Christmas weekend!!! & Build up to the NYE!

It has been a great week so far, at the start of the week I did some work on my journals and essay to get a kick-start. Then came Thursday, when my brother decided to go shopping for the Christmas party, it was ever so busy! We first went to Sainsbury’s and the first part of the store we stopped at was of course the alcohol section. Got everything he needed, except Jack Daniels they had run out. We picked up many snacks too, as starters etc eventually queued up and the bill came up to £260! From looking at the trolley, it did not seem like we bought much, well the trolley was completely full but still! This was just parts of the shopping done, because we were still yet to get JD, and tonic water. He was being a fusspot that the Sainsbury’s brand of tonic water will be rubbish; he wanted the ‘real’ stuff. We then headed off to another area and came across a smaller store of Sainsbury where we managed to purchase four bottles of JD and of course the ‘real’ tonic water, and additional snacks along with cocktail juices. Then went to another small store on a high street to get some plastic bowls and others bits and bobs. Taking into account the food, he ordered as mains and buying desserts, it all came to around £550! Madness how expensive a house party is.

My mind is completely blank as to what I did on Friday, which would mean I didn’t do much other than snuggle up on the couch and watch the movies on Sky TV. On Saturday, we cleared up the house moves some furniture around for the party. Started at 3pm and finished at 2:30am. It was a good night, nice food, great music and generally an excellent atmosphere. I began the cleaning at around 2:45am; all the major bits and bobs were done and dusted, which meant I could have a lie in on Boxing day, again I didn’t do much but what I did do is avoid the sales! Insanity I tell you, stay at home you weirdo’s why are you rushing off to the sales trampling over one another! ‘Sonia says RELAX!’

Now I am enjoying two bank holidays in a row, obviously with doing some work here and there. Watching movies, EastEnders of course and not forgetting the Top Gear Xmas Special, hilarious. Now I need to catch up on Strictly Come Dancing Xmas Special. Currently, I am slightly somewhat of a T.V junkie.

I have no plans for NYE (New Years Eve) that is not to say that I haven’t had any invites, because I have but I really am clueless as to what to do if anything at all. I shall update you in 2011 if I did do anything special :)

Sonia’s last blog of 2010!

*Sings* Auld Lang Syne *Sings*

xXx

Oh the embarrassment!

It was so bad, so so BAD! Actually not ‘it,’ I was very bad! I was incredibly dreadful at ice-skating! I have been once before and I had a bunch of muscley men to hang on to, but this time I had one lanky dude, who was trying to help me get across the rink. I literally held on to dear life by grabbing the edges with both my hands, and then came a point where there were no edges to hold on to. Now I am no architect but even I can see that to be a major flaw in design of interior works! After going round the rink once, I came to a halt with my friend who decided not to skate because he was not feeling to good. Instead, we stood behind the barriers to look at how great the strangers were and laughing at our own friends for taking ages to skate around ha-ha :) I went for another skate, and I use that term loosely, took a break and then did another one. That was it, that was enough for me. I decided I needed to rest, so me and my friend waited until others finished up. I decided to take off my painful skates, and the system would be great if they followed it. Right, so I go up to the counter kindly request for my boots and give back the skates. For those of you have been, you know what I am talking about, works very similarly, to when you go bowling. So like I said, great system right? But ohhh noo! It is an easy system, and it would not be right without them messing it up. Back to the story, so I ask for my boots and the person behind the counter shoves some manky old pair of black shoes in my face with holes in them. I am like whoa ‘mate these aren’t my shoes?’ and his reply was “are you sure?” did the muppet really think I had a sudden flood of amnesia? I know what my shoes look like and they were not it! I told him, I gave him boots, not shoes! He did not seem that bothered and carried on serving other customers he just told me to wait. Even when he was finished with the others customers, he was just lurking around behind the counter. This was making me furious! He finally decided to speak to his colleague who asked what my boots looked like. Therefore, I picked my mates boots up and showed them to him… “They look very similar to this!” when they eventually started looking, it did not take long to find my boots, however, they were nowhere near the locker they were suppose to have been kept in! Grrr, very annoyed! I mean as if being a terrible skate was not enough that they had to make me wait for over ten minutes to get my comfortable winter boots back whilst I stand on the dirty hard carpet!

Let me move on to the fun part of the evening, after ice-skating we all went for a meal at Nandos. It was getting very chilly and dark, which made the warm delicious meal taste even better. We all had a chit chat and a general banter, some good laughs. To end the day we decided to head into central, look at the x-mas lights that have been put up, looked very pretty and erm x-massy? Hehe! All was calm, all was bright, almost slept in heavenly peace. That is until I entered Hamleys toy store, one plonker who works at the store decided to use a ‘hand held genie head massager’ on my head without asking me and behind my back. Not only did it make me jump, I strained my neck so severely that it was hurting until I got home. He did not even apologise, all he said was “it’s nice, no?’ ERM NO! Not when it’s been in other peoples head and you do it behind my back, without asking me! He decided to do the same thing to my friends but they managed to stop him before he could. Seriously did he not gather anything from what had just happened with me! What is wrong with people?!

Now to finish this blog on a high ♫, the presentation that I was worried about went extremely well! My teacher let slip that mine and my friends was the best one because it was straight to the point, and very structured. I am still worried about actually writing out the essay but not as concerned as I was before. Happy Days!!! :)

I shall try to keep you updated with my festivities over the holidays.

Toodles xxx

Time flies…

It seems like just yesterday I was preparing my self for the new academic year, and now term one has almost finished! I can already feel the strain of term two on my back, literally – the amount of books I need to take out is incredible! I have a separate bag for my obese textbooks. The government declared that the nation is getting heavier, and well so are my books. ¬_¬

I have got one presentation done and dusted on Friday, whilst everyone was enjoying a work x-mas party without me :’( I am currently working on my second, which is to be presented this Wednesday and oh it is so much more demanding and tough. Once I receive feedback on it from my seminar leader and fellow students it should help me write out my essay a lot more clearly. However, right now it is adamant on being a pain in the…!

