University is getting pretty close now. 4 weeks! Enrolment timetables and provisional timetables have been released, and I'm so ready to get started!!
From what I've seen the things we're learning in the first term should be a fairly nice start, after my first degree and 9 years in a GP surgery, there's nothing looking too intense, a few things I haven't covered before though, and I have to learn a brand new method for referencing, which I'm really hoping is easier than Harvard as I'm rubbish at that! But I'm looking forward to getting stuck in!
Last week I had to start back at work, which certainly wasn't in my plans, but student finance, after telling me earlier in the year I would be entitled to a tuition fee loan and a maintenance loan, have now told me I am only entitled to a maintenance loan. This means I have to find £9250 a year to pay my tuition fees for the first four years (the NHS fund tuition fees in year 5). It's a hell of a lot of money to suddenly be told you have to find. But my parents are adamant that I've got this far and this close that I have to go. They are both going to loan me some money, hopefully I can ask my grandparents for my inheritance and fingers crossed I will get a bursary from the university. The rest I'm going to have to make up with working, and possibly a loan towards the end of my degree. So, I'm working all the hours I can get and should be able to put £1000 away before I move.
I'm also looking at part time work at university for the first two years of the course, before it gets crazy intense. There's student ambassador jobs, events reps, bar work, and phlebotomy and HCA at the local hospital, so I'm sure I can find something to do for a few hours a week just to help out. But my maintenance loan is pretty good. It covers my rent and I've budgeted the remaining amount and I can definitely live off it, so that's one good thing.
Apart from working this week, it was my 27th birthday. I'm feeling pretty old! Virtually all of my presents were practical for university - packet food, cleaning products, coffee, wine! But I did also get a cute succulent planter from my Mum, raspberry vodka from my Sister, an enormous box of sweets from my Dad, and a Japanese art colouring book from my grandparents.
And today I've been sorting the boxes to go to uni. It turns out I'd packed a few too many so I had to have a little rethink, but it hasn't been too bad! Still might have to take some of it another weekend, after moving day, but hey, I like my luxuries, and I've accumulated a lot of stuff over the years, and the places I've lived.
I'm definitely looking forward to a bit of freedom, I've been living with my grandparents for the last 5 years, and while I have my keys and can come and go as I please, and they don't mind if I have friends round (not in a group), it'll be nice to control all aspects of my life again. Even the little things like the food shopping will just be nice to do myself, and cook and eat what I want, when I want.
This week I'm off to Reading Festival as my Dad's P.A. so there won't be an update next Monday, but updates will return the following week.
Thanks for reading,
Katherine x
Monday 20 August 2018
Monday 13 August 2018
Boxes, boxes and more boxes!
Because of this, packing has been a bit disorganised. Instead of just neatly packing the things I need I've been opening each cupboard and deciding where each thing is going. So, I don't really know what I've actually packed for uni! This could turn out to be a nightmare!
I'll definitely be glad when the packing is done, and I can't wait to get to university and unpack and see what I can do with my room.
You may have seen my earlier blog post about "Design Plans for my University Room" and seen that I've decided on a theme for my bedroom. It will be themed around nature colours, so greens, whites, browns and greys, with woods, but also metals, and some contrasting colours such as pale pink. I've been gathering various things for this theme and can't wait to see it all come together, hopefully without being too chaotic.
I've also since decided on a classic nautical theme for the en-suite and just have a few little themed bits to go in there, as I know it will be very small, so I'm looking forward to seeing that too.
I mostly just want to make sure that my bedroom and en-suite are spaces where I feel calm and peaceful, where I can escape, where I can study, and so I've chosen my themes around colours which make me feel calm. Hopefully it will work!
Thanks for reading,
Katherine
P.S. Not all of these boxes are mine, my Mum is having a sort out too!
Friday 3 August 2018
Dad's Secret Holiday!
14th January - 11 days post discharge |
Sloths are pretty laid back animals and so I thought I would have a look online and see if there were any zoos in the UK that offered sloth holding or feeding experiences. I found one called Drusillas Park, which is sort of near Hastings in the South of England. And so Hastings became the holiday destination.
I contacted the park about adopting a sloth for Dad and getting a plaque put up with his name on before we arrived, which was something they offered on their website. There are three sloths at Drusillas Park, Sophocles, Flash, and Gordon. We chose Flash for Dad to adopt as we thought he would find it funny that Flash is fast and sloths are so slow.
Here's the adoption certificate and photo of Flash:
We started the adoption certificate from Father's Day, 17th June, but he wouldn't find that out until we arrived at the zoo.
The park also offered the sloth encounter experience we were looking for and as soon as the holiday dates were finalised we booked this too.
For the holiday we chose to stay at a Haven Holiday Park simply because of the convenience of having things to do at the park so we didn't have to go out every day if Dad wasn't feeling up to it.
