Nearly there!

Hey people, sorry it’s been forever since I last blogged! I've been stupidly busy over the past month with exams, essays, dissertation and revision! I can tell you that this term has been the most hectic and hardest I have ever faced since starting Uni, hopefully next term will ease the pressure off a bit.

So I’ll start off talking about work (actual work not coursework!). I went to the Isle of Sheppey again for some mentoring, it’s making all of us excited to go to France for the mentoring trip in February as well as the kids from France coming over to London! I've been working with the research fellow’s quite a lot with some admin for the project, it’s pretty interesting but I think the best part will be when we actually mentor them! 

I've also been working quite a lot in the Enquiry unit, and if I’m not revising or have lectures, I take up any overtime I can! (As it’s Christmas and yet again I have no money haha). I literally cannot wait until Christmas now, the only bad thing is I have to tackle two exams before I break up for the holidays L which I’m really not prepared for, I only have one more week which I need to cram everything in. To be honest, I think it’s quite mean having two exams on the last two days of term (considering by then it’s only 4 days until Christmas day!). I have been revising my bum off lately though, and the exam I did a few weeks ago (which I thought went terribly) came back with a nice surprise, I got 68! I was so shocked but it’s given me some confidence for the next ones J.

Apart from work and university assignments I've been doing Christmas shopping, seeing friends, being festive in central London AND guess what!? I saw my favourite band ever on Tuesday – Mumford and Sons!! Believe it or not, the doors at the o2 for the gig opened at 6:30pm, and I was sitting in my dressing gown at 6:50pm, and my boyfriend said ‘there’s tickets going still for £40 shall we go?!’ I was like ‘hell yeah!’ so we got our coats on and got our bags together super-fast and ran out the door onto the DLR and got to the o2 in half an hour, thankfully Mumford wasn't on until 8:30 so we saw the band before them too. It was one of the best gig’s I've been to, I recommend seeing them! 

As for Christmas holidays, I think I will be mooching around all day every day for 2 weeks (as well as writing 5000 words but I’d rather not think about that). I've almost got everyone’s presents now, thank goodness as I can’t face the last minute Christmas shoppers!

I’m really looking forward to next term though, as I’m studying developmental psychology, educational psychology, gender race and crime and my dissertation, which are pretty interesting subjects! Plus, the assignments don’t seem to be too full on, which is good as I need to finish my dissertation by April. But, once the Christmas hols get here, I’m going to forget about assignments for a while and just have a break!

Will speak to you soon hope you have a good Christmas and enjoy the festivities!

x

Busy busy busy!

So since I last spoke to you all, I’ve had a ridiculous amount of deadlines and revision which have clogged up most of my time, however it’s also been an exciting month and I’ve somehow managed to go out with friends quite a lot!

I had an exam last week which I revised loads for (even went to the library on the Sunday before!), but typically, almost everything that came up in the exam was not what I had memorised and had drummed into my brain… which meant it was a really painful hour of my life! I managed to answer most of them with some confidence, but some of them I really did not have a clue on L. I answered them all though so I’m now praying that I get a good grade! I also finished my literature review for my dissertation (relief!) and my supervisor said I’ve done really well on it J. Only another 7000 words to go haha! I’ve had to fill in my ethics form, start my essay plan for my crime course anddd start my humungous essay for my parapsychology course… lord give me strength.

With some miracle I have had some spare time to enjoy myself with my friends. I went to Surrey a couple of weekends ago to visit my friends at Surrey University, there was loads of us who went and we attended a Harry Potter party at their union! It was so much fun, I went as Hermoine (easy enough outfit!). I’ve also been out with my uni friends chilling round their houses, which was a nice getaway from all this work!

I’ve also been working loads (actual work) in the enquiry unit and the research centre. I’m going to the Isle of Sheppey again this week to visit the schools and mentor the kids. It was a laugh last time so I’m sure this week will be good! All the mentors are lovely and we all have a laugh so I’m really looking forward to going France with everyone and the kids in Feb! It’s for 3 days in total, it might be hard work but I’m going with my best friends (who are also mentors) and the others I met at work so I can see it’s going to be good!