Less of the work talks now, moving on to fun times! I am going ice-skating today! Woo! Due to the work constraints from their courses, some half of my friends will come along to ice-skate whereas; others will meet us for dinner at Nando’s. I need to be around friends, amusement, and general merriment.

I have been thinking about my x-mas plans, my brother and sister in law are hosting a house party for their friends – whom I know, but I am not too sure whether I want to stick around to see bunch of guys and girls getting absolutely hammered. I am contemplating on visiting my cousins in Wales, this way I can go out and have fun of my own with them, as they say I never visit unless there is a wedding ha-ha! However, because the weather keeps playing up it has left me in a dilemma. My train/coach could easily be cancelled! I could be left stranded on my own! :-O

Oh, I must mention, I bought a navy blue sequined evening party top to wear for either a x-mas night out or new years eve! Not so long ago, around the time of September I bought a navy blue Mac coat, and I saw another one of a slightly different style and material in the colour Khaki. I purchased that just over the weekend, it should arrive within a week’s time, and I cannot wait to sign for the parcel! Hmm, that is if I am at home otherwise I will have to go pick it up from the post office collection point. *Huffs*

Just to dampen the high spirit mood, apparently there is more snow to fall on this coming Thursday!

Now to heighten the mood, I like a bit of x-mas humour >>>


Ciao for now xxx

Too Much Snow *Huffs*

Let me begin with stating the obvious, it has been snowing for the past week or two immensely. At first I enjoy it, looks pretty like I said in my previous blog but then it just begins to get exceedingly annoying!

I had lectures and seminars to attend to on Wednesday, and I made it however, everything was cancelled! They decided to email us half way through the day with something a long the lines of ‘oh by the way kids lectures and seminars are cancelled for today.’ I did some self study, worked on my dissertation and decided to jet off home early before it got too dark and become marooned and abandoned by the buses due to the heavy fall of the snow. Around where I live, it was okay, I mean two inches of snow is not much, and my council has learnt from previous years and mistakes to actually grit the roads. On the other hand, Kent has been swathed by 5-6inches of snow and no grit in site; the buses were sliding up and down the hilly roads. It is impossible to tell a part from the pavement to the road, thankfully, I did not slip, and I assisted others from taking a drop too. (That was my good deed of day :) )

I also got stuck on the M4 and then on the M25 on Thursday morning, again due to the adverse weather conditions; which is why I was unable to attend work. I thought I should be able to make it in time. However, the weather had different plans. I am not too sure what the weather is like where the University’s Avery Hill campus is based, I hope it has improved significantly.

On a happier note, I went to watch the movie ‘Unstoppable’ an average film; I would rate it around 7 out of 10. If for one reason, I was to give it a higher mark would be due to the actor Chris Pine who plays the role of Will Colson, a young train conductor. A predictable ending but a happy ending. It is nice to see Denzel Washington again on the screens.

Work, University Open day + Snow!

This week has been crazy! Feels like so much to do in such little time! Spending a lot of my time in the library, more than I would actually like to but hey, it has to be done! Especially when you are in the same boat as me, you know a third year student! The main thing I have been focusing on is reading and taking down a lot of notes, but that tends to get tedious after a few long hours, hence I decided I should just get on with the essays, at least start them off. This way it feels like I am actually moving forward rather than at a standstill point. The first time is coming to an end, which is why the workload is increasing; it is understandable… hmm is it really? No, no it is reasonable amount, well not really! Nevertheless, those are the perquisites of wanting to study Education (!) I need to work on a presentation, do some essaying, work on logs, and my disso. I want to say I am looking forward to my Christmas holidays, but it will not be much of a holiday! I want to be somewhere hot and sunny, ok perhaps not hot because I cannot stand the heat! Don’t I sound like a ray of sunshine? Ha-ha! Truthfully, the heat bugs me; some say depending on where you go the type of heat is different, in some places, it does not feel stuffy and sweaty, not sure how much of that I can believe. Speaking of weather, the big news at the moment is London is going to be hit by Snow this evening, which I highly doubt because we all know what the weather forecasters are like. Although, it is incredibly cold and the temperature has been dropping below Zero degrees, I still feel rather pessimistic. I am not sure if I want it to snow. It has a propensity to be beautiful scenery, the ambience blah blah blah, BUT, a big BUT… the chaos it brings with it (mildly due to the fact that we cannot actually handle a bit of snow) – lack of grit I am afraid makes it a frenzied experience for many of us.

Day 1

Day 2

Moving on to discuss the university open day that we held for potential students, also reminiscing once again how cold and bitter it was! The day itself went especially well, enjoyed meeting and greeting different people. I did about two tours of the Avery Hill campus, which consists of two sites, and in between, sits the Avery Hill Park, which was coated in frosty ice that morning, lovely scenery. :) I layered up thoroughly, well I thought I did! Turns out that I should wear a few more layers of clothing to protect myself from going numb and getting a frostbite! (I didn’t really) However, I must stress and put much emphasis on the fact that it was FREEZING! For those who did come along to the open day, I hope you found it be an enjoyable experience. On the other hand, for others who wanted to grace us with your presence but could not; then our next open day will be held on Saturday 5th February 2011. For any further information, give us a call on 0800 005 006, drop us an email on courseinfo@gre.ac.uk or alternatively you can visit our website at, www.gre.ac.uk/study/opendays.


