Six Weeks of Adventure

I've not written a post for a while. This is because the last six weeks of my life have been insane.

Last time I posted I was about to embark on 'a new adventure'. Uni was over, the summer was coming to an end and my graduate job was starting. I was full of nerves about stepping into the relatively unknown.

Six weeks on from Induction all that can be said is 'So Far, So Good'.
I met the other graduates, 20 in total. Obviously some oddballs mixed in there but you always get one (or three) on a bus trip. We had induction together, since then we've all seen eachother several times. We went on a MESSY night out in London a few weekends ago. Just what was needed to break the ice. I don't think anyone really knows the other until they've had a few glasses of wine (translation: MANY Long Island Iced Teas) and let their barriers down. It was so good to see those who did. The Grad family is a good strong concept I think. We move around so much in this scheme but these 20 people are a constant and it's one of the wierder things to think i didn't know some of those guys 6 weeks ago. I can genuinely imagine becoming real friends with a few.

I'm in IT. I've been given people to manage and projects to deliver. I now have an IT Service Management Qualification which is a joke because I'm still a complete Techtard. I'm obviously shitting bricks (excuse my terminology), feeling way out of my depth but people keep telling me this is healthy? I remain unconvinced.

Mega issues with the people I've been given to manage but bearing in mind this is going on the internet (to however a tiny audience), I'll say this, they are 'interesting characters'. Read into that what you will. No don't I might as well tell you, one feels as though the world has fucked him over and as a consequence hates everything and everyone in it. And the other hates women. No... not so much hates, merely has no respect for them other than in the role of wife and mother. Which means in his eyes I am a pointless individual who is now his supervisor. It's all sunshine and laughter in my team meetings.... *MASSIVE SARCASM*

I've been travelling around loads. and loads. and loads. Which has been brilliant. I was in Holland the other week. Score! I'm now an international, jetsetting business executive. I WISH. I was so excited when they said we were flying to Amsterdam aber, kein Amsterdam fun for me. Still a pretty snazzy experience, not going to moan.

The incredible upside of me managing 'my favourite people in the world' (insert actual emotions as you feel appropriate) is I'm in a very cool office. We're not talking the office next to Tower Bridge with all the glamorous people, cool but genuinely friendly, laid back people, cool. One thing about the Black Country people is they're basically Yorkshire folk with a different dialect. They are such a lovely bunch of people in the office, everyone has gone so far out of their way to make me feel welcome. A few Friday nights at the pub have ensued which I class as a massive positive. Although I've had to learn to understand the accent pretty quickly I'm getting there with my favourite saying so far being: "Y'am saft y'am". Translation "You are daft you are". Faaantastic :)

My weekends have been packed with nights out in London, binge weekends in Newcastle with the Hurst bezzies, weekends in Reading carrying on the battle that has become my relationship, visiting the parents and various other misdemeanours.  This all means basically that my feet don't seem to have touched the ground in the past six weeks and it really has been an adventure. Will blog about more interesting things soon, like my new obsession with the TV show Girls!

Update complete, K over and out.
x

11.11

There are no words that have not been said before....

"Please wear a poppy," the lady said

And held one forth, but I shook my head.

Then I stopped and watched as she offered them there,

And her face was old and lined with care;

But beneath the scars the years had made

There remained a smile that refused to fade.

A boy came whistling down the street,

Bouncing along on care-free feet.

His smile was full of joy and fun,

"Lady," said he, "may I have one?"

When she's pinned in on he turned to say,

"Why do we wear a poppy today?"

The lady smiled in her wistful way

And answered, "This is Remembrance Day,

And the poppy there is the symbol for

The gallant men who died in war.

And because they did, you and I are free -

That's why we wear a poppy, you see.

"I had a boy about your size,

With golden hair and big blue eyes.

He loved to play and jump and shout,

Free as a bird he would race about.

As the years went by he learned and grew

and became a man - as you will, too.

"He was fine and strong, with a boyish smile,

But he'd seemed with us such a little while

When war broke out and he went away.

I still remember his face that day

When he smiled at me and said, Goodbye,

I'll be back soon, Mom, so please don't cry.

"But the war went on and he had to stay,

And all I could do was wait and pray.

His letters told of the awful fight,

(I can see it still in my dreams at night),

With the tanks and guns and cruel barbed wire,

And the mines and bullets, the bombs and fire.

