Now that I've finally caught up with my second week at BBC Three, I thought I should probably finish off my last weeks at uni! I thought I'd put them all into one post because it's been busy, but nothing particularly outstanding happened I don't think!
Week 20
Monday was back to uni after two weeks of being away and it was pretty average - a lot of sympathetic looks and asking about how I felt about my nan, but other than that it was a very average day (it was also about two months ago now). I had a meeting with my level tutor for about 45 minutes and we sorted the world out - we both got lots of feedback it was fab.
Then I went to meet my sister and we went to a concert of my favourite band, All Time Low. Yes, we saw them in London on the Friday and Southampton on the Monday - essentially, they announced the London show and we bought tickets, then they announced the rest of the tour and I couldn't let them come to Southampton without me seeing them, I couldn't do it.
Tuesday, my sister went home while I was at work first thing and then I went into uni that afternoon before I went to dance. The whole day I had this weird tight feeling in my chest and even the short walk to dance completely exhausted me so dance training was a really good idea, right?
No I had a panic attack and was sat in a corridor sobbing on my own. Fun right?
And I went into news day the next day like nothing happened! I was on the subbing team which involved sitting around for six hours then rewriting someone's story because he thinks his job at a local newspaper makes him untouchable even though he's an awful writer. Not that this angered me at all. It was a very long day.
Thursday and Friday I was at work, Saturday I went on a long walk with my boyfriend because we still play Pokemon Go even when the hype has died (lol) and then on Sunday I had my last dance competition of the season! It was in Nottingham and we put everything into it and we were so happy but then the scoring was shite and we didn't do as well as we thought so we just didn't really talk about it then I got home at 3am and I had uni at 10. Wonderful.
Goodbye Ravens forever.
I'm not dancing next year and I'm not sad about it, to be honest it's been too stressful this year.
Week 21
Another Monday! This post is going to get increasingly sarcastic I think.
Today I went to uni, I played MarioKart in a really big lecture theatre because why not and then we went for a late night Asda with our friends. Pretty chill day, why not?
Tuesday morning I got to go to Mettricks for the first time in ages - I got a hot chocolate, I had a great time, I might have been productive but I can't remember because I gave up on blogging at this point in my life because I was very depressed and keeping up with things I want to do is too much like someone who is having a good mental health day.
After Mettricks I went to uni and then, because I only finished the dance season two days ago I got into something else that's a big commitment and lots of time? Yeah sure, I went to audition for the Drama and Performance society's musical medley.
I did audition and I got a couple of small parts and I was really excited about it, but we'll get to that more later.
Then it was News Day again and I was on the radio bulletin and it was chill and fine, I did the 12pm bulletin. Then the Westminster attacks happened in London and the news room went insane and I helped with TV bulletins and did a two way in the 4pm radio bulletin.
I feel like writing about this is really dull because I submitted my news day log last week (real time, not in week 21) so I've already reflected on this week and every news day in this semester and I'm trying not to be repetitive and boring but the only person who's going to read my news day log is Jon, maybe Kevin.
But that's about it anyways.
And surprise, surprise - guess what I did on Thursday and Friday?? I was at work! Wowowowowow. I'm so tired.
Saturday I had work again and I did filming for a package that was destined to be shite and was due next week (spoiler, I got a 2:1 in the end so it wasn't as shite as I thought it was). But my camera battery was basically dead and I got really sad about it so I had to film on my phone.
Now, I don't know if this is obvious in these posts but I make little notes each week so when it comes to actually writing these posts up (eventually), I vaguely know what to write about, even if it's a month or two later.
The only notes I have for this Sunday is just 'work and clocks change and giving up a bit'. I don't think I need to add anything else.
Week 22
Monday's are pretty standard - they're my longest days of classes at uni (I don't count news day as a class, but now that I write that I'm not sure what I do count it as) and then I went to work (volunteer) at Sonar Film, showing Kong this week.
For context: Sonar Film is a society at my university that basically runs a cinema of very recent films (while they're still in the cinema if not in release week, hence Kong) and I'm part of the crew that run it. I'm part of the committee next year and I'm very excited. I love Sonar Film.
On Tuesday I went to Mettricks again (where some students were filming some sort of bad-first-date-film and it was very entertaining) but I also had two deadlines so I wasn't paying much attention. I had to edit, write and put together a whole package about World Water Day that I thought was absolutely awful and I also had to write a a critical report for music journalism analysing three music journalists. I thought it was horrific but apparently it wasn't - I got a first! Even though I wrote about one of the journalists as if they were female when they were, in fact, male, but in my defence - without doing the research (which, I know I should have done) what pronouns would you use for a writer called Alexis Petridis?
I finished both of these assignments at another drama and performance musical rehearsal, leaving uni knowing I'd be back for less than twelve hours for news day... yay.
Today I was a news journalist and I just wasn't getting into the story - there were three of us working on a really vague story that had no legit sources so we kind of blagged our way to publishing and I made an infographic on photoshop which looked legitimately awful.
The end of term was approaching and I just, didn't, care, anymore.
(The commas are for emphasis not grammatical correctness - I had to say something for the sake of my heart's happiness)
And that evening I got the train home for my nan's funeral. I thought I was ready - I thought I'd done all my crying and I thought I'd be the strong, emotionless one in a room full of sadness. I felt kind of numb.
But then we were all there in black, I was part of a funeral procession and I saw a coffin that I knew my nan was in and then we arrived at the crematorium and I saw loads of people that I love and friends and family that were all looking at me to see if I was okay and my cousin and I went to the toilet and then suddenly I found Lucas and I was broken. There was no stimulus, there was nothing that set me off I think it just set in that it was real.
Then I pulled Lucas into the reserved family section of the church thing and cried silently for the whole thing then we went and looked at all the pretty flowers and lots of people told me everything was going to be okay and my dad made some very inappropriate comments about his own death and then I avoided people.
Then I got back in the funeral car without Lucas (which wasn't fun) and we went back to a hotel cafe for the wake and then the drinking started. People bought me vodka and my family were so drunk and it was wonderful.
This is where Sonar Film becomes relevant again.
At the wake, me, my wonderful boyfriend Lucas and my best friend Nick get a message from the current President of Sonar Film (who was organising the committee for next year) sends us all a message detailing our roles in the society next year - I'm going to be the marketing manager (the elections were a couple of weeks later but I got it so it's okay) so I'm in charge of social media and stuff.
But alongside the more business like role titles, we also have to have the traditional President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary etc.
Next to my name was the word President. I had been nominated as President of Sonar Film. I was so excited and Lucas was not happy at all, because he was really interested in the role of President.
Then my mum's friends went ham on the whole 'Lucas wanted it and I got it' thing and it was so funny.
I am now President and Marketing Manager of Sonar Film and I'm so excited. Just so excited.
Moving on.
On Friday I spent some time with my dad, went for a nice lunch with the fam and my cousin gave out her wedding invites which was such a lovely way to end a very sad and sentimental couple of days and then I went and got on a train with my boyfriend because I had work on Saturday. What a surprise.
And Sunday I had a very lazy, unproductive day, but I found a gorgeous sofa that I absolutely adored in British Heart Foundation and I swear to god if I had £300 and space I'd have bought the set I loved it so much, it was going to be my throne. I also bought a fake plant that's very cute and a fairy light elephant ornament in Primark. I don't need any of those things but I own them now and I'm very happy about it.
