Thursday, April 16, 2009

March Madness

Okay, so it wasn't really so much March "Madness" as it was March "Sickness". I came back from Sweden with a cold which I never could seem to shake and it eventually developed into a very nasty chest infection. By mid-March I was bed-ridden, as I was finding it very hard to do things without getting out of breath. It got so bad that I would have to take a rest after sorting my laundry! I eventually broke down and went to see a doctor, which is where I met the over-sharer lady (see earlier post). My doctor gave me some antibiotics which helped clear things up in just over a week. Now, although I still have a cold, my chest infection is all gone!

I also celebrated my birthday in March and had a great time with friends wandering through Roslin Glen. I don't know if it was being outside in the fresh air or what, but we all had a great time and laughed at pretty much everything. I also have some photos from that day which I can post soon.

I also did some exploring of Cramond Island. It's just north of Edinburgh and you can walk out to it when the tide goes out from Cramond. It was pretty cool - lots of buildings from the war were on it, which is something I always find quite fascinating. Anyway, I was pretty happy to go exploring on it, since it's been something I have been meaning to do for a while!

Hmmmmm, I can't seem to remember what else I got up to. It seems like March was a fairly idle and boring month! I think I will blame it on being sick for so long!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

February Frustration

I should preface this post by saying that I haven't been a very good blogger lately. I am sorry. Life has been busy and I have been a bit of a lazy blogger. But, I am currently on holiday for two weeks, so I guess I have finally run out of excuses!

I thought I would start with my life in February . . . because that's kind of when things went downhill in terms of the blog.

The month started off with me just being stressed out with my jobs and feeling pretty run down. I was considering my options, and was frustrated that I had to work multiple jobs just to barely eek out a living. I was also frustrated with the lack of jobs in Edinburgh in my field. Finally, I decided to look further afield for positions and I applied to a couple of jobs of in England as well.

Halfway through the month, things started to look up . . . I had scored an interview for a summer job (in my field) in Edinburgh and an interview for a full-time job (again in my field) in England. The only problem was that I was going to be on holiday in Stockholm from Mon-Weds and the job interview for the Edinburgh position was scheduled for Thursday. The England job would be the following Monday. I had to admit that I would be busy during my holiday, but I was confident that I could handle it.

Once in Stockholm, however, things got a little more hectic. I received an email regarding the England job and found out that I would have to write a two page essay that was due at noon on the Thursday (not good since I wouldn't get home until late Wednesday night!). In addition to the essay, I was also asked to prepare a presentation which I was to give during the interview on Monday. It was so frustrating because, while I wanted to be enjoying my holiday and not being stressed out by work related issues, my mind kept straying to the job interviews . . .

Stockholm was good, but still not quite a holiday. Maybe I will post pictures from my trip another day . . .

Back in Edinburgh, I spent Thursday morning frantically trying to write out an essay for the noon deadline. In my opinion, the final product was okay, but not my best work. Again, I was frustrated because I consider myself to be a fairly strong writer and I wanted to showcase this for the job, but I didn't quite live up to my expectations. Following the completion of my essay, I had to quickly get ready for my Edinburgh interview. And, I am happy to report that it went well because I got the job! It's just for the month of July, but it'll look good on my CV, will hopefully lead to good contacts, and fits in nicely around my other jobs.

The England interview went fairly well, but again was still not quite my best performance. So, I wasn't surprised when it turned out that they'd chosen someone else. I was slightly disappointed, and also slightly relieved because I wouldn't have to leave Edinburgh! I also got some really helpful feedback from my interview.

Finally, February had ended . . . lots of job frustration, but little headway was made! At least my CV looks pretty good now!