Monday 20 August 2012

The Countdown Begins


Two weeks today and I will have been plunged into the mayhem of my PGCE. Actually, I’m not expecting it to be ‘mayhem’ until after about three days. I’m hoping the introductory stuff will be fairly simple- although, no doubt, I will have got lost about twelve times already by lunch on the first day.

This is it then: the final countdown.

I’m working every hour I can to stash enough cash away for the time between moving and student loan arriving. The other day I was considering searching for a weekend job in my new city, but from all the horror stories I’ve heard about the PGCE workload, I’m betting I won’t have time for a job. And, while I was working as a TA, I met some students who were doing their PGCEs. They both had jobs too. They both said they were frazzled (ok,  “frazzled” may be my word, but you get what I mean).

I’m still waiting on the book list. I’ve called the University a few times about this now. The lady I speak to is really lovely and she’s led me to believe that I should expect a book list, and that it’ll be sent with the welcome pack. Given that the course starts in two weeks, I’m hoping no one’s expecting the books to have been read in much detail (if at all). I also hope the list’s fairly short. I worry that the books may not be in stock when I finally get around to buying them. I’ve turned into quite the worrier this week. While waiting for the elusive list, I’ve been keeping an eye on teaching blogs, and English resource pages. I still feel woefully unprepared.

I’ve had a scare from the housing people. All resolved now but, typically, little monsters rear their ugly heads when I’m so close to moving/starting the course. I’m sure there’ll be more in the next fortnight.

Aside from that, I’ve started the fun task of buying stuff, and planning how I’m going to rearrange all the furniture in my flat. Oh, and trying to guess which school I could potentially end up in for my first placement. Although, as the admission tutors said I’d have to be willing to travel up to an hour on public transport, I feel this is a somewhat futile task. I’m just trying to check my excitement.

I’ve almost given up with Pride and Prejudice. It still has a bookmark in it, but I’ve resigned myself to trudging through it steadily, rather than neglecting things I want to read in favour of it (If I wasn’t so sure that it’d show up, in some shape or form, I would’ve abandoned it ages ago). Instead, I’m powering through Faber’s The Crimson Petal and The White. What a book! I probably won’t review it on here because it’s not teenage fiction, but I’ll recommend it. It’s a cracking read.

So, I move house on 1st September and the course starts on 3rd. Obviously on 2nd September, I’ll be skipping about my new city, getting lost and feeling stupidly excited. Then this blog will revert to its original purpose of documenting the PGCE's ups and downs, rather than just reviewing teenage fiction.

[In my head, the Countdown clock music was playing as I typed this blog].

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