Ciao for now! xxx

Levant

Below is a picture of the inside restaurant called ‘Levant’ I shall be doing some fine dinning here this evening. Well I say fine, I’ve never actually been there before but it better well be fine with the amount it is going to cost! I am going there for a friends 21st birthday, she is very dear to me which is why paying that little extra more is always worth it! I have had a look at the menu, it seems quite different because some of the dishes look unique, however the obvious vegetarian dishes consist of ‘hummus’ and ‘falafel.’ Some of the more unique ones are called ‘ Batata Harrah’ and ‘Koossa bil tahine’ they sound special, I hope they taste it too!

We’ve also got entertainers organised for her, haha nothing of the obscene type, just a few snake charmers and authentically dressed Entertainers along with Tabla percussionists.

Just to make sure that this will be a positive dining experience for my friend, I have asked some other friends who have previously been there and researched into some of the press and reviews that it has got. Read some great comments, nice to read something ‘good’ for a change in the press haha!

I will update you in my next blog, how the evening was and a general update of my week.

Ciao for now!

xxx

Work, work, deadlines, work!

There is just too much uni overload to take on! Many deadlines are fast approaching, need to start preparing for presentations in advance, therefore it would be easier for me to present when the time comes. I’m trying my hardest to stay on top of things, I’ve got some Log work to do for my course (very similar to this kind of blogging, except more trickier and far more reflective) which is why at the moment, I feel like I’m writing four blogs a week I believe, in fact I know I am! Slightly addicted to this blogging bonanza! It all started when my manager tried to lure me in to blogging, and it has worked! Good on her! I am actually enjoying it very much, very soothing. It is a great idea don’t you think? Get a respectable idea from reading peoples’ blogs about university life, what it is like to work for the university itself, delving deeply into us bloggers’ lives. I do hope we are being informative enough. If you like to know about a particular aspect of student life or the university in general, please leave us comments on here. On the other hand, you know the drill! You could just give us a ding on 0800 005 006 for a personal detailed chat, or drop us an email on courseinfo@gre.ac.uk J.

Well let us move on now ey? What have I been up to? Hmm, aside from doing some university work… to be honest I think that is all I have been doing! Attending classes, in my spare time I have turned a little geeky if I am honest, spending time in the library, taking out loads of books! The Avery Hill campus, (one of the three) have brought in these incredibly cool machines, very unique way of taking books out and returning books, saves time and a queue up too. Different types of zones have been introduced, such as silent, quiet and group zones. They have switched things around and it is definitely for the best!

Let us discuss work, I mean work at the Enquiry Unit, it has been a lot quieter recently, I’m waiting for it to pick up like I expect it to in January. I call it the mini clearing-rush. Phones get a lot busier at this time due to our second intake of students during this month. Either way, I am enjoying my time here, nice and cosy! I even have a fellow blogger working on the same day as me now, Rukon! I am trying my utmost hardest to beat his achievement of numerous numbers if consecutive blogs ha-ha, he missed two recently and it is getting very competitive, well it is a friendly competition. On this note, I shall end my blog and write to you next week!

Ciao xxx

The Festival of Light

This blog is all about light, colours, food & fireworks. All these lovely things are associated with a festival called ‘Diwali’ popularly known as the festival of lights. It is an important five-day festival in the Hindu religion. The name Diwali is contracted from the word ‘Deepavali’ which precisely translates as row of lamps. Diwali involves the lighting of clay lamps filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. During Diwali, all the people wear new clothes and share Indian sweets and snacks with family members and friends. Most Indian business communities begin the financial year on the first day of Diwali.

The reason why I decided to dedicate this blog to this festival is because it’s like Christmas for me. I was celebrating this festival on Friday 5th November. I went out with friends during the day, watched the horror Saw 3D at the o2 arena. The movie was average, I would rate it around 7/10. It was gory and of course violent, however it was not as good as the last previous installment. In the evening, as I got home I was just in time for some fireworks with my family. The fireworks play a significant part during Diwali as it brings excitement and joy to the hearts of people even before it arrives on the new moon day, it involves colour and light which is why fireworks are perfect in relation to this festival.

On Saturday, we all dressed up in our new clothes and set off to go to the temple. We greeted one another, wishing each other a happy new year. According to the Hindu religion, we are now in year 2067. As I mentioned before, that this festival is associated with food, we ate lots of delicious Indian food on this day, visited relatives and friends houses’ and did some more fireworks :-D I was absolutely shattered by the end of the day. Now the next occasion I am looking forward to is Christmas! Gifts, food and Home Alone on TV! Great stuff ;-)

Ciao xxx

Birthday Cakes & Pizzas all week round!

Hi everyone! So my attempt to write a few sentences each day did not go to plan, I did try on Tuesday, last week but it really was not happening for me. Therefore, I took a sensible decision, which is to carry on writing it in one go!

My updates for this week are as follows:

Monday, I went Uni to do some work, looked at some journals that I might use for my essay and dissertation. I also went shopping and ate at Pizza Hut, mmm was absolutely lovely! Then on Tuesday I was at work, it was an enjoyable day, took calls as usual from friendly voices, which I always love! Especially in the morning, nice words make your day, well for me they do! I would like to add that it is important for potential applicants to know that we are running some Masters programmes in January, we tend not to do many undergraduate programmes during this intake, however if you are unsure or would like more information, please do not hesitate to give us a call, we could possibly offer you something different, at another given time :-D

On Wednesday I was back at Uni, although I was on reading week, I still needed to come into do some work, I also picked up my NUS card, student discount is THE best! In addition, for all you lovely people who love shopping, and I mean shopping for clothes… then ASOS have a good sale, and are currently promoting 20% off for students! Woo! Go on, have a little splash! I was looking forward to Thursday, as it was my little nephews’ birthday. Again, we had pizza for dinner at Papa Johns as their pizzas are exceptionally tasty! Along with the cake! It was a fresh cream vanilla sponge cake. My nephew actually hates cake, he is frightened of it to be precise, and the only part he well and truly enjoys is blowing out the candle. He loves the colour orange, so the least we could do was to add orange writing to the cake.

