Most exciting

Posted on November 21, 2012 | 0 comments | Link Guess who's going back to ECM?!?!?! Yeah, that would be me! Dying of excitement here. Was so gutted I couldn't go last summer. The only thing actually making me sad is that I have to leave my job at Primark. Sounds well sad, right? But I genuinely love it! But I know camp will be so worth it to see my beautiful kids and friends again! WOOP

It's been a while

Posted on March 23, 2011 | 0 comments | Link

...since I raved about how much I love penguins...well I do

 

However that's actually not really what I wanted to say.

 

Life has been crazy busy these last few weeks. I started placement. This placement is so bipolar it's weird. One day it can be absolutely awesome and I won't stop smiling/laughing/doing things and the next it can be truly horrid and I'll do nothing but watch tv for over 5 hours of a 10 hour shift. And this literally depends on whether there is one particular member of staff in the house that day or not. I've never had to work in an environment where the atmosphere can be so different day by day. I've learnt so much about staff politics and I feel it's so unfair on service users that the whole house suffers because of one person. I have decided that I will endeavour to be positive every single day of camp this summer no matter what's thrown at me, who doesn't like who and whatever else might happen.

 

I have my visa appointment on Wednesday. I can't believe I got such an early appointment! I'm thankful because I didn't have many date options because of placement but at the same time it's come round so quickly and I still need to finish this stupid form off and pray my parents manage to get my proof of return letter back to me in time! stress.stress.stress. Oh and I need to get photos done just in case the embassy doesn't accept the absolutely beautiful photo of me that I've uploaded! Corr I'm feeling modest today  The best part of having my visa appointment on Wednesday? My best friend has her appointment at exactly the same time so I'm ditching uni for the whoile day and we're gonna spend some time together...I'm mega excited for that because I don't see her that often and I miss her incredible amounts.

 

I've got a busy few days coming up as well...OSCE tomorrow (that's a stupid nursing exam tomorrow that tests I can communicate with patients...interesting as I don't plan to ever work in a situation with patients involved...hmmmm!), placement in the afternoon to chill out (pahaha yeah after that placement rant, it's because my fave staff are there and I'd be gutted to miss the whole day...and they did tell me I couldn't not come in...they're so persuasive!) and then Saturday morning I am going to London for my friend's 21st birthday party at Build-A-Bear, pure excitement. Saturday afternoon will be filled with travelling to get myself to Worcester (where a newbie from camp live) to meet up with aforementioned newbie and a few returning staff. Shall be a good laugh  Get home Sunday afternoon, finish stupid visa papers and back to lectures Monday...blahhhhhhhhhhh!

 

Oh and for amusement, my bathroom has no light at the moment (well it does if I fancy inducing a seizure!) which is a bit annoying, especially as it's been like that for about 3 days but placement has meant I leave before office opening hours and return after hours  Well tomorrow I have time so should get it sorted.

 

Right now to go look at why nurses measure blood pressure and what it can tell me...EURGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

Loves xxx

Life and a selection of other things...

Posted on February 10, 2011 | 0 comments | Link

People have started to get their visa papers, this made me jealous so I've finally got around to paying off that fee...just my medical insurance to go! =) Hopefully I'll be an expert at the form this year when the time comes and I won't have to spend weeks and weeks and weeks on it like last year! I don't CA appreciate my 30,000 emails with really weird, obvious answer questions that I decide I must ask!

 

I have an exam next Wednesday. The weirdest exam ever. We were given the exam paper on Tuesday, told to go read it, look up all the answers, then turn up next Wednesday without the exam paper but with a textbook, to be put in to groups of 2 or 3 to do the exam as kind of group work. How strange! You'd think this exam wouldn't be stressful but it so is because I don't wanna be the stupid one using everyone else's answers, so I'm determined to study hard for it. Then again I don't wanna be the one person who has all the answers and the other person/people haven't done any work so abuse that. So maybe I should just revise a certain part, but what if everyone else decided that too and we all looked up one part and none of the others?! We don't know who we're grouped with til we get in the room! How have I made this so complicated for myself? Why have we even got an exam 4 weeks in to the semester? See now how I can make up really silly questions out of nothing?!

