Completing Second Year..

Hi everyone,

So this weeks post is going to be exactly as it states in the title, all about how it feels to have completed another year of university, plans for what's to come (i.e. dissertation thoughts) and placements.

I'll start with my thoughts and feelings on finishing the year....

.... and in a nutshell, that picture sums up how it feels.
I didn't really pay much attention to the fact that I have in fact completed my second year of my three year degree, I am over halfway through my degree, I have one year left before I go out into the big wide world of work and I honestly don't know if I'm ready for it all. One thing I do know is how proud I am of myself for actually making it through this past year, it's been difficult and I had a very big knock back in January when I lost someone extremely close to me and had a heart operation, I ended up needing extensions on my assignments etc, which I never thought I'd have to do. I did feel behind at one point but as soon as I was through the worst of it I picked myself with the help of friends, family and my understanding lecturers and got back on track. You can never plan for things like those to happen and it was my luck that I had a double whammy all in the same week, but it's all down to motivation (self and from peers) to get back into the swing of things and I was and still am so determined to do well at university that nothing will stop me. Sorry, I know this went off on a tangent but basically what I'm trying to say it that despite having those hiccups, I made it through the year and I couldn't be happier with how far I've come since starting this university journey.

Now onto plans, now none of these are set in stone, I haven't completely decided on my dissertation title but I do know that I want it to be something to do with university level education, disability and technology. That's about as far as I've got with dissertation planning, I have done a research proposal already for my final Research methods assignment but I'm not completely happy with it. I may end up using it and tweaking it to make sure its suitable and better quality but who knows! There are SO many options for it and it's quite overwhelming, I do know that I will have decided on a title by July, I'll seek approval from my personal tutor and then I'll make sure I've done at least 1,000 words of my dissertation by the time I start my third year (watch this space). I do not want to be going back to uni with no clue of how I'm going to do my biggest assignment of my university career, I want to and will be planned ahead and feeling ready to tackle it. So, yeah that's what next for me education wise.

Placements are at the top of my mind at the moment, I am currently attending one on Friday's with years 5 and 6 and I love it, however because I'm only doing Friday's I'll have only had a weeks worth of experience with this age before I go away in June and I'd like to have more.So, I'll hopefully be able to return to the school in September and rack up a good couple more weeks there before starting back at uni in October. I already have key stage 1 and 2, but it would be nice to have more when it comes to applying for teacher training. I enjoy placement so much, I know all the kids really well considering I only go one day a week. I can truly see myself working in a key stage 1 or 2 environment one day, I guess that's when you know you've picked the right career path!

Well, that's it for this week!

Until next time,

M

Third Year Expectations...

Hi everyone, hope you're all well.

Seeing as I've finished uni and am not quite sure what sort of things you'll be interested in I thought I'd write a bit of an expectations post. So, what I think third year is going to be like and how it will pan out from listening to peers who have gone through it, my own judgement and what my lecturers have been saying...

My first and probably biggest expectation is that it's going to get very real and very serious. I have heard a lot of people say before that first and sometimes second year are complete walks in the park compared to the final year of university and this seems to be a recurring theme no matter what course you're studying. I personally don't think anyone is ever fully prepared for what to expect for the whole dissertation aspect of final year. Me included, I think it's definitely a huge shock to our systems from what I've heard and I wish I could know what to expect fully but obviously I never will because it's definitely one of those things that if you don't ever experience it, you'll never really understand what it's like. So, yeah dissertation is most probably going to shock me into wanting to be a complete uni nerd and do everything by the book, having said that I don't think anyone ever does every little thing we're supposed to.

I thought this image represented expectations brilliantly. 

Secondly, I definitely think the social side of uni will die down completely, especially in those crucial 'diss' months. This is another reason I know third years going to be the biggest struggle of my uni career, because third year students are barely out on student nights throughout those key dissertation writing months and then all of a sudden they all start appearing again when they've submitted and finished them. I don't think this will affect me as much as others because I'm commuting again and that means less nights out anyway because the thought of a home cooked meal and a bath often outweighs the thought of going out in the freezing cold and waking up feeling horrendous, this makes me sound like I don't like going out, I DO! I have just learnt over the years I have been going out that it doesn't need to be every night because I found myself getting bored of the same old thing every week.

