This week’s blog is all about moving forward. After a busy couple of weeks, it made me think about what’s to come after university – I mean, where will all this hard work lead me? Everyone says that the university can open up a new pathway for you, but it’s about the steps you take along that pathway that really matter. So, I’ve tried to take a couple of steps this week to begin making that journey. It’s really made me think about the sorts of things I’d like to do when I have to leave the lovely, cosy, university bubble, and while it seems that the big wide world of work is a good trek away, I might be worth having a bit of a route mapped out to start with.

  The main highlight of my week this week definitely has to be a workshop I attended with the careers service, called ‘So you want to be a publisher?’ It was absolutely amazing! The lady giving us the talk, Debbie, was actually the Head Buyer for the bookshop Waterstone’s for 10 years, which is pretty fab, and she even has a Jacqueline Wilson book character based on her! I was quite overwhelmed to see how many people were actually interested in pursuing it as a career path, as it isn’t something I’d really thought about until very late in year 13! (But I guess there were quite a few third years or postgrads in there too!) It was very clear that the other students there were really keen and interested and I thought it was great to see and meet other people interested in similar career paths as me. I really appreciated the fact that we were given a realistic view of the career too, Debbie made it clear that it was ‘all about the deadline’ and that there was a lot of hard work involved! However, the world of publishing seems so exciting, even though she mentioned that it can be ridiculously intense, and it is definitely something I think I’ll consider. It was so cool to hear what she had to say about all the routes into publishing and the different roles that they have, so I’ll have to keep exploring. I’ve actually considered doing some work experience for Bloomsbury (which is the company that publish the Harry Potter books – eeek!) in the summer! I’m still seeking out if they take first year students, or not, but it should be really exciting if they do!

  You may recall last week I said about joining SCAN, our uni paper?! Well, I took the plunge and e-mailed the editor, asking if they had room for a column and they said YES! I am so excited, especially because I’ll get to write about food and food is my fave! I’ve a meeting with the editor of Carolynne, which is the magazine-y supplement part of the paper, next Tuesday to discuss some ideas for the column! I’ve thought about sharing a couple of recipes I’ve tried out since I’ve been here, as well as thinking about some cooler ways to cook on a budget and maybe some reviews of local restaurants. (Which will definitely include a review of Dip Dip! Which means going again…what a shame…!) I’m looking forward to it so much, so hopefully they’ll like my ideas for the column and can help me to make it something that people will really want to read! In anxiousness to write a food column I even baked some cupcakes this weekend!

    Some of the most important steps that each student will take at uni are those made with their society. I really thought about this this weekend when the choir had another concert on campus – I realised that I’m given a lot of opportunity there to make new friends, to develop my singing skills and perform in new places when I saw the audience’s reaction to what we were doing. The concert, this time, was a little more intimate and we performed in the Chaplaincy centre on campus. With no bright lights or any show features it was just a really lovely concert, with symphony orchestra and string orchestra playing some stunning pieces of music too.  We performed quite a range of pieces too and I really enjoyed that, as it makes a change from some of the usual pieces we do; we even tried a piece in Latin! (And if I do say so myself it was beautiful!) I realised as I was chatting to people later that evening after the performance that I really was getting so much out of my time in the society. The concert reminded me quite a bit of the sort of thing I used to do at home with my singing teacher and her other pupils. It was always so lovely to have a sing with friends and then hear some fab music – and here it was no different. I had a very good evening! I look forward to the next concert like that, in a little cosy venue!

  So, those are just some small steps I made this week along the extended, twisting path of uni (and this week the path was rather snowy! We had so much snow here on Sunday and it was beautiful!) So many people are talking about the prospect of careers at the moment and I figured it is important to start thinking about that (even though it seems so far away and quite scary) but it’s worth enjoying the steps you take to reach the career aspirations that you want.

 Thank you for reading! Have a lovely week!

 History Hugs,

Eleanor :0)