 

I've been on a diet these past two weeks, hoping to get back to my post-camp 09 weight...I think I've almost got there but I'd like to be a bit thinner than that before I go. Total planning this year seeing as there's still 4 months to go! Previous years I've decided I need to lose weight around May and not left myself time. Maybe when I get back on placement (in just over a week...still not organised that!) I might be able to lose even more walking there and back and have time once the evenings are lighter to go do something vaguely active (read: wander aimlessly around town window shopping!) or I might even join the gym...shock horror! It's not that expensive but I can't really afford it with all this money CA is slowly taking from my savings! I have £12 left in my student account to last me until my placement expenses appear in there! Knowing the NHS that could be errr...June?! However my diet is definitely helping me save money so I'm happy about that! No, that doesn't mean I'm going without food, it just means because I'm eating a bit less the amount of food in my freezer isn't going down so quickly! =)

 

My friend and I were discussing bed signs today over BBM. Because she's one of the nannies on camp she never gets to make bed signs for the kids and that's made her sad so she's gonna make me one this summer! I do hope it has penguins on...I like penguins! How weird did that last statement sound?! But it's true I LOVE penguins! We're definitely not planning to visit zoos and/or aquariums in all the cities we go visit in our after-camp travels! Maybe I'm a little bit obsessed?

 

Anything else remotely exciting? Ooooh it's Valentine's Day next week! This makes me totally miserable. Not because I'm single...but because my amazingly wonderful boyfriend is the other side of the Atlantic Ocean! This isn't too fun but it's part of the whole long distance relationship thing that I must live with for now! At least I'll kind of get to see him in the summer, but not really because he won't actually be working at camp but he'll hopefully be around a bit as he doesn't live too far away! That's still a bit of time away though.

 

I think I've run out of things to waffle about tonight now! Oooooh I will have penguins on my bed sign...my friend just said so...WOOP! Even more excited now! Bring on 15th June =)

 

Loves xx

Procrastination

Posted on February 1, 2011 | 0 comments | Link

I have to leave for my lecture in about an hour. Instead I am still looking at my bed wondering if I could just crawl back in for another 30 minutes. You see most people wouldn't complain about 1pm lectures, I wouldn't either except this lecture is just the start as 4 consecutive seminars follow it, meaning I finish around 7:30-8pm...I am not impressed. This will be a weekly occurence also. A word of advice to anyone not quite at uni yet...DON'T EVER DO A NURSING COURSE. I'm not trying to put you off but be prepared for wonderfully long hours! Me whining about uni wasn't actually the purpose of this blog, especially as other than the long hours I am mega excited about my next placement as it means I should hopefully keep in contact with someone I met on my last placement...YAY!

 

Anyways what I really wanted to talk about was my weekend! Recruitment fair means camp directors in England which leads to ECM REUNION! Oh my what an awesome weekend I had. Started with my best friend turning up on Friday night (while I was out buying shoes...yes shoes were more important than waiting in for her to arrive, so in actual fact Friday was made better by awesome friend and new shoes!), we proceeded to chat til 3:30am...oops! Up at 9, got a train to London, met another amazing friend reasonably easy. Spent 30 minutes then searching for a 3rd friend...St Pancras is a confusing station! Eventually found final friend, making us 5 people. We headed off to the aquarium to see penguins, but the website lied and there were none =( Totally gutted but super excited we headed to TGIs for dinner and to see people! It was the best evening ever, slightly tipsy, best company and just a huge laugh. We have however outgrown TGIs and so hopefully next year we might actually be somewhere where there's more space! =) So much better than last year's one, might have something to do with the fact this year I could actually walk! =P Headed home early-ish but in all fairness, we'd been there for 5 hours with everyone so it wasn't like we'd ditched after an hour! Best weekend EVER =) Has totally motivated me to work myself really hard to actually make it out to camp! Not so hard I collapse though, I am aware this is possible so I have to be careful at the same time! I can't believe the amount of people at the reunion who were saying they're returning...it's mental actually...so many returners but it'll be awesome! I'm gonna try to not talk people to death this year about camp before they get there because I surprised too many people by being really quiet when everyone got there...ooops!

 

Also the other amazing thing today? I've now been with my boyfriend for 18 months...not an achievement? It is when there's an ocean between us! Totally wish I could be there with him but I'm being realistic and I can't just up and go visit when I have uni work to do! Will have to make it up in Valentine's presents...not sure what to get him yet though. Will go shopping tomorrow after uni! =)

 

I've run out of procrastination time now so I need to go get ready, eat some lunch, find my stuff and get out the door...all in less than an hour! UHOH!