Another big change I think I'll notice is my personal time spent in the library. I thought this year I'd spend more time in the library but I actually barely did, apart from when I had a massive three hour break between lectures. I find it so hard to concentrate in there but I know it will be essential for dissertation work next year so I think I'll be forcing myself to spend many hours in there. I work so well from home, I have my own office and everything gets done so much quicker, eBooks are literally my savior. Although, I much prefer having a book in print as I find it so much easier to find what I'm looking for, so library books are going to have to be my new thing.

Other than these three main things, I don't think much else will change. I mean obviously my lecturers, timetable and all of those things will but the way second year has gone, I really want to keep the approach to uni I have as it's very positive at the moment and just get through this final year of my degree.

It's so weird to think I'm so close to graduating and that massive step closer to my dream job. University was honestly the best decision I ever made. I think my current placement has made me realise how much teaching will suit me and I know I'll be good at it. I have had cold feet about teaching as my career path but my love for it has been restored, all I needed was to get into a setting and remember everything I love about it!

Graduation can't come quick enough! 

Until next time,

M.

FINISHED!

Hi Everyone, I hope you've all had a brilliant week... I certainly have!

I finally finished my final assignment which was my webfolio for my digital age unit, it's not due till the 25 of this month but I feel so relieved to have it done and submitted now, weight off my shoulders! Now all I have to think about is placement and going on holiday next month, yay!

Its scary to think that I am basically a third and final year student now (bearing in mind I get decent grades back). I have a lot of grades that I'm waiting for, as does everyone around this time of year I guess!

This year has been so different to my first year, for some reason I've felt less stressed out about deadlines, felt confident about what I'm handing in assignment wise pretty much every time and just in general been happier in the way I'm experiencing university life. I mean I guess this is all mainly down to the fact that I'm not commuting, going home to my own bed, a bath, my family and a home cooked dinner is bliss to me after last year which seemed like I was away for a lifetime. I appreciate everything so much more and university has stayed interesting for me as I'm not living and working in this same environment constantly. I love that I go to uni, have a good number of nights out with friends per term but am not obliged to have to go out every week if I don't want to, I'm lucky I've got good friends who let me crash at theirs otherwise I'd of missed out on a lot socially I reckon. I honestly enjoy going to my lectures this year because I travel about 35-40 minutes to get there I find myself engaging more and actually wanting to learn, whereas last year I missed a lot of lectures and found myself not listening more often than I should of.
Thursday's were quite tough at the start of this year as I had a three hour gap between lectures which isn't enough to go home but also long enough to get bored, but once the workload kicked in I was so grateful for these three hours in the library, I managed a good load of assignment work throughout the months.

Third year I know is going to be tough, I got my grade back for my research proposal assignment which I want to use for my dissertation but I didn't get as good as I'd hoped so I need to make sure I tweak this over the summer to make it a more worthy piece of work and a good starting point for my dissertation to go off. Although I've got a lot of work to do next year (well October) I am still so excited and I know I'll be more than ready to start back in October after having such a long summer break. In terms of blogging this week I will try and make a list of topics to post about as these weekly posts wont exactly be relevant any more, so maybe I'll post more about A-level life and exams as I know you're all going through this stage in your lives at the moment.

Well this was an interesting image to find, third year... yay?!

Revision was never my strong point so I truly feel for all of you taking exams, all I can say is I hope you're not too stressed and keep thinking about that post exam party! Ha!

GOOD LUCK!!!

Until next time,


M.

Finshed... Already?

Hi everyone,

So, I know by the sounds of last weeks post it seems I had a full term left of university... well I think I judged that wrong because I've basically finished for the WHOLE year! Yes I said whole year.

Let me explain...

