Argos Induction Day

Yesterday I was in Milton Keynes, having my placement induction at the Argos Head Office. I travelled down from Birmingham on Tuesday night and stayed overnight in the nearby Travelodge; I was a little scared because I'd never stayed overnight in a hotel on my own before, plus I had a massive family room with no-one to fill it! On the evening I arrived, I met my future flatmate, Bridget, who is also doing a marketing placement; she was lovely and I think we will get on really well!

On the day of the induction, after lugging our cases to the office in the miserable rain, we finally met 3 other placement students after some communication over Facebook. They were all really friendly and chatty, so I think we will make a good bunch and get along throughout the year. We went for a general introduction with all of our managers and the HR team, who seemed really excited for us to start; I hope we live up to their expectations! All of the staff were approachable and bubbly, which makes the work environment that little less intimidating. We then got taken around the office and introduced to the teams we will be working with. I will be on the 'New Content' team, so I will be deciding how to present the products on all the different channels that customers view, in the best possible way.

The next stage of the day involved being taken to the photography studio, where all the pictures and videos are made for the catalogues and website. This part was really interesting, as we saw first-hand how everyone's work from the office got pulled together for the final presentation of the products.

By this time, I was reallly hungry, so I was happy when we got told it was time for dinner! We got taken to Zizzi's which I was quite excited about because I had never been before. I really enjoyed the food; I had a chicken, tomato and rosemary pasta! I'll definitely be visiting again because it is right under our flat!

After dinner, we went on a walking tour of the area and got shown all the main attractions, including the shops, theatre district and xscape centre - unfortunately, I didn't know this was part of the itinerary until the day, so my choice of wearing heels was not the best decision! There was a particularly strong theme of pointing out good bars during the tour which was very useful!

Finally, we went to All Bar One with our managers and also met two of the current placement students there. It was nice to talk to people who had experienced what we will be doing and they seemed to have enjoyed their time at Argos which was good to know!

I had a really good induction day and am pleased that the staff are taking good care of us and are so friendly. It's made me even more excited to start on the 17th June, and it's made it 'feel real' visiting again, as the last time I visited I was being assessed for the role! Although the process of finding a placement is long and draining, I definitely think I will gain a lot from going on placement, and I am really looking forward to the experience!

let 'summer' commence!

YAAAAYY!

Finally, exams are over! As usual, it feels like I've been bogged down with them for years, when in fact its only been a month! Today is most definitely a happy day! 

I finished my exam about 2 hours ago, and I've done absolutely nothing since, this feels strange! I'm about to pack some things up from my uni room in time for my Mum and Dad to come and pick me up to go home, for a well deserved two and a half weeks off before my placement starts! 

I already feel so much weight lifted off my shoulders, although it is a stressful time, exams are so good for feeling a sense of achievement; hopefully the results will have the same effect!

I hope the next two weeks will be as good as I have hoped!

11 more days...

...until I'm exam free!

Ironically, Motivation creeped up again this year!

As of now, I have done 2 exams, but I still have 3 to go. I'm not really any more motivated to revise than I was before they started, but time is just flying by and running out, just need to remember that this is the last push! One thing that I do I feel motivated about, is what I'm going to do after exams on the 24th May. Due to this being the only thing I have actually given a great amount of thought to recently, I thought what better to blog about. So here is my list of what I am going to do when exams finish, I'm sure a lot of people feel my pain! 

1. Go for cocktails.

I have been begging my boyfriend for months to come to a cocktail bar with me. Probably to bring back the holiday feeling of all inclusive cocktails...(we probably haven't been because they wont be all inclusive, making it very expensive, but anyway...) He has been out quite a bit recently for various things, and always ends up at a cocktail bar. This and the fact that I think they are pretty hard to find, has made me very jealous. I can't wait for it to be sunny and exam-free so that I can enjoy a cosmopolitan without feeling guilty!

2. Go shopping.

Obviously. Reading blogs has recently become my favourite past time and top procrastination tool. I have been drooling over sooo many products so I now have a list as long as my arm to go out and try. Also, it feels like I have been wearing the same clothes for about a year, so I'm most definitely looking forward to browsing the shops and taking as long as I like, with no worry about how long I have left for revision. 

3. Do my make-up properly.

During exam season, I don't think I'm the only girl who abandons all self-respect and turn up to exams looking tired, stressed and run down! No shame. To be honest, I'd rather spend the time that I would be doing my make up to fit in that last bit of cramming, but that's just my opinion! Needless to say, if I wear any make-up it takes me about 5 minutes; so I can't wait to get back into my make-up routine. 

4. Read.

I never read before exams, but recently I have noticed so many books that I own but have never read. During exams, I've decided that when I am free, I will start to get through them so that I can clear my bookshelf a little. I think the first one will be The Hunger Games, because the film was really good and my brother said that the books is better; so hopefully I'll find out soon!

5. Bake.

Just before exams started, I got addicted to 'The Great British Bake Off' on BBC2. When I say addicted, I would plan my day around it, and be on edge about half an hour before it started, getting really excited (you don't have to tell me I'm sad, I already know this...). I recorded the remainder of the series as I had to go back to uni after Easter, but catching up on them was amazing; a huge bake-off marathon with no adverts! I felt so lost when I watched the final that I pretty much straight away got online and ordered one of the recipe books. I made a lemon cake and now I can't wait to make more. I also bought books on cake decorating after going to Hobbycraft and seeing the Aladdin's cave full of all things cake related. So I really do have a lot of baking to get on with!

6. Get into blogging.

At the moment, I hardly have any free time, so I really haven't had enough time to fully appreciate my blog. I keep talking to my brother about different ideas, so now I just want to get to it! 

These are just some things that are rattling around in my brain whilst I'm doing revision, which obviously is very distracting; maybe writing them down will help me get on with work now! Hopefully there will be lots of things I can blog about when exams are over and I'm busy with more exciting and less tedious things!