My work experience

Hey everyone!

So, you’re probably aware that I had my work experience week, last week. I had a really great time and thought it would be cool to share it with you. Making a blog post about it also makes a little record for myself so in the future, I can look back on it.

To give a little background, in the UK, every student must complete a week of work experience if they’re in post-16 education. My school decided to do it in Year 12 so it doesn’t interfere with our exam period which I’m definitely behind. I managed to get my work experience down at my local council offices alongside two of my close friends. We weren’t all in the same area but we still had each other at our lunch break.

I decided to work in two areas for my work experience: HR and Communications. Being honest, I don’t have an interest in HR but I thought that would be an area I could definitely get work experience for. The Communications area, I didn’t know existed but I asked to go to an area for media and so this was the answer.

Monday – HR

My first day of work experience, I was in HR. Of course, I wasn’t that interested but I arrived at the same time as one of my friends which helped a lot. I didn’t know what to expect but the offices were an open plan and the technology was very out of date.

I didn’t realise how much filing I would have to do in HR. That was basically the whole of my Monday of work experience. I also did some scanning and printing but that was basically it.

I wasn’t expecting it to be absolutely amazing but I definitely hoped for more. I was happy though that I had communications to look forward to the next day.

Tuesday – Communications

I didn’t know what to expect when I had my first day in Communications on Tuesday. I was in a different area to HR and didn’t know what it actually did.

After a quick meeting with the top people in Communications where we discussed what I wanted to get out of my work experience with them, I discovered more about what Communications was about.

It was amazing!! The person I stayed with for the day was in charge of the press office so I got to see how they dealt with media enquiries. I went with her to help her answer a query phoned in from the BBC and help answer a question from a journalist. I loved finding out all those little details of stories.

The rest of the day I spent writing up a Press Release. It wasn’t for anything too complicated but I was essentially told to just write it without a lot of information or ever actually seeing a press release. I was worried I was adding too little and then too much. It was still quite fun to do, even if it was for quite a boring subject.

Wednesday – Communications

As you could probably tell, I enjoyed Tuesday a lot more than Monday so I was actually really excited to go in on Wednesday. I started off the day by going through my press release with a fresh set of eyes. I changed a couple of things and then emailed it to the person who I was with yesterday so she could change it into an actual press release.

Next, I went with another person from Communications to take photos for their social media campaign. This was definitely the thing I enjoyed the most as it meant me going outside with a really nice quality camera to take photos of flowers which is one of my favourite things. The people in Communications were really impressed with my photos which were made in a collage and are going to be used in their actual social media campaign!!! *squeals*.

My press release was the next thing I looked at, going over it with the person I sent it to. She had changed it a little to fit the guidelines but it was still basically my press release. It was actually used by the Council this week which was so cool.

The day ended with me going to a staff briefing which was quite boring. I think it was because the information wasn’t aimed at me. I was then talked to by the Chief Executive (I know right!) and he was really nice but definitely trying to get me to work there in the future.

Thursday – Communications

It was my last day in Communications which I was actually really sad about. Thursday was definitely a ‘bitty’ day. By that I mean everyone had work to do and nothing to give to me. I did sit in a few meetings (which I’d done earlier in the week but forgot to mention, oops). They were okay but in a meeting, it just kind of meant sitting there and listening.

I had nothing to do that afternoon so I spent time looking at their different areas on their websites and creating notes on how to improve their social media (which they never saw so it was actually quite pointless).

Friday – HR

Friday was my last day of work experience! I definitely had mixed feelings about it ending as I really did enjoy working in Communications but I wasn’t looking forward to going back to HR. Luckily though, I couldn’t work with HR that morning as they were doing job evaluations so I was able to go back to Communications!! I made some job packs, helped write a summary of the Council appearing in the news and read some newsletters.

I didn’t mention it above but every lunch break, I hang out with my two other friends who were also on work experience with me there. As it was our last day there, after eating our lunch we decided to walk to a tea room to have a treat. I had the amazing drink of still mineral water as being lactose intolerant really does restrict you. It was nice though and we had a laugh (especially when one of them took out a calculator to work out how to split the bill).

That afternoon I was back in HR and spent the rest of my time watching the lady I was with, do HR stuff. It wasn’t that interesting but at the same time, it kind of was.