And then...
Week 23 - last week before Easter!
Uni was weird this Monday - Lifestyle PR was really productive and my group are great and I was really happy but we were working in this area of uni that's a bit like a library but not the library and I started getting really anxious - I nearly had an anxiety attack and it was really scary so I just went and sat in one of these booths in the new building at uni, stupidly named The Spark, and continued working as if I was not freaking out internally.
Then I went to music journalism where my shit lecturer had a WikiHow article about how to be a music journalism up on the screen the whole time and I feel like that is where he got his information on how to be a music journalist which is why he's so shit.
But I played Dungeons and Dragons with my friends in the evening and it was lots of fun.
On Tuesday I did an interview with a couple of sports journalists in the morning - they interviewed me about whether dance was a sport or not and it was really interesting, also nice to help out a fellow journo. Then I tried to get some work done before uni and another rehearsal in the afternoon.
This didn't happen in Week 23, but after the Easter holidays we had a meeting with everyone from drama and performance and it turned out we don't have a space to perform this musical or time to rehearse it properly so it's being cancelled, which is sad but I think all of us would rather not perform than perform in an under-rehearsed show, so hopefully I'll have time to go back to drama and performance next year.
And then, our last news day! And I was on the editorial team so rather than my usual 9am start, I had to be in the news room by 8am on that morning. However, I was on social media and it was this day that made me realise that social media is what I need to do with my life and where I want to go.
I went to an interview for the festival circuit three weeks later and I didn't realise I have a five year plan but I have a five year plan regarding my social media career.
But after this day of being social media assistant producer on our last news day, no one was down to work at Sonar Film that night so after 9-10 hour day at uni, I then went to work a horror/comedy/psycho-thriller film I didn't want to watch (I don't rate Get Out, by the way) but I did order GBK to uni and that was mildly entertaining.
On Thursday I worked an 8 hour shift (shock horror, I just always work Thursdays) but I had to go to Sonar again and frantically organise someone to stick around with the film because I had to go to another rehearsal for the musical that isn't happening anymore and then I went and sat in a studio whilst the boys (my flatmates, my boyfriend and best friends, my boys) finished off some studio assignment thing and I got to play with a Canon 5D and it was absolutely beautiful.
Friday I was at work again, I had a really chill evening including dying my hair purple and had a really accidental late night. Oops.
I'm aware of how long this post is now oops.
Saturday I did a short shift at work and I napped in the afternoon or the second day in a row and it was a bit unsettling for me because I got out the habit of it. I just couldn't get my head into doing any work because I was so unbelievably tired.
In a stunning turn of events, I had work on Sunday however I was not in at 9am which made me so happy. I had a lie in and I loved it so much.
And all of a sudden it was the Easter holidays and it was manic busy with trying to spend time with my family when they were visiting but also doing 55 hours at work over two weeks (lol) and trying to do uni work (this didn't happen) and getting very tired and feeling like I had no break at all.
Then when I came back to uni after Easter, I had my Lifestyle PR presentation and I wrote my entire Lifestyle PR press pack in one day because I had zero time after Easter (2000 words in one day, pretty chuffed).
The rest of that week was spent trying to do my news day and work experience log due the following week and all that happened is I just kept formatting it and designing it and this and that but I didn't start writing it properly till it was due a week and a half later, but I wrote 5500 words in the end.
I've had my interview for summer festivals and I got the nicest email about how well my interview went (I was so unbelievably happy). I've been making YouTube videos and blogging and planning content and thoroughly enjoying the more free time I'm getting with each deadline that passes and I'm so excited for summer, but I do have one more deadline on May 16th for music journalism then I'm done with second year.
I've had a meeting about third year already and it's very scary but I'm excited to approach it and finish my degree but I can't believe it's been three years and three years of my life have gone - I can't believe how fast everything is going and I went to get a grip on it and start directing my future.
I'm still working a lot and this summer is turning out to be really good, I just need uni to be done now.
My plan is to do another update once all of my results for the year have come in and I can finish off second year. I'll probably do this again in third year - in first year I was constantly behind on these weekly posts and this year I was up to date until I experienced extreme grief for the first time which I feel is a pretty legit reason and maybe in third year I'll actually nail this blog!
I always write like I'm talking to someone, but this blog is entirely for me. But thanks for letting me write. It's very late and I'm going a bit mad, I need to end this.
That's basically the end of second year!
(This post is nearly 3000 word lol)
Personal blog: sophiecountsclouds.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiecountsclouds/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sophiecountsclouds
The Student Seat: https://thestudentseat.wordpress.com/
Saturday, 6 May 2017
Wednesday, 3 May 2017
Week 19: A week of too much / BBC Three Week 2
Just to begin: I know this post is a couple of months late, but I feel like you'll understand once I get into what happened in my second week at BBC Three.
Monday I was rearing and ready to go - I had done week 1 and I was almost excited to go back to my familiar underground route and see what the second week had in store.
The daily drop meeting with all the weekends social media feedback and statistics was really interesting and I nearly got invited out on a shoot that I had to turn down because it would have meant I wouldn't get back till nearer 3am and I had to be up at 6am to get ready to get the train.
I spent most of the day typing up all my ideas for Amazing Humans and sending them off to the film team - they were super helpful and they said they really liked some of my ideas and I got really good feedback.
I then spent the rest of the day working predominantly on researching press emails for film, music and TV companies to get their releases for the next six months, to see if BBC Three could do a collaboration to promote any new releases. As well as this, I did some research into who played the original Teletubbies sun, as the show was being remade and a new baby had been cast, and tried to get in contact with her.
At this point, I got to go to an editorial meeting similar to the one I went to on my first day in Week 1, but this week I got to pitch some of my ideas. They really liked some of them and one idea using a new music release to re-promote an older story on social media went really well.
Monday evening is when the week started going downhill (and why this post is so late) - I rushed through my train journey to try and make it to the last hour of dance training, I'd paid money for a taxi and literally ran to be there and then the team spent the last hour pratting around and I had no idea of the new part of the routine and it felt like a huge waste of my time and I was exhausted.
Then, in short, when I got home my mum rung me and told me my nanny was very poorly and I needed to go home to say goodbye.
So Tuesday morning I set off into London Waterloo from Southampton and at the end of the day I took a completely different route to London King's Cross and home to Peterborough from there.
During my day at BBC Three on Thursday, I worked a lot on contacting film companies and sorting their responses into a Google docs spreadsheet. It all felt really formal and I really enjoyed it - something about answering emails makes me feel official and a little bit important and especially when you've got 'BBC' in your email address.
I also did some research for my story idea about the mainstream media ganging up on Zoella, based on a Guardian article that called her the reason children's literacy rates are declining because her books are too easy (don't get me started - why attack the YouTuber that runs a book club? Anyway!). I also researched another idea I had, using the Nintendo Switch launch as an anchor to talk about older gamers, as there's a community of gamers aged 60+.
I then left a little early to get a train home.
My nan and my family didn't want me sacrificing my time at BBC Three for anything (I asked probably a thousand times), so I was up at 6am again on Wednesday leaving for the train station. This morning more than all the others I was absolutely exhausted and I really struggled to engage and focus.
