Carpe Diem

 

I haven’t written a blog for a very long time, I am sorry but I have had lots and lots to do. I have just finished my final year and it has gone so quickly. So much so that this sadly, is my goodbye blog.

When you start university, people in the last year or those who have already graduated tell you about how quickly it will go and how you should enjoy it (a bit like when you are at school). No matter what, you never believe them and are always convinced that they are exaggerated or just ‘being old’.  But I have to say that it couldn’t be truer. It feels like just yesterday that I loaded my Dad’s car to the roof and moved into halls of residence to begin my own little adventure.

My final year has been a challenge but been exciting. I have had the chance to work for some real clients and network with others including national charities, members of parliament and senior staff at leading PR companies. I still do not have my official results but I know from my grades so far that I have a minimum grade of 2:1 or above, so I am very happy and look forward to seeing the proud faces on my parents at graduation next month.

I am leaving the university with a fantastic job offer. I am working in a top PR agency in central London on a three month paid internship. Hopefully I will impress them so much that they have no doubts that they want to keep me on forever! And if they don’t, I will have the necessary experience to get another job far easier afterwards.

I have loved my time at the University of Greenwich, not just my course but more so my job, my opportunities and my experiences. Three years ago I was really unsure whether or not I wanted to go to university and I have never felt happier about a decision in my life. I know that there are a lot of changes coming up to the higher education systems and it is very daunting for potential applicants, but please please consider how much you will get out of university. It will make your grow personally, professionally and academically and nothing in life can give you the same kind of results.

Take care everybody and I wish all the best luck in university and in life. Reach for the stars and grab every opportunity. I will leave you with some clever words from wise people:

 

Hello Blogland!

OK, I need to start by apologising for not writing anything for absolutely ages, but when I fill you in on what’s been happening then you will understand.
So ... I’m in year 3 and myself and my partner decided to move ... for some reason we were having a string of bad luck, so it all fell through and we were left with nowhere to live and couldn’t find anything we could afford in London that was nice enough and near enough to the university. So, we had to move home to Essex. I lived with my Dad for a grand total of a day before we had an argument about me running up a huge phone bill, using up the hot water (basically just trying to make myself at home) and I realised that after not having lived together for over a year, me and my Dad just could not co-habit ... so a new solution was needed. Step in – my mum. She had just bought a second house to rent out and was looking for tenants, so perfectly I now had someone to rent from with a nice family discount:)happy days!

So what is it like commuting? It’s actually not that bad. I don’t enjoy the 5am alarms and having to sit in traffic for miles, but then I would prefer to do that than have to stand on the train in rush hour, I live my own personal space and there is a distinct lack of it (as well as a lack of decent smelling air). On the plus side, I am only in university one day a week now as I have finished some of my modules and all of the others fall on a Monday. So with that and two days of work a week I only have to commute twice a week and gatecrash various friends’ floors on Wednesday nights –it’s kind of fun to live as a nomad once a week.

In other news, year three is really starting to kick in now, lots of courseworks due and the ever-worrying dissertation deadline keeps getting just that bit closer. I am progressing OK with the work but am a little bit behind schedule. I will let you all know soon my proposal and ask you all to take part in a little research for me – as it is all linked to social media, so it seems appropriate to ask.

On the lighter side of life ... A few recommendations for things to do this week:

1) Eat Japanese food – I don’t mean generic sushi sold in supermarkets. I mean, get yourself to a Japanese restaurant and try loads of different types of food. They are great at doing small plates of food so you can sample loads of the menu each time you visit. I recommend gyoza, tempura prawns or vegetables, chicken katsu and spare ribs. For the sushi I really enjoyed broccoli tempura nigiri and avocado maki. If you would rather save a few pennies and just get a main meal then chicken teriyaki is always good or yaki soba noodles. Japanese restaurants close to Greenwich University: Itsu (Greenwich town centre), Wasabi (the o2) and Wagamama’s Greenwich Penninsula, by the o2).

2) Go to the cinema and see a kid’s film – I hadn’t been to the cinema for ages and went last night (2 for 1 on Orange Wednesday) and saw Gnomeo and Juliet. It was really funny and reminded me that we should all take the time out to be a little bit childish sometimes hehe (child-like giggle).

