Hello!

My name is Joshua Koornneef, I'm 16 years old and I've lived in Abu Dhabi since 2011. I'm half Dutch and half Irish, so I speak English and Dutch.

I'm big into music, some of my favourite artists include Stormzy, Childish Gambino, Chance the Rapper and Skepta. I'm also big into movies and television. I absolutely adore the original Indiana Jones trilogy and the Back to the Future trilogy. One of my favourite genres is horror and I loved "It Follows". Finally, I love to read, and this is one of the biggest reasons why I chose to do Language and Literature. My favourite authors would include Stephen King and Mario Puzo.

Language plays an enormous role on my life. Not only do I use it to communicate with those around me, but it has also shaped my personality and my life. Language has allowed me to enjoy film, literature and music, three elements that have sculpted who I am now. Language has also instilled habits and attitudes that will follow me through my life. English is my mother tongue and, unlike many people, my parents did not teach me Dutch when I was young. It took me a long time to achieve the fluency I have achieved. In this way, language has made me a more disciplined and hard-working person. Learning Dutch has also introduced me to an entirely new culture, with alien customs, holidays and lifestyle. This has made me more open-minded and apt at adapting quickly to new situations.
Being excluded due to great language barriers often come hand in hand with learning a new language. Unfortunately I was unable to avoid this and so during the first stages of learning Dutch, it happened. It's not that bad, just a little uncomfortable at times, and its pretty easy to get over, however this may be only my experience, because I knew enough Dutch to know that I wasn't being discussed behind my back.

*to be fully honest, I had no clue how to find a photo that represented me, so I used a baby photo.