New Beginnings

Week One ✅

Starting a new school is daunting. New environment, new people, new teachers (or tutors, whatever you call them now!) It’s hard to get my head around and adjust, especially when the building looks like a futuristic, orbital spacecraft compared to where I used to attend. After attending this school, it seems like an overpriced corner shop (with no disrespect!)

I’m taking a big mix of subjects for A-Levels: Computer Science, Media Studies and Politics. Yes, three different career pathways! I don’t have much of a set plan on what I want to do in the future, but I’m sure it will be either in media or technology.

Becoming brainy 🧠

2 of my classes this year are ones I’ve never chosen at GCSE; Computer Science is the only one I’m pretty familiar with (and the only class I haven’t experienced because, for some reason, they delayed it by a week)

Media Studies is a little different than I thought it would be - I thought there would be more emphasis on the production side of media, but it’s mostly just analysing and understanding the industry. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty interested in that as well!

This is a bit weird, but I find Politics therapeutic for some reason. I probably seem like some kind of crazy person saying that breaking down policies and theories is therapeutic, but there’s just this kind of vibe to it?

“Learn as you go along.” ➡️

A big question I’ve been asking myself all week: am I studying enough? am I overdoing it? 🤔

My old Spanish teacher from Year 7 would scare the living daylight out of me to the point I would be less concentrated on learning the language and more focused on trying to please him (with no luck). He would sometimes take a break from his fits of perfectionism and lecture the class with reasoned, inspirational words of wisdom, such as “learn as you go along.”

My entire strategy when it comes to studying is just to do as much as I can and (Mr D, you were right) “learn as I go along.”

On weekdays I’m doing a minimum of 2 hours of studying, and at least one hour of each subject that day, recapping topics done in class, figuring out my weak points, and doing a bit of flipped learning before my teacher brings a topic to the classroom. On weekends, I fill in the weekday gaps and doing homework. I’m trying to not do too much as I don’t want to experience burnout.

Me time (…and ducks 🦆)

Education aside, a learning experience for me is the commute. I’m lucky to have never needed to go on a bus or tram to school as my previous was walking distance away, but this new school is a decent while away from me. I find the commute kind of peaceful; I use it as some kind of quiet ‘me time’ where I read or listen to a podcast. Thankfully, God seems to be on my side, as my timetable misses most of the bus peak times. Hurray, I’m not bundled in with screaming Y7s!

Because it’s further away, it’s given me more of an excuse to venture out a lot more than I did before. There’s this really nice area in my local park with a river stuck in the middle of it, surrounded by trees. You’d think that this would be a shady, cool spot, but the sun is stubborn and finds a way to shine down to it anyway (not that I’m complaining!).

It’s now my own little hangout spot where I relax and collect my thoughts after a long day (and also watch the ducks, I love ducks.)

This is probably the calm before the storm. In no time, I will be swarmed with work, stressed and looking like that guy from ‘Ancient Aliens’, except a tad less enthusiastic and a tad more “what am I doing with my life?”. Not going to like it, but it is what it is. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Until then, forward! ➡️

The next time you see me...