We hadn't told Dad any of this, the only thing he knew was the dates. He told us later he thought we were going to Wales!
Without further ado, here's the photos! The sloth experience was Tuesday if you just wanted to see that.
Saturday 21st July
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On the train |
Giant deck chair |
The oncologist told him he couldn't ride a real motorbike anymore... he was straight on this as soon as he saw it! |
Sunday 22nd July
Okay, so I had to borrow a photo from the Haven website to show you the waterslide they have at this park. Dad went down this slide, in swimshorts and a rash vest, and whizzed round the bowl three times! It was a pretty fast slide, I've been on one at another Haven site but this one was rougher and faster.
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Image from Combe Haven |
Dad at Party In The Dark |
View from West Hill, Hastings |
Hastings Castle |
This stone was swapped from a castle in Normandy, France |
Tuesday 24th July - The secret Sloth experience day!
Oddly enough, Dad had picked up a leaflet for Drusillas Park in the Haven reception and said he'd like to go, he likes zoos. We brushed it off and said if we have time we can go later in the week. So, when we rocked up at Drusillas on Tuesday morning he was already pleased. I spoke to the reception while he was in the loo so he couldn't overhear anything.
The sloths aren't far into the zoo, still inside the building which houses the main entrance, but typical Dad walked right past them! We called him back and said did you see the sloths? So then he came over and we showed him the plaque with his name on and we pulled the adoption pack out of my brothers backpack and gave him the certificate and photo.
The enclosure information |
The adoption plaque |
After a while of looking at the sloths we carried on around the zoo. His encounter wasn't until 3pm so we had to keep him busy until then (he still knows nothing about it). Later on in the zoo there's a walkthrough area (where the animal encounters take place) and one of the sloths is there. Dad spent ages looking at him and taking photos, while the rest of us were grinning at each other because we just know he's going to love his feeding experience. We finished looking at the animals and had some lunch, and around 2.30pm we started heading back towards the entrance/exit, to the visitor centre. The park has some other things to do as well as the zoo and Dad was trying to look and getting stroppy because he didn't know why we were rushing him! We managed to get him to the visitor centre just in time and then we handed him his sloth experience pack and when he realised what he's doing he got really excited. First the keeper took Dad and me to the kitchens where he showed us all the food stores, explained the animals diets, and picked up the food for the encounter. He asked us if it's a birthday surprise, and Dad openly told him he's very poorly, I gently explained it's a bucket list surprise, and we kept chatting so it didn't get depressing. Dad was very interested in the foods, and asked lots of questions! We even went inside the walk in freezer! It was lovely on such a hot day! Then we headed out to the encounter walkthrough.
Dad with the food |
Dad feeding Sophocles |
The keeper called Sophocles down from his box, it took a while but eventually he came down for some food. Dad could put the food in his mouth, or in his "hand", and he did both. Some vegetables Sophocles didn't like and he would drop them on the floor. Dad was chatting away to him and really enjoying himself. One of my sisters was also in there taking photos. My brother went in too but I don't have a photo of that. Dad also got to touch Sophocles' head and he fed a fruit bat as they were also in the enclosure. One of the fruit bats even climbed over Sophocles and stole a piece of food right out of his mouth! We learned the Sophocles is the Dad of Flash and Gordon, and that Flash had to be hand reared because her Mum died after birth. The zoo are hoping to find a new partner for Sophocles. The keeper let Dad have over his 30 minutes that the encounters usually last, and then he offered to let Dad go inside the sloth tank and feed Flash as she's the one he adopted. So we went back to the main sloth tank near the entrance and collected the bucket of food for Flash and Gordon, and Dad and one of my sisters climbed inside the tank. It was very hot inside, but Dad got to feed them both and Flash even came out of her box to get more food from Dad after Gordon dropped his own piece and stole Flash's piece out of her hand! Dad touched Flash on the head once but had to be careful because she's got quite a feisty personality. By the time Dad had fed these sloths too his encounter had been over an hour long, and the keeper was perfectly happy for him to take as long as he wanted, but he needed the loo! I couldn't thank the keeper enough for the experience he gave Dad, he went above and beyond for him and it really meant a lot to us. Here's a link to Drusillas Park if you're interested in going or seeing what other animal experiences they have. One of the keepers told us that the Beaver Experience isn't very popular, and I felt sad for the beavers, so if you love Beavers go give it a look!
Dad inside the tank |
Dad feeding Flash |
Wednesday 25th July
The view from East Hill |
East Hill has the steepest Funicular Railway in the UK and I can safely say it felt pretty hairy going up there. Thankfully the way down wasn't so bad! We also went to Blue Reef Aquarium and the Fishermen's Museum before heading back towards the park on a miniature railway.
