Nearly there!

Hello everyone, I hope you are studying hard and staying well in this period that is notorious for sickness bugs. At the moment I have a bit of a sniffle, which I really hope does not develop into anything further; I could really do without being sick at the moment! The good news is that I have submitted all my work for this term, but the bad news is that I still have three exams to prepare for in the first week of January. I just hope that I manage to pass my exams, as I am generally not very good at them.

Moving on from the doom and gloom that exams are, a brand new year is upon us, and soon it will be 2015. I know that most people will have New Year’s Resolutions, including myself with the cliché get fitter, work harder, etc. but according to research conducted by the University of Scranton in the USA, just 8% of people achieve their New Year’s goals! Although that is a very low number, I plan on being part of that 8% for 2015 to make the year more successful and productive.

As I think I mentioned in my previous blog, although I am not a huge fan of Christmas, I am a fan of Christmas food, and I think that shops and restaurants removing their Christmas specials (such as that sandwich from EAT. I spoke about last time) will be what I miss the most.

I have decided to include a random or weird fact at the end of each blog that I find interesting, and hopefully you do too. The first blog fact will be based on a library and opera house in North America. So what’s so interesting about this library/opera house you may ask? The weird fact about it is that it is on the border between the United States and Canada, where the stage is in one country, and half the audience is in another. This means that the library/opera house has two addresses, one for the USA (Vermont) and one for Canada (Québec). The library/opera house was deliberately constructed on the border to provide the border communities with a centre for learning and cultural enrichment upon its completion in 1904. If you want to find out more about the Haskell Free Library and Opera house, you can check out their website: http://www.haskellopera.com

Anyway, hopefully you found that fact interesting, and I hope you are all keeping well. I hope you all enjoy your break over the Christmas period, and have a Happy New Year! Until next year everyone!

Time to knuckle down

Hello again everyone, I hope you are well. The weeks leading up to Christmas are going to be

particularly stressful with the deadlines I have remaining. Even when I have submitted all my work, I will still have 3 exams to prepare for in January, so there won’t be much time to relax over the winter vacation. Due to all the work I have to do, I may have to just cancel Christmas! For someone who isn’t a huge fan of it really isn’t all that bad, it was more a break that I was looking forward to.

In light of all the work I have been doing, I have realised that I spend nearly all of my time at the University in some way. I’m either in the library working on my assignments, working, or in classes. I may as well move into the University, and they would never get rid of me! Although the fact I’ve been here for 4 years shows that the University of Greenwich can’t get rid of me; I may even stay to do my PhD… eventually! For the time being, I think I need to focus on getting my master’s, and then looking into a career.

The New Year should bring about some relief to my bank balance. After December, I would have paid off my tuition, and will no longer have to save money from my pay each month. This means that in January when I get paid, all the money that is left will be mine! (Well, after I’ve paid all my bills etc).

Even though I am not a huge fan of Christmas, I am a fan of the food and drink that comes with Christmas. The other day I had one of the Christmas sandwiches from EAT. and it was probably the nicest sandwich I have ever had! It certainly puts the sandwiches at M&S to shame, and that is really saying something.

I hope you are all working hard and are getting through your assignments, the best of luck, and until next time everyone!

All work and no play

Hello again everyone, I hope you are well. The past few weeks have been a hectic blur for me, working all the hours available, and then some, plus the classes I have in the evening. Needless to say it has been pretty energy draining by the time I have also completed university work.  This means I haven’t had much of a social life, or much time to myself. Although I like to keep busy, I think I may have gone a bit overboard. So here is my advice to anyone who thinks they can work in all the spare time they have outside of classes, yes you can, and the money is handy, but you won’t have much time to actually spend it (unless you plan on saving it).

Even though I have been working and studying a lot, I have still have managed to find some time to myself and some form of a social life and watch some TV shows. I have recently started watching Breaking Bad (I know I’m quite behind on that one) and I finally understand what the hype is all about. However, whenever I watch an episode, I often find myself thinking about what my life would be like if I had been good at chemistry… it goes without saying that it’s a pretty poor career choice, and is too dangerous for my liking!

I also managed to fit in a trip to my favorite shop the other day; Ikea. I know it’s a bit of a strange choice, but I just love looking at all the various room designs, and imagining it in my future, currently non-existent, home. I always find myself being drawn to the lighting features, and rooms with clever touches.

