My One Year In College

If you live in the UK you will know that in recent years, a new law came out to say that after you leave high school at the age of 16, you have to be in education until you turn 18. This can be college, sixth form, apprenticeship, and so on. I was months from turning 17 when I left high school (long story short, I didn't know any English when I came to the UK and they thought it was best to make me re-do a whole year to give me time to learn, 3 months into that year, I was fluent in English so hooray), this meant I would be able to do just one year of college instead of 2 years so I was pretty happy with that.

In the last few months of high school, I applied for over 80 apprenticeship positions per month in my town and surrounding areas, I had a few interviews here and there but never stayed. The apprenticeships I was applying for were mainly for reception, front of house, administration, sales, hairdressing and hotel management. If you live in the UK you will know this, but if you don't then let me quickly explain, colleges usually require you to apply for courses before September which is when the courses start. So, I had until September of that year to find an apprenticeship or I would have to go to college.

August came along and I just couldn't get into an apprenticeship, I was getting notifications to my email every day with the first line being ''you are the ideal candidate for this position, however, the position has already been filled at this time. We wish you good luck for the future''. It was driving me crazy. So I ended up looking on all the college websites in my area. I quickly decided there was no way I was going to a sixth form college so I limited my options a little. I had a look, I applied for a few hairdresser and beauty courses as I love all of that, and I also applied for business admininstration courses. Why did I apply for business administration courses? I really wanted an apprenticeship, that's what I have wanted for myself once I got out of high school ever since apprenticeships became this huge thing in the UK. Since administration fit with most of the apprenticeships opportunities I had been previously applying for, I decided that I would try this as a college course.

By this point it was now September and I got into the business administration course. The first few months of the course weren't too bad, everything was pretty organised and the coursework was easy to keep up with. But the last few months were hectic for me. I wasn't in a very good place with myself, I was having anxiety attacks almost daily and I simply couldn't focus on my coursework properly. In the last few months of the course, I did consider quitting just because I felt like I couldn't do it and I would rather quit something than end up with a bad grade or a fail to carry on my CV for the rest of my working life.

Good news though, I struggled but I didn't quit and I passed the course so everything was okay in the end. But it was super stressful and everything did drive me crazy towards the end, there was so much to do and so much to rush and I also had a hard time dealing with anxiety attacks at that point.

If I could go back and do it all over again for that course? Not really, I would have rather gone through all the stress for a course I would love to do as a job, like hairdressing or maybe even beauty. I feel like that would have been more worth my stress and struggle than a course I wanted to do thinking more of the money I could make in the future. I thought I would enjoy the course but I really didn't enjoy it in the last few months.

My Pregnancy So Far

You voted on the Twitter poll for today and here it is.

As of today, I am 23 weeks pregnant and counting. As much as I can't wait to give birth and have our little one in our arms, I can already also tell I'm going to miss my baby bump like crazy. I have spoken to so many people regarding this and so many people have told me they can't wait to give birth and that having a bump makes them feel self conscious about their body, but for some reason I feel differently about this. I actually feel a lot better about myself and don't feel self conscious about my body or what people think of the way I look. Surely I'm not the only one to feel this way...

I have been told a little bit of everything by doctors. And trust me, most of the time they give worst case scenarios when it's most of the time nothing to worry about. So stay chilled...

How have I found pregnancy so far? The first 12 weeks were the ones filled with those symptoms that make you feel a little drained, I had a lot of morning sickness, and was always tired and needing to run to have a wee. Since then, pregnancy has been super chilled for me. I'm guessing seeing your baby for the first time at 12 weeks also helps take a lot of stress and worry off of your shoulders. 

At around 19 weeks, I was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection when I went to the doctor about having pains on my left side and due to feeling the baby a little less than usual. I was medicated for this for about 7 days with anti-biotics, this was supposed to clear the infection. I had an emergency scan, the baby wasn't moving a lot but was healthy and doing rather well. During the time when I was taking the tablets for this, I had severe pains on my back and sides and paramedics had to have a look at me, the infection was still there. They believed the infection had gone up to my kidneys, I finished these antibiotics and turns out they didn't clear it completely. Once I finished these anti-biotics, I had the pains again and called the emergency health line who told me to go into hospital and so I did, they didn't know what was going on but suspected the infection was definitely up in my kidneys now. 

At 20 weeks, I had my normal scan where they had a look at how the baby was doing, measured everything to check for concerns and also told us the baby's gender. That was when we found out we are having a little boy. At around 21 weeks I was given more anti-biotics to clear infection and was told thy suspected I now had kidney stones. I know right, just as confused as you are. At 22 weeks I had a scan to check kidneys and pelvis and am currently awaiting results.

Basically, pregnancy so far isn't as bad as everyone kept telling me it was going to be even at the time I am now. It's just super exciting, obviously I have had all these infections but that doesn't really ruin my excitement. As long as the baby is okay, that's all that matters. 

It's super exciting getting things done and getting things for the baby and seeing everything come together. I love it, literally counting down to meet our little boy.

Story Time: My First Work Experience

I had my first work experience week  when I was 15 and still in high school. I was actually really looking forward to it, especially after having not having the best time ever in the past school year.

My work experience week was at a charity organisation, which I will not be naming. For that week I was to work at the charity's shop. It got quite busy some days and I really liked having a bunch of things to do all the time. I ended up staying there for a few more months.

The first week was great, I got everything I needed done for my work experience file. However, I quickly started to find work very stressful. Everyone there was absolutely lovely apart from an older man who worked there. He was absolutely horrible to us when the manager wasn't there. As much respect as I have for others, I soon had enough of being treated like I was the lowest of the low and begun standing up for myself and sometimes for others who were on the shop floor with me but too scared of getting a bad report. He was always shouting at us in front of customers, nothing we did was ever right, he liked to act like he was the manager when the actual manager wasn't there. He was a volunteer like the rest of us and had no right to treat us like we were the lowest possible, and that's why I had enough.

After arguments and a bunch of stress, it was finally the end of the summer holidays and I was able to go back to school for my last year of high school. It was amazing to have some peace back, as much as I missed the work and actually dealing with customers, I did not miss how I was treated by that particular individual.

I wouldn't say I regret going there for my work experience week. I did learn a lot and the stress I was put under actually ended up helping me prepare for future situations at other work places.

The truth is that you're very lucky if you find yourself in a job where you can get along with everyone, are treated fairly and your work is actually appreciated. There are unpleasant people everywhere and sometimes you just can't avoid having to deal with them.