1. Both of the essays I spoke abut last week have been handed in which therefore means no more lectures for those two particular units.
2. My Lifelong unit there is just a poster presentation to be handed in which needs working on today and tomorrow ready to be printed on Monday for handing in on Wednesday next week, the presentation of the poster will be the Wednesday after for an hour... pretty much finished that unit.
3. Finally, Digital Age is the one I have the most work left for, including an audio presentation and the rest of my webfolio to finish off for handing in on the 25th May, this unit can all be prepared from home and if necessary I can attend drop-in sessions on Thursday's between my normal lecture slots of 10am-12pm, however, I feel well prepped for this unit and probably will not feel this is necessary to my webfolio.

I am pretty much telling you that I won't be at uni after the 6th May until October when I begin my third and final year of my Education Studies degree. This certainly does not mean I won't have things to talk about as I already have some exciting news to fill you all in on.

I don't know if I mentioned in any previous posts, but I was stressing a couple of weeks back about redoing my Science GCSE. Mainly because I really do not have the focus to redo a GCSE subject seeing as I'm not working at degree level education and it just really seemed ridiculous. It was also mega expensive to do. I dug out my old GCSE certificates and realised that I did in fact get a C at GCSE Additional Science and a D at core Science. Now additional is actually harder than core so it is bizarre how I managed these grades but that's what happened, I spoke to my personal tutor who also happens to know his stuff when it comes to education, teaching and applying for PGCE's and he enlightened me by telling me that it is of course an accepted Science GCSE qualification which I really did know but I had just worked myself up about redoing it and forgot about the simple answer to this problem. So, all is good in the world, I do not have to think about my GCSE's again and I can focus on finding the perfect teacher training course for me over the summer months, ready to apply before Christmas this year.



Another amazing piece of news is that I GOT A PLACEMENT. I have been ringing round different schools trying to get a placement for a good month now and I have managed to bag myself a placement with years 5&6 at a brilliant little primary school where I have actually worked with younger years before. I am so excited about this, I start today and can't wait to tell you all about it in next weeks post so be sure to look out for that one!

Other than that, I had a hilarious night on Monday with so many of my lovely friends and am completely buzzed about heading to London tomorrow to watch the London marathon. London is one of my favourite places in the world, I love how the city never sleeps and there's always something to do there. I can't wait to live and work there one day, but for now home is where I want to be.



Until next time,

M.

A Week into Easter...

Hi everyone...

So its already been a week into my three week Easter break :-(! I'm not going to lie little university work has been done this week, however the plan is to get motivated for next week.

I have realised I only have FIVE assignments left of the year which was so exciting to find out, the best part is only two of those are essays, the rest are presentations and poster presentations which are my favourite type of assignments to do.

The two essays I have left are long ones too, the worst kind. I find long assignments so draining which is a bit worrying for my dissertation, ha! I also have a 7,000 word essay due for one of my modules next year so I've nearly got two dissertations to do next year, one due for November!

The majority of this week was spent down in Cheltenham where my boyfriend goes to university, catching up with friends and having a relaxing break before driving back home (which is a two hour journey) with him for Easter, he only gets two weeks for his Easter break!

I've had a bit more of a think about work experience and I'm hoping to do it in a local school which only caters for students who have social and behavioural problems, I think this will link quite nicely to my psychology route I've got in my head at the moment and will hopefully be an eye opening and decision making experience. I've also got a few links to some professionals and have been told it might be an idea to get in touch with them and see if I can have some sort of mentoring a it's tricky to get experience within certain job roles as they are often confidential.

It's going to be a work filled couple of months but soon enough summer will be here and I'll be getting ready for my holidays. I can't remember if I have mentioned but I'm off to Turkey in June, Spain in July and Rome in August, so it's not all that bad being a student you know haha, but no seriously, the only way I can afford this is due to commuting and having a part time job.

Here's a few snaps of my summer, also will include my 20th birthday and at the end of April a trip to London to watch the marathon.














So I think it's safe to say summer is looking brill, Easter always makes me think about and get excited for summer holidays because they're just weeks away from our Easter breaks at university, the semesters tend to always finish earlier than predicted so university finishes so early compared to school summers.

It is certainly one of the many perks of being a university student, there are quite a few actually.



Until next week..

M

Last Week Before Easter!

Hi everyone!