Overall Thoughts

Work experience was something I was not looking forward to. I had to do work experience two years ago and ended up making myself ill due to my anxiety. This time though I managed to get through the whole week, having anxiety but it not being too bad.

What it has done though is make me unsure of what I want to do after Sixth Form. I was really set on going to university (but only a near one so I can continue to live at home) but this work experience has changes my thoughts a lot. I enjoyed Communications a lot and I could definitely see myself doing it in the future as a career. I can get an Apprenticeship with that Council so I could instead of going to University, earn money and work in Communications. I’ll just have to see how I’m feeling towards the end of the year when I have to start applying to things.

• Related posts:
  • Year 12
  • Halfway through Year 12

If you have actually managed to read the whole of this, thank you so much and I hope you enjoyed it. Have you been on work experience recently? Has work experience made you question your future decisions? Are you at university or doing an apprenticeship? Tell me your thoughts in the comments!

Bethany x

Follow me on social media: Twitter|Blog Instagram|Studygram|Pinterest|Bloglovin’

 

 

My 2018 Goals – Revisited

Hi everyone!

So it’s the end of the very eventful year of 2018 and it’s time to look back on my 2018 goals! I wrote these goals as my new year resolutions and to be honest, I’ve forgotten what theses goals are so it will be interesting to actually see what they are. If you want to read that post from the start of the year, you can here.

1. Pass My GCSEs

So I did!!! I managed to pass all my GCSEs which means I’ve at least managed to complete one of my goals which is a good start. If you’re interested in finding out what grades I got in each of my subjects, you can here.

2. My Secret Projects

Okay well, I didn’t really do that. One of the projects that I wanted to do this year was to start a Twitter chat which I managed to do for a few months. I just didn’t have many people taking part and would often just be asking questions to myself so I decided to stop it but at least I attempted it.

The other project was to start a YouTube channel which I still haven’t done. I’m just not confident in front of a camera which is something I’m hoping to work on this coming year but I mean you never know when I could spring one on you all.

3. Say “Yes” More

I have done this more this year. It might not mean that I am completely committed to them but I gave more stuff a go this year which is definitely a good thing. This is again something I want to work on more next year so I can make sure to get the most out of life in Sixth Form and just life in general.

4. Take More Photos

I think I’ve achieved that this year. Getting a new phone means it’s more convenient to just whip it out and take a photo so I can look back on it in years to come. I have a lot of photos from my holidays and just joking photos of myself and family and I can tell it’s going to be nice to look at in the future.

5. Have Fun And Be Happy

Mmmmmm. Well, I suppose yes and half yes. I’ve had fun this year but it hasn’t been the happiest of years. I started the year off breaking up with my boyfriend and two of my pets died this year but at the same time, there have been moments when I’ve been happy. Prom was really fun and made me happy, I got two new pets and there have been times I’ve been happy. So yeah, this year has been as happy as it could have been.

• Related post: My 2019 Goals

So overall 2018 has definitely been an interesting year and I just want to thank all of you reading this for continuing to support my little blog. Here’s to 2019!

Bethany x

A Sixth Form Update

 

Hey everyone!!

So I’ve finally finished my first half term of sixth form *throws confetti*. I now have a week off which I’m going to use to do my homework, sort out notes/revision and write blog posts. I thought it would be interesting to share how I’m finding my sixth form so far so here we go:

Taking 4 A Levels

Yes, I am insane. For A-Level I decided to take four subjects even though most take only three. I had four subjects that I was interested in and so I decided to just take all of them. Being honest, I haven’t found it too difficult to balance four (and the most packed at that) so I’m very happy with my choice. I just have to manage my time well which I’m luckily good at.

English Literature

So I have two different teachers for English Lit (like all my A-Level subjects) and with one teacher I’m studying A Streetcar Named Desire and with the other, I’m studying A Thousand Splendid Suns. I’m definitely enjoying Streetcar the most as it’s one of the main reasons I wanted to take the subject. All I need to do is make sure I’m keeping on top of my note-taking and make good notes but I’m really enjoying it overall.