Ironically, Wednesday was the day I was asked to write something for the website - alongside finishing off the film releases and doing research for a story one of the other writers was working on, I was given a video by the head of Editorial and asked to write it up into a listicle style piece as a way to guide more viewers to the YouTube and BBC iPlayer videos that were published about six months ago and didn't do so well.
This story was posted after I left, but it was so beneficial to be able to work with the writers and see how they adapted my words into their style and I started to take on their house style.
Thursday was one of the most exciting days for me in my placement - I got to go on a film shoot for a video for Comic Relief. This post has taken me so long to write that the video is now out - you can watch it here - I'm not in it at all (obviously) but it was a really interesting day. I spent the whole day watching kit but talking to the crew and seeing how it all works and understanding a lot of what they're talking about because I know a lot of TV people at uni was just so interesting, I loved it. I'd love to do more shoots in the future and I'm hoping to get involved with this at university too.
However, the journey home was an absolute nightmare as the underground was manic and all the National Rail trains were delayed and I didn't get home till really late and I was really tired and not in the mood for anything.
But I got up at 6am the next day and did it all again - I had lost my work experience pass so I had to get a new one in the morning, I was nearly late for the daily drop meeting because one of the underground lines had completely shut down at my stop so I had to find a new route, but 90% of the office were delayed too.
I started by catching up on my emails that I missed because of the shoot day, I did some more work on the listicle I wrote and carried on adding films to the Google docs spreadsheet.
Friday was my busiest day - I was given another listicle to write, I was given some factual research about videos BBC Three made last year for a variety of American sports events.
And in the evening I met up with my sister and we went to go see my favourite band on their first night of their UK tour. It all feels so long ago now, they've released two more songs since then.
Sorry if this post sounds a bit formal - I'm in the mindset of assignment writing right now and writing this post is a little bit emotionally draining for me!
I've now basically finished second year - most of my classes have ended and I only have one assignment left, but I have notes on each week from the rest of this semester and I fully intend to write them up by the end of the month!
Thank you for reading!
Personal blog: sophiecountsclouds.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiecountsclouds/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sophiecountsclouds
The Student Seat: https://thestudentseat.wordpress.com/
Monday I was rearing and ready to go - I had done week 1 and I was almost excited to go back to my familiar underground route and see what the second week had in store.
The daily drop meeting with all the weekends social media feedback and statistics was really interesting and I nearly got invited out on a shoot that I had to turn down because it would have meant I wouldn't get back till nearer 3am and I had to be up at 6am to get ready to get the train.
I spent most of the day typing up all my ideas for Amazing Humans and sending them off to the film team - they were super helpful and they said they really liked some of my ideas and I got really good feedback.
I then spent the rest of the day working predominantly on researching press emails for film, music and TV companies to get their releases for the next six months, to see if BBC Three could do a collaboration to promote any new releases. As well as this, I did some research into who played the original Teletubbies sun, as the show was being remade and a new baby had been cast, and tried to get in contact with her.
At this point, I got to go to an editorial meeting similar to the one I went to on my first day in Week 1, but this week I got to pitch some of my ideas. They really liked some of them and one idea using a new music release to re-promote an older story on social media went really well.
Monday evening is when the week started going downhill (and why this post is so late) - I rushed through my train journey to try and make it to the last hour of dance training, I'd paid money for a taxi and literally ran to be there and then the team spent the last hour pratting around and I had no idea of the new part of the routine and it felt like a huge waste of my time and I was exhausted.
Then, in short, when I got home my mum rung me and told me my nanny was very poorly and I needed to go home to say goodbye.
So Tuesday morning I set off into London Waterloo from Southampton and at the end of the day I took a completely different route to London King's Cross and home to Peterborough from there.
During my day at BBC Three on Thursday, I worked a lot on contacting film companies and sorting their responses into a Google docs spreadsheet. It all felt really formal and I really enjoyed it - something about answering emails makes me feel official and a little bit important and especially when you've got 'BBC' in your email address.
I also did some research for my story idea about the mainstream media ganging up on Zoella, based on a Guardian article that called her the reason children's literacy rates are declining because her books are too easy (don't get me started - why attack the YouTuber that runs a book club? Anyway!). I also researched another idea I had, using the Nintendo Switch launch as an anchor to talk about older gamers, as there's a community of gamers aged 60+.
I then left a little early to get a train home.
My nan and my family didn't want me sacrificing my time at BBC Three for anything (I asked probably a thousand times), so I was up at 6am again on Wednesday leaving for the train station. This morning more than all the others I was absolutely exhausted and I really struggled to engage and focus.
Ironically, Wednesday was the day I was asked to write something for the website - alongside finishing off the film releases and doing research for a story one of the other writers was working on, I was given a video by the head of Editorial and asked to write it up into a listicle style piece as a way to guide more viewers to the YouTube and BBC iPlayer videos that were published about six months ago and didn't do so well.
This story was posted after I left, but it was so beneficial to be able to work with the writers and see how they adapted my words into their style and I started to take on their house style.
Thursday was one of the most exciting days for me in my placement - I got to go on a film shoot for a video for Comic Relief. This post has taken me so long to write that the video is now out - you can watch it here - I'm not in it at all (obviously) but it was a really interesting day. I spent the whole day watching kit but talking to the crew and seeing how it all works and understanding a lot of what they're talking about because I know a lot of TV people at uni was just so interesting, I loved it. I'd love to do more shoots in the future and I'm hoping to get involved with this at university too.
However, the journey home was an absolute nightmare as the underground was manic and all the National Rail trains were delayed and I didn't get home till really late and I was really tired and not in the mood for anything.
But I got up at 6am the next day and did it all again - I had lost my work experience pass so I had to get a new one in the morning, I was nearly late for the daily drop meeting because one of the underground lines had completely shut down at my stop so I had to find a new route, but 90% of the office were delayed too.
I started by catching up on my emails that I missed because of the shoot day, I did some more work on the listicle I wrote and carried on adding films to the Google docs spreadsheet.
Friday was my busiest day - I was given another listicle to write, I was given some factual research about videos BBC Three made last year for a variety of American sports events.
And in the evening I met up with my sister and we went to go see my favourite band on their first night of their UK tour. It all feels so long ago now, they've released two more songs since then.
Sorry if this post sounds a bit formal - I'm in the mindset of assignment writing right now and writing this post is a little bit emotionally draining for me!
I've now basically finished second year - most of my classes have ended and I only have one assignment left, but I have notes on each week from the rest of this semester and I fully intend to write them up by the end of the month!
Thank you for reading!
Personal blog: sophiecountsclouds.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiecountsclouds/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sophiecountsclouds
The Student Seat: https://thestudentseat.wordpress.com/
Monday, 6 March 2017
Week 18: Adulting at BBC Three!
If I were at uni this week, I would have had Enrichment Week, which is basically a bunch of workshops on lectures to help us with employment and other key skills and I'd have had to go to a meeting about my options for third year. Basically a week off.
But I wasn't there for Enrichment Week. This week was my first of two weeks at BBC Three for a work experience placement - I was commuting into London every day from Southampton (I now spend minimum four hours a day on trains and it hurts my heart, mind, body and soul).
Because I have to make a work experience log for university, I've been writing a summary of what I've been doing every day which makes this blog post really easy to write (even if it is a couple of days late, sorry about that - the weekend was spent doing a shift at work and trying to catch up on sleep!).
