Reflecting on a Rollercoaster Year

It’s just ten days until 2011 comes to a close, and our final year of existence begins (if you choose to believe all of the 2012 hype). For me, it’s been a year of...progress. I found that I’ve grown up a lot more in 2011 (HA!) and somewhat matured (LOL!), but now it’s time to think about how to go forward in my life.

When I was about 9 years old, I said to myself that I would go to New York for New Year’s Eve when I become 20 years old. Whilst student finances and my poor spending habits prevent me from doing that in 2011, I vow to go in 2012 when I am actually 20 (and hopefully a lot more affluent). I’m not just saying this because I watched New Year’s Eve at the cinema yesterday. Every year, we watch Sky News to see the world enter the New Year, and from a young age, New York was always my favourite to watch. I loved seeing the ball drop and the party that preceded it, and I would love to be part of it one day.

Studies wise, this has been a bit of a topsy turvy year. While my grades averaged out to a 2:1, my grades for my first year ranged from 45 to 83. I am currently waiting for my grades for my first set of assignments for second year, so right now I am chomping at the bit. So much for getting them by the end of the first term...

I think the area that I’ve progressed in most is in the workplace. I’m one of the lucky ones that can say that I have several part-time jobs, even when I thought I wouldn’t get them. My internship hunt is ongoing, but at least I’m trying my best to get a job after I graduate!

So what does 2012 hold for me? I’m going to treat it as if it really is the last year of existence and do everything I can to make it a year to remember. This means a first in my degree, a fun holiday to Miami in March, a summer internship and a fluke win in the National Lottery so that I can go to New York in 2012! As this is my final blog for 2011, I hope that you guys have a great Christmas, and don’t destroy your houses in the New Year J

15,500 Words Later...

It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog. 15,500 words is a lot of words to write in the space of a month, so you guys can see that my lack of blog-ness is somewhat justified. But now that I have a free minute or two, I’ll let you guys know about what I’ve been doing that isn’t assignment related.

I intended on writing a blog a few weeks ago because I got to meet...”royalty”. For those of you that haven’t read my “about me” section, you may not know that I work in the o2 arena in merchandising. I worked at the finals of the ATP World Championships Tournament (by the way, Federer could’ve EASILY finished the match within two sets!), and I got the chance to walk around the arena during the very short intermission. During this time, I have to do laps up and down the stairs of the arena to attempt to sell programs to the public. When I got to the bottom of one of the sets of stairs, I met...PIPPA MIDDLETON! OK I’m sure that there are people that won’t know her by her name, but rather by her Royal Wedding showing...

I had a bit of time to talk to her and make sure that she was OK. We’ve been told from the training in my job that anyone can go to customer services and give reviews on our performance. Therefore, I used this as my...excuse to talk to her for a little bit. She was sweet if not reserved, but who can blame her? She’s the sister-in-law to Prince William!

Unfortunately, I have no concrete evidence of this- my job doesn’t allow for me to freak out when in the prescence of “royalty” or any celebrity in fact. This could lead to me being wished well in my future endeavours...

Speaking of future endeavours, my hunt for an internship is still a work in progress. I have worked hard to apply, but  I’ve yet to receive any responses. I’m hoping that someone out there actually responds in a way that isn’t automated.  Here’s to hoping that something comes up during the Christmas period!

IT’S CHRIIIIIIIIIIIISTMAAAAAAASSSSS!!!!

Yes guys...I am going to be talking to you about Christmas. It may seem far far away, but in actual fact, it is only 47 days away. That’s right- 47. My dad asked me a serious question: “When do Christmas preparations start?”

For me, I get excited about now. As you can probably tell by my photo, I go with the Disney route in terms of Christmas. Here I am with Woody from the epic Toy Story movie series...and he’s wearing a Santa jacket! I went up to Oxford Street last weekend and it was already decorated to the nines. 

I guess...well, I hope, you’re wondering why I’m already getting giddy over the Christmas period when I have a LOT of assignments due at that time. I guess it’s keeping me sane to think of a goal to reach. Also...I HAVE MONEY!!! For the first time ever, I have money that I can use to spend on Christmas presents for me my family & friends. I’ve also decided to delve into the world of philanthropy, as I am donating money on a regular basis to the Make A Wish Foundation & World Wildlife Fund. 