Media Studies

I LOVE Media Studies. It was a bit slow in the beginning as it was everything I did for GCSE but now we’re getting into it properly and it’s so good. We’re doing set texts with one of the teachers and with the others we’ve started analysing Life on Mars which I’m really enjoying.

Drama

I wasn’t sure whether to take Drama or not but I’m so glad I did. I’ve already performed in front of the class which has really helped with my confidence when it comes to having a class of new people. Drama is a nice mix of practical and written which is good compared to my other written heavy subjects.

History

History is definitely the most content-heavy subject. There is a lot to cover and already there’s so much that I need to learn but I’m really enjoying learning the topics. I prefer the social history to the political side so I’m excited to get to those sections especially.

Opportunities

At my Sixth Form, there’s been a lot of opportunities that I could take which was not available last year. I was able to help out with an interview day for the year above and I even got to take part in a fake interview. My anxiety really played up, especially in the interview but I got through it. It means that when I have to do it next year I’ll definitely be more confident. I’ve also joined an Enterprise club where I’m starting up a business with my friends. I actually have a survey for market research which I’d really appreciate if you could fill it out by clicking here. I’ve also signed up to be a well-being mentor for the younger years which should be good. The things I’ve done are only a fraction of what opportunities have been available which is so amazing.

What’s next?

Well on Halloween I’m going on a Drama trip to see the performance I’ll be writing about in my exam which should be good. I also have exams coming up in the first week of December so that will take up a lot of my time. I’m also hopefully going to a University Open Day in November which I’m so excited about.

• Related posts:
  • My Tips For Starting Year 11
  • Halfway through Year 12

So overall I’m really enjoying Sixth Form so well. I hope you enjoyed this post.

Bethany x

How I’m finding Sixth Form So Far

 

Hey everyone!

So I’ve been going to Sixth Form for nearly three school weeks and so I thought it would be fun to share my thoughts on how I’m finding Sixth Form so far, including my views on my subjects and just the general life of Sixth Form or at the one I’m at anyway.

Uniform

At my Sixth Form we don’t have a uniform you have to wear so you get to wear your own clothes but it has to look smart. I’m really liking wearing my own clothes, it’s so freeing and I just love it. I love the fact that I can actually dress well for the seasons which is amazing. I can be warm in the winter!

Free Periods

This is what I’ve been missing from my life. As you only do three or in my case four subjects in A-Level, there’s a lot of time when you’re not in lessons. I technically have eight free periods but four of them are “study periods” where I have to go to a special room to work. Free periods are great though, especially mine which is all at the end of the day which means I can leave early!!

English Literature

Doing English Literature at A-Level is very different from GCSE but I kind of like it better. There’s only nine of us in the class so that’s better. The texts we’re doing are so much better too like A Streetcar Named Desire which I absolutely love. I’m really enjoying it so far but I know it’s going to result in a lot of work like all my other subjects.

Media Studies

Media Studies is my biggest class with 14 people in it and so far it’s okay. The thing is we’re literally doing everything we did at GCSE so for me it’s a little boring. I absolutely love both of my teachers though. They’re both very enthusiastic about the subject and are really fun.

History

Haha. People have no clue why I’ve chosen to study History at A-Level but I really enjoy it. There are only five people in my class so it’s allowing me to actually share answers (I know right!) and the topics I’m doing are amazing. I’m doing the political part of it at the moment which I’m not the biggest fan of but I get to learn about people’s rights and the prohibition which are two areas I love. This could honestly be my favourite subject at the moment.

Drama

Drama was the A-Level I wasn’t sure whether to take or not but I’m glad I did. I’m not the most confident person in the world but I can see that I’m definitely learning to loosen up. There’s a lot more written work than in GCSE which I prefer but I’m really getting along with the eight other people in my class which is really great.

Homework

At the moment I haven’t been overwhelmed with homework but I know it’s going to get more and more. I also have some exams before Christmas so I’ve been starting to make some flashcards for History to revise from. As long as I’m organised, there shouldn’t be a problem.

• Related posts:
  • Year 12
  • Halfway through Year 12
  • Taking My Gap Year A Year Early

I hope you liked this little post and it provided you with a little insight into my life in Sixth Form.

Bethany x

My Tips For Starting Year 11

Hey everyone!!