Another birthday celebration took place on Friday and it was for Uzma! She is one of the full-time staff working here for the Enquiry Unit. About seven of us had dinner at the o2 Arena, and I got her a cake, which she knew nothing about. A funny occurrence took place on that Friday evening, the waitress brought out the wrong cake, a tiny chocolate one; they even played music. I thought nooooo that is NOT the cake, so we all gave our fibs to Uzma, covering up that we are not having this dinner for her birthday, and we have not ordered her a cake whatsoever! Finally, when the chosen cake did come out, Uzma went AWOL haha! Oh lovely evening it was! A picture of her cake (which I chose ;-)) Once more, I should express that the cake was YUMMYLICIOUS!

Sentence or two a day!

As I write to you ‘Blogees’ once a week, I feel as if I am forgetting to add some stuff here and there. I think from now on, as I start my week I will jot down a few sentences at the end of the day so I can recall correctly all the things I have done precisely!

Last week Wednesday I had Lecture and Seminars, did a presentation went really well. However, just before I did the presentation, I am extremely positive that I saw a flying creature, and by this I mean a Wasp/Hornet or a Bee. Now for those of you who may know me and my colleagues know this extremely well that I have a major phobia of them things! I can’t concentrate fully if they are around, get all panicky and normally have to get somebody to remove it! Hate summer because of these useless creatures, they serve no purpose. Ok I hear ya, Bee’s = Honey, but seriously surely these scientists are producing artificial honey, that’s good enough for me!

Now if you look at the picture, it really is not a pretty sight! It is evil!!! Evil I say!!!

Moving on swiftly :-D… On Thursday I was working at the enquiry unit, had a little meeting about MA Social Work, Yes that’s right people you read right, we now offer MA SOCIAL WORK! I’ll be a little tease and say if you want to know more about it, give us a ring on 0800 005 006 :-p It was slightly quiet at work at some points during the day, then it peaked a little every now and again. Generally it was a good day at work.

On Friday, I did some work; in fact I did some blogs (journal thingy ma jig) for my course, did a little extra reading too. I also got the chance to indulge in some 19th Century Novels. Weekend went fast, I shopped for my Diwali clothes, picked a nice plum colour to wear.

And today I went shopping, I bought a few things for my little nephews, it’s the little one’s birthday soon and whatever the little one gets the older one wants and vice versa, so it’s literally two of each. Hurts my bank balance but they are totally worth it!

I am very tired, I must stop blogging now, I shall write to you my dears next week.

Toodles x

Reading Week, Further Education, and Finance (& the damn flu-jab)

I think the title of this blog explains everything! I cannot wait to relax a little, do some work… actually do A LOT of work! I need to consider different supervisors who will direct me with my dissertation. I am thinking about the subject area I want to concentrate on, it will most likely be either Psychology, Additional Special Needs in Education or Financial increase in Higher Education and Further Education. Once again, I had an interesting discussion in one of the same classes that I mentioned in my blog last week. This time it was about the University fees increasing and what ‘Class’ the government is focussed on. The unintelligent dim-witted proposal that they are insisting on putting forward, will seriously affect Middle class people because they wont be able to afford University Fees, the wealthy people will be able to have the funds for Further Education, and the Working class well their fees are likely to be funded. Now where is the equality in that? Coalition Government - Abysmal *Puts her nose up in the air* 

Winding back to the Finance discussion, the government insist that financial support is available, so money need not be a barrier. The assistance people would acquire depends on family situation and the type of course one is doing. For those who have experienced a conversation (and I use this word very loosely) with Student Finance of England, or their organisation skills (or the lack of it) is extremely appalling! A migraine that is most certainly not needed.

Interesting read:

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=410265

I think the only decent chance perhaps to some, would be the fact that after leaving university, graduates will only begin repaying when they reach annual earnings of over £21,000 a year, up from £15,000 under the current system. A possibility a few may see this as slightly problematic, but once more that is a discussion for another time ;-)

Write to you lovely’s next week!

P.S. I had a flu jab on Friday, and my gosh did it become painful after a few hours! And the stupid nurse (wasn’t my regular) injected me almost near my shoulder, surely injections are not suppose to be that high up? Then come Saturday morning at around 5:45am my arm was paining like mad! Decided to go back to the Doctors, realised they do not open on the weekend, dosed my self with strong pain-killers and stayed in bed staring at the ceiling. Oh the joy (!) Still a little Sore! :’(

xXx
(The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the University of Greenwich - Ed.)

The Dark Ages, Freemasons, and Education

I was at University on last Wednesday, during one of my seminars for ‘Education and Social Theory’ we turned to an interesting discussion. It some how linked to Education and its history. We conversed and considered exactly what Freemasonry is, and what their ‘belief policy’ is. One particular comment I remember from another student, is ‘Freemasons worship the Devil!’ Hmm I thought to my self, from what I remember researching several years ago, they do not hold such belief. This fellow student, insisted that it dictated this that and the other. Again, I was thinking to myself “where does this research come from my love?” I remember reading books in the library purely out of boredom and it clearly stated that freemasonry does not dictate what it's members should believe in, only that they hold a belief in a Supreme Being, and once a member of the fraternity they must maintain that belief. Many people also say that Freemasonry is Satanic, makes it's members worship the devil etc, and others argue that it all comes from the misconception, misunderstandings, although admittedly it does not help that a lot of Freemasonry is detailed in Old English where words held different meanings. Who knows which research is right or wrong, I think it is an interesting topic to discuss, especially for me as I don’t actually know much about it. And it’s relation to education and sociology its further intriguing.

