Mid-Degree crisis.

You know those days when you wake up and think what the hell am I doing with my life? I've been having them all week. It's by no coincidence that this time has also been spent in the offices of FHM. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed my time here. The people are lovely, it really has been interesting to see how the office is run, watch the features develop and the flat plan spread across the fake-office wall. I love being in London, in such an exciting city full of choice and I've even got some of my own writing published on the FHM website. It really has been worth the commute, the money and the 400 magazines I personally packed and addressed to subscribing customers.

I feel the reason behind my slump, apart from two weeks of exhausting 12-hour days, is knowing I'm leaving the fast pace and fun of London and returning to my degree in Southampton, the city of students. I was on such a high with my degree last year, having such leeway with features, blogs and opinion pieces, and this year seems to be all about design and drawn-out statistical research and it's only going to get worse next year!

If only someone could promise me it was all worth it, the debt, the deadlines but sitting here at my 'workie' desk I have been asked to filter through e-mails, and auto-respond or redirect any feature ideas along with fashion, photography and art submissions with little regard for it's content. As an aspiring journalist, copy and pasting thanks but no thanks e-mails time after time is just dream-shattering.

Having almost completed my time here at Bauer Media I am desperate to gain more experience. I have my placement at The Southern Daily Echo in just 7 weeks and I am so excited to work on a newspaper. Before, I thought glossy magazines was where I wanted to be, but after researching jokes for a lads mag I think maybe the hard-nosed face of news journalism might be more of a challenge. I am hoping to get a response from a number of newspaper supplements, as I am very interested to write about culture, people and news-orientated features. I am still an avid reader of Grazia and find the features and blogs eloquently written. Being a Bauer publication, I am intending to use my newly gained experience and contacts as a way of getting in, however futile my attempts may be.

So this post isn't as dramatic as I possibly made it sound. I can power through the rest of my degree as long as I keep writing about what I enjoy and nagging publications to take a peak. I'm sure one day I'll get a response that isn't just another automated rejection sent by yet another 'workie'.

"Please use other door"

Easier said than done, I won't lie.

In preparation for my work placement tomorrow I, along with a much more technically minded friend, managed to Google Map our way through a practice run of my commute. It wasn't a complete disaster, that was, until we found the building. You know the glass doors like on Elf that spin around and around? Yeah, these doors didn't spin. So I was highly embarrassed to find myself outside of the offices of Bauer, hitting the glass ceiling of my career that was literally a piece of glass. Eventually, much to the amusement of the receptionists, I found the appropriate door and now am more nervous than ever about my placement. I wasn't joking when I said there were likely to be some disasters, who knew I could get one in quite this early!

Wish me luck, I think I'm going to need it!

Cluck Cluck

With the New Year approaching I thought it was about time I dusted off my little blog. Other than finding a job and shuffling through another term at uni there hasn't been much in the past few months worth blogging. Now, 2011, that's where the excitement lies.

Just as soon as the New Year has been seen in through blurred vision, I am rushing off to London in preparation my work placement at FHM. I am so excited that I just had to buy an entirely new wardrobe!! I'm pretty nervous about the whole thing, being in London, acting like a grown up, but I will keep blogging to keep you informed of my experiences and, more than likely, my disasters too!

It's not just my placement that's getting me all excited, while in London I will be getting a visit from a certain someone that I find pretty exciting too. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't one to kiss and tell (where's the fun in that?) but I think I'll keep this one quiet for just a little bit longer, you know, don't want to count my chickens and all that.

So 2011 is set to be another amazing year!
Happy holidays everyone!
xxxx

Bonjour Paris!

So, I've managed to squeeze six dresses, two t-shirts, a pair of harem pants, a playsuit, two bags, four pairs of shoes (inc. wellies) and far too much jewelery into my tre-traveleresque back pack and I'm ready for Paris.

Well... I still have hair to dye, nails to paint, metro lines to learn and french phrases to grasp..so I should be ready approximately by 3am..estimated time of departure! Then after just 17 hours on a coach BOOM we're in Paris. Hmm, really doesn't sound very glamorous does it?

