So, I am now a barrister. I have been called to the 'utter' Bar. I have, in the words of Lord Justice Laws, begun my legal odyssey.
Yes, I did smirk just a little when he said that the ceremony.
It's already been a hell of a journey to get here, and I have to say my boat has certainly sprung a few leaks in the storm. The biscuits have all got weevils, I'm all out of wine, and frankly I'm downright suspicious about the coffee.
My internship is going well, and is sadly drawing to a close. In some respects, it will be a relief simply to have some free time. Between the internship and my job that has been certainly lacking.
The feeling that is nagging at me however, is have I made the wrong Call? I did not put in my QLTT papers, and in retrospect I think that was the wrong move.
I also wonder whether the BVC was the right decision at all. I do wonder how the qualification is viewed by legal employers. It would be interesting to know how firms view the BVC in, say, paralegal applications. That is, of course, not to say my failure to secure work is in any way related; that failure is my own. However it is a query that has popped in my mind from time to time.
I also wonder how the BVC is viewed outside the legal profession. I know I can sell it as a set of transferable skills and my CV is certainly not sparse. It would be interesting nonetheless to get an insider opinion.
Second, the statistical reality that I would have been in a better position with an LPC is hitting home. The changes at the Bar continue to reflect that perhaps the LPC becomes increasingly the better option. However, I made my choice; I knew the risks and I did it anyway.
I have increasingly turned myself to non-legal work in an effort to hedge my bets. I'm also tired of working for minimum wage when I would like to think I could secure something at least a little better. the next round of applications in March is looking like a very far off land indeed.
I better get bailing water.
Weevil, anyone?
Showing posts with label BVC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BVC. Show all posts
Friday, 22 October 2010
Friday, 13 August 2010
Back once again....
That's right, I'm back! Or at least, I'm going to try to be.
Where does the time go?
So, sine my last post, a fair few things have happened. I passed the BVC with a VC...somehow, and will soon get to call myself "barrister". Woo!
I failed to get pupillage (despite a valiant effort, or something along those lines) and am left with the same despondency as last year. In fact, I got less interviews which suggests a huge failure on my part somewhere on the form; something I intend to try and correct for next year which I think may be my last. I fear I may not be up to the required standard, and with the ever passing time am unlikely to improve my advocacy. I did once again reach second round, though fell at that hurdle.
So, with that in mind, I ploughed on with the summer and into the ever rough sees of the job market. I secured myself some short term work at a solicitors though it has now dried up. Good for the bank account, good for the CV. Win win!
I've also bagged myself an internship at a reputable place, which I hope will bolster my applications for the future. I'm considering becoming an appropriate adult, though it a term that has probably never yet been applied to me. Adult...sometimes. Appropriate...almost certainly not.
It's going to be a hard few months from a financial perspective. I've managed to line up a little part-time work locally which should just about see me through. Does anyone know of ways to secure internship funding? Most bursaries that I found required me to submit applications long before I had even interviewed for the position. God know's how I will even pay for Call night attire.
So, that's the quick catch up. Lets see if I can stick at this a little better second time around.
I hope I still have a few kind readers left to notice my return into the blawgging fray.
Oddy.
Where does the time go?
So, sine my last post, a fair few things have happened. I passed the BVC with a VC...somehow, and will soon get to call myself "barrister". Woo!
I failed to get pupillage (despite a valiant effort, or something along those lines) and am left with the same despondency as last year. In fact, I got less interviews which suggests a huge failure on my part somewhere on the form; something I intend to try and correct for next year which I think may be my last. I fear I may not be up to the required standard, and with the ever passing time am unlikely to improve my advocacy. I did once again reach second round, though fell at that hurdle.
So, with that in mind, I ploughed on with the summer and into the ever rough sees of the job market. I secured myself some short term work at a solicitors though it has now dried up. Good for the bank account, good for the CV. Win win!