This post is probably going to be very long but it's really useful for my work experience log and if you're interested in what I've been doing at the BBC, you'll get a detailed description!
Monday was terrifying - I had to wake up at 7 to be ready to leave at 8 and get a train at 8.30 that was delayed, so everything was a bit daunting on day one. Of course I was scared - it's the BBC, they're one of the biggest broadcasting companies in the UK and I might get something wrong and rule myself out of the industry forever!
But I made it onto the train and after taking a very long winded way round, I found the building that's tucked away in a little corner. And as soon as I arrived I was thrown in headfirst - I was meeting people and being told names and departments within BBC Three and it was all very intimidating but only in concept, everyone was absolutely lovely and asked me what I did and what my favourite parts of my course were and took a genuine interest in making the most of my work experience.
What surprised me most was how much of what I do in the news room was relevant in this office too - they were talking about vox pops and editorial teams and SEOs and copy and everything else.
I was set up with a computer and emailed a bunch of information to read up on and that's what we did until lunch (if I start referring to 'we', it's because there's another girl doing Work Experience the same weeks as me so we've been doing most things together). After lunch, we went to an editorial meeting where they pitched a bunch of ideas and it was brilliant - I love meetings like that (don't know why, I just like discussing content ideas with a team) and I felt so involved even though I'd only been there for a few hours and had nothing to contribute.
Later that afternoon I made myself a list of three things I wanted to achieve by the end of my two week placement and then I worked on research for the BBC Three show Amazing Humans (it's amazing, genuinely - I thoroughly recommend it) within different themes so I spent a lot of the afternoon Googling.
Then it was time to get back on the underground and head home - on Day 1 I wasn't so familiar with my route so I missed the train that would have got me home about an hour earlier and didn't get home until 9pm. It was a long ass day.
Tuesday was my first proper day commuting - getting up at 6am to leave at 7am for the train station and a 7.30am train and the only thing I've got in my notes to reflect this are the words 'early mornings might break me' and that just made me giggle a little bit.
The earlier start meant I was there early enough to attend the 10am Daily Drop meetings which made me realise three things: 1) The news room on news days at uni are really reflective of the industry, 2) the stats of BBC Three are insane like oh my actual goodness wow and 3) I want to work in this industry somehow, taking part in and leading these meetings. Yes please.
I then went on to continue my Amazing Humans research from the day before, whilst also doing some research into festivals and conventions for one writer, Nick, and mapping out film, TV show and music release dates over the next six months for another writer, Cat.
The last thing I was told about on Tuesday was how to write up a Rights Report - I was sent the template and given an episode of something that hasn't aired yet (very exciting) and I decided I would leave this till Wednesday because I didn't want to have to start and leave it half-finished.
I sent off my research to all the relevant people and deliberately left a little bit earlier so I could make it to the train that got me home so much earlier, starting to learn the underground route off by heart.
Wednesday was a much more productive and driven day and I could focus really well (despite how tired I was). The day started with the Daily Drop meeting and my notes say 'again, so cool to be in the environment'. Yes I am a massive dork but it's also true.
I started the day with the Rights Report like I said I would, I had a chat to the assistant producer of Amazing Humans to do more research for them - the feedback I got back from my other ideas was really positive so I was glad to have more themes to be looking into.
After the first Rights Report, I was given two more episodes to write the Reports for and it was a chilled but productive afternoon watching two more episodes of the show I was writing the report for. At this point I made a list of other teams I want to work with in the next week and a half but I'm not sure how well this is going to go.
Thursday is the day I have the least notes for but probably the day I did the most - again, started with the Daily Drop meeting, but then went back to do Amazing Humans research before Cat asked me if I was busy. I said no. She asked me to transcribe an interview and I'm like yeah sure - their articles have as many quotes in as the stories we write as uni and we do five minutes interviews, it will be fine. It was not fine. The interview was 42 minutes long and about a topic that isn't exactly soft and fuzzy. So the day dragged but I finished it, six hours later, and the response I was greeted with was 'wow, that was fast' which I wasn't expecting at all.
And all of a sudden it was Friday and week 1 was coming to a close - I was really starting to feel the early mornings and not having a grip on what time I fall asleep at night but the Daily Drop meeting was a bit longer this morning so I had a little bit longer to wake up. It was interesting seeing them plan ahead for the weekend and decide what content was going up when no one would be there over the weekend.
Then it was back to working - I checked over the transcript for Cat which sounds like a quick job until I remind you that it was a 42 minute interview about a heavy topic. I had to have some breaks in the middle so it was nearly lunch time by the time I'd send it all over.
That afternoon I went back to doing a variety of research for a variety of people with a little break to treat myself to lunch in the canteen but, I'll be honest, it was not worth £5.51. I've had much better fish and chips for less but it was hot food so I'm not going to complain too much.
The rest of the afternoon was a bit slower - I was really starting to flag after a week of commuting into London and it has been an emotionally taxing week too; work experience at BBC Three is a big deal!
But the one fun thing I did do on Friday afternoon was talk to some of the guys that actually go out filming stuff, and I learnt all about filming with a C300 which is a bit like some of the cameras we use at uni. I've used a C100 about ('used') but it was really fun, hopefully I'll be going on a shoot in my second week but I'm very, very excited to see more of the production side of things because it's not something I've ever really been involved with before.
And that was the week over! I got the train home and we made dinner and went to bed and I was absolutely exhausted.
Somehow I managed to wake up naturally at 9 the following day which made getting into work for 12.45 much, much easier! I then worked a five hour shift and had a nice easy night in and Sunday was a proper lazy day with a proper lie in.
Week 2 has got off to a pretty good start but I'll feedback on that hopefully at the weekend, but I'm trying not to bully myself about getting content up by a certain time on a certain day so sometime at the weekend or early next week.
Thank you for reading!
Personal blog: sophiecountsclouds.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiecountsclouds/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sophiecountsclouds
The Student Seat: https://thestudentseat.wordpress.com/
But I wasn't there for Enrichment Week. This week was my first of two weeks at BBC Three for a work experience placement - I was commuting into London every day from Southampton (I now spend minimum four hours a day on trains and it hurts my heart, mind, body and soul).
Because I have to make a work experience log for university, I've been writing a summary of what I've been doing every day which makes this blog post really easy to write (even if it is a couple of days late, sorry about that - the weekend was spent doing a shift at work and trying to catch up on sleep!).
This post is probably going to be very long but it's really useful for my work experience log and if you're interested in what I've been doing at the BBC, you'll get a detailed description!
Monday was terrifying - I had to wake up at 7 to be ready to leave at 8 and get a train at 8.30 that was delayed, so everything was a bit daunting on day one. Of course I was scared - it's the BBC, they're one of the biggest broadcasting companies in the UK and I might get something wrong and rule myself out of the industry forever!
But I made it onto the train and after taking a very long winded way round, I found the building that's tucked away in a little corner. And as soon as I arrived I was thrown in headfirst - I was meeting people and being told names and departments within BBC Three and it was all very intimidating but only in concept, everyone was absolutely lovely and asked me what I did and what my favourite parts of my course were and took a genuine interest in making the most of my work experience.
What surprised me most was how much of what I do in the news room was relevant in this office too - they were talking about vox pops and editorial teams and SEOs and copy and everything else.
