Wednesday 27 August 2014

Crazy few months - Graduation/Moving Out/PGCE/Holidays & Festivals

Wow.

Everything has been a little bit hectic since my last post.

First of all, and possibly saddest of all, my university experience came to an end. On the 21st of July, I graduated from the University of Huddersfield, which was a bit of a surreal day and left me with a whole load of emotions and feelings. Firstly, happy that I'd passed and was now the proud owner of a degree, sad that my three years at uni had come and gone in the blink of an eye, scared at the prospect of making a fool of myself whilst on stage during graduation, and also scared at the fact that I had absolutely no post-graduation plans whatsoever. Nevertheless, the day came and went and it wasn't nearly as scary as I had anticipated, I didn't fall off stage, I didn't look as stupid as I thought I would, and I actually had a great deal of fun.

Photograph courtesy of Shauni Hetherington via Facebook

The day after graduation was the day I'd been dreading for months on end - moving out day. The day I had to say goodbye to the friends I'd pretty much lived with on and off for the last three years. The friends that I shared every innermost thought and deepest secret with. The friends that knew every last thing about me, right down to how I was feeling at any given moment to what I was probably thinking at any given moment. The friends that I am very rarely seen without and very rarely cope without. It was one of the most emotional days of my life, as dramatic as that might sound. It took us all weekend to move our stuff out of the flat and the sheer amount of stuff we threw away was ridiculous (so much so that the binmen had a good rummage and took out some of it for themselves!) Eventually we left our beloved home and went our own separate ways, which was devastating, but hopefully we will not be seeing the last of each other because those girls mean the world to me and I hope the feeling is mutual!

Our humble abode looking empty and downright spotless!

So after moving out of the flat, came the big move back to Castleford - another event I'd been dreading for months. Cas is my home-town and I'm not the kind of person to forget my roots but at times it can be such a dull place, where everybody has their own little routine and many people lack ambition. Those who do have aspirations and ambitions rarely stay here, and instead venture off to nearby cities and towns with a little more to offer. That being said, the novelty of coming home to a place I grew up in, does often sound really appealling and sometimes fills me with excitement, but this novelty wears off very quickly, when I realise how mundane life round here really is. 

Now as I've probably documented before, when in Castleford, I stay with my grandma, because she is the only member of the family with a room spare for me! And because it's my escape place, and a place I feel comfortable and well looked after in. My grandma and grandad do and have done an awful lot for me, so I do like spending time at their house and in their company and I'd like to think they enjoy having me here too. While staying here, I've had some epic meals and learnt a lot about my family that I never knew before and I have genuinely really enjoyed having long chats with my grandma and looking at old photos trying to decide which baby is which grandchild whilst laughing at our shocking fashion choices. The last month has had me yo-yo-ing between Castleford and Huddersfield for work, but I have actually enjoyed spending time in both places and having the best of both worlds.

(See below for some of the aforementioned hilarious baby photos me and my grandma managed to unearth!)




However, my time dipping between Castleford and Huddersfield is about to come to an end, because I will be moving back to the Hudd next week for another year of studying, only this time for a PGCE (Post-graduate Certificate of Education.) During the last two months, I applied for a place on a Further Education PGCE, because I had no idea what I really wanted to do with my degree and the only real career I had ever toyed with was the prospect of being a teacher. Everyone who knows me, knows just how much I relish the opportunity to check over other people's pieces of work, offering better ways to word sentences and ideas to improve whatever the project might be. This combined with my knowledge of Media Studies, could potentially be my ideal job. With this in mind, I applied for a place on a PGCE course at my former university and with no experience and little confidence in myself, I honestly didn't think I would even be considered for a second, let alone given an interview. But, obviously, I was, and I can't even describe how nervous I was for the interview, in which I had to give a presentation (something I don't exactly excel at!) But I bit the bullet, and threw myself into the interview whole-heartedly, and am so proud of myself because it meant I was successful and will be starting the course within the next month. I am incredibly excited for this next chapter and can't wait to get stuck in.

As if all of the above wasn't chaotic enough, I have also been on a holiday with my family and even spent last weekend at Leeds Festival, which I am planning on writing a post about, very soon. July and August have been hectic to say the least, hence my distinct lack of posts. I won't make any promises about having lots of posts to come, because in a fortnight I start my course, which I have been warned, is pretty full on. But I will definitely be posting about my Leeds Fest experience before I go AWOL again.