"Till at last, at last, the war was won -

And that's why we wear a poppy son."

The small boy turned as if to go,

Then said, "Thanks, lady, I'm glad to know.

That sure did sound like an awful fight,

But your son - did he come back all right?"

A tear rolled down each faded check;

She shook her head, but didn't speak.

I slunk away in a sort of shame,

And if you were me you'd have done the same;

For our thanks, in giving, if oft delayed,

Thought our freedom was bought - and thousands paid!

And so when we see a poppy worn,

Let us reflect on the burden borne,

By those who gave their very all

When asked to answer their country's call

That we at home in peace might live.

Then wear a poppy! Remember - and give!

Don Crawford. 

At the going down of the sun and in the morning. We will remember them...

K x

A quick jaunt to Bulgaria...

Backdated Blog:

So a few weeks ago, no almost a month ago now (I really am a bad blogger) I went to visit these two lovelies in Bulgaria...

I met Nadia and Niya on my Year Abroad in Germany where they were my nextdoor neighbours and dear drinking partners for a Semester. But then they left :( The magic of today, however means we still keep in touch a lot, we saw eachother at NewYear in Dublin with the rest of the crowd... and then I managed to get over to Sofia this summer for 5 days. 

I did a ridiculous overnight to journey to Gatwick, because I thought I was clever doing it the cheap way. Turns out sleeping in the airport is not as cool as the backpackers make out but I arrived in Sofia with about 3 hours cobbled together sleep and went straight out for lunch with the girls. 

Sofia is LOVELY. It, of course, helped that I arrived in the sunshine, but the city, although definitely a city in transition, with roadworks and renovation projects going off everywhere, has a really good atmosphere. 

After a quick lunch we hopped on a 7 HOUR bus journey to the beach where Niya's family have an apartment. I managed to grab a couple more hours sleep on the coach, not the most glamorous forms of transport, no aircon and lots of fat ladies but I was too deliriously tired to care. We arrived at Sunny Beach which is a pretty generic tourist resort but the beach and the ocean were fabulous and the bars were pretty good for us.

Over the next few nights, scenes like this were a regular occurence...

A bar which we later discovered held male 'exotic' dancers

 Where I became an expert on Bulgarian Rap..

Where we played drinking games on the beach whilst watching the sunset

We then recovered from our hangovers on the beach in the 30 degree sunshine the next days..

It was like a micro (we were there for three nights) girls drinking holiday, which has lead me to realise I probably wouldn't survive a week on one of those holidays! 

One night it was Nadia's birthday so we went into the old town, a ten minute bus journey from Sunny Beach to a family run seafood restaurant at the top of the harbour, the food was FABULOUS. It was also called Nemo, how cute :)

The old town called Nessebar was simply beautiful, I wish we'd been there longer, I could have spent hours wandering around all the little stalls, ruins and museums. I took a few shots whilst I was there...

On Sunday we headed back on the coach to Sofia, I was less delirious this time so thankfully there was aircon. After a seemingly neverending journey we arrived in Sofia, passed out and I prepared for my one day as a tourist in Sofia. We had a lot to fit in. 

Sofia looks a lot like this...

The old meeting the new...

With gorgeous parks like this

Statues from the socialist era being integrated into the New Sofia

Although I only spent a day in Sofia, I got a really good feel for the city, my native tourguide helped (Nadia) and we're trying to arrange spending New Year in Sofia with the rest of the Erasmus guys now. 

Three things about my time in Bulgaria:

Don't take Bulgaria by the face value of Sunny Beach, the country has so much more to offer

Greek yoghurt is not actually Greek the bacteria with which it is made originated from Bulgaria

Native languages and distance are no match for good friends. 

I had the best few days girls,

Na zdrave!

 "наздраве"

New Girl...

I JUST finished unpacking in my new room, in my new houseshare (not quite ready to call it home).
My parents left about two hours ago, I cried like a fresher again. It's crazy, for four years now I've been moving here there and everywhere, well only Uni and Germany but still... and at the beginning of every new place, when the boxes are unpacked and the parents leave I cry like a baby. It's not even voluntary! It's like my body does it entirely of it's own accord. Anyway, mini breakdown out of the way, I made a cup of tea, put strictly on in the background, unpacked some more and gradually regained some sanity.