3) Eat your 5 a day – I know it sounds silly and a bit like a Government generated lecture, but I am actually trying to make sure I do it on a daily basis and I am finding that is helping me stay more alert and feel better in general. So give it a go for a week and see how you feel

Take care all of you and I will try and stop being a useless blogger and write more often, but there are many more interesting people blogging out there too, have a look around and happy reading. Bye :)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow …

I’m sure every one of you has heard plenty about the snow over the last couple of days and probably will hear plenty more over the coming weeks, maybe even months but I just thought I would point out once more …. IT’S SNOWING!!!!


Here at the university, its business as normal as possible, there are a few cancelled lectures and some of our offices are closing a tad earlier, but we will still do our best to help where we can. (Keep an eye on the portal and your emails if you are a current student).

Avery Hill Campus in the snow … http://twitpic.com/3buhlz




Bubbles & Boredom
One of the biggest disadvantages to the weather is that the boredom sets in … our phone lines have been very quiet this morning and yesterday spending the whole day at home lead me to feel a bit as though I was developing cabin fever! So myself and Blaze were talking about boredom-busting things to do and here are some ….

Do you feel satisfied every time you pop some bubble wrap? Get the same satisfaction online with online bubble wrap popping …http://www.virtual-bubblewrap.com/popnow.shtml. I pop bubble wrap at 1.66 bubbles per second! I popped 196 bubbles in 1 minute and 58 seconds.Try and beat my score …


Dancing Bush … http://www.bored.com/dancingbush/ … a childish but funny game making George W. Bush dance exactly how you want him to. Snow games …. If your having a snow day off and so are some of your friends and family then how about a snow ball fight? Or making snow angels? Or even a treasure hunt around your garden or a nearby park where you can hide things in the snow and give them clues for where to find it (don’t hide anything valuable in case you can’t find it again or someone else takes it before you get back to it).

Fun, Fun, Fun
Overall, the snow makes most people just that little bit happier, with all its white, fluffy goodness. So go out and have fun and look forward to the fact that Christmas is just around the corner –YAY.
Festive Greetings you all, B :)

Higher Education – All the answers, one place.

If you are thinking about applying to university but aren’t quite sure where to start then higher education events are a great way to go. They happen all over the country throughout the year and are designed so that education institutions come to you, instead of you having to go to all of them.



Design your future

Yesterday as part of my role as an education liaison ambassador, I worked at the UCAS Design Your Future Event (DYF). It is a higher education event that is aimed specifically at those wanting a career in design and creative courses. Universities and institutions come from all over the country to form an exhibition that potential students can attend. This week’s DYF was based in the Excel centre in London and will be repeated in the coming week in Manchester (29th-30th November) – good news for those of you in the North.

https://www.ucasevents.com/design

The event covered subjects such as fashion, graphic design, landscape design, animation and creative teaching among others.

Other events

As well as DYF, UCAS run numerous events throughout the year. If you would like more information about where and when these events take place please visit: https://www.ucasevents.com/ucas/frontend/reg/thome.csp?pageID=273321&eventID=580

Most of the events are free (not all of them) and in easy to get to locations.

Making the most of it

To make the most of any HE event, take a friend along with you and make the day a bit more fun, visit every stand to see what they have to offer ... plus they all gave out some fantastic freebies. Its always a good thing to start a game with your friends and see who can accumulate the most pens, pencils, badges or sweets.

Another thing that you shouldn’t forget while your there is that each and every one of the stalls there will have people – usually a mix of academics and students, so you can talk to them and get a true insight to the course or place and maybe even different perspectives if you talk to different people in different roles.

Also, all of these events usually run interactive sessions and workshops. You can find out more information on specific subjects or general information like how to apply or student finance. Keep a listen out for what is going on over the tannoy, ask someone and get a copy of the program.

Finally, make the most of us. If there are student ambassadors and/or events staff then ask them anything you need to know. How to get somewhere, where you can find a certain piece of information or what student life is like. I can guarantee that if they don’t know the answer themselves then they will do their hardest to find it out for you.