I've also bagged myself an internship at a reputable place, which I hope will bolster my applications for the future. I'm considering becoming an appropriate adult, though it a term that has probably never yet been applied to me. Adult...sometimes. Appropriate...almost certainly not.
It's going to be a hard few months from a financial perspective. I've managed to line up a little part-time work locally which should just about see me through. Does anyone know of ways to secure internship funding? Most bursaries that I found required me to submit applications long before I had even interviewed for the position. God know's how I will even pay for Call night attire.
So, that's the quick catch up. Lets see if I can stick at this a little better second time around.
I hope I still have a few kind readers left to notice my return into the blawgging fray.
Oddy.
Friday, 9 April 2010
Where does the time go?
I have twice started, and then abandoned, a post about recent events. Why? I bored myself with my ranting on about exams in a long winded fashion. Dull! And it has yet again been too long since I posted!
So, I'll try something a little different.
And finally, something to make you smile
So, I'll try something a little different.
And finally, something to make you smile
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Eat, sleep, do exams
I am increasingly aware my blawgging this year has become sporadic, to put it mildly. Now that I am once more clawing back some small semblance of organisation into my life, I will start to post as often as I had hoped. For now, on with the splurge that is my ramblings...
Exams have started to appear with worrying rapidity into my otherwise already busy calendar, leaving me with the prospect of a few weeks propped on coffee, junk food and a pitiful quantity of sleep. If only I can stop the BVC from expanding my wasteline even further, I will not count the year as a total loss.
Chastened by recent poor marks in an opinion mock (gulp), a further poor attempt at drafting (robbed I say, robbed!) and the impending release of the papers on Thursday, I find my waking hours filled with concerns as to my upcoming performance. Hopefully my last few sessions of dedicated note taking mixed with blissful self-deprecation (I was recently banned from a library for full blown flagellation, so decided to tone it down) will leave me swimming in the tranquil waters of the mid-VC.
However, these concerns must exit stage left, for it is my negotiation exam tomorrow. 2 hours of tense reading, writing on the evil that is carbon copy paper, followed by 20 minutes of the cut and thrust of negotiation. I still find the whole process artificial, and like many, difficult to really prepare for. Whilst the overall topic is released a week in advance, there is little to do save brush up on the law and print out a few choice notes. The whole experience of the negotiation exam is an odd one; it feels like spending a week reading books and taking notes before being given two hours to climb to the top of a hill and spend 20 minutes wrestling over a pile of someone else's cash.
Lets hope there's at least jelly involved somewhere.
Is it rude to pack a spoon?
Exams have started to appear with worrying rapidity into my otherwise already busy calendar, leaving me with the prospect of a few weeks propped on coffee, junk food and a pitiful quantity of sleep. If only I can stop the BVC from expanding my wasteline even further, I will not count the year as a total loss.
Chastened by recent poor marks in an opinion mock (gulp), a further poor attempt at drafting (robbed I say, robbed!) and the impending release of the papers on Thursday, I find my waking hours filled with concerns as to my upcoming performance. Hopefully my last few sessions of dedicated note taking mixed with blissful self-deprecation (I was recently banned from a library for full blown flagellation, so decided to tone it down) will leave me swimming in the tranquil waters of the mid-VC.
However, these concerns must exit stage left, for it is my negotiation exam tomorrow. 2 hours of tense reading, writing on the evil that is carbon copy paper, followed by 20 minutes of the cut and thrust of negotiation. I still find the whole process artificial, and like many, difficult to really prepare for. Whilst the overall topic is released a week in advance, there is little to do save brush up on the law and print out a few choice notes. The whole experience of the negotiation exam is an odd one; it feels like spending a week reading books and taking notes before being given two hours to climb to the top of a hill and spend 20 minutes wrestling over a pile of someone else's cash.
Lets hope there's at least jelly involved somewhere.
Is it rude to pack a spoon?
