Jun/100
Volunteer’s Week
Since leaving 6th form and throughout my degree so far I've volunteered for two organisations. The first of these is Active Training and Education (A.T.E) a not-for-profit educational trust that runs children's summer camps and school weeks in centres across the UK. Having trained as a summer camp monitor when I was still a 6th form student I soon learned that the A.T.E experience is unlike any other.. I've since spent weeks in countryside mansions and boarding schools hiding in the woods, crawling through underground tunnels and hunting mysterious characters who appear out of nowhere with news of villains that need to be captured. I've had more fun volunteering on these 'superweeks' than I can recall ever having when I was a child; there is nothing quite like watching an A.T.E first timer discover all the excitement of that A.T.E has to offer and taking them home to their parents at the end of the week brimming with stories to tell.
More recently, I've become involved with GirlGuiding UK and have trained as a unit leader, helping to run a Rainbows group (5-7 yrs). I've gained so much from the experience, meeting new people, developing my leadership skills and having the chance to get involved in a huge range of projects.
This week is Volunteer's Week in the UK so I felt compelled to share a little about my experience of being a volunteer. Volunteering is an experience I'd recommend to anyone - there are so many opportunities to volunteer regardless of how much or how little time you have to give.
May/103
Why I will never buy a policy from DSGI again.
2 months ago my 3 year old Toshiba P100 laptop died - in the truest sense of the word. Every time I tried to use it I got a blue screen error and reboot. After multiple attempts at fixing it it was apparent that there was a problem with one/more components and that it needed to be sent off for repair.
Don't worry I told myself - that Whatever Happens Policy that you took out with DSGI three years ago means it will all be fixed and returned no questions asked. In theory.
I phoned the DSGI phone line in mid-March to arrange for the laptop to be collected - thinking this gives them a good '28 days' as stipulated in their policy to get it fixed and returned to me before I have to go back to uni and revise for my finals.
Needless to say 28 days came and went. I was phoning DSGI on a weekly basis to find out what was happening and all sounded promising until the 3rd week - we're waiting for a new battery and powerpack that was where the fault was.
Week 4 - Yes we're still waiting for the battery and powerpack but because of the volcanic ash its going to take another week
Week 5- There hasn't been a change in the status we're still waiting
Week 6 - No still waiting - but we'll get in touch with the repair centre and find out exactly whats happening and how long they are expecting it to take
End of week 6 - Just to let you know we still haven't heard from the repair centre but we'll phone you when we do
Waiting, Waiting
Middle of week 7 - Yes we're still waiting for a battery and power cable. What someone told you they'd find out from the repair centre? Oh I have no idea why they would say that its not our job to chase these things up. You just have to wait OR accept a new laptop (of equal or better specification* But not the same make).
I told them I would expect an product of equal specification to be one of the same make and that if that is not the case I would prefer to wait for my own product back fixed.
But I obviously want to know what on earth is going on that it takes 3 weeks to get the parts.
'No can do' was the reply from the customer services rep.
Right well give me the address for head office - this is the worst service I've ever had and you are still sitting on MY £1200 laptop and refusing to tell me what is happening to it or when it will be fixed.
'Oh we don't have an address but here's another phone number try them'.
So the current situation is - I'm down a £1200 laptop and 3 years of policy premiums at £10 a month.
DSGI refuse to tell me how long it will take to repair/ locate the parts for my laptop. But funnily enough strongly advise that I just accept a new 'replacement' product of their choosing.
Words cannot express how angry I am with this service.
Jul/090
Where to begin?!
Summer term flew by, meaning tremendous exam stress (did I mention we medics are slightly competitive?) and many late nights of revision! Exams were based around our neuroscience/anatomy teaching and the endocrine and reproductive system - some were horrible as expected and others came as a huge relief to those of us who were already scrapping our summer plans in fear of resits! Having spent six weeks loathing neuroanatomy I was shocked to learn that I had in fact excelled in the exam and come out in the top 5% of my year (there is probably a lesson to be learned in that somewhere!).
Exams aside however, I am already finding myself running out of things to do until I return to university at the end of September. I'm really looking forwards to going back and beginning my intercalation in Cancer Biology which I realise is more than a little bit geeky! At the same time I realise that I have a lot of work to do to catch up with everyone else who has been studying the degree for two years already! I'm glad I made the decision to take the year out of medicine to study for it, having come straight from school at eighteen without a gap year I feel as though I'm accelerating towards adulthood and indeed 'doctor'hood without taking any kind of break to gain more life experience.
Whilst I'm sat taking in the grim Manchester weather many of my medic friends are off globetrotting. I've got a family holiday to look forwards to alongside some work on a summer camp later in August. No doubt September and my 21st will be here before I know it!
I always have lots of plans for designing this website & yet never get around to doing anything about them. Hopefully I'll have a surge of creativity and do something about it in the next few weeks, watch this space!
Apr/091
Terrorism..
How is it right that the actions of the minority leave the rest of us fearful of our own safety in our own homes and our own towns?
I have to admit that despite the recent arrests in the North-West I hadn't really considered myself or my friends or family to be at any significant risk of falling prey to acts of terrorism. However this morning I read a newspaper article that made me reconsider and really brought the events of the last few days home.
The fact is, that one of the areas that was photographed by the alleged terrorism suspects is yards from where I often work. If a bomb had been planted in that area the shop would almost certainly have been blown up killing everybody inside.
I'm extremely thankful that the plot was uncovered, and it didn't come as a complete surprise. Myself and my family have been speculating for the last few weeks that a huge plot was about to be uncovered and had even narrowed the area down to the Trafford Centre or Manchester city centre. This was due to the emergence of posters and television adverts warning us to report any suspicious people photographing shopping centres.
Now that I'm over the initial shock however, I find myself frustrated with the position that we are in. I feel completely powerless to protect myself or the people that I love from the ignorant acts of the minority and that scares me.
I feel proud of the city that I live in and have a huge respect for the way that it has recovered from the IRA bomb. What I want, and feel that I have a right to claim is the right to enjoy it without fear or intimidation.
Hi! I’m Jen, I’m 21 years old and study medicine in the UK. I'm currently studying for an intercalated degree in Pathology and Microbiology but excited about going back to clinical medicine next year!