I was set up with a computer and emailed a bunch of information to read up on and that's what we did until lunch (if I start referring to 'we', it's because there's another girl doing Work Experience the same weeks as me so we've been doing most things together). After lunch, we went to an editorial meeting where they pitched a bunch of ideas and it was brilliant - I love meetings like that (don't know why, I just like discussing content ideas with a team) and I felt so involved even though I'd only been there for a few hours and had nothing to contribute.
Later that afternoon I made myself a list of three things I wanted to achieve by the end of my two week placement and then I worked on research for the BBC Three show Amazing Humans (it's amazing, genuinely - I thoroughly recommend it) within different themes so I spent a lot of the afternoon Googling.
Then it was time to get back on the underground and head home - on Day 1 I wasn't so familiar with my route so I missed the train that would have got me home about an hour earlier and didn't get home until 9pm. It was a long ass day.
Tuesday was my first proper day commuting - getting up at 6am to leave at 7am for the train station and a 7.30am train and the only thing I've got in my notes to reflect this are the words 'early mornings might break me' and that just made me giggle a little bit.
The earlier start meant I was there early enough to attend the 10am Daily Drop meetings which made me realise three things: 1) The news room on news days at uni are really reflective of the industry, 2) the stats of BBC Three are insane like oh my actual goodness wow and 3) I want to work in this industry somehow, taking part in and leading these meetings. Yes please.
I then went on to continue my Amazing Humans research from the day before, whilst also doing some research into festivals and conventions for one writer, Nick, and mapping out film, TV show and music release dates over the next six months for another writer, Cat.
The last thing I was told about on Tuesday was how to write up a Rights Report - I was sent the template and given an episode of something that hasn't aired yet (very exciting) and I decided I would leave this till Wednesday because I didn't want to have to start and leave it half-finished.
I sent off my research to all the relevant people and deliberately left a little bit earlier so I could make it to the train that got me home so much earlier, starting to learn the underground route off by heart.
Wednesday was a much more productive and driven day and I could focus really well (despite how tired I was). The day started with the Daily Drop meeting and my notes say 'again, so cool to be in the environment'. Yes I am a massive dork but it's also true.
I started the day with the Rights Report like I said I would, I had a chat to the assistant producer of Amazing Humans to do more research for them - the feedback I got back from my other ideas was really positive so I was glad to have more themes to be looking into.
After the first Rights Report, I was given two more episodes to write the Reports for and it was a chilled but productive afternoon watching two more episodes of the show I was writing the report for. At this point I made a list of other teams I want to work with in the next week and a half but I'm not sure how well this is going to go.
Thursday is the day I have the least notes for but probably the day I did the most - again, started with the Daily Drop meeting, but then went back to do Amazing Humans research before Cat asked me if I was busy. I said no. She asked me to transcribe an interview and I'm like yeah sure - their articles have as many quotes in as the stories we write as uni and we do five minutes interviews, it will be fine. It was not fine. The interview was 42 minutes long and about a topic that isn't exactly soft and fuzzy. So the day dragged but I finished it, six hours later, and the response I was greeted with was 'wow, that was fast' which I wasn't expecting at all.
And all of a sudden it was Friday and week 1 was coming to a close - I was really starting to feel the early mornings and not having a grip on what time I fall asleep at night but the Daily Drop meeting was a bit longer this morning so I had a little bit longer to wake up. It was interesting seeing them plan ahead for the weekend and decide what content was going up when no one would be there over the weekend.
Then it was back to working - I checked over the transcript for Cat which sounds like a quick job until I remind you that it was a 42 minute interview about a heavy topic. I had to have some breaks in the middle so it was nearly lunch time by the time I'd send it all over.
That afternoon I went back to doing a variety of research for a variety of people with a little break to treat myself to lunch in the canteen but, I'll be honest, it was not worth £5.51. I've had much better fish and chips for less but it was hot food so I'm not going to complain too much.
The rest of the afternoon was a bit slower - I was really starting to flag after a week of commuting into London and it has been an emotionally taxing week too; work experience at BBC Three is a big deal!
But the one fun thing I did do on Friday afternoon was talk to some of the guys that actually go out filming stuff, and I learnt all about filming with a C300 which is a bit like some of the cameras we use at uni. I've used a C100 about ('used') but it was really fun, hopefully I'll be going on a shoot in my second week but I'm very, very excited to see more of the production side of things because it's not something I've ever really been involved with before.
And that was the week over! I got the train home and we made dinner and went to bed and I was absolutely exhausted.
Somehow I managed to wake up naturally at 9 the following day which made getting into work for 12.45 much, much easier! I then worked a five hour shift and had a nice easy night in and Sunday was a proper lazy day with a proper lie in.
Week 2 has got off to a pretty good start but I'll feedback on that hopefully at the weekend, but I'm trying not to bully myself about getting content up by a certain time on a certain day so sometime at the weekend or early next week.
Thank you for reading!
Personal blog: sophiecountsclouds.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiecountsclouds/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sophiecountsclouds
The Student Seat: https://thestudentseat.wordpress.com/
Saturday, 25 February 2017
Week 17: What a week!
Feel like a kind of 'not' week this week - the beginning was very productive but writing this on Saturday I'm feeling very groggy and tired because another dance competition but let's chat about that at the end.
Monday was a lot better than last Monday where all my lectures were cancelled - Lifestyle PR was on this week and it was brilliant, I love my tutor and she's brilliant but also I worked with my group and we feel a lot more on top of things now. Annoyingly, I"m not going to be back in Lifestyle PR for three weeks now because of my work experience but we're all going to work on it and come back together in March.
Music journalism was another story - we were all sat down in the lecture and then someone popped their head round the door and said that Jerry was 'so ill' and wasn't going to make it in today... why couldn't he have told us this earlier? I'm now not going to see Jerry for about six weeks because he's so ill and I've got work experience. Is Jerry ill or is Everett True, his pseudonym for music criticism, ill? Because he views them as two different people and it's creepy. I love music journalism but he's the most useless tutor I've ever had.
Tuesday was slightly better - it was a Mettricks morning and I waited until today, deadline day, to start editing my package today. Though, I cut the video down pretty quickly and the audio didn't take long at all, I wrote the script for the video and audio voiceover and made a start on the copy. I'd done 90% of the editing before I went into uni that afternoon but then I was given quite a lot of video editing to do by my tutor who was giving me brilliant feedback to work on before hand in and it was all uploaded with more than half an hour to go. Good job me.
Wednesday was another live news day, I was on the TV bulletin and I was really excited about it because I love being on the TV bulletin. I did the 3pm bulletin that went quite well, I think - I had to do a live link with someone at a university football game and I used my own package story that I'd submitted the night before about the Family Orchestra workshops and I got to talk about my dance teams which was really fun. On the 1pm bulletin I played the videos over the script and on the 5pm bulletin I was vision mixing, which means I picked which screen is live out of the two cameras, the VT videos and the outside broadcast live link - it was a job I hadn't done before and I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope I get to do it again in the coming weeks.