That’s it from me for now, but with this windy weather we've been having, hold onto your hats and avoid any objects that may fly towards you! And as always, good luck with all your studies, and make sure you fit in some down time.

September comes to a close

Hello everyone, I hope you are well. Is it me or did September just fly by? It is now October, and Monday the 22^nd of September marked the first day of autumn. Autumn is my favourite season, when the leaves change from green to various shades of red and orange and brown; simply breath-taking! I also love the fresh, crisp mornings that autumn offers, followed by a low, but warming sun that provides some heat. It also means that I can start wearing jumpers again (I do like wearing jumpers) meaning that soon it’ll be the sweater weather.

The beginning of autumn also means that my favourite drink from Starbucks is now out; the pumpkin spice latte! It appears that pumpkins are not really a thing in the UK, which makes me very sad. When I was in the USA last year, there was pumpkin pie available all year round. Here in the UK, I have yet to see one anywhere, although I did make one myself and it was very tasty (even though the pumpkin mix was hard to obtain).

In university related updates, I had my first week of classes for my new programme, and it has been a bit of a shock to the system getting used to studying by night. This means for 4 nights a week, I will not have an evening to myself, as I will be either in classes or travelling (fortunately I’ve been able to drive there and back). Speaking of travel, I managed to lose my Oyster card the other day, but I was convinced that I would find it as soon as I called TfL to cancel it. However, this was not the case, and since then my new one has now arrived, with my old Oyster card yet to be found… I’m sure it will turn up one day.

I have decided that I need to book a weekend away soon, so as I have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off, I think this could be possible. I may have to wait until I get paid before I can do that, though. It’s been really strange studying at university without being able to apply for a student loan. Sadly master’s programmes do not attract funding from student finance, so I will have to try and work as much as I can to get the money I need.

Anyway, I hope you have all had a good first week, and I wish you the best of luck this year, until next time! 

An overdue update

Hello everyone, I hope you have all kept well and had a good summer. It has been a while since my last blog entry so here it goes! So what exactly is new with me? Not a great deal to be honest, I’ve been working all summer since I graduated to earn myself some money, which has taken up most of my time. I’ve done the usual seeing friends, but work has taken up most of my summer.

As you may remember from my last entry, I was offered a supervisor position here at the University through clearing, and it’s been going well! I have learned a lot from it, and it has been a learning curve. Sadly this week is my last week, but I have certainly enjoyed every minute of it. I also paid for half of my master’s degree which starts on the 29^th of September, so not long to go! It is the first time I’ve had to pay for my own tuition as well, I’m just glad there was a fee reduction to soften the blow!

In other news, next week will be my 22^nd birthday, which I suppose is not very interesting. I am one of those people who don’t actually like celebrating their own birthday. I will happily go to other birthday celebrations, but rarely my own. If I do celebrate my birthday, it’s usually something quiet with a small number of people.

So to summarise, not a lot has happened since my last entry, but some slow developing happenings have occurred. Hopefully over the next few weeks some interesting events will happen that I will keep you updated about.

For those of you returning to study, I hope this year will be successful for you, and for those of you who have finished, I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavours. Until next time everyone, keep well!

Finally a graduate!

Hello everyone, I hope you are well. As the title suggests, I have finally graduated! I now am the proud holder of a Bachelor of Arts in Human Resource Management with second class honours (1^st division) or a 2:1 to make it easier. I felt so proud of myself when I was sat in the chapel at Greenwich, dressed in the gown and mortarboard. It was the perfect way to end my degree, to officially be a graduate holding my degree certificate. At least it’s not my last one, when I complete my master’s degree; I’ll be able to do it all over again! The only problem with the day of graduation was how warm the robes were in the July heat! Other than that, it was a wonderful day that I will remember for a long time.

Other than graduation, not a whole lot has occurred with me. Life is still continuing on as normal, and work within the Enquiry Unit is keeping me busy. I also applied for a different role and was successful! This means I now have some new exciting challenges ahead in my role of team supervisor, which I am looking forward to starting on the 1^st of August.