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Returning from the wilderness
I have, it must confess, been somewhat lax in my blogging. Once term kicked in, I rarely found the time as things became more chaotic. Moving to the Big Smoke, the BVC's constant workload and generally trying to swim not sink means that I have failed to post.
And when I fail, I like to fail with flair.
So, now that the Christmas horror is upon us, I intend to return to this venture with renewed gusto, and hopefully some will carry on to the next term.
Since my last post, much has happened. In fact, the majority of the first term has slipped by with an alarming speed. There has been much rumbling in the criminal world too, and Labour's intended bills for the coming year will no doubt have attracted some attention to those interested. I will hopefully post on some of the highlights of the last few weeks that caught my eye n due course. I have also finished another mini, and will post up my idle ramblings shortly on mini's.
For now however, a few thoughts on the first term of the BVC...
Term 1 has been, for the most part, enjoyable. It is however, a mountain of work from week to week. I think it can perhaps best be described as 'relentless'. That is not to say that it isn't manageable, and spending a working week in the library means that it can more or less be done without eating into weekends or evenings. Unfortunately, I failed to be quite so organised after a few weeks, and soon slipped back into the student ways of slipping off for coffee (ahem, beer) at lunchtime with friends similarly inclined.
The abhorrent legal research in particular drove many to the early stages of alcoholism. For any pre-BVC students reading these ramblings, I should warn you now of the horrors of legal research. Being asked to produce the answer to a legal problem is, in itself, interesting. However, being forced to provide along with it upwards of 20 pages of "research trail" is mind numbing to say this least. What is this "research trail" I hear you cry? Is it a fun foray into the woods of knowledge? By calling it a trail, it sounds almost like a weekend activity for the under 12s at Butlins, complete with kendle mint cake, a compass that you won't use and green wellies half a size too big.
No such joy. It is, in short, cutting and pasting from the material you find. Worse still, proof of hardcopy research means that you have to copy verbatim text from hard sources, and edit to show that you can do so. Of course, photocopying the relevant passage and highlighting is not acceptable! It does not show the required editing. Apparently. Most infuriating of all, is the fact that the question is stolen wholesale from a real case. Many, like myself, quickly found the case and were therefore painfully aware that despite knowing the answer, the correct authority, and everything you need to answer the question, that you then had to spend several days slumped in front of the computer producing the trail of hell. Propped up on coffee, and gibbering slightly to myself, I did hand the answer in, complete with its research trail, loving crafted from a range of sources despite knowing the relevant ones within 10 minutes.
Adding salt to the wound, we were informed that we were to be the last year to suffer this task set by beelzebub himself. So, if this prediction comes true, then I state for the record that you are all lucky, lucky people.
Whilst mostly enjoyable, I have found the course incredibly frustrating. The questions often prevent thinking outside the box, the subjective nature of the marking of the oral skills can drive one to distraction, and the penchant for leaving students blundering in the dark is nothing short of infuriating. It is the last which is the most painful. On many occasions, we were tasked with something for advocacy and would then proceed to give it our (collective) best stab. We would then be criticised for having done X or Y wrong, and have it explained how it should be tackled. Often, we would have a lecture after the week's seminars explaining how our esteemed provided want said blunder to be approached or even a seminar in a separate skills subject covering it. The worst was the assessment. Required to edit a draft order for an interim injunction, I found myself fumbling inanely as to the best way of editing their provided version. My wild stab in the dark complete, I handed it in on time. The following day, we had a drafting seminar on how best to produce draft orders for interim injunction which was, most painfully of all, on almost an identical topic. This left myself, along with a fair few others, seething and ultimately left unable to do anything but await our fate in the marks apportioned for this with the assessment still a week away.
For now, I shall return to the laborious task of cleaning the detritus of a terms chaos. Negotiating the treacherous path from my desk to the kitchen is still of labyrinthine difficulty, and is a minefield of papers, cups of half drunk tea and notes that look like the inept scrawling of the insane.