Thursday saw me leaving Southampton for the weekend - my boyfriend and I left our flat at 10am to get a 10.30am train which got into London at about 12pm, we went from Waterloo to Kings Cross by about 12.20pm and then waited to get on our train at 1pm. This is where shit hits the fan. Storm Doris ruined our day - we sat on our train for nearly an hour before being asked to 'detrain' and no train was leaving until 5pm but somehow we got on a 3.22pm train that actually left the station but took a really long as time to get to Peterborough and our three and a half hour journey turned into an eight hour stress fest. But it ended with my dad's shepherd's pie so it wasn't all bad.
Friday was fab - had an amazing lie in, very chill day, went into town in the afternoon and went to my favourite bakery and bought some new make-up and tried to do a photography project but it didn't work. Essentially, my plan was to take pictures every 20 paces and put it all together into a cute video and overlay it with my monthly covers that I make on my YouTube channel but I'm not sure how well that's going to go. I'll let you know.
Then this weekend is a busy one - I've got another dance comp today (Saturday) and it's much later in the day so I won't get there until about 4 and we're not dancing until gone 7.30 and Lucas and I are getting a train back very late tonight.
And tomorrow I've got work and somehow I've got to prep for my work experience with BBC Three next week. I'm trying not to think about this one because I'm very scared so, again: I'll feedback next week.
So in reflection, this week has actually gone pretty well but I'm very apprehensive about next week - it's just hit me that I'm going to the BBC in two days and I'm very scared, like really, really scared. But a little bit excited.
Personal blog: sophiecountsclouds.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiecountsclouds/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sophiecountsclouds
The Student Seat: https://thestudentseat.wordpress.com/
Monday was a lot better than last Monday where all my lectures were cancelled - Lifestyle PR was on this week and it was brilliant, I love my tutor and she's brilliant but also I worked with my group and we feel a lot more on top of things now. Annoyingly, I"m not going to be back in Lifestyle PR for three weeks now because of my work experience but we're all going to work on it and come back together in March.
Music journalism was another story - we were all sat down in the lecture and then someone popped their head round the door and said that Jerry was 'so ill' and wasn't going to make it in today... why couldn't he have told us this earlier? I'm now not going to see Jerry for about six weeks because he's so ill and I've got work experience. Is Jerry ill or is Everett True, his pseudonym for music criticism, ill? Because he views them as two different people and it's creepy. I love music journalism but he's the most useless tutor I've ever had.
Tuesday was slightly better - it was a Mettricks morning and I waited until today, deadline day, to start editing my package today. Though, I cut the video down pretty quickly and the audio didn't take long at all, I wrote the script for the video and audio voiceover and made a start on the copy. I'd done 90% of the editing before I went into uni that afternoon but then I was given quite a lot of video editing to do by my tutor who was giving me brilliant feedback to work on before hand in and it was all uploaded with more than half an hour to go. Good job me.
Wednesday was another live news day, I was on the TV bulletin and I was really excited about it because I love being on the TV bulletin. I did the 3pm bulletin that went quite well, I think - I had to do a live link with someone at a university football game and I used my own package story that I'd submitted the night before about the Family Orchestra workshops and I got to talk about my dance teams which was really fun. On the 1pm bulletin I played the videos over the script and on the 5pm bulletin I was vision mixing, which means I picked which screen is live out of the two cameras, the VT videos and the outside broadcast live link - it was a job I hadn't done before and I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope I get to do it again in the coming weeks.
Thursday saw me leaving Southampton for the weekend - my boyfriend and I left our flat at 10am to get a 10.30am train which got into London at about 12pm, we went from Waterloo to Kings Cross by about 12.20pm and then waited to get on our train at 1pm. This is where shit hits the fan. Storm Doris ruined our day - we sat on our train for nearly an hour before being asked to 'detrain' and no train was leaving until 5pm but somehow we got on a 3.22pm train that actually left the station but took a really long as time to get to Peterborough and our three and a half hour journey turned into an eight hour stress fest. But it ended with my dad's shepherd's pie so it wasn't all bad.
Friday was fab - had an amazing lie in, very chill day, went into town in the afternoon and went to my favourite bakery and bought some new make-up and tried to do a photography project but it didn't work. Essentially, my plan was to take pictures every 20 paces and put it all together into a cute video and overlay it with my monthly covers that I make on my YouTube channel but I'm not sure how well that's going to go. I'll let you know.
Then this weekend is a busy one - I've got another dance comp today (Saturday) and it's much later in the day so I won't get there until about 4 and we're not dancing until gone 7.30 and Lucas and I are getting a train back very late tonight.
And tomorrow I've got work and somehow I've got to prep for my work experience with BBC Three next week. I'm trying not to think about this one because I'm very scared so, again: I'll feedback next week.
So in reflection, this week has actually gone pretty well but I'm very apprehensive about next week - it's just hit me that I'm going to the BBC in two days and I'm very scared, like really, really scared. But a little bit excited.
Personal blog: sophiecountsclouds.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiecountsclouds/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sophiecountsclouds
The Student Seat: https://thestudentseat.wordpress.com/
Monday, 20 February 2017
Week 16: A Week of No Progress
This week has been a mixed one - writing it now, a week later, it feels like far more than just one week ago but this is why I document it I suppose!
On Monday I woke up so ready for the day - the week before I'd been ill and I was ready to come back and smash it today, but I got an email from my tutor for my first three hours today and she was ill so it was cancelled... so I carried on getting ready, just taking my team a bit more then I got another email and my tutor for my second three hours of lecture and seminar was ill too and all of sudden - my six hour day at uni had whittled down to a sudden day of nothing.
I tried to use that time productively - sitting at my desk and working through a bunch of admin stuff (finally getting the confirmation of my work experience at the BBC!) before going to see Busted in Portsmouth that evening. I wrote a review on my personal blog sophie counts clouds if you're interested!
Tuesday felt more like an accomplished day - I went to Mettricks, my favourite, favourite cafe, for about 9.30am, I made a long to do list of things I needed to really focus on. It was only 7 or 8 things long (that's a short list for me) but I still didn't finish a lot of it, I'm finding it very difficult to focus right now and then I get sad and feel more unproductive and I feel even less focused, I'm working on it.
I did get a little ahead in blogging and write my post for Wednesday in advance and plan everything a little bit more, so I feel a little bit like I had more of a plan - one of my unfocused coping mechanisms.
Wednesday was News Day, I had a somewhat mediocre story that was managed to pull together, we did a live link with the TV bulletin meaning I was live on location, presenting to the news room which was very fun and a little bit scary. When we got back to the news room we tied the story together and I also helped with the 3pm and 5pm TV bulletin too.
That evening I helped one of the third year's film an interview for their FMP package and then went to another friends house because it was an emotional day. I needed love and attention.
Thursday was a new start however! I had work during the day and I remembered how much I love my job and I enjoy it so much right now, then in the evening I worked at my uni's cinema, showing Split, the new James McAvoy film.
Thoughts on Split: incredible performance by McAvoy, if it had been released a few weeks earlier he would definitely have an Oscar nomination, but the rest of the film was very disturbing, unnecessarily sexual and a horrifically negative representation of mental illness, even though it's meant to be exaggerated, almost supernatural it paints a very negative image of mental illness.
Friday was meant to be my day off - late Valentine's lunch with my boyfriend then a chilled afternoon getting on with some work before my first dance comp the following day, but I ended up going straight from lunch into work then having to rush everything in the evening. Still waiting for a day off day!