Sanity reclaimed and I'm feeling good. My new room is at least twice the size of anywhere I've had before. I've 'Kirstyfied' it. Books, teapots, pictures and lots of cushions. The house is large in itself, large enough for people not to be tripping over eachother but next time I hear someone out and about I'm going to properly introduce myself and try to remember their names. So far I have seen only men. Four of them in a house of eight. I'm holding out for the other three to be girls although I'm doubting it. It's a good job I have my training of living with majority men last year... I do wish that lot were here though!

So this week is the biggie. On Wednesday I am going to Gatwick to do my induction training for my new Graduate job. Eeeek! It's going to be a couple of weeks of lots and lots of new people. I'm excited to meet the other graduates, hoping for at least one kindred spirit in there and just to get stuck in to the job. As of yet I still don't really understand what my new role will entail, I'm hoping to get some clarification in the next week or so!

So until then, I'm going to get my bearings in this new place, go to the gym a lot (mainly to shake off any anxiety), probably do some backdated blogs from my trips to Bulgaria and Bath and hopefully settle into what will be my life for the next 8 months.

Let the adventure begin,
K xx

New Adventure

A lot of things have changed in the past few months. I knew they would. I was prepared for it happening. However I'm still not sure it's a hundred percent sunk in that there will be no more university. I think I'm about to go into mourning for my student life. The hardest part is that everyone is scattered everywhere. If I wanted to get all the people who mattered in one room I'd have to get people from London, Birmingham, Bath, Newcastle, Berlin, Nuremberg, Belfast, Dublin, Holland, Bulgaria, France, Poland, Finnland... It is simply ridiculous. The side effect of having a sense of Wanderlust and no ties to one place has its downsides I guess but on the other hand I have the best mix of friends ever! No Moaning!

So I have a whole new adventure starting from the middle of September. After turning down my London job and the Milton Keynes job, I've spent most of the summer waiting and waiting for my placement information I am going to be moving back to the West Midlands to do something with loads of letters in, in a department that is again an acronym with lots of letters. Just in case its not obvious, I have NO IDEA what this new placement will entail, but it's for 8 months and they're paying me and it's a fantastic scheme and good training blah blah blah blah.... also I am scared to death. There it is. Out there. I, the super Grad, who had all the confidence in the interviews, had all of the job applications under control, was on the top of my game in my comfort retail zone and ended up with multiple job offers... (in this market!), I am actually a huuuge scaredy cat and am pretty sure that I will be fired within my first week for knowing NIX about IT. I gave up a job in IT to work in the service management sector, yet I manage to end up in IT. Someone up there is having a joke with me!


In other news, I am going to BULGARIA to see my Bulgarian ladies this week. Too excited! We're going to the beach for a few days and the Sofia for the remaining days. My final fling before real life starts.

Bis Spaeter

K xx

ps. I will blog about more interesting things sooooon!

Travels...

Right now with so many upcoming upheavals arriving I have no holidays booked.

This is KILLING me. I have a constant desire to travel. I always say it's something that is inherent in languages students, as someone who has devoted so much to learning the culture of another country it seems inevitable that we would have an unquenchable first for new cultures, or maybe its due to the idea I've always had about needing to get as far away as possible from my birthtown. Whatever it is... it drives me.

My first port of call will hopefully be Sofia, Bulgaria to visit, Nadia and Niya two of my favourite people ever who I met on Year Abroad. Apparently on this computer I don't have any pictures of Nika and Nadeto but a picture of Sofia will have to do I guess :)

Next on my list, although potentially difficult because of starting the new job etc has to be Italy. I have a HUGE craving right now to travel Italy completely, maybe drive take in the coast, the cities. Buuut, since that seems unrealistic I'm hoping to go to Rome, maybe in December sometime for a long weekend (be a good place to do christmas shopping too!) 

There seems to be some affordable deals available too! Which is promising! 

That's my travel plans for the year, I feel much better after writing them down. Somehow I feel like I can't backtrack on this promise now! 

Bis spaeter! 

K xx

It's been a while...

A crazy while.


I finished exams... FINALLY


I had my last two weeks of uni: Graduation Ball, Campus Festival, parties and friends...

I got results... Hey 2:1 

I packed my life into my Aygo and left uni

I ended up with three job offers

I eventually chose a job. And I will now be a graduate manager from September. As of yet I have nooo idea where in the country I'll be based though! All mystery.

Now I'm in the novelty-less life of living with the parents. Planning and planning trips and visits before I got a little bit crrrazy!

Bis spaeter!