Let the holiday begin.
Oddy
And when I fail, I like to fail with flair.
So, now that the Christmas horror is upon us, I intend to return to this venture with renewed gusto, and hopefully some will carry on to the next term.
Since my last post, much has happened. In fact, the majority of the first term has slipped by with an alarming speed. There has been much rumbling in the criminal world too, and Labour's intended bills for the coming year will no doubt have attracted some attention to those interested. I will hopefully post on some of the highlights of the last few weeks that caught my eye n due course. I have also finished another mini, and will post up my idle ramblings shortly on mini's.
For now however, a few thoughts on the first term of the BVC...
Term 1 has been, for the most part, enjoyable. It is however, a mountain of work from week to week. I think it can perhaps best be described as 'relentless'. That is not to say that it isn't manageable, and spending a working week in the library means that it can more or less be done without eating into weekends or evenings. Unfortunately, I failed to be quite so organised after a few weeks, and soon slipped back into the student ways of slipping off for coffee (ahem, beer) at lunchtime with friends similarly inclined.
The abhorrent legal research in particular drove many to the early stages of alcoholism. For any pre-BVC students reading these ramblings, I should warn you now of the horrors of legal research. Being asked to produce the answer to a legal problem is, in itself, interesting. However, being forced to provide along with it upwards of 20 pages of "research trail" is mind numbing to say this least. What is this "research trail" I hear you cry? Is it a fun foray into the woods of knowledge? By calling it a trail, it sounds almost like a weekend activity for the under 12s at Butlins, complete with kendle mint cake, a compass that you won't use and green wellies half a size too big.
No such joy. It is, in short, cutting and pasting from the material you find. Worse still, proof of hardcopy research means that you have to copy verbatim text from hard sources, and edit to show that you can do so. Of course, photocopying the relevant passage and highlighting is not acceptable! It does not show the required editing. Apparently. Most infuriating of all, is the fact that the question is stolen wholesale from a real case. Many, like myself, quickly found the case and were therefore painfully aware that despite knowing the answer, the correct authority, and everything you need to answer the question, that you then had to spend several days slumped in front of the computer producing the trail of hell. Propped up on coffee, and gibbering slightly to myself, I did hand the answer in, complete with its research trail, loving crafted from a range of sources despite knowing the relevant ones within 10 minutes.
Adding salt to the wound, we were informed that we were to be the last year to suffer this task set by beelzebub himself. So, if this prediction comes true, then I state for the record that you are all lucky, lucky people.
Whilst mostly enjoyable, I have found the course incredibly frustrating. The questions often prevent thinking outside the box, the subjective nature of the marking of the oral skills can drive one to distraction, and the penchant for leaving students blundering in the dark is nothing short of infuriating. It is the last which is the most painful. On many occasions, we were tasked with something for advocacy and would then proceed to give it our (collective) best stab. We would then be criticised for having done X or Y wrong, and have it explained how it should be tackled. Often, we would have a lecture after the week's seminars explaining how our esteemed provided want said blunder to be approached or even a seminar in a separate skills subject covering it. The worst was the assessment. Required to edit a draft order for an interim injunction, I found myself fumbling inanely as to the best way of editing their provided version. My wild stab in the dark complete, I handed it in on time. The following day, we had a drafting seminar on how best to produce draft orders for interim injunction which was, most painfully of all, on almost an identical topic. This left myself, along with a fair few others, seething and ultimately left unable to do anything but await our fate in the marks apportioned for this with the assessment still a week away.
For now, I shall return to the laborious task of cleaning the detritus of a terms chaos. Negotiating the treacherous path from my desk to the kitchen is still of labyrinthine difficulty, and is a minefield of papers, cups of half drunk tea and notes that look like the inept scrawling of the insane.
Let the holiday begin.
Oddy
Friday, 9 October 2009
It has begun!
