A Rough Week

The plan was regular updates after the horrific exam period was over. That unfortunately did not happen. Although I do not like to make excuses, I shall outline some "contributing factors", which will also cover the past few weeks for me. 

Let's start with Sunday the 8th of June. It began as a good day, watching Heroes, doing laundry, and generally just relaxing. That evening I was going out to dinner with my friends Chris and Liam, and properly meeting Chris's girlfriend (who I most definitely approved of - a Buffy fan who agrees that Spike always beats Angel). They decided it would be fun to have a Barbecue, it was a nice day. Well, by English standards. Quite a cool day for any Australian, but here in the UK everyone was out of doors, shirts off, disposable BBQ's in hand, and park sports enjoyed. The BBQ seemed to go well, we had a good time. But late that night, I suddenly became very cold. Shivering, I felt like I was freezing, outside in the snow in knickers and singlet, but my body was burning up. It was food poisoning, which lasted until Thursday. 

The next few days were spent mainly lying in bed, with many trips to the bathroom, and an uncomfortable (and completely useless) trip to the doctor. I was meant to visit Birmingham with my boyfriend and meet his parents, but I was incapacitated. On Friday I had a very important job interview in Oxford, one that I was extremely nervous and stressed about - it would be an amazing job to start my career in publishing. My biggest fear was that I would not be well enough for the interview. By thursday morning I was feeling better and worse at the same time, there is a time when the food poisoning could be gone and the pain and toilet trip could be a result of my ever active IBS. Unfortunate, but true. My boyfriend, Will, and I trained it to Oxford, and went straight to our hotel. I had calmed down a great deal (especially after some help from Imodium), so we went into the town centre and wandered around for a while. That evening was very exciting for me, as I had my first REAL food since that sunday night.

Friday morning rolled around sooner than I would have liked, but I managed to keep my stress under control. We had some breakfast, and I got myself ready - I was very proud of the finished project, I felt that I perfectly looked the part of a professional business woman rather than a scared and naive university student. We headed to the Business Park outside of town almost three hours early (Will was the packhorse - looking after me and our stuff, although I think he did more sleeping in the cafe than watching the bags). When we got there, we realised that this place was much larger than we had anticipated. We were completely lost. Thanks to a very friendly security man, we found our way to the right offices and the Park's cafe and shops. I waited it out before heading over half an hour early. We found the right offices, but the company I was interviewing with still had 4 buildings and I had no idea which one was right.

The interview was meant to be for one position, and take 1 hour. It ended up being for two different positions and took about an hour and a half. They seemed very nice, friendly, knowledgeable people. I think it must be a requirement for all interviews to be completely overwhelming. They say that you should ask questions, appear inquisitive and interested, but it is difficult to think clearly about such things when you are being bombarded with an extraordinary amount of information. They explained each role to me with great detail and did not leave much untouched. I did not feel like I needed to ask many questions at all, and I hope I will not be penalised for that. The interview also included a copy editing task, which I hope I did ok in. It is not something I have ever done before, I have no formal training in it, and don't know any of the correct notations, but I did my best. I hope it is enough. It has now been a week and I have not heard anything. That worries me, I am not filled with confidence, but my aunt, who works in the industry, says that this is quite normal. My only hope is that she isn't just trying to protect my feelings, and let me hope for a little bit longer.

After the interview we headed straight back to Bristol, and had a nice evening with some of Will's friends. But we were up super early the next morning, 5:30 am to be precise, to catch a tai to the airport where we flew to Dublin. The main reason for the trip (which had to be rescheduled to allow me to go to the interview) was the Prince concert on the 16th of June at Croke Park Stadium, but we decided to make a nice sight seeing trip out of it. My grandfather, who is from Dublin (and is the reason I am an Irish Citizen, and EU Passport holder, and have the right to live and work in the UK) was very excited that I was going to visit his home, and see my heritage. Dublin is a fantastic city and we had a great time. On our first day we went into the city centre, O'Connell street, and from there went up to the Writer's Museum, the James Joyce Centre, the Guinness Factory, and Temple Bar. Our second day, Sunday, saw us go to Malahide Castle, Dublin Castle, The Chester Beatty Library, Christ Church Cathedral, and then on to an Irish pub where we had our first Traditional Irish Stew. Monday was our take it easy day. We were very tired, and I had the Prince concert that night. We headed straight out to Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells, before wandering up to the shopping area around St Stephens Green. We had lunch at Bewley's before heading back to the hotel around 4 to get ready. I had a mini freak out when I realised that the concert was actually two hours earlier than I thought, and we rushed to get out there on time. When we arrived it was eerily quiet and I had a very bad feeling. I had a bad feeling about the concert all weekend, like it wasn't meant to be. The concert had been cancelled, and apparently over a week and a half before, I just hadn't heard. I had been so nervous and excited about it - seeing Prince live in concert is one of my biggest dreams, and it was ripped away from me in an instant. I couldn't hold myself together, it was the last straw. Mini breakdown ensued, poor Will... from there I couldn't talk about it, couldn't even think about it without crying. But that is life, disappointments will constantly be thrown my way. It was the end of a tough week, and I am glad it is over.

Dublin was a fun trip nonetheless and now I am back in Bristol. Will left yesterday, he flies to America for a few weeks on saturday. I am more or less alone now, trying to find a job and somewhere to live, hoping to hear good news about last friday's interview but not holding my breath. I have also booked a short trip to Switzerland from next Friday to visit my aunt, and to re-enter the UK on my Irish passport. I hope things start looking up for me soon, all this stress about real life isn't good for anyone.