Speaking of the WWF (no not WWE...I’ll save that for another blog), IT’S MY MUM’S BIRTHDAY TODAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM! Usually, I’m the one that gets the dull and boring presents for her, but this year, I stepped up! I adopted an orang-utan in my mum’s name, and I pay £3 a month for it! The look on my mum’s face was awesome- she didn’t see it coming and she started to tell everyone about what I got her. I felt particularly awesome if I may say so myself. If you want to join me in giving someone a wild animal for Christmas, click above. Just make sure that you make it known that you will NOT be travelling to the country where your animal is based to get the animal. My mum is currently looking for tickets to go to Borneo...

Sometimes I Add a Teaspoon of Sand...

You’ll come to find out soon enough that the titles of my blogs will either be cheesy song lyrics from the 1990s or quotes from Glee & Disney movies. This week’s title comes from Glee’s Brittany S. Pierce. Why this quote, I hear you ask? To be honest, there is no specific reason for this particular quote, as it has absolutely nothing to do with what I’m going to be blogging about, but at least it got your attention...

I’ve been trying to think of something that I can blog about since my inaugural blog, but to be honest, I’ve been so busy with my many jobs and university work, that I haven’t had the time to put much thought into it. Now that I have some time to sit and write, I figured I’d tell you about how my second year of Business Management is going. I’m only three weeks into the second year, and I already want to rip my hair out! (Sure, it’s now shorter than it was when I blogged last, but that’s beside the point.) The leap between the first and second year is greater than I thought it would be and if I am going to be as truthful as possible, I think I underestimated the leap. 

This year, I feel the pressure. I didn’t last year because I was a “fresher”, but now that I’ve been in the system for over a year, I feel as if I’m taking things more seriously. I’m sure that there are many other second year students who feel the same way I feel, but at times (especially in my course), the complacent attitude from last year has carried onto this year with a large number of students. I am trying my best to do what’s right for me, especially since all of my work is individual for this year, which is why I’m doing work at a time where I feel comfortable doing it rather than waiting for someone to say “Oh you can start it...in a few weeks”. With my schedule, waiting a few weeks is practically impossible. You’ll find out soon enough that starting earlier leads to less stress.

I’ll end this blog in the same way I started- with a random quote:

 

“There is no more Sheldon, I am the Sword Master!”

MY SCHOOL YEAR RESOLUTIONS

Have you ever found time to watch One Tree Hill? I do, and for the past 5 years, I've taken inspiration from Lucas & Hayley and created "school year resolutions". These are goals that I hope to have obtained by the time I get to the next school year, and as always, they never truly come to fruition (or I lose them in the black hole known as my bedroom). Therefore, I've decided to place my goals on the internet in hope that I can FINALLY achieve some of my aims.

1) GET A FIRST THIS YEAR! My results last year varied from 45 to 83. That's inconsistent to me. If I want to succeed, I need to get over 70 in every area of my course. Which leads me to my next resolution...

2) CUT THE SOCIAL NETWORKING! I'll admit it - I love my Twitter page too much. I don't know why 140 character posts are so addictive. I vow to only do...one tweet a day? Maybe two if I have time.

3) SAVE MONEY. My mum put it best: I spend money as if it's water. I tend to enjoy the discounts I get as a result of my Student ID card a bit too much, and at one point this summer, I was flat out broke. I am not going to let that happen to me again!

4) STAY ACTIVE! This has many meanings- for one, I would like to get fitter. Secondly, I want to earn money so that my horrible spending habits are somewhat justified. Thirdly, this means keeping my brain occupied with university/jobs/volunteering/home life so that I can enjoy the leisure time I do end up having. My mum has been pleasantly surprised with how much I've done this summer, and I'm determined to have this continue through the school year.

5) FIND A SUMMER INTERNSHIP. The Business School Placements Office have been emailing details of internships and placements that are available to Business School students. I'm planning on attending a seminar on the 19th which is about a paid internship with JetSet.

So here are my five resolutions for the year. I hope you find my blog useful, especially to Business students. I'll be sure to keep you as updated as possible on my progress throughout my second year.