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My brother and sister racked up 16,000 tickets in the arcade by Thursday to buy this drone! Safe to say they're all over the Space Invaders leaderboard |
Thursday 26th July
I didn't leave the park on Thursday. In the morning we did a Pirate Treasure Hunt, and then we went swimming. I spent the rest of the day relaxing. Dad and my brother went into Hastings to go antique, and army surplus, shopping. Mum, Glenn and my two sisters went to the beach.
Mum having a water fight with my littlest sister |
Friday 27th July
Battle Abbey - Built on the site of The Battle of Hastings |
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Riding into Battle |
Thanks for reading!
Katherine
Thursday 2 August 2018
It's all go!
Over the last few weeks, messages from university have been trickling in faster than usual. Reminders about DBS checks, occupational health clearance forms, showing original exam certificates to the university, accommodation acceptance, and the phase 1 reading list! Just a few things to be going along with! I'm well and truly getting stuck into getting ready! Packing is well underway, and as I've got to move everything out of my current bedroom either to university or into storage, it's a big job! (My sister is moving into my current bedroom.) I also signed up to the British Medical Association because it's free for students to sign up during summer. This gives me access to an extensive library of ebooks for students to browse before I even get to university.
My last update was a couple of months ago now, and I keep meaning to try and blog more regularly and frequently but life has been wild. Since the last post at the end of May I've finished work, been to Download Festival with my Dad, spent three weeks travelling around Japan with my Brother, and been away on a family holiday - The Secret Holiday! Now I'm home for 3 1/2 weeks before I go off to Reading Festival with my Dad. So, I'll just do a few photos for this blog! If you want to find out what Dad's secret holiday was all about I'll post it up separately straight after this.
Download Festival
My last update was a couple of months ago now, and I keep meaning to try and blog more regularly and frequently but life has been wild. Since the last post at the end of May I've finished work, been to Download Festival with my Dad, spent three weeks travelling around Japan with my Brother, and been away on a family holiday - The Secret Holiday! Now I'm home for 3 1/2 weeks before I go off to Reading Festival with my Dad. So, I'll just do a few photos for this blog! If you want to find out what Dad's secret holiday was all about I'll post it up separately straight after this.
Download Festival
Dad was super excited that we were camped on the second to last corner of Donnington Racetrack! |
Dad with the Download Dog |
Friday: Cloudy and Rainy |
Our view of the main stage |
Saturday: Cloudy and Sunny |
Dad's first silent disco! |
Sunday: Sunny! |
Japan Travel Photos
Tokyo
Tokyo Skytree |
Tokyo Station |
Tokyo DisneySea |
Tokyo Disneyland |
Sensoji Temple |
Hayabusa Shinkansen - Fastest Bullet Train in the world |
World's longest undersea tunnel - Between Aomori and Hokkaido |
Hokkaido
Hell Valley - Noboribetsu |
Hell Valley hot spring - Noboribetsu |
Ishiya Chocolate Factory - Sapporo |
Otaru Aquarium - The first time I saw an Octopus |
Osaka
Universal Studios Osaka - The Wizarding World of Harry Potter |
P.s. If you like Harry Potter scroll down to the very bottom of this blog for the story of possibly the wildest thing that has ever happened to me!
Osaka Castle |
Osaka Aquarium - The first time I saw a Hammerhead Shark |
Tennoji Zoo - The weirdest turtle I've ever seen |
Tennoji Zoo - The first time I saw a Hippopotamus |
Kyoto
Kinkakuji Temple - The Golden Pavillion |
Bamboo Groves |
Kyoto Imperial Palace |
Fushimi Inari-Taisha Shrine |
Torii Gate paths up Mount Inari |
Fuji
Mount Fuji Subaru Fifth Station - 2305m |
Back to Tokyo
Tokyo Tower |
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter story!
Outside Ollivanders - Excuse the mismatched outfit, we flew into Osaka from Sapporo that morning and were not prepared for the heat! |
So, we're at Universal Studios, Osaka, we're in The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter, and there's a random queue with no sign, right near Ollivanders, so we ask what it's for and apparently its a magic show. Cool. We queue up for a few minutes and go in, except it turns out it's like the bit in the Philosopher's Stone film where Harry gets his wand, and guess who gets chosen to basically be Harry Potter... yep, me! So I have to try these different interactive wands and I'm messing up the shop, until I get the right one, and all the light and wind happens like in the film and so the wand has chosen me. I got the chance to buy it, and it came with a totally unique box, so of course I bought it! (approx £35, not bad) They also gave you a special map of the area with the spell points marked on it and the spells around the edge. So we went round the Wizarding World doing the interactive spells. There were eight spells you could do, but most of them there wasn't really much you could photograph but I will include the photos anyway!
Wand, box, and map |
Wingardium Leviosa - Levitated the Quaffle |
Aguamenti - Made a water fountain |
Arresto Momentum - Stopped the music box |
Meteolojinx - Made it snow |
Cistem Aperio - Opened the luggage |
Thanks for reading!
Katherine
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