Saturday, however, was my first dance competition of the season and even though I hated most comps last year, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Future Cheer was so much fun, getting up at 4am actually made me feel quite good, I like being up early and then it was a busy morning of make-up, costumes and dancing and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We then came in the top half for our jazz dance and improved on last year's hip hop placement, though the winning hip hop team did tell us they thought we should place higher and that they didn't expect to win, but I'll keep my opinions on that to myself...
Sunday was a more chilled day - stayed in bed all morning, went to Asda over lunch then spent the afternoon trying to get some stuff done (again, not to much success).
This week is going to be much more productive - I've got another dance comp, I'm going home for the weekend and next week I start my BBC Three work experience. It's all looking up now!
Personal blog: sophiecountsclouds.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiecountsclouds/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sophiecountsclouds
The Student Seat: https://thestudentseat.wordpress.com/
On Monday I woke up so ready for the day - the week before I'd been ill and I was ready to come back and smash it today, but I got an email from my tutor for my first three hours today and she was ill so it was cancelled... so I carried on getting ready, just taking my team a bit more then I got another email and my tutor for my second three hours of lecture and seminar was ill too and all of sudden - my six hour day at uni had whittled down to a sudden day of nothing.
I tried to use that time productively - sitting at my desk and working through a bunch of admin stuff (finally getting the confirmation of my work experience at the BBC!) before going to see Busted in Portsmouth that evening. I wrote a review on my personal blog sophie counts clouds if you're interested!
Tuesday felt more like an accomplished day - I went to Mettricks, my favourite, favourite cafe, for about 9.30am, I made a long to do list of things I needed to really focus on. It was only 7 or 8 things long (that's a short list for me) but I still didn't finish a lot of it, I'm finding it very difficult to focus right now and then I get sad and feel more unproductive and I feel even less focused, I'm working on it.
I did get a little ahead in blogging and write my post for Wednesday in advance and plan everything a little bit more, so I feel a little bit like I had more of a plan - one of my unfocused coping mechanisms.
Wednesday was News Day, I had a somewhat mediocre story that was managed to pull together, we did a live link with the TV bulletin meaning I was live on location, presenting to the news room which was very fun and a little bit scary. When we got back to the news room we tied the story together and I also helped with the 3pm and 5pm TV bulletin too.
That evening I helped one of the third year's film an interview for their FMP package and then went to another friends house because it was an emotional day. I needed love and attention.
Thursday was a new start however! I had work during the day and I remembered how much I love my job and I enjoy it so much right now, then in the evening I worked at my uni's cinema, showing Split, the new James McAvoy film.
Thoughts on Split: incredible performance by McAvoy, if it had been released a few weeks earlier he would definitely have an Oscar nomination, but the rest of the film was very disturbing, unnecessarily sexual and a horrifically negative representation of mental illness, even though it's meant to be exaggerated, almost supernatural it paints a very negative image of mental illness.
Friday was meant to be my day off - late Valentine's lunch with my boyfriend then a chilled afternoon getting on with some work before my first dance comp the following day, but I ended up going straight from lunch into work then having to rush everything in the evening. Still waiting for a day off day!
Saturday, however, was my first dance competition of the season and even though I hated most comps last year, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Future Cheer was so much fun, getting up at 4am actually made me feel quite good, I like being up early and then it was a busy morning of make-up, costumes and dancing and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We then came in the top half for our jazz dance and improved on last year's hip hop placement, though the winning hip hop team did tell us they thought we should place higher and that they didn't expect to win, but I'll keep my opinions on that to myself...
Sunday was a more chilled day - stayed in bed all morning, went to Asda over lunch then spent the afternoon trying to get some stuff done (again, not to much success).
This week is going to be much more productive - I've got another dance comp, I'm going home for the weekend and next week I start my BBC Three work experience. It's all looking up now!
Personal blog: sophiecountsclouds.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiecountsclouds/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sophiecountsclouds
The Student Seat: https://thestudentseat.wordpress.com/
Saturday, 11 February 2017
Week 15: Finding My Own Feet
It's been a very mixed bag this week - it started slow and self-pitying and ended on a surprisingly hard working and self-sufficient end.
Monday was a slow day - I got out of bed ready to go to uni for 10am and I managed about 5 minutes out of bed before I crawled back to my boyfriend in tears because I felt so ill and the day was done. I didn't go to uni, I barely ate and then I went to watch my dance training class because I definitely didn't have the energy to join in.
I didn't blog, I didn't edit any videos, I didn't do any uni work and I didn't eat any real dinner either - Monday was a write off.
Tuesday morning didn't fare much better - I stayed in bed and did my best to try and recover, slowly preparing myself to be at uni that afternoon and I managed it, 4-6 I was in university and 6-8 I went to watch another dance class because whilst I made it into uni, I'd still barely eaten in the previous five days so I wasn't going to make myself try to dance for two hours.
And I was also mentally preparing myself for Wednesday - News Day, the 9-5 day that I was hoping wouldn't be too strenuous or difficult. And luckily the story I was on wasn't strenuous or difficult - I was on a story about how Southampton is going to become a dementia friendly city, we got a really good interview and then we spent a casual afternoon writing copy and editing the interview and sourcing pictures. Pretty chill.
Thursday and Friday I had two full days at work (bearing in mind I usually only work four hours a week, so it really knocked it out of me), Thursday evening I was still working at Sonar and Friday evening my boyfriend and I made pizza for dinner and it was really fun but I needed another early night.
Saturday morning was another early start because I went to a Family Orchestra Workshop just outside Southampton city centre to film, take photos and do a few interviews for my first assignment package. I now have over a week to edit it all together and that makes me very happy.
The rest of Saturday and all of Sunday are going to be my chill days - I'm still getting over whatever this illness is and I'm very excited to have the rest of the weekend to recover a little bit before a manic day again on Monday.
Next week is set to be another really manic week with my new Monday with a changed timetable, hopefully I'll see the end of this illness and I've got my first dance competition at the weekend!
Personal blog: sophiecountsclouds.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiecountsclouds/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sophiecountsclouds
The Student Seat: https://thestudentseat.wordpress.com/
Monday was a slow day - I got out of bed ready to go to uni for 10am and I managed about 5 minutes out of bed before I crawled back to my boyfriend in tears because I felt so ill and the day was done. I didn't go to uni, I barely ate and then I went to watch my dance training class because I definitely didn't have the energy to join in.
I didn't blog, I didn't edit any videos, I didn't do any uni work and I didn't eat any real dinner either - Monday was a write off.
Tuesday morning didn't fare much better - I stayed in bed and did my best to try and recover, slowly preparing myself to be at uni that afternoon and I managed it, 4-6 I was in university and 6-8 I went to watch another dance class because whilst I made it into uni, I'd still barely eaten in the previous five days so I wasn't going to make myself try to dance for two hours.
And I was also mentally preparing myself for Wednesday - News Day, the 9-5 day that I was hoping wouldn't be too strenuous or difficult. And luckily the story I was on wasn't strenuous or difficult - I was on a story about how Southampton is going to become a dementia friendly city, we got a really good interview and then we spent a casual afternoon writing copy and editing the interview and sourcing pictures. Pretty chill.
Thursday and Friday I had two full days at work (bearing in mind I usually only work four hours a week, so it really knocked it out of me), Thursday evening I was still working at Sonar and Friday evening my boyfriend and I made pizza for dinner and it was really fun but I needed another early night.
