and quiet for once!