OH and how can I forget, Chris Hemsworth (Yes, the good looking guy who plays Thor) was at the Greenwich campus last week, and I think this week, filming Thor 2! My friends on Facebook were posting statuses about it and I got so excited that I couldn’t help myself but go and have a look myself! The set is huge and we can’t walk through the uni as they’ve put massive boulders in the middle! Not going to lie, Chris looked good in his Thor costume…

x

Flying by!

So the last few weeks have flown by and I’m trying to keep up with all the work that third year has thrown at me! I’ve been doing a lot of work on my literature review and gave in my first draft a week ago. My supervisor said it’s a strong start (thank god!) so I’m now doing my second draft. There’s definitely a lot more work to be done this year, but it is the final year so I suppose it makes sense!

I’m really enjoying my modules; all of the lecturers are really enthusiastic and want all of us to do really well. The sociology department have set up workshops for us to attend which involve tips on how to get a 1^st class in your essays and exams, that’s been really helpful so far and has made me aim for a 1^st in my dissertation, or even overall but let’s start with the dissertation :P.

Over the last couple of weeks I began my mentoring in the psychology research centre that I work for. So far it’s been fantastic and all of the other mentors are great! I went to the Isle of Sheppey on Wednesday and mentored the Year 9’s in a school there; they were all really happy to see us and got excited about the project we’re all working on. We told them about the France trip that we’ll all be going on in February and they all got really excited about that (which made me all excited too!).

I’ve now been living in my flat for about a month now, me and my boyfriend have bought canvas’s and a big rug for the living room to make it more cosy so it feels like home now! I’ve been pretty busy since Uni has begun, but it’s been so much fun and I’ve really enjoyed third year so far! I’ve been going round my friends’ houses/ flats a lot as they all live down the road around the Greenwich campus which is handy!

This weekend I am going to see the new Bond film ‘Skyfall’, I’ve heard that it’s one of the best Bond films but I’ll let you know next time I write to you! Apart from that, I think my weekend will be filled with essay writing and revision… fun, fun, fun!

Speak to you soon! J

My first blog

So, about a week ago I moved into my flat in Greenwich with my boyfriend! It’s a lovely place and we’ve made it really homely now, as it initially felt too empty and plain. It’s only a 20 minute walk away from university and Blackheath is only up the road too which is great! It’s also right next to the DLR which is handy for my boyfriend as he works in central London.

It’s been pretty hectic over the past couple of months. I worked full time at the university’s enquiry unit during clearing from August to September and saved most of the money for the flat deposit (which was a miracle as I’m not usually good at saving!). I applied for term time Enquiry Unit work as I enjoyed it there so much and after interviews I was told I got the job! I work 8 hours a week which is perfect as I have some work experience jobs too and of course my monstrous load of university work to be getting on with!

I have worked in the Research Centre for Children, Schools and Families in the psychology department since April 2012 and will work there until I finish my studies next year. I work as a research assistant and help the research fellows with their projects, such as doing data collection in schools and then helping with data entry and data analysis. I love working there and the research fellows are all so friendly! It was weird working there at first as I was working alongside some of the lecturers I have on my modules but I got used to it after a while! I worked on a project looking at bullying and anti-social behaviour in schools which was really interesting. The data collection was the most fun part as I got to work with kids from South East London in a range of schools! I’m now going to be working on a couple of projects, including a big EU one involving England and France and a smaller one focusing on children in Greenwich. If you haven’t already guessed I want to work as a research assistant either in developmental, social or clinical psychology when I graduate!

If any of you are doing psychology at the university I would definitely recommend looking out for research support worker/ research assistant job opportunities on the university’s JobShop vacancies website! The work experience you gain is amazing and will look great on your CV.

This week I’ve been working on my literature review for my dissertation. I was scared starting it, but now I’ve got most of the theories and research together its okay, still a daunting piece of work though! I also started my new modules last week and they’re all good so far! Other than my studies and work, I met up with some old friends who I used to live with in halls at their house party this week. It was really good and lovely to see them as I haven’t seen them all summer as we all live in different parts of the country! This weekend I’ll be slaving away on my dissertation and might actually get some revision for my health psychology exam in there too (might as well start early!), and I’ll also be going to central London to get some flat bits. I might also be going out for lunch this Sunday with some friends which will be nice. J

That’s all for now guys, but I’ll be telling you about my third year adventures again soon! J  x