The people in red tops are University of Greenwich student staff, working for UCAS



Enjoy your week blog-land :) B

What the weekend brought

And so it continues …


OK so my run of bad luck decided to continue and Paris didn’t happen yet again :( boo!! But on the plus side, it was the passport agency’s fault not ours so we are being nicely compensated. For messing us around, they decided they would give us … our money back on the hotel plus pay for the cancellation fee, they will pay for another lot of first class tickets for the Eurostar and the hotel next time we go. Plus for a little bit of extra good will, they are giving us flights to any European city that we can use in the next 3 months. So I guess the sun does shine after the rain and I have two holidays to look forward to. It also shows one of life’s little lessons, you only get what you go after, if we had never raised the fact that my friend’s passport had not come through by the promised deadline then we would have just lost out with no compensation. You have to fight for what you believe in.


Plan B for the weekend …

So we didn’t want to waste a weekend that we had already booked off, so we decided to just do something in the UK instead. After a couple of hours of trawling the net for inspiration, we decided to just stay local and get a hotel on the other side of London and be tourists for the weekend. The plan was to do touristy things like go to The London Aquarium, do a river cruise, hit Oxford Street and have dinner in the West End…. But guess what ...? Luck decided it wasn’t my friend again and when I got to the hotel I didn’t have my debit card. We found a way around checking in though and spent the whole weekend making the most of the facilities there as we could charge them to the room


So my friends …

I apologise for my blog being a bit gloomy again this week, but at least I’ve gained some positives from it and my luck seems to be improving a bit. There’s lots going on over the next week or two so I will be happy and chatty again by next week hopefully.


Ciao for now.

B.

The world hates me

I said that I wouldn’t write a blog this week because I am moody, but then I was told that I should share my mood with the world. After all, we are all trying to give you a true picture of what student life is like which means sharing the bad right along with the good.

So, this week … the world hates me. One thing after another is going wrong and I am starting to think that I have done something seriously bad to upset Karma, although I haven’t a clue exactly what.

Don’t get me wrong, life in general is good and I think a lot of it is that I just need a good rant as I haven’t had one for a while. But amongst some of the things to happen to me this week, here are just a few:

1. My car was hit by someone in a public car park and the person drove off without leaving any details.

2. Opened the cupboard to get a drink and a glass fell out and smashed.

3. I fell out with a member of my family on my birthday and it upset me a lot.

4. Witnessed a criminal offence and being called to court as a witness.

5. Received a tax bill for £1500 as one of my two jobs as a student didn’t charge me tax as I earned so I owed that much over two years.

6. I am getting old.

7. My trip to Paris for my birthday was cancelled due to the political riots in the country.

8. I am so poor I had to get my Mum and Dad to pay for my bills because I couldn’t afford them.

Anyway, rant over and I hope you are all having a better week than me, will blog again soon when I have some happier news to share.

A problem shared is a problem halved

I have been sitting here all day long trying to think what pearls of wisdom to share with you all today and again and again I get distracted and turn to other things on my mind. The truth is, I am really struggling this year. Everyone gets warned that the third year is hard for a variety of reasons and the ones that are getting to me most are the amount of independent work that you have to do and the fact that my graduate looms in front of me and I still have no clue what it is that I want to achieve in my life and where I am going to go from here.


I know that many of my friends and colleagues are experiencing the same kind of feelings and I know that I am letting things in my personal life affect me even more, money problems, relationships, friendships, it all accumulates together to make things harder.

On the plus side, there are so many people around me that I know I can turn to and everybody no matter who they are and walk of life they are from will always have someone. It’s just a case of realising who they are. Never under-estimate the power of venting a problem, the old phrase ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’ is definitely a motto I believe in.

It’s not just friends and family, look around you at colleagues and service on offer in your school/college/university. There are your lecturers who, although are there for academic purpose, often care about your well-being. There are counsellors in the university support centres. There are student reps both the newly elected ones within the schools at Greenwich but also general university student reps that work in association with the student union.

Finally when it comes to my fears about graduating and the future, there are people to turn to and resources to use. I am going to take action myself tomorrow and attend the Autumn Graduate and National Internship Fair. It provides opportunities for 2nd and 3rd years to get internships and placements and gives support for those who are soon to or have recently graduated and are looking for employment. Check out: http://www.internfair.co.uk/ OR http://www.autumngradfair.co.uk/index.php for more details about the events.

I will keep you posted about how I get on and will work on getting myself fully back on track to complete my final year and get the grades I so badly want and deserve.

Take Care