Now, back to school season is definitely here and it’s only right to include it here on my blog! As I enter sixth form, I want to start doing some more study related posts on my blog. However, today I’m going to be giving my tips for starting Year 11.

If you haven’t seen my blog before, you might not know that I’ve just finished Year 11 and so after going through it and knowing that some people are going into Year 11 who follow my blog and I wanted to give you my tips for the year.

DON’T start hardcore revision too early

At the start of Year 11, you haven’t even finished your courses so starting hardcore revision isn’t the best idea. I would recommend going over topics to keep them fresh in your mind but that’s about it. If you feel like you want to do some kind of revision, try and learn the general idea rather than specifics. I started really revising around Easter but it’s of course down to your personal preference.

Start making your revision materials now

This is properly my biggest regret when it comes to my GCSEs because I didn’t do this. Especially your subjects like English Literature where you need to learn specifics, make your revision materials in advance so you just need to learn them when it comes to you getting to closer to exams. Do not be like me where I was making History flashcards the day before my exam. Doing it in advance will definitely help you, I promise.

Prioritise

This is definitely one of the hardest things to do but you have to prioritise. There is no way that you are going to be able to fit everything in that you want to so you need to decide what’s most important for you. For me, I prioritised subjects which I wanted to do next year and Science as it probably had the most content. However, prioritising isn’t just about school subjects, it also involves your real life. Especially when it comes to school breaks, you need to decide whether you’re going to prioritise that revision or hanging out with friends. You are going to have to make some sacrifices if you want to do well so think what’s most important to you.

Use Seneca Learning

Right, Seneca Learning is honestly amazing and you absolutely NEED to use it. If you don’t know what it is, it’s basically a free website that teaches you the specification for your subjects for each individual exam board. You might be thinking you’re covered with your revision books but you’re not.

In my GCSE, I think Biology exam, there was a question that came up and everyone did not understand what it was talking about. I recognised the term from doing the course on Seneca and was able to do the question. Once I was out of the exam everyone was talking about that question, saying it wasn’t in our revision guide and when I got home and checked it wasn’t. If I had not done Seneca, I wouldn’t have done so well on my Science and that’s honestly a true fact. I like upped my Grade by 2 or 3 grades all thanks to this website.

Make sure it’s not all about revision

I know I said earlier that you need to make sacrifices when it comes to your non-school life but don’t make your whole life revision. Have a day that you know won’t be revision and go out with your friends. Say you’ll stop revising at a certain time and go and watch an episode of a TV show.  Just don’t revise all the time, okay?

Have fun!

You’ve got to remember that Year 11 isn’t just about exams. It’s your last year if secondary school and you need to enjoy every minute as it does go really fast. For many people, you have a prom to look forward to which is honestly so much fun. Year 11 has probably been my favourite year in education so far and if it wasn’t for the exams, I’d probably want to do it all over again.

• Related posts:
  • How I’m Revising For My GCSEs
  • My GCSE Results 2018

Pin this on Pinterest so you can easily find this post in the future!

So that’s it for today’s post, I hope you liked it. If any of you want some motivation to help you study, I’ve created a studygram here which you can follow to see how I’m finding A Levels. Also, be sure to comment on any other school-related posts you’d like to see in the future as I want to do more school-related posts.

Bethany x

My GCSE Experience

Hey everyone!

Now, I know that I said that throughout June I’d be posting things to do with Pride BUT I did just finish my GCSEs today and thought I had to blog about it. You’ll be back to the Pride-themed posts on Sunday (yes, there’s another non-Pride post tomorrow). I thought it would be interesting to share my GCSE experience with you.

Study Leave

Study Leave was the one problem I had with my GCSE experience. Why? I had none. No, I had to go to school and do normal lessons. Imagine trying to revise when you’ve got a class of 15-16-year-olds who don’t care. My school also organised “boosters” for different subjects. The aim was to help us to revise that particular subject either the morning before the exam or the day before. Now, the idea might sound good but it was terrible. The teachers were not behind it, when it came to science I didn’t even have teachers that taught the specific science. The teachers didn’t actually teach us anything and honestly, it was a waste of time. This last week, I’ve actually walked out of school instead of going to boosters and I actually got so much more work done.