Other than that, there isn't much to report. Each weekend I have the standard summer plans to see friends and celebrate birthdays, which is always fun. Hopefully the weather doesn't remain too hot, I'm not a fan of the British summer; it’s just too humid! I'm a fan of winter personally. This may explain why I have had Christmas songs stuck in my head for most of the week.

That’s it for now though! I’ll be sure to update you if anything exciting happens, enjoy your time off everyone, and congratulations to all you recent graduates!

Ciao for now!

Brighton, Paris, and results!

Hello everyone, I hope you are well. It’s been a few weeks since my last entry, so here is an update of what has been happening so far. As you may remember from my last entry, I had planned to go to Brighton for the day, as well as Paris. Both were really good days out, and I had a great time in both places. Having a change of scenery for a short while was nice.

We were really lucky with the weather in Brighton. The day my friends and I had planned to go, it was forecast to rain all day, but when we arrived, the sun was shining, and there were clear blue skies. It was really nice to just sit on the beach and look out to sea. There was something quite calming about it, and it made me wish I lived closer to the sea. I think if I lived by the sea, I would sit with a book on a daily basis and put the stresses of the day behind me.

The weather in Paris was not quite as nice as it was in Brighton. It was forecast to rain all day, and it did rain most of the day (as you can see in the picture of the Notre Dame) and it did rain ae! I am very happy with that, and it was exactly what I needed. lot of tourist stuff including s. This did put a damper on things (excuse the pun), and it did make us feel slightly miserable, but it was still a good day nonetheless. We did a lot of tourist things as well, including visiting the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and the Notre Dame, as well as navigating the confusing transport system used in Paris. The city of Paris is beautiful, and the food was amazing! I wish I could have bread from France delivered to my house daily, it was simply amazing!

In other news, I received the official results for my degree: I will be graduating on July 15^th with an upper second class degree! I am very happy with that, and it was exactly what I needed.

I hope you all got the results you needed or expected, and I hope everyone has an enjoyable summer. I will be sure to keep you updated on what I do over the following weeks. For those of you going away on holiday, I hope you have an enjoyable time and stay safe. Until next time!

Looking to the future

Hello everyone, I hope you are keeping well. Now that I have finished my undergraduate degree (soon to be graduate) I can now dedicate my time to doing some more things. I have a few events to look forward to over the next few weeks. I am going to Brighton with some friends for the day on the 29^th of May. I've not been for a very long time and it will be nice to have a change of scenery for a day. I have agreed to drive, and for someone who doesn't drive very often, it should be interesting… and also as you know, I am going to Paris for the day with my friends on the 4^th of June which I’m looking forward to, which I will be sure to tell you about when I get back.

Speaking of travel, compared to last year my plans for 2014 are not going to be the same. I was in The Netherlands in April of last year, and then in California, the USA for most of June. I still have air miles to use with British Airways, so I think I will have to look into going somewhere I've never been before, and after watching an episode of Made in Chelsea (yes I am a fan of the show) me and my friend were discussing the idea of going to Venice! I've never been to Italy, so I would like to go someday. There are several places I would like to visit in Italy, so I would have to go for more than just a day. With my master’s coming up in September though, I possibly won’t be able to travel as much, especially as I may not be earning enough.

I could always attempt to look for full time work whilst I am studying my master’s, as it only runs in the evening. By day I could be working, earning some extra money, and then by night I could study. Although doing a full time degree and working full time could possibly kill me, so I may have to rethink my options! Hopefully I will make some more plans over summer instead of simply working; as you know what they say about all work and no play! If last year is anything to go by, I did have a few events to keep me occupied.

Whilst I have you, I thought I would let you know I have received all my grades back, and I am very happy with them (apart from my exam results). I’ve worked out that I have 68% overall, giving me a solid upper second class! It is annoying that I am so close to a first, but until I receive my official results letter, I will not know.

I hope your exams went well and you also have things to look forward to over summer, until next time everyone!

All good things must come to an end

Hello again everyone, I hope you are well. As the title of this blog suggests, the end has arrived… well, almost. On the 12^th May, I finished the last exam of my bachelor’s degree! The exam wasn’t the best, and I wasn’t too pleased with it, but it’s all over and I can only hope for the best. I can’t believe how quickly the past 3 years have passed, and it certainly has been an enjoyable time.