 

Loves xxx

 

Flights booked?

Posted on January 13, 2011 | 0 comments | Link

Oh yes! Went to Flight Centre on Tuesday, they give me price. Went to STA yesterday, they give me slightly lower price. Dad went back to Flight Centre today, they lowered the price a bit more. We can't be bothered trekking back to STA soooooooooooooo my flights got booked this afternoon! I loved the price competition, it's so nice to make other companies match it and doing own transport and fighting for lower prices is so worth it, especially as the BA sale is in full swing for a bit longer :)

 

So I'm leaving the UK on 15th June and returning on 11th September. I can hardly wait. Considering a month ago I had no idea I was even gonna be returning to camp and now it's almost all sorted, it's amazing!

 

Now all I have to do is magic £300 from somewhere to pay CA all the rest of the money they want. Might go without baggage insurance though to make it a bit cheaper. Hmmm

 

Anyways...I'm definitely not backing out now my flights are booked...EXCITEMENT

Officialness

Posted on January 6, 2011 | 0 comments | Link

It's been confirmed, I am actually going back to camp...bring on ECM 2011

 

I could not be more excited...although it's a bit of a secret to friends still because I wanna tell them in person and apologise for lying to them for the last few weeks!

 

I'm actually so motivated to work hard at uni now to make sure I get everything done in time...cannot be doing with failing now as I genuinely cannot afford to have resits instead of camp...I just might die!

 

Anyways...I'M GOING TO CAMP :D :D :D

So I failed...

Posted on September 11, 2010 | 1 comments | Link

for the second summer to keep updating my blog...things got too exciting!

 

The big question though: to apply for 2011...yes or no?

7 weeks, 2 days =D

Posted on April 18, 2010 | Posted in Exciting Travels | 0 comments | Link

So I'm like THE biggest fail when it comes to blogging when I say I will. Life got a bit hectic these last few weeks.

 

2 weeks ago I had an uni interview at Chester, got an offer, not fussed, wasn't a fan of the place. That evening totally made up for the day though. Got to go and see one of my best friends from camp and we went out for dinner =) 5 hours of camp talk? Perfect evening, and paid for by my mummy =P

 

Last week I had an interview at Leeds. They rang me less than an hour after my interview to tell me I was gonna have an offer =) Fabulous start to my day because I absolutely love it in Leeds. A friend from camp lives in York and needed to get to the embassy, to save her a train ticket, we took her down from Leeds and went up to London the next day. Another dinner out, and then a fabulous day in London! Was weird to go up to the embassy and not go and get a visa even though I need to get mine. Ah well it WILL be in the post by Wednesday morning =) Anyways that was like 24 hours of camp talk =)

 

I'm off to Cardiff at the end of this week...MAJOR <3 =) I've epically missed Wales! Have my interview at Glamorgan on Friday morning (St George's Day lol) but on Thursday I'm off to see my other best friend from camp. I've missed her so so much so this is gonna be fabulous =) Cue more hours of catching up and camp talk!

 

I hate having to make decisions though so all these uni offers is killing me knowing I'll have to decide between them! It's most likely to be Leeds but it might change if I totally fall in love with the fact I'd be in Wales!

 

Life is going so good at the moment =) The weather is awesome, I'm walking again and I'm so beginning to feel totally normal again like my leg was never broken =) I'm starting to properly get fit. Going on the Wii Fit every day, using the cross trainer and walking as much as possible =) Hopefully gonna join the gym and also gonna go swimming (in the loosest sense seeing as I can't swim! =P) Just over 7 weeks til I fly to NJ and I cannot wait at all =) I've pretty much got all my stuff for summer now and once I've finished this blog I'm gonna re-sort all my stuff in my suitcase =) heehee

 

CAMPCAMPCAMPCAMPCAMP...

Organisation

Posted on March 26, 2010 | Posted in ECM | 0 comments | Link

So I fail MAJORLY at keeping this updated and stuff! I have lots of time at the moment so maybe I might update more frequently again.

 

I know it's only March but in my intense boredom I've started writing lists for EVERYTHING!