Waiting to go into exams

This was actually something which I strangely liked about exams. Before going inside the exam hall, we had to wait outside. Ultimately it meant chatting with your friends about how the grades boundaries will hopefully below. Although you’re slightly panicking, the fact that you’re around your friends actually helps to calm you before your names are called which I think is always a good thing.

The Invigilators

I’m honestly going to miss seeing the invigilators. The way the head examiner would run around holding pieces of paper and we would all watch her go. The way the main invigilator would get us to read instructions then talk at us for another three minutes about what it said and always made sure we wrote in “BLACK INK”. The one I’m really going to miss is the old man who dressed like he was either going fishing or to an important meeting and how he treasured the whiteboard. How he would draw an outline for the time and then fill it in. How when an exam was finished, he would spend at least five minutes rubbing the times off, making sure he got rid of it all. Those were the good times

The Exams

I’m not going to miss the exams. Some went much better than others, you could say. I would always finish early so I just watched the old man and his whiteboard. I realised how slow 2 and 1/4 hours go when you’re in a media exam. I also learned that your hand really hurts after an English Language exam followed by a History exam. See, exams did teach me stuff.

“You can stop writing now”

Those words. Every time you heard those words it was just great. You then had to make the choice whether to hand your paper in first then pack your pencil case or the other way around. Decisions, decisions. After every exam, the invigilators kept telling us to move away from the doors and some did but not many. The way you’d come out of the exam and talk to other people about their answers and realise you got a lot of answers wrong.

• Related posts:
  • My Year 11 Sign Off & Prom!
  • My GCSE Results 2018
  • My Tips For Starting Year 11
  • How I’m Balancing School & Blogging

Honestly, it’s weird that I’ve finished my exams but hey, now I’ve got SUMMER! I hope you enjoyed this post and be sure to send in your questions for a Q and A I’m doing.

Bethany x

How I manage in society as an asexual!

Hey Everyone!

This is a post I’ve been thinking to write for a while but have somehow never gotten around to it. I thought it would be interesting for me to write a post on how I manage as an asexual in the modern world.

So, society nowadays revolves a lot about sex. Adverts are designed to get you to buy a product on your sexual desire. As an asexual, I don’t feel any sexual desires (which makes me a loophole in basically all marketing) and I’m not sure about other asexuals but sex, in general, makes me very uncomfortable. This means that a lot of the time I am put under uncomfortable circumstances and today, I’m going to let you in on how I cope.

The first thing I do is try my best to avoid it. Now, I know you may be wondering how on earth that helps but when you know something is going to contain sex, you can’t be put into the uncomfortable situation if you don’t get into it. For example, I know that Twilight, Breaking Dawn Part 1 has a sex scene so I have not watched the movie, the same goes with The Fault in Our Stars. If I know that a film is going to contain a sex scene, there is a pretty high chance that I’m not going to watch it.

Now, as a teenage girl, a lot of people who I’m friends with or are near at school, talk about sex. How do I manage then? The thing I do is try to ignore them. I don’t engage in the conversation and try and look around and find something else to focus on or daydream. I know I do get a weird face as my best friend will sometimes ask me if I’m okay but I guess that’s also when someone is eating in front of me and I’m feeling sick. So, half the time I look physically uncomfortable is because someone is eating really close in front of me, 35% of the time because of sex and the last 15% because I’m about to sneeze. Some of you may be wondering why I don’t say that I’m uncomfortable but I feel that just because I’m uncomfortable, I shouldn’t force somebody else to stop their conversation. Do you get what I mean?

The last tip I have is when it comes to those situations when you are choosing to watch or read something that may include sex. The way I deal with that is just think of it as being part of the plot if that makes sense. When I first read The Court Of Series by Sarah J Maas, I didn’t know that there were so many sex scenes and I was SO uncomfortable. I’m currently reading them a second time and just seeing it as part of the story helps. I don’t try and imagine it, I take it as it is and move on. I’m currently watching Love Island (I blame my best friend for getting me into it) there is this constant thing of sex. So far, I’m coping okay but I feel like watching this does give me a clue about how much I’m able to cope with it.

The sad reality is that I just have to get used to it. I have to learn how to make sex a more comfortable thing or otherwise I’m going to live my life being uncomfortable.

