I haven’t blogged for ageeeees. But for once, there’s a reason…

I was originally going to do another year at uni and get a master’s…but what with the whole economic situation, I decided to go for a job instead, at least for a year or two. This was in July, after I’d been accepted on master’s courses at good unis, and just come back from Italy.

So I started applying for jobs online, and I found out that despite several years of being mocked for not doing a science subject, that the only specific-subject required jobs tend to be engineering or computer science, where I was looking anyway (obviously there are many specialist careers out there in medicine etc.) , which made me feel better. However, there’s also a lot of junk, particularly things disguising marketing. My main requirements were that a) I didn’t want to earn less than if I hadn’t done a degree and b) I didn’t want a job involving calling people a lot or having to do constant communication-based stuff. Ideally the job would have been somewhere in or near Nottingham, because of my house, friends, etc., but since the job market is quite small in the midlands, this was kind of a secondary consideration.

I also applied for a placement – which I didn’t get – but then the company called me up about another placement they had on offer (I’d seen it online but ignored it because it was asking for an e-business undergraduate) – next thing I’ve agreed, they’ve forwarded my CV on, and I’ve been asked to go for interview. This company was pretty ideal – small, only a 20 minute walk through a lovely nature reserve to my house, and relaxed. I probably got away with more than I should have So that’s what I’ve been doing for the past six weeks – applying for jobs and working there. What I did was work on a series of websites, mainly consultancy/law consultancy. It was great – the pay was minimum wage, but I had a lot of freedom and I got paid for messing around with HTML all day and writing. It was pretty tiring though because I was going for interviews as well and doing various tasks, travelling all round the country by train to attend interviews, got frustrated after getting down to the last 2 twice for jobs that would have been great (one paid £31,000 and the other was a bus ride from Nottingham). I also got screwed over for a writing job a bus away that I would have really enjoyed – the agency didn’t send my CV on in time and then tried to blame me (?!) Sigh.

Eventually (and I say eventually, I’ve been looking hardly any time at all with more success than some of my friends, unfortunately), though, I got offered a job in the Cotswolds, doing copyediting and writing and stuff for a catalogue company. They want me to start mid-September (I start Monday), and so it was a scramble to find a house and get used to the fact that in a couple of weeks, I’d be moving over 100 miles away, knowing no one and nowhere. It’s a 3-4 hour journey (at least), and the closest friend to me will be Vitushni who’ll be living 40 miles away at some point fairly soon. Other than that, I know hardly anything, and the house I’m sharing is new enough not to be on sat navs (but I do have a local map so it’s not too bad). I’ve met a couple of my housemates very briefly, but obviously friday night isn’t the ideal time to catch people at home.

The house itself is really nice (I might take some pictures at some point), bills are included and I can give a months’ notice to leave, which might come in handy. It feels weird to think that I have a ‘proper job’ now, paying back my student loan and having to book days of my 25 days’ holiday in blocks, rather than having allocated months and months off as a student. Unpacking wise, I’ve done about half my wardrobe, but I decided to travel light(ish…), and so I have about 4 bin bags left of bedding, clothes etc. to sort out, and then a box of books and a couple of boxes of misc stuff to sort out. I’m thinking about having lunch and then heading out to walk the way to work and find out where it is, how long it’s actually going to take me etc. According to google maps it’s about 40 mins, and unfortunately there’s no bus, which means I might move again in the near future once I figure out where everything is. It’s close to a giant retail park though, with the biggest Asda I’ve ever seen in my life, and a gym, bookshop, chemist etc. which might come in handy.

So, it’s a whole new chapter of my life beginning, the freedom feels incredible, and thank God for the internet so I don’t fee lonely