We also discussed the Middle ages, also known as the Dark Ages, in the course of this time, through following centuries, most of the population, being working people, were illiterate or had only a rudimentary ability to sign their names, make their "mark" to signify their acceptance, or read simple words. For the duration of this time many Lords i.e. wealthy landowners could read but the ‘Serfs’ which were the working class people, almost as a whole, had never been educated to read. This period in history was named the Dark Ages because of the loss of classical learning due to the many wars, bloodshed, and unrest. From this 16th Century is where the freemasons reach in with their elaborate symbolisms. As we deliberate further during class, it was brought to our attention that illiteracy did not make these Masons stupid or lesser operative Masons in the craft. They were simply working people, taking care of their families, who, by necessity, had to begin working at a very early age, usually from dawn until dusk, 6 days a week and did not have the time or the teachers to gain themselves of the ability to learn to read or of any higher education. Widely known that schools were for the wealthy only, thus the operative Freemason symbols were taught to these stonemasons as a part of their obligation for the betterment of their craft.

We somehow managed to link liberal democracy and modernity into this discussion, wow what a complicated degree! Might I add there is a student in my class who believes we are controlled by a ‘thing’ like an alien force, made me giggle :-D Now that is going into a scientific and a philosophical debate.

I will right to you next week, Good-bye (which by the way is a contraction of "God be with you”) simply interesting isn’t it? xxx

Uni has started

University has started for new students and continuing students too, I’m just easing myself into it at the moment trying to prepare for the hectic year. This year I’ll be in from 9-6 on a Wednesday and the other days I’m expected to be in the lab working hard or in the library! Soo unlike me but I’ve already started to change my lazy ways. I have actually placed myself in the computer labs, getting a head start on the new course material presented to us on last Wednesday. I decided it is important to take advantage of the spare time that I have and take extra books out from the library and renew them as I go along if they’re of any interest or use to me. I’ve also got an enquiry project to look at, which will be our dissertation, I’ve had a brief look at it and it seems slightly tedious at the moment due to the lack of information specified to us however, I really hope I enjoy writing it and researching about it otherwise I won’t do too well on it.

Online registration has been completed by most students now, however there are a few who are struggling, if you are one of those then give us a call on 0800 005 006. We will be happy to be of assistance. :-D

I had driving on, erm I’m not sure on what day but I did have driving. It went well, I’m definitely improving now as I go along which is a good sign and my instructor is delighted with my driving skills so far so yay me!

It was my mum’s birthday yesterday, so Happy Birthday to her! Had a Birthday dinner for her on Saturday instead as I had my cousin sister coming round. It was a really nice evening, great food, great company, DELICIOUS CAKE! Mm!

I also went ice skating yesterday evening, which was extremelyyyyyyyyyyy fun! A friend of mine, let’s call her ‘Sue’ toppled over many times and could not get up, very entertaining to watch. Oh and then we ended this day with a meal at the Slug and Lettuce. Average food!

See you all next week, ciao for now! xxx

Animation, Natural History and Science

I am struggling to express on here exactly what I did over the past week… give me a moment to gather my thoughts. *Moment passes by…*

Ahh yes! I had work on Monday; it was busy but not so manic! On Tuesday I went to watch Toy Story 3 in 3D, I’ve seen it before therefore, I found it rather tedious, and I fell asleep for most part of it. My friend wanted to watch it in 3D and I generally despise most movies that are in 3D as it gives me a headache from wearing those unsightly glasses, hence it was a waste of money as I did not even wear my glasses or should I call them goggles?.  Ooo however, I am excited about the final Saw movie coming out in October, which will be in 3D, I am looking forward to watching different gruesome, repugnant scenes and flying daggers at the screen!

On Wednesday, again I had work which was not so eventful due to a fewer number of calls, nonetheless it was a nice day at work, friendly callers and great colleagues to work with, which helps the day go that little bit quicker. I generally pass time by lowering colleagues’ office chairs whilst they are seated, rather childish I must admit but try it, do not mock the idea, extremely amusing, okay maybe just a little entertaining when boredom kicks in.

Thursday, I am not too sure, what I did. I think I was at home for the day however, on Friday I went out to eat with a bunch of friends to Tinsletown, had lovely food and yummy milkshakes! Then I dragged a friend of mine to watch ‘We are Family’ an Indian movie at the Odeon in Peninsula Square. The movie is an adaptation of the Hollywood movie ‘Step mom.’ It is a decent movie, but would not pay to watch it again, I would rate it 7/10. I need to mention that the Screen 14 at the Odeon is an absolute shambles! The room is absolutely tiny, it’s basically the size of a wealthy individual’s living room, and the screen itself was not of a decent size either, rather disappointing never going back there again. I know now to stick to the bigger screens or better still the o2 Arena – Cineworld.

The weekend was not so eventful; I had driving on Sunday, which went well. Hmm and today, I visited the Natural History and Science Museum. I would like to say that a lot has changed and not for the better! I was extremely saddened because I remember it to be exceptionally amazing it felt undersized. Overall, I had a great laugh with my friends and largely a nice day out for us.

I will write to you people next week! Toodles!

xXx

Long week

Week has been going slow, was at work from Monday-Thursday and I was looking forward to my shopping spree for oh so long! The day finally arrived on Friday! Myself and a friend jetted off to Bluewater shopping centre and it was great! I instantly landed my eyes on a pair of boots in Dorothy Perkins which I didn’t buy in the end because I saw a pair of boots elsewhere that looked a lot nicer so I bought those instead. I also bought a pair of ankle boots from New Look. I found a coat from Mango however I decided to walk about and see if I see anything better and I did, from Karen Millen. My ideal coat, a nice blue colour with silver buttons that stand out like bam bam BAM, but I went for the safer option from Mango instead and I don’t regret it. Although, I am still contemplating to buy the one from Karen Millen too. The only thing that is stopping me is that I’ve seen an amazing coat from Ted Baker’s but I can’t find it in store! I am still on the hunt for that! Oh I also ordered a bag from Oasis and a pair of flats from Asos; however, they’re too big so I’ll be sending those back.