The lists I've got so far:

-I wish I'd been told to take that to camp

-Don't even think about forgetting

-Clothes

-Clothes to buy

-Toiletries etc

-Stuff I can buy out there

and of course -IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS

 

I'm sure there will be more, but they're the ones I've already got saved somewhere unknown(typical me!) on my laptop =)

 

I've started to buy stuff for summer now. I say "I" but really I mean "I've picked, mum's paid" =P Fun times =) I think I have plenty of clothes to be going on with at the weekends now but I probably should buy some stuff to wear during the week...this means tshirts, shorts and swimwear =) Shouldn't take too long to buy all those things though, I've got some shorts and tshirts from last year but unless I lose a ridiculously high amount of weight (isn't easy when I still can't walk =/) I'm not gonna fit in them, therefore have to buy more stuff =)

 

In order to get all this stuff I need to stop buying books! Amazon has become my habit at the moment and is stealing money from me thaty I don't have...stupid addiction! I tried to justify this spending to myself last week though, I bought myself a book on American Sign Language and one on British Sign Language too, so I'm going to start teaching myself. ASL is useful for camp, even if I just manage to learn the alphabet and nothing else and BSL will be useful for uni as I'll be doing a Learning Disabilities Nursing course and you never know when you might come across someone who can only communicate through sign language =) I know I'm gonna get proper confused but oh well, that'll be part of the fun! And it'll keep me busy so I don't sit and watch utter rubbish all day every day on tv. Coach Trip and Come Dine With Me are my current tv loves, anyone else equally addicted? Of course I don't have much time to watch them with all the time I spend out shopping!

 

Anyway organisation...yeah I can write lists but can I prioritise and have good time management skills? Of course I don't! Am gonna have to work on that in time for summer!

 

74 days til I'm on that plane...EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP =)

 

much love peoples xx

so many things!

Posted on January 25, 2010 | Posted in ECM | 0 comments | Link

I cannot believe it's been 26 days since I broke my leg...that's almost a whole month  ago! Which means in 3-4 weeks I should be able to at least limp around again and put some weight on my rubbish leg. Time has flown by so quickly! I've been home from NYC for about 2 weeks and it feels like I only flew home 2 days ago. I have no pain whatsoever in my leg and the only bad thing is literally that I can't use the leg. The bruises and swelling have pretty much gone too =) I just need to get my sleeping pattern back again! =/ Not sleeping til 4am and waking up at 7:45am is not my idea of fun =( I went to see my grandparents yesterday which was awesome because it's the first time I've been outside since I got home...so nice but so frustrating. Since I passed my driving test and got my own car I hate being driven around but oh well, I'll get used to it!

 

Lots of new people are appearing out of the woodwork for camp now. It's really cool because so far they seem suitably crazy =) Hopefully we won't scare them off too much =)

 

I'm also super super super excited for Friday. My best friend from Wales is headed over here because we have our camp reunion on Saturday in London. I haven't seen her since I moved back home before New Year and this is far too long ago =( I miss her stupid amounts =( So yeah she's arriving on Friday, which means she's gotta help me get to London on Saturday hahahahaha should be ok if my dad is home from work in time to drive us, but if not well then it'll be an interesting train journey =P My other best friend will be there for the reunion and is coming back to stay that night too. It's so exciting! We don't often get time to see each other all in one place =) And seeing everyone from camp will be totally awesome. I miss them and they've all been lovely to me while I've been stuck in bed and everything and i know they can't come visit really so if we're all together it'll be amazing =) And I finally get to meet the camp directors...I'm totally looking forward to that although talking to the American staff who know them apparently I shouldn't be so excited...but oh well =P

 

oh and one last thing...MY FLIGHTS ARE BOOKED!!!!! ok this happened like a week ago but that's not the point...I'm super excited now because it means whatever happens I shall be on my way out to NJ for 3 whole months. 8th June until 7th September =) Camp starts on like the 21st June so I'll get 2 weeks with Josh first which will hopefully involve working the last respite of the season up at camp (must email and double check about this!) and then going camping for a few days with the returning staff who'll already be in the area, so basically most of the American staff, and a few of the crazy people who are going out weeks early to see people =) Then we'll move in to camp on like 16th/17th, pick one of my best friends up on 17th from the airport and then an amazing summer will follow =) After camp finishes on 21st August, I'll probably travel a little bit then go and stay with Josh again for 5 days before flying home. I'm so excited! Bring on summer =) It's gonna be absolutely fantastic =D