Ok, so I have been away from the blawgosphere for a while. Starting at BPP as a lifer, moving down to the Big Smoke and starting the next stage of my life has been a very busy experience.
The second part to my series on my failed application experiences will come later, but I just wanted to get a quick word in first about having at last started the BVC.
A few first impressions
I arrived, fresh faced and rosy on the first day, ready for all that the world had to offer.
Ok, that's a lie. I arrived late, red faced and feeling like a massive idiot already. My subconscious desire for a more glamorous memory of my arrival has therefore kicked in, and has not so much applied rose-tinted spectacles for the viewing but fired the previous director, hired a script writer, taken on a more handsome model to play me and re-shot the whole opening scene. Ah, much better...
The first week was much as I had expected; the usual gloriously tedious introductory lectures, gratuitous queuing to hand in forms to allow one times to become intimately acquainted with the nearby wall, and other pleasures of equally dubious nature.
Life on the inside is divided into two principle ways. There are the imaginatively titled LGSs (or large group sessions) that are the few lectures we have for each module, and SGSs (small group sessions) that are the seminars. Much time is devoted to the latter this is the focus of "student orientated learning", and fortunately so.
The usefulness of the LGS has ranged from integral to ones survival, to an hour of pointing out the inanely obvious. However with the hoop-jumping attitude of the attendance requirement, being present at all of these sessions is an unfortunate necessity. I have been one of the few who has had their name called out to check attendance, and had luckily decided not to slope off to a nearby watering hole with a friend in the area that day.
The SGSs are equally varied, and the subject and lecturer have huge impacts on how interesting these can actually be.
Criminal and Civil feel too much like undergraduate seminars for comfort, just with longer reading lists. Presented with a long reading list from either the CPR or Blackstone's and a list of questions makes for a dull day in the library knocking out the two. Fortunately I really like my criminal tutor, and this makes the process more enjoyable. As a wannabe criminal hack however, civil is doubly tortuous; it seems so irrelevant to what I want to do. Most of my group are the other way round, and find doing criminal almost an insult. The feeling is mutual!
Advocacy and conference are the highlights of the week. The first advocacy session, despite my insatiable incompetency at the exercise finally made it all feel worth while. For any reader who is at that stage in their degree where they wonder why the hell they are in the library again, this is why. The first 5 seconds on my feet speaking and I knew why I was here. Why the hell isn't advocacy in some form part of the undergraduate experience? My own annoyance is that some of my group are already easily getting outstanding, and my competitive nature is chomping at the bit as a result of only achieving a mid VC. Conference is fun, but thanks to my group rather than anything done by the lecturer. Role play can be made less tedious if your client is played by someone witty and imaginative enough to keep the exercise alive. The marking of the exercises however appears random, and some of my class mates who are clearly performing better are not scoring so, much to their frustration. I for one don't blame them.
Legal Research - Just....No.
Professional Ethics - This has been taught surprisingly well, and role playing your answers to the client (played by the lecturer who was determined to be difficult) made the experience a challenge rather than a tedious hoop-jump exercises.
Opinion (and drafting) - made bearable by the tutor who understands the reality of student life, and would rather go through things in an intelligent fashion and explain what you should be doing to get good marks rather than hammer someone who hasn't fully prepared that week. When she said in the first SGS that she understands that how much you get done each week for each topic is a matter of priority rather than saying "opinion comes first" meant she was getting a standing ovation if my head.
So far the workload has been unproblematic. Treating it like a 9-5 job everyday has meant I have had very few late evenings or busy weekend. Given that Friday's are off, I barely even have to work on them to be easily 24-48 hours ahead of my timetable. Much of my group work this way, and we can often be found en masse in the library working away. If you can work like this, I would suggest it. For the first time in my academic career, I am on top of my work. Shame about everything else in my life!
Finally...my group. I am yet to characterise them fully, although they will doubtless appear from time to time. What I will say now is that they have made the course. They allow the tedious elements to be enjoyable, provide worthy adversaries in advocacy and conference, and the good-natured humour between us has given the experience a much needed lift.