On Monday it was extremely busy, amongst 13 of us or so we took 960 calls! The was the busiest day of that week felt like Clearing A Level day all over again! On the Wednesday of that week it went a little bit quieter.

By the way readers’, Clearing has now officially closed for ALL courses including those that take place at our partner colleges. UCAS has closed Clearing too and have opened the main cycle application, so for those of you who perhaps missed out this year, worry not! Gain some work experience this year whether it is paid or voluntary in the subject area you are interested in and that will enhance your chances of getting on to the course next year 

On a lighter note again, my weekend was nice and relaxing! I look forward to writing my next blog and my weekend too!

Bub-bye

xxx

‘Real Boy’ has gone :’(

I would like to dedicate part of this blog to my team leader Richard who is also known as ‘Richers’ or ‘I’m a real boy!’ as I like to call him:-D. I haven’t really known him for long, worked with him during term time at the enquiry unit but we both sat at opposite ends, during clearing he’s been my team leader and a great one at that too. He’s going on to do bigger and better things, studying for a Secondary PGCE in English! It’s been a laugh having been in his team, he’s extremely helpful and a laid bad guy, me and a fellow blogger; Kiran call him ‘Woody’ because we think he’s a spitting image of the Toys Story character ‘Woody’ Tall, slim built, same hair, same face haha!

He left on Thursday! As he is set on becoming a teacher, we decided as a team that it would be nice for us to dress up as school children and he can be the ‘temp’ teacher for the day! Most of us wore skirts, black/grey trousers, and shirts with a school tie, along with pigtails lol!

Moving away from the Rich discussion, I would like to notify readers about clearing. Most of the courses are now closed; in fact all the schools have now come to a close for this year. HOWEVER, some of the courses that run with our partner colleges are still up and running. They start on the 3rd week of September, therefore if you are interested you must apply quickly! Spaces are becoming full and if you’d like to know abit more about what a partner college is and what courses are running you can check on our website at www.gre.ac.uk and go onto the clearing page, or you can give us a free phone call on ‘0800 005 066’ (Applies to UK residents only) For the international enquirers the number is ‘+44 20 8331 8590.’

Alice in the Wonderland

First of all, I would like to apologise for this slightly late update (hey that rhymes!) I wanted to discuss our theme day in the office, which took place on Friday followed by a lovely barbeque in the court yard early evening. Anyhow, I shall come to that, for now I would like to say it has been a slow week surprisingly! The telephones haven’t been as busy as they were in the previous weeks and I’ve got my hearing back; I can hear the little voices in my head again :p
I really enjoyed the bank holiday weekend, I was really appreciating every moment of it... literally! On the Saturday I was thinking to myself, ‘you are at home tomorrow!’ then on the Sunday I was thinking ‘You’ll be relaxing at this time tomorrow too!’ Then came Monday, and I savoured every minute of that day! On Thursday at work the whole office was busy concentrating on how to theme their team for Friday; in-between calls we were colouring, cutting, sticking, throwing new ideas together. The day went faster than usual because we were kept busy doing all sorts of things! Then on Friday fellow team members baked some cakes and brought in sweets because our theme was ‘Alice in wonderland.’ We decorated our little bay, personalised it with all sorts. We decorated our computer screens. I was tweedle dee and a friend of mine was tweedle dum lol! We dressed in hot pink tops and black jeans! We had a little display table full of cup cakes on a cake stand etc; was very pretty indeed.

Later on at the barbeque we announced who won the theme team day, Team Uzma won! Followed closely by us, Team Richard, with just one point less! I wasn’t very hungry so I actually didn’t have any of the food, but others said it was yummy :-D

I shall update you people with more news next week!
Toodles xxx

Busy Head's Weekly Journey

Hi everyone! Let me give you an update of this week's news bulletin:-D Saturday was Open day. I arrived quite early so went and got myself a large cookie from a petrol station nearby, I was overly stuff by the time I had finished but I’m glad I ate it because little did I know we were going to be really short staffed and I’d be doing four tours across Southwood and Mansion site! It was a killer! Although both sites are considered to be under one campus, which is our Avery Hill campus, there is an enormous park between the two sites, and having to go there and back four times, I was completely shattered by the end of it :( Strangely enough the Open day was not AS busy as it normally is, but still busy enough to keep me on my feet all day. I was there from 8-4 and time was eventually beginning to fly. Around about 2pm, I was counting the minutes.

I felt like I didn’t really have a weekend as on Sunday I had a packed schedule. I had relatives coming over at around 11am (grr) spent some time with them. At 12pm I had my first driving lesson ever! It was amazing! Me driving? Woooo! I drove for 35mins! I thought it was just going to be for 10 and that too around the block but nooo, we covered 3 different areas in that space of time. My next lesson is tonight; hopefully this runs just as smoothly. My instructor gave me some feedback and for a newbie who has not ever driven a car I caught on pretty quickly and that I was ‘fantastic’. Hehe I thought he was just feeding me lies because I’m new but he genuinely meant it! Great stuff! When I got back home from my driving everyone was asking me how it went etc... my sister in law made a comment to my dearest dad suggesting that soon his car will not be home very much as I’ll be taking it out all the time and this comment triggered my dad to tell the truth that I will not be insured on his BMW sports :( He said he would rather buy me a new car for myself that is less expensive because if I do cause an accident it’ll be cheaper and so would the insurance be too. Great (!) Anyhow, back to my original story, I sat down to eat with some hot noodles enjoying an average movie on tele starring Jennifer Aniston, and the doorbell rings. Arghhh another set of cousins (who btw did not inform us they were coming!) I had to sit in the dining room to finish off my lunch, that too on my own.

