CHRISTIE HALSEY: November 2013

I have been away from here for a little while whilst working full time and having some second thoughts about studying for my degree. However I have come back to the drawing board and decided that I would have to be utterly STUPID to let the opportunity to study for a degree part-time pass me by!

So, I have uploaded my current CV as my blog profile. Originally I was finding it hard to get everything from my CV into a couple of 'short & sweet' style paragraphs so after trying a couple of times I decided to create a brainstorm of all of my details and jobs and then highlight the most important and up-to-date facts and work experiences. Please find attached.

You should find my short and sweet style CV under the 'About Me' tab to the left hand side of my blog. Please read and feel free to comment. Thanks

Right okay, SO.

Here goes my first (but not first) blog! Let me explain:

Having attended The Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts for 4 years as a secondary school pupil and then a further 3 years as a college student before being awarded a Level 6 Diploma in Theatre Arts, I decided to take a running leap of faith and indulge in University studies to convert my diploma to a degree!

On 2nd October 2013 I attended my first campus session at Middlesex University. I had no idea what to expect. I was apprehensive about taking the course as I had been out of education for a year and out of 'written' education for 4 years, however I knew that it was something I wanted to do and that I could only possibly reap rewards from the outcome. I had already set up my Blogger and Google+ profiles and had had a go at 'adding' people to my circles on Google+. That had been a success and I had managed to find my Tutors and also fellow students and have a look at their blogs. So far so good. I had been unable to attend the Induction Day at the Hendon Campus and so the first campus session was my first opportunity to actually meet my tutors and some of the other students in person.

Now.. this is where the first (but not first) blog bit comes in. I had previously blogged about my experience at the first campus session however I had posted directly to Google+ and not blogger. I hadn't realised that the posts I had uploaded to Google+ had not linked with my blogger and so was shocked and confused when I received an email from my academic advisor +Alan Durrant to say that my blog was empty?! Anyway, after some too-ing and fro-ing with +Paula Nottingham I was able to work out where I had gone wrong - I needed to post directly to blogger. So anyway, here is my original blog which I wrote two days after attending campus:

Upon arriving on at the first campus session I was met by some friendly looking faces in the forms of both students and tutors. There were students from all levels of the course - Modules 1, 2 & 3, which was good as it gave us 'newbees' the opportunity to ask questions and seek advice from people who had been in our position not so long ago. After having a brief introduction the Module 1 starters went and sat with Alan Durrant - our Academic Advisor who gave us some information about our course and talked us through the processes and expectations that we would be met with throughout the duration of Module 1. I think it is safe to say that we all felt suitably confused after this hour conversation and so we were glad to get back to the Module 2's and 3's to take advantage of their knowledge and experience of already completing Module 1. We were given the opportunity to ask the students who had already completed Module 1 & I was the first person to stick my hand up into the air and ask 'Im sorry but, was anyone else just TOTALLY confused?!'. To which the general consensus was 'YES!'. I am pleased to say that having attended the Campus session and having had the opportunity to ask some questions I feel as though what once seemed and 'un-manageable' task now seems like an achievable process. I am also grateful for being able to meet fellow students and start to build a support and advice network with them!

So yes, that was my first blog to Google+. And THIS is my first post to Blogger!