As you can all tell by the title of this post, it is in fact my last week of term two! It has absolutely flown by, I can't quite believe I'm heading into my final semester of second year.. kinda scary!

It's all third year discussions at the minute, like what choices are you picking, are you on track for a decent grade, personal tutor meetings, assignments due, beginning our dissertations, work experience.. you name it we have been talking about it.

My lecturers are all trying to stress how vital this last semester is and that during and after Easter things need to be on the ball. So, I have several assignments due in after the Easter holidays, all around the same date so it is crucial for me to get going throughout the holidays and complete as much if not all of them for before I start back. That's my goal anyway, I hate being behind on work.

I had a meeting with my new personal tutor too about where I am in terms of final grade which is about a 2.1 at the moment which I am very happy about. Ideally I'd love a first as everyone would, but my main reason for that is because the University offers a free masters course to those who graduate with first class degrees. I'd be personally extremely happy if I achieved a 2.1.

I went out for student night this week, as it was a big night because everyone's heading home(Well those that don't commute) for Easter break. We have three weeks off this year which is more than some universities but I guess that's just the way our terms have fallen, I'm not complaining!

I am looking forward to not having to drive backwards and forwards to Bedford for three weeks though, sometimes it does get a bit draining I must admit, especially if I have to drive back after a Wednesday night out! Other than that I can't really complain about my choice to commute this year as it really was the right decision, it's not a pain until the very end of each term as university is for most people(lecturers included). I really do love being able to go back to the comfort of my own home and family after a day at university rather than going back to a room in a house, it just isn't for me! I haven't missed out on the social life as my friends are kind enough to let me stay with them and I rarely get to uni and find my lectures are cancelled, it's quite an efficient university in terms of getting information across which is vital for commuters as it would be a massive pain to turn up to uni to find your lectures cancelled! I know some of my friends have this problem at other universities.

I had to reapply for student finance today too, I really don't get the point in having to reapply if your details are the exact same, they should just carry if over but of course they don't. So now my parents have to fill out all their details again and I have to wait for ages to find out what I'm getting even though I know it will be the exact same as my circumstances are the same as last year.
Oh well, I couldn't do university without student finance so I'll do what it takes haha!

I thought this picture was brilliant as it represents student finance! 

For those of you applying for uni's now I'd sort out your student finance as quickly as possible as it's a long old process and takes a bit of getting used to on your first go!

I'll have updates about my work progress next week so keep your eyes peeled!

Oh and I forgot to add, it was varsity this week! Which means a big sporting event that every university takes part in each year! I watched the badminton and the rugby which were really good, rugby won by a mile and badminton lost. Our university is against hertfordshire university.
But it was such a brilliant vibe and if you're into sport definitely look into joining a team!

Until next week,

M!

April Fools!

April Fools Day is not my favorite day of the year, no one like to be pranked!

I am officially assignment FREE! Today I finished and handed in my final two assignments of the year and I am so relieved because I have been working on them all month! I am not technically work free as I do have two exams coming up in May(I'm not sure on the dates of them yet though)!
I enjoy revision for exams more than I do writing essays though I have to say, I get so bored writing essays, especially when it's nice outside like it has been today!
Oh well, summer starts here for me!
It seems crazy that I have almost finished my first year at university(minus exams), I actually move out of my halls of residence tomorrow and as much as I've enjoyed my time living here, I honestly cannot wait to be back home and eating home cooked meals!!

So.. yeah I have about four and a half months off from uni for the summer, as exciting as that sounds I do have to work to afford to pay for everything I have planned over the summer..so it's not just going to be lazy days all the time.
I guess this is the last post I will write sitting at my desk in my little room and honestly, I'm quite glad. I don't want to put anyone off staying in halls when they come to university because obviously that's the done thing(unless you commute). However, it's definitely not for me. I am so glad I have done it and experienced it for the first year but as I may or may not have already told you, I am commuting to uni next year. I am one hundred percent a home girl and I only live 40 minutes from Bedford anyway so that's the plan for next year.

I am also so annoyed that I haven't mastered how to cook certain things..for example spag bol...I still cannot cook it and I have given up trying!

Bye Bedford..Hello Home!