The experience has begun. I am on the inside. I am a lifer.
The second part to my series on my failed application experiences will come later, but I just wanted to get a quick word in first about having at last started the BVC.
A few first impressions
I arrived, fresh faced and rosy on the first day, ready for all that the world had to offer.
Ok, that's a lie. I arrived late, red faced and feeling like a massive idiot already. My subconscious desire for a more glamorous memory of my arrival has therefore kicked in, and has not so much applied rose-tinted spectacles for the viewing but fired the previous director, hired a script writer, taken on a more handsome model to play me and re-shot the whole opening scene. Ah, much better...
The first week was much as I had expected; the usual gloriously tedious introductory lectures, gratuitous queuing to hand in forms to allow one times to become intimately acquainted with the nearby wall, and other pleasures of equally dubious nature.
Life on the inside is divided into two principle ways. There are the imaginatively titled LGSs (or large group sessions) that are the few lectures we have for each module, and SGSs (small group sessions) that are the seminars. Much time is devoted to the latter this is the focus of "student orientated learning", and fortunately so.
The usefulness of the LGS has ranged from integral to ones survival, to an hour of pointing out the inanely obvious. However with the hoop-jumping attitude of the attendance requirement, being present at all of these sessions is an unfortunate necessity. I have been one of the few who has had their name called out to check attendance, and had luckily decided not to slope off to a nearby watering hole with a friend in the area that day.
The SGSs are equally varied, and the subject and lecturer have huge impacts on how interesting these can actually be.
Criminal and Civil feel too much like undergraduate seminars for comfort, just with longer reading lists. Presented with a long reading list from either the CPR or Blackstone's and a list of questions makes for a dull day in the library knocking out the two. Fortunately I really like my criminal tutor, and this makes the process more enjoyable. As a wannabe criminal hack however, civil is doubly tortuous; it seems so irrelevant to what I want to do. Most of my group are the other way round, and find doing criminal almost an insult. The feeling is mutual!
Advocacy and conference are the highlights of the week. The first advocacy session, despite my insatiable incompetency at the exercise finally made it all feel worth while. For any reader who is at that stage in their degree where they wonder why the hell they are in the library again, this is why. The first 5 seconds on my feet speaking and I knew why I was here. Why the hell isn't advocacy in some form part of the undergraduate experience? My own annoyance is that some of my group are already easily getting outstanding, and my competitive nature is chomping at the bit as a result of only achieving a mid VC. Conference is fun, but thanks to my group rather than anything done by the lecturer. Role play can be made less tedious if your client is played by someone witty and imaginative enough to keep the exercise alive. The marking of the exercises however appears random, and some of my class mates who are clearly performing better are not scoring so, much to their frustration. I for one don't blame them.
Legal Research - Just....No.
Professional Ethics - This has been taught surprisingly well, and role playing your answers to the client (played by the lecturer who was determined to be difficult) made the experience a challenge rather than a tedious hoop-jump exercises.
Opinion (and drafting) - made bearable by the tutor who understands the reality of student life, and would rather go through things in an intelligent fashion and explain what you should be doing to get good marks rather than hammer someone who hasn't fully prepared that week. When she said in the first SGS that she understands that how much you get done each week for each topic is a matter of priority rather than saying "opinion comes first" meant she was getting a standing ovation if my head.
So far the workload has been unproblematic. Treating it like a 9-5 job everyday has meant I have had very few late evenings or busy weekend. Given that Friday's are off, I barely even have to work on them to be easily 24-48 hours ahead of my timetable. Much of my group work this way, and we can often be found en masse in the library working away. If you can work like this, I would suggest it. For the first time in my academic career, I am on top of my work. Shame about everything else in my life!