At the moment I am not quite sure what to do with my freedom, but it means now I can watch TV without feeling guilty about not doing anything. I may also have to cut back on my caffeine intake, through the assessment period I have been living off of energy drinks, and coffee. Maybe I’ll just stick to water for a while… 

For those of you who didn’t know, I am a big fan of The Sims, and during the assessment period, I have refrained from playing it. This means that not only can I now watch TV without feeling guilty, I can now play The Sims as much as I like without feeling any remorse. It’s one of those games I can play for hours and hours, and then before I know it, I have played it for a whole day! I know it’s not for everyone, but I love it! I just like the way that in The Sims you can decide the fate of others, acting as a god so to speak.

I do have my master’s degree coming up in September as well, and I am looking forward to the challenge that comes along with that. I also have work over summer which will give me something to do, as well as the final amount I need to cover the costs of my degree. For those of you who are students at the University of Greenwich (even those of you graduating this year) and want something to do over summer, including earning some extra money, you should apply for clearing assistant position! The pay is good, and it’s some extra experience to put on your CV. Just follow this link for instructions on how to apply: http://bit.ly/1lANDYO

For those of you who still have exams left, I wish you the best of luck, I’m sure you will do well! Until next time everyone, take care!

Exams, exams, exams!

Hello everyone, I hope you are well. As the title for this entry suggests, this blog entry will start with

the rather interesting topic of assessment in the form of examinations. Of course I am being facetious, and exams are not interesting at all (well some of you may enjoy exams, but that’s just a little bit weird in my option), and for those of you reading this that do not have exams, I am rather envious of you! My problem is I still do not know the best revision technique that works for me, which is probably why I find revision monotonous. My first two exams are next week, and I’m really not looking forward to them. I can only do my best, and hopefully the results should reflect my current grades.

Moving on from all this talk of exams, as I’m sure those of you with exams have heard more than enough about them. I had the opportunity to see War Horse the other day at the New London Theatre, and it was amazing! A friend of mind, whom I haven’t seen in a while, asked me if I was free and wanted to see it as he had a spare ticket. I am very glad I went for several reasons. Firstly, the seats we had were amazing! We were sat two rows from the stage, and we could see everything clearly. Another reason was how good the production was. The way they brought the horses to life on stage was executed rather well, and they appeared so real. It is certainly something I would recommend seeing if you get the opportunity to do so.

In travel related news, as I mentioned in a previous blog I was planning on going to Paris for the day after exams with some of my friends on my course. I am pleased to confirm that has now been booked, and on the 4^th of June, I will be Paris bound! We haven’t planned entirely what we are going to do, as we are going to do that in detail once exams have finished, but the Eiffel Tower is a must, and we will try to visit the Musée du Louvre as well; I’ve always wanted to see the Mona Lisa up close. Hopefully it won’t be as busy as the photo above when we go to see it!

For now I shall wish you all the best of luck in your exams and revision. Until next time everyone!

A sigh of relief

Hello again everyone, I hope you are well. I have finally finished all my assignments for my undergraduate degree! All my deadlines have now passed, and all my work has been submitted, including my dissertation, and let me tell you what a relief that was uploading it to TurnItIn. After submitting that, I felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulder. Hopefully all the hard work I put in will pay off. Although it was a stressful time, I found the whole experience very interesting, and I learnt a great deal about motivation, the subject of my dissertation. I found that praise had an effect on how people are motivated, as well as reward (money, or benefits).

All that being said, it’s not over yet sadly. I still have three exams left which I am not looking forward to. I am not very good at exams, and they always make me super stressed. Revision over the upcoming weeks is going to fun… but after those three exams are over, I will be finished, and will have graduation to look forward to. I most likely will also not have much of a social life until my exams have finished, but it’s not that long to go now.

I will however have one thing to look forward to in the next few weeks. Next week a friend of mine is coming back to the UK after spending 9 months in the Caribbean on a sandwich year work placement, so my friends and I are throwing him a welcome back party. It will be nice to see him again after all this time, and hopefully it should be a good day. I often wonder what it must be like to live somewhere completely different for a long period of time, and it is something I would like to do some day once I have completed my education, although I plan on continuing my education for as long as possible, I believe lifelong learning is essential.

