I handed in my last piece of work for the year yesterday; and what a great feeling it was too! I still have two more pieces that are due in after Christmas, but for this week I'm concentrating on placements.
Over the last few weeks I've been in contact with numerous companies, in an attempt to bag myself a placement over Christmas. I thought it would be easy - I was wrong! I contacted 8 companies and only one of those could offer me a placement. However, I did have to wait two weeks to hear back from them.
I must admit, I did leave sorting a placement out quite late. What with the Christmas holiday fast approaching - for myself as well as companies - offering work experience to students is not really a priority for the many Head of Communications people I contacted! This has certainly taught me to plan ahead. This seems to be the theme for my second year so far!
Anyway, the placement I have got for the Christmas break is with a charity in Somerset. At first I was a little disappointed as it was actually my last choice - I didn't really like the idea of working for a charity - however, now it's had time to sink in, I've realised it's a great opportunity. I probably wouldn't have done any PR for a charity, so am quite pleased that I will be able to get some experience in this field of PR. I may even decide that PR in the voluntary sector is for me...
I have also been offered another placement, but for the Easter holidays - as they couldn't accommodate me over Christmas. It will be in a press office with a Police Force. This was my first choice of placement as I would really like to work in that environment - so I am really looking forward to that.
Placement panic over...until next year anyway!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Second Year Shock!
Having been back at Uni for nearly 3 months now, I decided it was about time to update my blog and get back into it (if a little late)! So here it is...
I have to say, my experiences of the second year so far are somewhat different from the first year. I found there was a huge jump from first to second year - it came as quite a shock to say the least! At the start of term, back in September, the work just kept coming. I got quite stressed by it all as I had no idea how, or when, I would get it all done. Assignments were set and I had weekly group presentations, as well as having to start thinking about placements and assignments due in after Christmas. It took me a few days to get my head around it all and come up with some sort of work timetable. I'm not one for advanced planning and generally do things last minute. However, with all of the work I had and have, I could not afford to put it to one side and leave until the last minute.
As the term progressed, I found myself becoming far more organised than I was in the first year; I discovered time management skills I never knew I had! The weekly work got done, as well as a good start on assignments that aren't due in until after Christmas, but needed to be started. I actually found myself enjoying getting up at 7am every morning and working right through the day - it was rather satisfying!
I am learning fast, just how important planning is if you want to do well at something. I used to have quite a slack attitude and always put things off, knowing they would get done, but not to my best ability. I got away with this during the first year at uni, however this year, I can't. I've had to change my attitude and style of working, in order to adjust to the higher level of learning and work-load. I'm pleased about this though; I feel it has built upon the skills I already had and shown me that I can adjust. I've realised that this is a much better way to do things and will continue to use my time wisely. There is no reason why anything I do should not have 100% effort put into it, especially as I moved all this way to Leeds to go to University. I'm going to make the most of it!
I have to say, my experiences of the second year so far are somewhat different from the first year. I found there was a huge jump from first to second year - it came as quite a shock to say the least! At the start of term, back in September, the work just kept coming. I got quite stressed by it all as I had no idea how, or when, I would get it all done. Assignments were set and I had weekly group presentations, as well as having to start thinking about placements and assignments due in after Christmas. It took me a few days to get my head around it all and come up with some sort of work timetable. I'm not one for advanced planning and generally do things last minute. However, with all of the work I had and have, I could not afford to put it to one side and leave until the last minute.
As the term progressed, I found myself becoming far more organised than I was in the first year; I discovered time management skills I never knew I had! The weekly work got done, as well as a good start on assignments that aren't due in until after Christmas, but needed to be started. I actually found myself enjoying getting up at 7am every morning and working right through the day - it was rather satisfying!
I am learning fast, just how important planning is if you want to do well at something. I used to have quite a slack attitude and always put things off, knowing they would get done, but not to my best ability. I got away with this during the first year at uni, however this year, I can't. I've had to change my attitude and style of working, in order to adjust to the higher level of learning and work-load. I'm pleased about this though; I feel it has built upon the skills I already had and shown me that I can adjust. I've realised that this is a much better way to do things and will continue to use my time wisely. There is no reason why anything I do should not have 100% effort put into it, especially as I moved all this way to Leeds to go to University. I'm going to make the most of it!
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