Work has been extremely busy especially on Monday and Tuesday. Lots of calls, just the way I like it. I am looking forward to this three day weekend, I will probably just eat, sleep watch tele! Oh and SHOP! Must do that this weekend! Need a new pair of boots! My comfy ones' sole came off and I had to double side tape it on Wednesday. It survived the heavy rain on the way home! And off they went in the bin :) on the bright side... NEW SHOES:-D. I have said too much, write to you people next week xxx

Results Results Results!

Ohhh Thursday 19th August – A level day. It was extremely hectic on the phones but I loved every moment of it. Time flew by and before I knew it, it was time to go home and rest. I didn’t receive any impolite callers hence I enjoyed the day that little bit extra. Most calls were in regards to applying as oppose to being released, which is always a good sign. Our team (Team Richers) made more offers than declines; as a result we were all in a happy cheerful mood. In total we bagged about 6851 calls in total on Thursday ALONE, and last year it was 5012, therefore, this means we almost took almost 2000 more calls than last year! However, I was rather disappointed at the media at a point, because another university (mentioning no names) only received 1500 and they were proud of that? Seriously? No.

Moving on, Friday was rather busy too, in fact just as busy but time went a lot slower, which meant I didn’t enjoy it as much. Besides, I was thinking about Open day which was taking place on Saturday; truth be told most of us had this on mind and weren’t looking forward to it as it had been a long week, two very long hard working days in particular and a 8am start on a Saturday does not add up well, not for me at least but we must soldier on!

By the way potential Greenwich students, we still have many vacancies on various courses, so keep those calls coming, keep me busy and I would absolutely love to make offers to you brainy people over the telephone :-D Remember 0800 005 006, that is the clearing hotline number, easy to remember!
Write to you lovely next week xxx

Birthday ‘Shenanigans!

My birthday was on the weekend! Sunday 8th August 2010. It was absolutely rubbish! My throat started feeling funny on Friday afternoon during work. I had plans for Saturday; hence I was determined to stick to them. I went out with mates on that day to watch a movie; Toy Story 3! I also went for a pre-birthday meal at Nandos, mm nice warm food, great for you when you have a cold/flu. Was a really nice time, enjoyed snooping through my gifts :-D. Anyways, moving on to my actual day… well what can I say? RUBBISH! I was really ill, stayed in bed most of the day sleeping or watching television in the living room. I was alone for most of the day; however, in the evening I indulged in some yummy food and delicious cake and opened some more presents! Overall, it has to be the worst birthday ever. Hope next year’s better, A LOT better as it’ll be me 21st!

It’s the weekend tomorrow (thank god) been waiting for it, because I feel poorly and I don’t want to be at work and I’m coughing hysterically and going through heaps of tissues. I need rest and the weekend will help me do just that.

Work is picking up now, getting more busy dealing with enquires, especially during the afternoons. Next week will be extremely busy especially Monday as most of the staff will be in training for the newbies. Again on the 19th of August it’ll be particularly busy, due to the results day. My ear will definitely be hurting L

I haven’t been to the London Dungeons yet but if and when I do I’ll post some pictures up and tell you all about it! (No I do not work for them *_*)

Toodles xx

Fishes & Dungeons + Philosophy!

Hi guys! How are we all today? Had a good weekend? I did! I went to the London Aquarium! I haven’t been since I was a child, and it was really nice to do something different. Some say that ‘back in the days’ it had a lot more to offer as in a variety of species etc, I don’t really remember hence I cannot comment. Either way, lovely day out. I shall put pictures up too! I really recommend it to all, have a visit; do something different! It is located on the South Bank of the River Thames in central London, in close proximity to the London Eye. The facts remain that it opened in March 1997 and it still continues to be the capital's largest collection of aquatic species in Europe.

I think my next attraction visit will be London Dungeon; it puts on display about numerous tortures from the Medieval Age. It recreates various gory and chilling historical events in a grimly comedic 'gallows humour' style, which attempts to make them appealing to audiences of all ages. It uses a combination of live actors, special effects and rides to construct a realistic experience. It also explains the history of the famous ‘Great fire of London’ and the notorious killer ‘Jack the Ripper.’ (Are you working for them, Sonia? ;) - Ed.)

Wossy!

This week at work has been relatively busy, more so than the previous weeks. There have been some problems with the Greenwich online application submitting process. If you are one of these applicants who are experiencing problems please give us a call to check if your application has been successfully submitted on ‘0800 005 006.’ As we are receiving 6-7 applications per person! The problem has been resolved now, as far as I know therefore; no problems should be arising any longer.

I was discussing my final year of degree with a close mate the other day, we were working out exactly what band our grades need to fall into in order to gain even a second class honors, but obviously we shall aim for a first! It will be extremely hard but I am determined to do a postgraduate certificate in education after, although it requires a ‘good honors’ degree, which means a 2.2 or above. As the competition is fierce I am hoping to get a 2.1 or above, this way I am at an advantage:-D

I was also discussing Philosophy with a work colleague of mine; it brought back memories from college studying this killer humanities subject at A level. Nevertheless, I still thoroughly enjoyed studying it and it was even more wonderful reflecting back on ‘Aristotle, Plato and Descartes’
Wait for my update next week!

In the meantime have a little think about the famous; Cogito Ergo Sum: ‘I think therefore I am’ by René Descartes.
Ciao xx

(BLOG WAR AGAINST ‘RUKS!’) Joke, it’s all about CLEARING WOOOOOO!

My fellow blogger Ruks has stated that whatever I might compose on this blog of mine is untruthful! Well hello pot calling kettle BLACK. (lol!) It is vital to note that I do not always harass Rukon; it’s just a bit of ‘office banter.’ He’s awfully slow but generally a lovely guy! Besides Ruki I didn’t initiate the banter; Summi did! Although I did exaggerate about Rukon crying, I also said it was essential for Summi to buy him a ‘Tuna Melt Sandwich’ from Greggs, I was being nice!