Well that’s it for me this time, I hope you are all working hard and are up to date with all your work, until next time everyone! 

Dissertation (Almost) Completed!

Hello again everyone, I hope you are well. I am going to jump straight into the title of this blog entry, my dissertation! As the title would suggest, I have indeed (almost) completed my dissertation! I am now in the final stages of it which means all that is left is proof reading what I have done and make any necessary changes to make sure it all makes sense. Being at this point in my dissertation is such a relief, and I feel as though a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. However, that is not the end of my dissertation, I also have to complete a reflection of how my dissertation went, which I would rather do in person, but it is a requirement. I also have a presentation and 3 exams to look forward to… yay! The above picture is a good representation of how I feel right now.

In unrelated to university updates, some of my friends are planning a day trip to Paris upon completion of our exams as a day out. This should be something nice to look forward to, and shouldn’t cost too much either. I think it would be nice to just have a relaxing day out in a different city and get some sightseeing in. I have been to Paris a couple of times before, but they say you always experience something new when you revisit a place. Although it would mean getting the first and last Eurostar making it a long day, it should still hopefully be worth it. And even if I do sleep the whole of the next day, all my exams and coursework for my degree will be over! I will be sure to update you on it when I go.

Going back to university related updates, I booked my place at my graduation ceremony in July, and on my next pay day I will order my graduation robes. I can’t wait to put it all on and have my degree certificate, it’s so close!

As always I wish you the best of luck in your coursework and revision. Until next time everyone, take care!

Not that long to go!

Hello everyone, I hope you are well. I can’t believe that in less than two months, my degree will be done, finished, over! In less than three weeks my dissertation is due; as are the other assignments I also have to do. Then my exams begin on the 28th of April, which in my opinion is super early, but come the 12th of May, it will all be over.

I think the stress of it all the work I have to do is making me unwell. I have a flu like cold at the moment which is something I could really do without at this crucial moment in time.

Being so close to the end is quite a sad thought as well. It will be weird not seeing the friends I’ve made over the past few years on a daily basis. I’m sure we will stay in touch, but it will be weird. I should be back here next year to do my master’s with some of the people on my course, so I will at least get to see some people. Getting to the point of finishing is reminding me of when I left sixth form, not to be sad that it’s over, but to smile because it happened. One of my favourite Dr. Seuss quotes.

I will always remember being told that my time at university will go by in a flash, and not believing it, but it truly has flown by. It only feels like yesterday that it was my first day, and I was moving into halls, and now I am nearly at the point of graduating. I mean it’s the middle of March, when did that happen!? This takes me back to my first point of all my assignments coming to an end.

I wish you all the best of luck with your upcoming assignments and exams, until next time!

The shortest month

Hello again everyone, I hope you are all well. I can’t believe that February is almost over! I know it is the shortest month of the year, but it doesn't help at this time, as in a month, I have nearly all of my deadlines! The other day I came across some interesting information as to why February is the shortest month of the year, and is mainly because of the Romans and February being classed as an unlucky month. This is probably why they wanted it to be as short as possible. It may not be fact, but it was an interesting read nonetheless. February also held the half term for schools. I sure miss half terms, a week off from school, those were the days… at least it meant for me there were no school kids on the buses in the morning! Yay!

As you may know, travel is always a consistent topic in my entries, and this update will be no different. When I was in the USA last summer, I managed to earn myself over 11,000 air miles (or Avios as British Airways calls them) which for me means a free return flight (plus taxes) as far north as Bergen (Norway), as far south as Marseille (France), as far east as Prague (Czech Republic), and not much is west from the UK. I did recently discover though that I can earn extra air miles by shopping at Tesco from the points earned on my Clubcard. This means that I am now 1,600 air miles away from 15,000 Avios, which can take me as far as Helsinki (Finland), or Algiers (Algeria), as I now have 13,344 Avios points.

Whilst on the subject of Tesco, I have also recently discovered the Natwest Cashback Plus scheme applies there, which means that for every purchase at Tesco I use my debit card for, I earn 1% back! It may not sound like much, but from just doing my usual shopping, I have earned £0.29, which over time will add up and for not doing anything I wouldn't normally do. So there are two good reasons to shop at Tesco.

Until next time everyone, and as always, good luck with any studies you may have!

