Carolines' blog

January 2009

I am absolutely rubbish at making New Years Resolutions. Sometimes I make a few big ones last year I made loads of short term goals. This year I inadvertently made none, but managed to start a journal and sign up to be an organ donor.

January was a long hard slog, if I'm honest. After getting glandular fever just before my AS examinations in May, I had to take pretty much all of them again, along with some A Level modules as well. I honestly dont think I've worked so hard in my life, and finishing them left me with the best feeling in the world. I always say language oral exams are like having a baby (not through personal experience, obviously..) If you remembered how bad they were, you'd never ever do it again, but they're incredibly rewarding. All but one of my exams went without any breakdowns, but I got through that, and by then it was almost done.

My last exam was on Obama Day how did I spend one of the most memorable days in our generations history? Writing a paper on Paradise Lost: Books I and II and attending a Duke of Edinburgh route planning meeting.

Revising was punctuated with cinema visits, including Slumdog Millionaire and 7 Pounds. Honestly, I know Slumdog Millionaire has won all of the awards and it does leave you with a huge smile on your face, but 7 Pounds is one of the most powerful films I have ever seen and it really makes you think. One of my favourite afternoons in January was when I caught up with my best friend who dropped out of our college at the end of last year. We had coffee and Panini's and a good gossip, and I really enjoyed spending time with him again. He's been working full time right now but is planning on returning to a different college in September. It was really worth taking sometime to catch up and have a real ladies lunch.

I only managed to make one Guide meeting and a couple of Ranger meetings. With the Guides we had a good old-fashioned craft night, where they could do a number of different crafts that one of our Rangers had taught them after coming back from a trip to Sangam in India. We started our Changing the World project at Rangers and agreed to work towards supporting Crisis, which is going to involve a lot of socks.

I got my Staff Interest Form in the post to apply for a position at the Kent International Jamboree 2009 sent that off asap, which means one week of my summer is shamelessly devoted to Guiding and Scouting.