Showing posts with label university. Show all posts
Showing posts with label university. Show all posts

Tuesday, 12 November 2013

How times change

I wrote this little exert back in May when I had just finished Uni, had no job, living in Jersey and was feeling pretty sorry for myself. I am now living and working in London, for a major designer, with so many exciting opportunities and projects coming up. Looking back on this has really made me appreciate how lucky I am to be in the position I'm in now. Its funny how times change isn't it?!

"Right now its may, which means the hoards of newly grads are going to haul themselves back to the island any minute and snap up every available job going. The good ones get the best roles first, and then what’s left for the rest of us is pretty slim pickings, so I’m attempting to act fast.
As you can probably tell, I’ve had no luck as of yet, although I think I’m punching a bit above my weight as I refuse to go back to shop floors, and I hope I’m not the only one struggling.

As soon as I say Fashion in an interview people tend to switch off before they even let me finish with marketing. "Oh, I suppose you want to be working for Chanel with the fancy bags and the fashion shows or a pretty magazine." Well, no. My course involved logistics, accountancy, internationalization, the economy, consumer behaviour, however all anyone ever hears, is dresses, shoes, designers. It was no easy feat. 

As much as it’s a dream of mine, I highly doubt I’m the next Carrie Bradshaw, mainly because she’s fictional, and also because that’s a dream. We are all encouraged to dream, it gives us goals. But the reality is, most of us are destined to be the next admin assistant in the photocopying cupboard saving for months for that amazing trip or a gap yah.  I’m also way too cynical, as this rant might have already shown, which is why I can look at the people who say “chin up” and “dream big” but the reality is, if you want something you have to work for it, so I guess I should stop complaining and get to it, because although I might get stuck making little penguins out of blue tac, its experience at the end of the day, and I should be grateful for any sort of job.

What makes it worse is that, whilst sitting at home, perfecting my eBay selling skills (not one to put on the CV) and watching the dreaded day time TV, my Facebook newsfeed is filled with the lucky ones who’ve managed to nab their dream jobs. “OH EM GEE, starting the new job today, eekk!” really?! That’s fantastic, please keep reminding me of your amazing success and your super duper organization skills, while I slowly but surely slip into the realms of bum-hood.
I’m not judging those who got their dream jobs, seriously, congratulations. You are the talented, smart ones destined to achieve greatness, as Will Shakes said, however, for the rest of us? The mediocre, run of the mill types? We’re lucky if we have any greatness thrust upon us. But that’s just it, its not lady luck who’s stopping you from getting these jobs, its someone with better skills and more experience, don’t wait for the greatness and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. Yes, that is a quote from Will smith in the pursuit of happiness, going for a will theme here.

At uni they make a big deal of telling you of all the things you can achieve with this course, all the opportunities that are going to open up for you, you leave with a sense of hope and a lump of giddy excitement in the pit of your stomach to get out there and start a new chapter as a proper grown up. Turns out the hope is actually naivety and the pit is pure fear. Naivety of the fact that the reality is you will probably not get that dream job for a while, and your going to have to work bloody hard to get there, this has then made you think if that’s what you really want to do, contemplating the rest of your future, with all its choices, decisions and problems ahead, there’s the fear. So we can either bite the bullet, or dream on.

Now that’s been said, its time to get back on the job site, maybe a new position has been posted in the last 5 minutes."


Its funny because despite saying I didn't want to end up back on the shop floor, I worked for most of the summer in Next, the irony! It also turns out a bit of luck was sent my way to get to where I am now. It may not be my dream job but its a lot closer than I was back then! 

Try writing down a rant, or a story of your day, then read it back to yourself months from now and see how things have changed. It can go both ways in how it will make you feel, but the outcome is always interesting!


Friday, 19 April 2013

Labels

Now I know fashion is all about the now, and I know fashion blogs are all about pictures these days, but I'm going to take you back in time, by about 2/3 weeks a.k.a 2/3 'fashion years' and I'm actually going to write something. I could put some pictures up of what I'm wearing today just to get into the popular pages, but that's not what I love to do, I love writing. And I know time and interest levels are low for a lot of you, but I greatly appreciate anyone who takes time to sit down and read, and I hope I'm not too boring!

Any whoo, on with my story. So during Easter break at a house party, I was talking to some guy whilst my best friend looked on and occasionally joined in. The small talk was pretty dull and I wasn't being particularly charming, (how charming can you be drinking vodka lemonade out of a bottle) but out of the blue, in the midst of chat and laughter, my friend turns to the guy and says "it's fine, Emily is shy and intimated by people." I have never seen someone's face drop so fast, and I could physically feel my face go red with embarrassment and anger. WHO SAYS THAT?! Especially after I've known this guy for 5 minutes! And this got me thinking, are these my labels? (ohhh, very Carrie Bradshaw-esque).

Some people define themselves with designer labels, the style is reflective of your personality, shining through to your exterior. But do we ever really think of what other people label us as? The interior labels. Some we tuck under our clothes, some we let ourselves be marked with all over, the metaphors are endless. 

Maybe if you have an interview, one of the corny questions is, what 3 words best describe you? Of course you're going to pick the ones that are right for the job and don't reflect you at all. But it turns out 2 of mine are 'shy' and 'intimated' whats the other one? 'awkward?!'. It turns out these are the labels my friends have for me, but have never said to my face. 

Now I'm not bragging, but since the beginning of Uni, my confidence levels of rocketed, and I may not be the most socially abundant person, and I have no bloody clue how to 'network', but who really is without putting on a bit of a fake smile and working their magic?  

I've learnt over the past year or so, that people still label me as the person I was 3 years ago. I'm not gonna lie, she was moody, obnoxious and a bit of a bitch! However, after realising this, I made the conscious effort to change, yet people still know me as that girl. 

Well not anymore! Change is nigh, I will not be marked down with old labels. Changing people's views of me now will be hard, but with my Uni life coming to an end, its time for new beginnings, so here's to new labels, let's hope they're better than the last.

What are your labels? Are they different to what your friends think? 

Sunday, 30 September 2012

Hectic


Hi Guys, I haven't posted in agesss because, as you can probably guess from the title, these past few weeks have been hectic! 

This isnt a real post, more like a life update and I wanted to tell you about the changes I'm thinking about for this blog. 

So mid-september is when school starts, which means back to uni, so moving back up to manchester was stressful enough. Then its freshers week, which means hangovers, a lot of hangovers. 

Uni also means going to lectures, and lectures means work! Especially as a 3rd year, it actually counts this time round.

These past few weeks have been host to all the fashion weeks too, and I wanted to wait for that to blow over because there is too much choice to focus a post on it. 

I'm thinking of starting to do OOTD posts, or rather OOTW, to make it a bit easier. This is because the posts are quick and simple, which would mean I can keep posting whilst keeping up with my work. 

However! My lack of clothes from travelling over, and my lack of money, means hardly any new clothes have been bought, so my OOTW's would consist of not very interesting style choices.

All of this has left me with no time, lack of motivation and a failed blogging idea. 

But don't despair, my 21st birthday weekend is fast approaching, which should hopefully bring some new fashion updates! 

In the mean time, here are some pictures of my new room at uni, a bit bigger than my old one, and looking more presentable with my homemade bunting hanging up!



I have managed to purchase one item of clothing since I've been here. This sleeveless chiffon shirt with studded collar, £24.99 from Ark, (you can't really see the studs, below) and you can buy it cheaper from Missguided for £19.99. I love it, really on trend with the military theme of this season. 




So there is my little rant of excuses over, try and stay tuned guys, its greatly appreciated!