Master’s degree!

Hello again everyone, I hope you are well and don’t have one of those colds that seem to be going around that I have. I am going to go straight onto the subject of this blog entry today and talk about the master’s degree I applied to – MA Personnel and Human Resource Management. In which I have only gone and gotten myself an offer for! It’s only a conditional offer, and subject to me getting at least a 2:2 in my current degree, but in order to qualify for the funding for this programme for money off, I need to obtain at least a 2:1, which I am currently on track for (fingers crossed).

All I need to wait for now is notification to see if I have the available funding, so again, fingers crossed that hopefully I should get that as well. It means that I am trying to save as much as possible to cover the cost of it, which is proving harder than I expected because things cost an awful lot. One thing that should be saving me money each month is my phone contract. I had to have an issue resolved a few weeks ago, and when I was on the phone, the person I was speaking to said that I appeared to be on an old tariff where I was paying £37.50 per month, but she could move me to a new tariff where I will get the exact same deal, but for £27 per month, and I would still keep the same upgrade date as well. It was an unexpected, but appreciated deal!

I can tell already that this term is going to be a long one, not only do I have my dissertation to complete (getting questionnaires back is proving to be harder than I thought) I also have several other assignments to complete alongside my dissertation, so hopefully I should be able to manage. I do have a friend though that is always asking for help the day before the assignment is due (mainly because they haven’t started it yet) and I have decided that I am no longer going to assist, I have my own degree to focus on, and they should manage their time better.

Anyway, I hope you are all managing your time well and not relying on other people to carry you through your degree (I’m sure you aren’t) but I wish you all the best with any work you may be doing, until next time everyone! :)

Finally some feedback!

Hello there everyone, I hope you are well and settling into the new term. As you may remember from my last blog entry, I was complaining about not having received any grades back for this year so wasn’t sure if I was on track or not, but since that post, I have received two grades back, finally! And I am pleased to say they are both rather good, 70% and 72% respectively. If I can keep receiving grades like that, then I shall be very happy indeed! The grades that I have been waiting on, however, have still not been put up, which is slightly frustrating, but at least I have some kind of feedback.

An opportunity has also come up for me to complete a master’s degree that comes with quite a good discount. I have been thinking about doing a master’s degree for a while now and in a previous blog (last year I think) I mentioned about studying one in Sweden as it was free, but I would still have needed money for living costs. I will still need to save up some money in order to pay my tuition fees, but I don’t think I’ll get another opportunity to do this again at such low a cost. Although I would still like to travel, I am not sure if I can afford to be able to travel and save up for a master’s degree at the same, so my travel resolutions for 2014 may have to be postponed until the future. I mean I may not even get an offer, so I do not know what the future holds.

Whilst still on the subject of feedback, I have my dissertation feedback session today, which I will discuss with my tutor the next steps for my dissertation, scary stuff! It should be interesting nonetheless obtaining my own research and writing about it. I’ve never written anything near 10,000 words before, so it should be interesting to see how it goes.

Until next time, and make sure you wrap up warm when outside, and good luck with any work that you may have to complete! 

Happy New Year!

Hello there everyone, and welcome to 2014! I hope you are all well and had an enjoyable break. Are you all ready to embrace term two? I know it’s probably cliché to talk about new years’ resolutions, so I will keep it brief. I have decided that this year I will not have any resolutions because I never stick to them. This means that instead of being annoyed at myself for breaking a resolution, I will simply continue my life as normal. If I were to have any, I would just like to travel more. Something I have mentioned multiple times in previous blogs.

In university related news, I am a little bit peeved that I haven’t received any coursework grades back yet, so I have no idea how I am doing this year in terms of performance. Hopefully I am doing well, but I won’t know until I get them back… I think that the expected turn around date should be the same as a coursework deadline. If we have to submit by a certain date, then the people marking it should return it by a certain date. If students submit late we get penalised, but what happens when they are marked late? Nothing! For one piece of work, they are over a month late for the expected feedback return. Rant for this blog is over.

Hopefully not many of you are in the same position as I am and are on track and have good grades. It hasn’t quite settled in that I am due to graduate in June, a little over 5 months away! Scary stuff! Until next time everyone, take care and I look forward to keeping you up to date on my next entry.