Winding...down?!

So, if I'm going to put this address as a link on Facebook and stuff then I should maybe update this every once in a while... ha.
I'm finishing my exams on Thursday - hurrah! The last one's on Nineteenth Century French Literature. Then I'm going for dimsum with some mates before getting properly twatted. Should be great!
Then the next day Tariq's arriving and we're going to Restaurant 22, like the next step down from Midsummer house, or so I hear. Should be lovely, and the menu looks delish. Saturday we're going punting (and it's probably about time I actually gave punting a go myself rather than being a leisurely passenger all the time) to Grantchester we're we'll hopefully have a bbq. Sunday there's going to be a huge picnic on Jesus green and Monday me and hopefully a couple of the girls are going to the New Forest til Weds. Thurs we're going to evensong if it still happens and the on Sunday Mayweek starts.... could be interesting!! We've got New Hall's garden party on Suicide Sunday (of course), then Trinity ball on Monday, a linguist garden party on tuesday, Sidney Sussex ball on Weds and then... hmmm... maybe, RECOVERING on Thursday before we get kicked out on Saturday (which is hopefully results day, strike pending..). Not at all busy then!
This Summer is going to be interesting. I hope I get a bit of a chance to rest and have some fun before I start working for Tesco in September.
more soon!
x

Tesco?

Post number one! yay!
So, having applied to lots of jobs, I received lots and lots of rejections. Straightaway. No first-round interviews or anything. My strategy was simple: apply to lots of graduate schemes in Marketing (how I managed to work out Marketing was for me is a whole other story to which I will hopefully devote a post in its own right at some point), and if that didn't work out, hey, there's always the Summer. None of my friends who are now in jobs and doing alright thankyouverymuch applied for jobs whilst in their final year. But I wanted to give it a go, cos how good must it feel to graduate and have everything sorted? That would spell out one kick-ass Summer!
I applied to Procter and Gamble, Unilever, Diageo, Waitrose, Sainsburys, GCHQ (well, I started an application..) Transport for London and Tesco and they all came back negative. Then I got a letter from Tesco (sadly the same day I got my letter from Unilever - cor I would have loved to work there...) and they said they wanted to interview me for their Fasttrack Store Manager scheme. So I went along to the interview (at 9am, which hurt, but I felt soooo good managing to turn up to my 10am lecture afterwards, and in a suit!) which went ok, and a few weeks later I got invited to an assessment day. This took place in Notting Hill and involved an overnight stay in a hotel and a meal with the other candidates (so we could get to know each other) and a full 9-5 (well, 4) day being put through our paces. It was actually quite fun. Apart from their not having a computer or OHP for me to give my fantastic presentation on, so I had to improvise and use my acetate printouts (ingenious foresight) on the table. We had to have a team discussion, and a few team games as well as an in-tray exercise.
I find out any minute now if I've got the job. Problem is, I'm not sure whether or not I want it. Growing up, I don't think I ever said "Mummy, when I grow up, I want to be a Tesco Store Manager!" and the scheme sounds quite gruelling. It's usually a 5year scheme but they're trialling a 2 1/2 year version for which the September '06 intake will be guinea pigs. Which, in a way, means they'll be looked after, but also means they'll be pushed even harder. I'd have to work a month of nightshifts and would have to commute within the area they put me in - which could be anywhere in 'The South' - whatever that means. I really just want to stay put for a while, and greedy as it sounds, I want to do a job I know I'm going to love. But I also know that should I get it, this job would pay very well for a fresh graduate, and would be an amazing career start. But at what cost?