• Related posts:
  • One Year Later
  • Discrimination against asexuals
  • Asexuality: The Guide
  • My Experience of Being a Bi-romantic Asexual at a British School

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post.

Bethany x

My Experience of Being a Bi-romantic Asexual at a British School

Hey everyone!!

I should be revising right now or doing homework right now but I just REALLY wanted to blog. I have so many ideas stored into my brain of different blog posts and I just want to write them but I can’t because of school. Currently, I’ve got less than two months until I start my GCSEs and I’m feeling okay. I just had another set of mocks which I passed all my core subjects with so I don’t think I have much to worry about. I just can’t wait until I finish my exams and I can blog more often and work on projects. I can’t wait to finish!!

On the topic of school, if you follow me on Twitter (which is a shame if you don’t because I think it’s pretty cool) you would have seen that I tweeted about how I was annoyed at people at my school. I told my best friend about this today and she said it would be awesome to write a whole blog post about this so here I am. To be honest, I had had the idea to do this as a blog post but had never gotten around to it.

So, in case you don’t know, I identify as a Bi-romantic Asexual *waves* and as I’m only sixteen, I go to a secondary school. Now my school is a really small comprehensive in a rural town in England so please don’t assume this is the case for every school. I can only go from my experience of what my school is like so that’s what I’m going to talk about.

To set a background, like I said above, my school is in a little town in the countryside so we’re pretty isolated. It’s a bit run down due to not having enough funding but hey, I still love it. Now as we’re pretty isolated, my school seems to be pretty behind on the wider picture. I mean I know of people who do identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community in my school but it’s something which is not spoken about. The type of people at my school seem to be very narrow-minded like I have a lot of people who are EXTREMELY racist and sexist, they even have competitions to see who can say the n-word the loudest in a class, that’s the mentality at people at my school.

So what is it like for me? Well, firstly a lot of people still use the word gay as an insult. Like they go around calling things gay, calling someone gay, calling someone’s mum gay, that kind of things. Although to them it’s just a joke, it’s often really hard to listen to. I often think that if I came out to people as Bi that it would stop but there’s already an out bisexual in a group of people and they still make those jokes so maybe it wouldn’t.

Being in Year 11 at school means that my entire year is starting to turn sixteen. What does that mean? It means that most conversations revolve around crushes and sex. I mean, I understand you’re reaching the legal age but still. Whenever these conversations take place, it is always presumed that my partner in the future will be a male. I know I haven’t come out to many people as Bi but I still think they shouldn’t presume. Like, just because I’ve had a boyfriend means I’m only into guys. One time I actually came out to my friend as she kept going on about my dream man and stuff like, I LIKE FEMALES TOO!!

When it comes to sex it’s a tough one. When conversations turn to sex or men’s private parts, I often zone out and become very uncomfortable. It often makes me feel sick too which doesn’t help. The worst part is sex education. It is the worst thing ever. I mean it. Like I understand it’s important to educate people but I hate it. Like why do I need to see cartoon people having sex? WHY?! I’ve always felt really uncomfortable when it comes to sex education but when you’re younger you just think it’s natural but mine wasn’t. My brain honestly has a strong reaction against it. Learning about contraception just makes me sick and SOOO uncomfortable. You might think I’m being overdramatic but I’m not. One time I had a lesson on contraception in Year 9 and we had to present stuff to do with the different types and the advantages and disadvantages. The whole time I had been feeling really sick and ill. I can’t remember it exactly but someone was talking about condoms and I think we were going to practice putting them on things and I felt so bad, I went outside and basically passed out. My vision clouded over black and it was the worst experience ever. After facing the humiliation of being the girl who passed out over condoms, I went with the excuse that I had a panic attack but something had always felt off with that explanation. After discovering I was asexual, that experience just made so much sense.

• Related posts:
  • Being Asexual and in a Relationship
  • My Sexuality Journey!
  • How I manage in society as an asexual!
  • Discrimination against asexuals
  • Asexuality: The Guide
  • One Year Later

With that, I’m going to leave my post here. Being my sexuality at my school can be a horrible experience, especially as there is absolutely no support there but it’s something I’ve just got to deal with. I hope you enjoyed reading this.

Bethany x