What do you want to do in the future?

So this is going to be a different sort of blog post today. I haven't posted for a while and wanted to write but didn't have anything in particular to write about so I decided to just let my pen take control and see where it went. 

Since I've just finished my exams and my first year at college (year 12) and applying for university starts in September, I've been asked a lot about what it is I want to do in the future and I guess it's made me realise that I don't actually know, but that's okay! Sometimes it really is okay to be unsure of things. It just means that you're taking your time to consider things so that you don't rush into something that you don't really want to do.

For a while I've had a couple of options and one of those is to do medicine at university and then become a doctor. I have quite a lot of experience of the life changing things that doctors do and thought it would be absolutely fantastic to be able to help people like that. However, I've done quite a lot of voluntary work in hospitals and realised that often, the reality of the job isn't quite the same as you think. It is still something that I'm considering but I'd have to find a specialism with the minimal amount of paperwork possible as the main reason I'm interested in this is for the patient contact time. Which I guess could seem odd to some people who know me well as I can get quite anxious in social situations but, from my own experience, I'm not too bad in small groups for example when I'm teaching at swimming or in a classroom. So, I'm not by any means doubting the excellent work that medical professionals do. I'm just wondering whether or not the current system is something that I'd be happy working with because I believe that you never really work a day if you're doing something that you enjoy! 

One more thing that I've thought about is a career in teaching. I think it would give me plenty of opportunity to work with different types of people and the work experience I have done in schools has been really fun. I don't think I'd ever be able to teach in a primary school (the children are all way too small) but I quite enjoy maths and think I wouldn't be too much of a bad secondary school maths teacher. Again, because maths is something I enjoy, I think doing a degree in maths then a PGCE would be quite a good career choice for me but I'm not too sure. I may enjoy the degree so much that I choose a different career in maths. I know that by September I really need to have decided what I'm going to do and it may be one of these or I could choose something completely different but for the time being I'm not going to worry too much about it and just enjoy my summer. As long as I end up in a career that I enjoy, it doesn't matter too much to me and its probably what's here right now that I should be focusing on. Whatever happens, happens and you have to trust that you'll make the right decisions as they come along.

So in short, I'm not too bothered about what I do as a career or anything. I just want to have a job where I am happy and I'm in a position where I can make other people happy! But I do want to hear from you. What do you want to do in the future?

Keep smiling,

Kathryn x

Gold D of E and stuff

I'm back! A little later than I said but it's still Sunday so I guess that's not too bad. On Wednesday I didn't actually explain where I was going so here you go...

On Thursday I left for my Gold Duke of Edinburgh practice expedition having completed both the bronze and silver awards within the past two years. In case any of you are a little unsure about what the award is, I'll try to give a quick explanation but feel free to have a Google!

The D of E award is a collection of awards founded by Prince Philip (unsurprisingly, the Duke of Edinburgh) in 1956. It has a few sections: volunteering, physical, skills, expedition and, at gold level, residential. It is aimed to help young people develop various skills useful in all stages of life. For the expedition section there are quite a few options and for the first two awards I took part in a walking expedition. However, for my gold expedition I chose to canoe. Admittedly, at first I thought canoeing would be so much easier than walking as I wouldn't actually have to carry my bag but it wasn't long before I had changed my mind!

I woke up bright and early on Thursday morning to arrive at college for 7:30am and when I arrived I was very excited but also slightly anxious. After the 90minute journey to Windermere in the Lake District I was mainly just eager to start. We started by practicing recovering a capsized boat just in case anything did go wrong but then quickly moved on to the canoeing. We travelled a total of 18km quite successfully before arriving a  the first campsite. As campsites go, it wasn't too bad but we did have a couple of issues before being able to set up our tents and start cooking. As usual, I didn't sleep too well in the tent (blame low-flying aeroplanes) but what do you expect?

The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn packing our tents away ready to start our second day of paddling. The weather was lovely (perhaps a little too hot at times) and we had a pleasant day covering 22km in total. We all arrived at the second campsite pretty exhausted and ready to eat but first we had to practice rescuing people from the lake which involved me getting extremely cold and wet! We then cooked and went to bed quite early ready for our third and final day.

On the final day we only paddled around 8km before practicing an all-in rescue which is just what it sounds like. Every canoe capsized and you have to get every member of the team back in their canoes. This seemed quite daunting at first but was actually a lot of fun! We then packed away and started to head home after a lovely but very tiring expedition. I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed it so should probably say a big thank you to the volunteers who helped organise it.

Just thought I'd give you an update on what I've been up to. If it wasn't really the sort of post you enjoy, I'm sorry and I'll be back with some more normal stuff soon.

Keep smiling!
Kathryn x

Introductions

In my last post I didn't really get a chance to introduce myself so I thought that would be a good place to start. In exchange, I'd like to hear all about some of you! You can do this by commenting, posting a link to your blog or any other way you see fit.

I'm Kathryn! Just your average 17-year old girl from England. Currently I'm at college studying for my A-levels and, to be honest, I'm not quite sure what I'll do afterwards. I mean, I've got some ideas but they never seem to satisfy everyone's hopes and dreams.

In my spare time I like to do quite a lot of different things so if you get bored easily I'd skip this paragraph! I love to swim; both competing myself and coaching/teaching others. Basically, I just enjoy everything about being near the pool and the feeling of freedom it gives. And I do hear what you're thinking: 'what about all of those crazy early morning sessions?' But you don't mind when it's something you love, honest.

Also, I thoroughly enjoy reading (the best form of escapism!) and writing. Not usually anything in particular so I'm always open to new suggestions. In fact, I've almost finished reading Looking for Alaska (which I would definitely recommend ) so be expecting a review soon! I also love listening to music but my taste in music is often considered to be 'odd' or 'a little strange' to other people.

I have other hobbies too but I'll get around to them at a later date. I look forward to hearing from some of you!

Keep smiling, 

Kathryn x