Saturday morning was another early start because I went to a Family Orchestra Workshop just outside Southampton city centre to film, take photos and do a few interviews for my first assignment package. I now have over a week to edit it all together and that makes me very happy.
The rest of Saturday and all of Sunday are going to be my chill days - I'm still getting over whatever this illness is and I'm very excited to have the rest of the weekend to recover a little bit before a manic day again on Monday.
Next week is set to be another really manic week with my new Monday with a changed timetable, hopefully I'll see the end of this illness and I've got my first dance competition at the weekend!
Personal blog: sophiecountsclouds.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiecountsclouds/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sophiecountsclouds
The Student Seat: https://thestudentseat.wordpress.com/
Sunday, 5 February 2017
Week 14: We got a house!
Let's just jump into this, because I'm actually quite ill right now and I know it's a day late (will try and get back to Saturday uploads, sorry!) so I'll just start with Monday.
Monday is my busiest day at uni - I went in for my 9am however my tutor wasn't going to be there till later but we got some extra work done before she showed up and then I had to leave a bit early to go to a house viewing. We'd been to a viewing on Friday of a house that we loved but we just wanted to check this house to see if it could compare to the one we'd seen but we all left the viewing on Monday saying we were going to apply for the one we saw before (trying to describe this without giving the addresses is proving difficult!) and by Thursday we'd finished the application for the house and on Saturday we were told the landlord wants to proceed with the application and we paid our deposit so we're just waiting for the house to come off the market now.
So after that viewing, I went back to uni for my music lecture and seminar - still super creeped out by my lecturer, this week on 'what did he do now?': telling us about how he and Chris Martin of Coldplay talked about losing their virginity... I don't want to know.
And after this seminar I had to make a visit to the council for a news day story and it was mostly a waste of time but I did it. I then went to Asda and did a weeks shop and then I had to rush dinner before I went to dance and I was very tired. I was emotionally drained and felt like the whole day was awful even though we started the process of applying for a gorgeous house and I am excited about it but I wasn't on Monday.
Tuesday saw the return of Mettricks mornings - 10am I was ready and working and I struggled a little with focusing and getting things done but I got something done and that's better than nothing, I then took a little walk to get the rest of the footage for the news day story I was working on, I had uni at 4, dance at 6 and I really wanted an early night but I don't think I got one.
Wednesday was my first live news day of the semester and it wasn't too bad - we were given a story about how the Northern lights won't be visible from the UK by 2050... Yeah, I didn't know you could see the Northern lights from the UK either. But we managed to make it a story about how global warming is effecting a lot of the worlds most beautiful natural phenomenons and you can read that here if you're interested!
On Thursday I was working from 11-3, I went to drop off the last of our house application at the letting agents and then I walked a very long way to my dads hotel and spent the afternoon with my dad and then I was at Sonar Film and finally saw La La Land, I wrote a full review on my personal blog if you're interested! La La Land review
Friday I went to Sainsburys with my dad and he bought me shopping (yay) and then we picked up the boys (how I refer to my flatmates) and we all went for lunch and then I went home for a nap, then we went and met my dad for dinner and then we went to the pub and then I went home.
Friday was the day I really started feeling really ill, I kept getting stomach cramps and I felt really tired and week and this only got worse.
I barely slept that nice, I was up 9 times in the night because I was in so much pain and I felt horrific. I tried to spend more time with my dad on Saturday but he could tell, I knew, everyone knew that I wasn't in the right space to be out of bed. So he dropped me back at home and I collapsed back in bed, I called in sick to work on Sunday because I knew I couldn't rely on my health for the next day and called the day a write off.
And today (Sunday), I am actually feeling a lot better - I slept through most of the night last night and I'm not as completely knocked out today but I definitely wouldn't have made it at work today and I'm very, very grateful for the day off.
Hopefully today will be the last day of whatever it is I've got and I can kick off next week with a bang, but having our house application approved was definitely a nice positive to make up for the end of the end of this week!
Personal blog: sophiecountsclouds.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiecountsclouds/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sophiecountsclouds
The Student Seat: https://thestudentseat.wordpress.com/
Monday is my busiest day at uni - I went in for my 9am however my tutor wasn't going to be there till later but we got some extra work done before she showed up and then I had to leave a bit early to go to a house viewing. We'd been to a viewing on Friday of a house that we loved but we just wanted to check this house to see if it could compare to the one we'd seen but we all left the viewing on Monday saying we were going to apply for the one we saw before (trying to describe this without giving the addresses is proving difficult!) and by Thursday we'd finished the application for the house and on Saturday we were told the landlord wants to proceed with the application and we paid our deposit so we're just waiting for the house to come off the market now.
So after that viewing, I went back to uni for my music lecture and seminar - still super creeped out by my lecturer, this week on 'what did he do now?': telling us about how he and Chris Martin of Coldplay talked about losing their virginity... I don't want to know.
And after this seminar I had to make a visit to the council for a news day story and it was mostly a waste of time but I did it. I then went to Asda and did a weeks shop and then I had to rush dinner before I went to dance and I was very tired. I was emotionally drained and felt like the whole day was awful even though we started the process of applying for a gorgeous house and I am excited about it but I wasn't on Monday.
Tuesday saw the return of Mettricks mornings - 10am I was ready and working and I struggled a little with focusing and getting things done but I got something done and that's better than nothing, I then took a little walk to get the rest of the footage for the news day story I was working on, I had uni at 4, dance at 6 and I really wanted an early night but I don't think I got one.
Wednesday was my first live news day of the semester and it wasn't too bad - we were given a story about how the Northern lights won't be visible from the UK by 2050... Yeah, I didn't know you could see the Northern lights from the UK either. But we managed to make it a story about how global warming is effecting a lot of the worlds most beautiful natural phenomenons and you can read that here if you're interested!
On Thursday I was working from 11-3, I went to drop off the last of our house application at the letting agents and then I walked a very long way to my dads hotel and spent the afternoon with my dad and then I was at Sonar Film and finally saw La La Land, I wrote a full review on my personal blog if you're interested! La La Land review
Friday I went to Sainsburys with my dad and he bought me shopping (yay) and then we picked up the boys (how I refer to my flatmates) and we all went for lunch and then I went home for a nap, then we went and met my dad for dinner and then we went to the pub and then I went home.
Friday was the day I really started feeling really ill, I kept getting stomach cramps and I felt really tired and week and this only got worse.
I barely slept that nice, I was up 9 times in the night because I was in so much pain and I felt horrific. I tried to spend more time with my dad on Saturday but he could tell, I knew, everyone knew that I wasn't in the right space to be out of bed. So he dropped me back at home and I collapsed back in bed, I called in sick to work on Sunday because I knew I couldn't rely on my health for the next day and called the day a write off.
And today (Sunday), I am actually feeling a lot better - I slept through most of the night last night and I'm not as completely knocked out today but I definitely wouldn't have made it at work today and I'm very, very grateful for the day off.
Hopefully today will be the last day of whatever it is I've got and I can kick off next week with a bang, but having our house application approved was definitely a nice positive to make up for the end of the end of this week!
Personal blog: sophiecountsclouds.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiecountsclouds/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sophiecountsclouds
The Student Seat: https://thestudentseat.wordpress.com/
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