Rukon's Favourite!

Anyhow moving on from the Eastenders Star... I’ll be starting my driving soon! Yay me! I’m just deciding between two driving school companies, in regards to who I might go for. I am well and truly excited to embark on this experience/journey :-D I dread to think that I might be an awful driver though, hopefully I am not *fingers crossed*

I’ve had one eventful day of the week; I went to Madame Tussauds on Tuesday. (I have pictures, I shall upload soon!) It was a great laugh; got to ‘greet’ and ‘meet’ many celebrities from all over the world and take pictures with them hehe! I went with some relatives of mine and my sister in law and my two baby gorgeous nephews. Had a pretty relaxed week, albeit slightly boring one. I only had work two days of the week. On the Thursday I was unable to attend because I was sick violently. (mm nice) Generally the week went pretty slow. Intense working from now on five days a week! The busy schedule is picking up slightly with the phone enquiries. 16th August is when the new arrivals shall come along and join us; I will have to learn so many new names again. I am going to miss the graduates who will be leaving in October- made some nice friends here in the enquiry unit. I will try to put some pictures up of my team members, and convince some of the managers that I work under:-D Then you blog readers will know what most of us look like and how we work, and our beautiful office. Time tends to fly during the clearing period, love it! Right now some of you might be wondering, ‘clearing? What on earth is that exactly?’ Well let me clarify precisely what it is. Clearing is something that runs between the 1st July, up until early weeks of September; however, generally people tend to make use of it after their exam results have officially been published. It assists applicants with securing a place at a university firmly if they have not done so already, and this might be due to various reasons such as, deciding to go university last minute, having achieved better grades than predicted etc. They ring the institutions that they might want to attend, and ask if the specific higher education courses that they are interested are still available. This is just in a nutshell, further information can be found at either www.ucas.ac.uk or www.gttr.ac.uk.

Speak to guys next week with my wonderful updates! x

Choices, Choices, Next Year's Choices!

Hiii guys! Another week, another blog :-D Right what have I been up to this week? I went to an annual function on Saturday which was nice and very different to what we have had in the previous years. Oh and Friday, I watched INCEPTION! Not as great as many people are making it out to be. The ending was rather predictable but overall great acting and I would give it about 7 out of 10. On Sunday I relaxed and looked into my third year course details. I have picked which options I want to do, but I think it still needs to be filled on officially when it comes to registration week in the beginning week of September. One of the modules that I did this year was Early Years, I really enjoyed it; it's quite insightful, however the work load was too much for me. Had two essays to do, which was fine and I really enjoyed the observation portfolio although it was a killer. However, the reading logs which were only worth 10% were a killer! Nevertheless I managed to get a 62 overall for this particular module, but I do not plan on doing this module for my third year; its toooo much! She’s asking us to do a 3500 word essay, along with another 5000 word essay, and a separate dissertation from the main one, which again is a 5000 word essay and then reading logs. NO WAY! I will carry on with Special needs education module though, which was extremely interesting and it might be a field that I would consider going into in the future, especially in regards to speech and language therapy as many children are in need of speech and language therapists; there's major shortages in schools.

Enough of that; what else have I been up to? I have been working for the university all week, and having a laugh. It hasn’t been that busy. I got the highest calls in my team on Wednesday wooo! I also danced for 2 and half hours with my baby nephews, was such a laugh! Ended up going to sleep at 23:30, was completely shattered the next day but well worth it!

Anyways, see you kids next week!

P.S. Rukon, you are SUCH drama queen! :-p
xXx

My very own special BLOG!

This is my first blog, so don’t expect it to be great!

Let me begin with my hectic weekend. It started on Friday evening having to pack last minute for my trip to Wales. Went to sleep around 12ish, was supposed to be waking up at 3:15am but I know the way my mother works and guess what? She comes along and wakes me up at 3am instead ¬_¬ not impressed! Although it was expected, hence I was prepared and set my alarm for 2:55am:-D. Anywhooo, I normally don’t have breakfast because I can’t stomach anything around the early hours of morning; HOWEVER, something special happened and I had a slice of pizza and a packet of quavers at around 4:15am.

When I reached Wales I had breakfast AGAIN! (I know I know, what a fatty :’() OVERALL, the weekend was smashingggg! I’ll try to add few pictures later on.

Chilled during the Saturday and on Sunday we had the wedding, went out in the evening to Pizza Express where this annoying band were playing their music incredibly loud; entire restaurant were just cursing them. They eventually left. Peace and quiet. I could hear the voices in my head again.

OH OH OH OHH OH OH OHHH MY GOSH!!! I had the worst sleep ever, actually I didn’t even have any over the weekend! Due to my brother drinking, he was snoring like HELL!!! I plummeted a cushion at him, but nothing! I thought the next object should be a vase of some sort. But then I realised that’s probably pushing it a tad. (I love my sleep and he stole it!) I was absolutely brain dead at work on Tuesday, as I woke up at 6am. I was knockout by the time I got home around 10pm. I caught up on it a bit on Thursday, as I took a day off to assist mother to the hospital.

And here we are Friday Morning! Blogging away at work, answering calls in-between bugging my fellow team members. Oh and my colleague Sumi said something nasty to Ruks and he was almost in tears. Hence he hasn’t been wearing his glasses today. They’ve become wet. I think Sumi should buy him a Tuna Melt Subway, what do you think? I’m going out with my work mates tonight! Hopefully get a chance to watch INCEPTION! And munch Pizza Express at the o2! I shall let you know what the movie is like, whether it’s worth spending your pocket money on such a movie.

CIAO People! xxx