This festival is going to be crazy

Ah well, its not exactly a glamorous weekend I have planned. Other than visiting the Eifel Tower and other lovely Parisian sights, I will be spening most of my time sloshing around in mud in the Saint-Cloud National Park listening to folk music and (hopefully) chatting up some cute french boys!

I literally am the most excited EVER to go to Rock en Seine music festival. One of my favourite bands, Arcade Fire, are headlining, its in a beautiful national park, I get to spend the whole weekend with my sister and ,oh yeah, its in Paris!! Could this weekend be any better?!

I'm starting my very first travel log, that I hope to become very full over the next couple of years. So my blog will be a little bare for the next five days. See you soon blogger xx

http://www.myspace.com/arcadefireofficial have a listen!

Au revoir Swallowfield

So, tomorrow is my last day at the make-up factory and, as shocked as I am, I'm actually quite sad to be leaving. The first few days there were a joke, I never thought I could have stuck with such menial tasks for so long. But, as the team of temporary staff got cut smaller and smaller I found the competition to stay build my motivation. Once I had survived the first six weeks, and had seen around 40 temps laid off, leaving just twenty, there was no stopping me. I had not cleaned eyeliners and labeled lipsticks for six weeks to be laid off now. And now, this is it, I've lasted three months to the day and now get to go out on a high.

It wasn't until more recent weeks, however, that I realised what I will miss the most, surprised that I will miss anything at all! Its not the money or the comical value of the job but the friendly "Good morning's" in the corridor, the banter in the canteen and the sweets swapped between friends under the table. In any job there are people you don't like, people who's opinions you don't agree with but going for a drink with just one or two lovely people makes it all worth while.

Working at Swallowfield has taught me a lot about myself and my ambitions. Firstly, it has taught me that I don't want to work in a factory for the rest of my life! It has given me the motivation to succeed in my degree, sort out work experience placements and aim for that all important 2:1. I want to be proud of my career and make the most out of every opportunity. But most importantly it has taught me that what ever job I end up in, the most important thing in a company are the people! There is no way I could have got through the past three months with out meeting some certain characters along the way. What  ever job I end up in, what ever the pay, I hope I can always say I enjoy working there. 

As far as plans for summer 2011..a few more weeks as a factory temp wont hurt!

Work placement #2 The Southern Daily Echo

Yess! Placement two under the belt. I am so excited to be working at Southampton's local paper in March. News journalism is the best stepping stone for magazine journalism and I can't wait to get stuck in to the exciting world of publishing. Throughout the week I will be shadowing reporters and photographers, researching stories and hopefully getting my own article printed along side my byline. I cant imagine anything more exciting or rewarding. Roll on 2011!

Drink, Drugs and Plastic Jugs

What a lovely and most unexpected weekend it has been! Me and the family went camping near Wadebridge in Cornwall, had lovely weather for it and, minus a few punctured air beds, the weekend went with out a hitch. Who doesn't love a good spooning sesh anyway?! We followed the Camel Trail which was a lovely walk and ate fish and chips on Padstow harbour, one of our favourite family treats!

This, however, was not the unexpected part of the weekend. On Sunday we were invited to a family friend's birthday barbecue. The food was lovely and the weather prevailed. The boys, aged around 15, were in charge of the cocktail bar which lead to the majority of the guests becoming rather intoxicated by mid-afternoon on jugs of pimms that could strip paint! Soon the topic of conversation turned to drugs, or more specifically the funny fags that the host had confiscated from their eldest son. And what was the reaction? Smoke it! My uncle who celebrated his 61st birthday earlier this year said it was something he wanted to try before he died. Sure enough, the  were rolled, lit and passed between older members of my family. It was possibly the most surreal and hilarious situation I have ever been in. Needless to say it wasn't long till both bathrooms were occupied by the rebels now feeling slightly worse for wear! As the saying goes, try anything once and I think this is one thing they will not be trying again!