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!