My Interview

Blackpool was brilliant. It was a trip that my dad helped organize- it came to a point where over 400 people signed up so we were forced to stop taking people in. (I don’t usually mention my dad in my blogs, so here is some info on him- he’s the chairman of the Yemeni Community Association of Birmingham so he does know a lot of people, and like me, he likes to get involved in different things. He made a school for example which has been successfully running for over 5 years, and works closely with internationals). Off course we (all 400 of us) did not all ‘hang out’ together for that would be awkward! Haha. Instead I spent the day with my closest friends and some of my family. It was a long 3 hour coach drive! It was mainly spent by speaking to others, reading, eating, singing nursery rhymes to my nephew and playing charades. And then as the trees and fields gave place to the shops, beach and town I knew we had arrived. We spent some time on the beach, then went on some rides, explored some galleries and went shopping.

At one point in my past blogs I mentioned that I wanted to gain some experience in a different school, I absolutely loved my last one, but I knew it would be good for me to try somewhere different. Therefore I decided to apply. The applying stage was really easy as learnt from my pervious experience at Newman. I sent an email to about 5 schools and waited for a reply. I got two unsuccessful replies one saying that they only offer post graduate placements, and the other saying that they already have the full amount of students they can take in, then I got another email offering me an interview in one weeks’ time.

The interview:
I was told to meet at 8.30 at the school. I’ve never been to this school before- or the area (on my own), so first I spent some time on google maps figuring out the route (it was two busses away and a 10 minute walk). Once I’ve figured this out I prepared the things I was told to bring- Id and getting two references ready. I never really prepared for the interview like I would do for an exam- I didn’t sit down and research etc., it was just something I briefly thought about as I was hovering, or making my way to my brothers junior school to collect him. I feel that it was something I could easily talk about, and admittedly I like the attention you get in an interview.

It was the day of the interview, I was on the second bus there and it was 8.18. I wasn’t sure exactly where to get off, the bus ride seemed to take forever and I was sure that I missed my stop. I went to ask the driver about the school, but he wasn’t sure as there were a lot of schools in that area. I sat back down hoping, really hoping that I would soon recognise some road names from google maps, but I didn’t- and it was 8.22.

It was only until the bus stopped to let people off that I recognised a road name; it was a road close to the school. It was weird, the roads weren’t where they were supposed to be according to google maps, everything was backwards (ok I got to admit Geography was not my best subject at school). So rather than walking forwards and turning right (how I imagined in my head), I had to walk the other way and turn left. Anyway the school was still about 5-10 minutes away but I managed it in the end- after turning left you just walk straight straight straight.

It was a short informal interview- felt more like a chat. I spoke about why I wanted this placement and my experience so far and provided my references. I also found out that the person who was interviewing me is an ex-Newman student! I was shown around the school and absolutely loved it! I now desperately wanted a place here.

Fortunately the wait was not long. 2 days later I checked my email and saw the subject ‘placement’ as the title- I quickly opened it before the worry starts. I didn’t get the place. No I’m joking I did. (Yay )

I am still continuing with my university preparations by getting everything I need and reading as much as I can. Also, after changing my mind numerous times I finally have a dissertation idea that I am happy with…I think.

There is still so much more I want to talk about, but this blog has gone long enough! So in my next blog I will tell you about my secret Rabbits, my scary first day experience at school, and the fun I had meeting the Erasmus students: D

Tahne

So I made the bus driver cry

Hi everyone!

Hope you’re all well.

Now that the Easter holidays are under way, I hope you are able to get some rest, but at the same time have more time to work on your assignments, exams, presentations…

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog about avoiding procrastination as I know a lot of people have the tendency to do avoid work (including me), so if you haven’t already read that, please check it out as it would be especially beneficial now during your Easter break.

One thing I want to add – because of university your body is probably already fixed to a routine of waking up early to lectures or staying up late to finish work (:p) so take advantage of this and work during those hours, don’t get lazy!

There’s only about a month left till the academic year ends, so we can do it! 🙂

 

Finally I wanted to share something that happened to me yesterday:

I woke up ‘early’ to get to university for 9, to help out in marketing. The journey was going great, I was on the bus, 2 minutes away from the university and it was still 8.40…and then all of a sudden the driver decided to go the other direction. I was like hey!! Now common sense would tell you to get off the bus, but I just assumed he’s going to turn back and go through a different road or something, but nope…we took a completely different direction!

It turns out Cromwell Lane was blocked off, and that was the last stop!

I was alone on the bus and ‘finally’ decided to approach the driver, when I told him where I wanted to go; he parks the bus and starts crying! I was so shocked and confused; I’m the one who should be crying, not this 40 year old man behind a wheel! So anyway at that point he decided to get off the bus, so I was there alone on the bus for 5 minutes…I did think about driving myself to uni, but after much thought I decided against it. He finally walks back in with red eyes and wet tissues.  He went back in his seat, and I was like ‘hooray! We’re leaving’ but nope wrong again! He decided to turn the lights off and cry some more.

I was texting my friend everything in case anything happened to us!

You’re probably thinking ‘why didn’t you just get off’ and the answer is I don’t know! I was confused and a bit worried! And plus we were in such a remote place, full of fields and chickens and camels (ok maybe not that) but still, I had no idea where I was.

(And yes I got to university late, but crying it was the bus drivers fault did not make me look innocent at all, I skipped the part about making him cry)

Cromwell lane is blocked for the next 2 weeks, so please don’t make the same mistake I did! Just make sure you get off at the right stop.

Find more info by clicking here.

Mr Bus driver, if you happen to come across my blog, I sincerely want to apologise and I want to say it’s ok!! I didn’t get in trouble or anything, I’m always late to places, honest! I hope you’re ok now! And don’t worry about the crying thing, I felt like crying before when I reached over to eat my mars bar and realised I already ate it!

Anyway, in other news, I decided to grow a plant. I’ve given up on animals. Plants are so much easier to look after.

Day 5: still no plant

Thank you for reading! Now get back to work! :p

Tahne