Finally...my group. I am yet to characterise them fully, although they will doubtless appear from time to time. What I will say now is that they have made the course. They allow the tedious elements to be enjoyable, provide worthy adversaries in advocacy and conference, and the good-natured humour between us has given the experience a much needed lift.
The experience has begun. I am on the inside. I am a lifer.
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
The shape of things to come...
Apologies for the somewhat whimsical post...the format of this foray into blawgging is still under some flux. I do intend to cover some more hard-edged legal topics once I begin the BVC, and already have some in mind.
I am beginning to feel some excitement at the thought of the upcoming start of the BVC. After 4 long years of purely academic work, it will be nice to do something that feels practical. This year has been the closet I have come to doing work that seems like it has a practical purpose, and has strayed away from purely theory. Undertaking a dissertation involving research with the public, and with the possibility of creating some actual change has felt extremely rewarding. Or it will, when the damn thing is finally finished.
The prospect of my new life is also exciting, if leaving me thinking of what I will leave behind. Strolling home last week as the sun came up (yes, I am a dirty stop-out) with the dulcet tones of Frightened Rabbit ringing in my ears, I was reminded why I am so enamoured with this city, and with my life here. Many of my peers will not be leaving here, and others left only to come back. I can see why. Had I not firmly decided that The Big City was my destination of choice, I doubt I would leave here either. I am convinced that had I stayed but one more year, I too would be here for good.
However, I am always one for an adventure. Shrugging off the shackles of my ties to this place, and moving down south holds great excitement for me. With somewhere to live now secured, and with all that the next year will hold looming tantalisingly in front of me, I am certainly looking forward to moving on.Even if it is with a slight backwards glance as I go.
If it all goes wrong? I will still have had a bloody good time getting there.
I am beginning to feel some excitement at the thought of the upcoming start of the BVC. After 4 long years of purely academic work, it will be nice to do something that feels practical. This year has been the closet I have come to doing work that seems like it has a practical purpose, and has strayed away from purely theory. Undertaking a dissertation involving research with the public, and with the possibility of creating some actual change has felt extremely rewarding. Or it will, when the damn thing is finally finished.
The prospect of my new life is also exciting, if leaving me thinking of what I will leave behind. Strolling home last week as the sun came up (yes, I am a dirty stop-out) with the dulcet tones of Frightened Rabbit ringing in my ears, I was reminded why I am so enamoured with this city, and with my life here. Many of my peers will not be leaving here, and others left only to come back. I can see why. Had I not firmly decided that The Big City was my destination of choice, I doubt I would leave here either. I am convinced that had I stayed but one more year, I too would be here for good.
However, I am always one for an adventure. Shrugging off the shackles of my ties to this place, and moving down south holds great excitement for me. With somewhere to live now secured, and with all that the next year will hold looming tantalisingly in front of me, I am certainly looking forward to moving on.Even if it is with a slight backwards glance as I go.
If it all goes wrong? I will still have had a bloody good time getting there.
Friday, 3 July 2009
Out of my depth?
As the few who have followed my ramblings so far will be aware, I am a postgrad as yet to undertake the BVC. Braving the HellGate this year for the first time, I treated the whole exercise of something of a dry run, and expected little positive response.
I am, therefore, wholly pleased with myself to have 3 first round interviews with a set yet to hear from. Self-congratulatory pat on the back and inebriated celebrations in order and all that.
However, I am worried that should I make it to second round (and I stress the gigantic IF here) I will so completely out of my depth as to render the experience torturous. With no BVC experience behind me, advocacy exercises are going to prove tricky and my relative lack of interview practice may hinder me somewhat. Whilst I have gleaned a few precious (albeit largely indecipherable) notes from companions further down the line than myself(LPC students to a man however) and still leave me feeling a little concerned.
Any advice from those in the know would be most appreciated!
Oddy
P.S. I hope to produce a more interesting post at some point; I am new to this lark! Perhaps once I start the BVC as a full-timer (read: lifer), I will perhaps have something better to contribute!
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