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Updates! Starting DD210 and taking up ballet, because who needs sleep anyway!? :D

Thursday, 14 Sep 2017, 11:38
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Edited by Becca Strachan, Thursday, 14 Sep 2017, 11:41

Long time no post! :O

Okay so the 2nd half of the year was absolutely MANIC, I landed a new job at work and had to go off to a residential training course for 6 weeks (during which period I had 4 TMAs and 2 iCMAs due in!!!) so all hell broke loose, but I MADE IT!!



I passed both DD102 and DE100 (with a distinction for DD102, which I was pretty darn chuffed with!) and I'm happy to report that I'm moving onwards and upwards to level 2!!

My first level 2 module DD210 starts on Oct 7th, and I have had a nose around and gone through the introductory week section because the module website opened today and I like getting ahead because (as illustrated above!) the unexpected happens and it's good to be prepared. It looks well organised and structured (which my slight OCD tendencies like a lot, I know exactly what to expect!) and there are several topics of personal relevance and interest to me so I think it should be really good :D

Outside of my OU studies, after my EMAs were done and dusted I finally got back into dance, which I'm really excited about. Due to just being pretty wiped out by work I stopped dancing several years ago and have felt kind of sluggish and lethargic ever since. I used to pole dance and figure skate to quite a high level back in the day, and I decided to take up ballet in May of this year. I've taken a few ballet classes before, but never really studied it formally.
However! I'm now working on the RAD Intermediate Foundation syllabus and my teacher actually wants to put me in for the exam with the rest of the class in March 2018 (they are all about 15 because this is a vocational grade, I don't think adults normally do them but I'm gonna do it anyway in spite of the fact I'm 30 next year!). I also got back into modelling more recently (something else I used to do a lot), and actually combined the two recently by doing a dance themed shoot which was a tonne of fun smile (I'm in the white tutu!)


I'm also still slowly working away at my debut album (I'll get there one day!) so it's all going on this year, but I'm happy and enthusiastic and excited about all of it - I'm sure I'll find the time somehow! I'm a woman on a mission haha. Bring on 2017-18!!!

Tags: photoshoot, modelling, work, busy, progress, album, songwriting, singing, ballet, dancing, dance, level 2, level 1, dd210, dd102, de100, assignment, study
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Becca

Impatience is a virtue...?

Saturday, 17 Sep 2016, 14:43
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After my last post, I joined a Facebook group for students on my module (DD102 - Introducing the Social Sciences). I found that quite a lot of them were studying full time in spite of working full time. "It must be possible, then," I thought. Some of them have kids and work full time, and are still doing 2 modules!

So I bit the bullet on the final deadline for enrolling on October modules. I added DE100 to the mix. I kind of wish I'd done it earlier because now I have no idea how long it will take for them to post out the course materials, and may hold me up in getting a tutor. But that's okay, I'll keep steaming ahead with DD102 so that when everything arrives I won't have trouble keeping up.

I officially start 2 weeks today, so I'm technically already ahead of schedule anyway. My wall calendar doesn't have enough stickers for all my assignments etc now that I have 2 modules, so I've created my own system to track them using different colours for the different subjects. I have no tutorials booked yet but when I do, they'll also be colour coded according to which subject they're for. I'm tracking my module progress on paper as well, so that I have a constant visual reminder of where I'm at and the progress I've made. Perhaps it will motivate me to work harder smile

My wall chart and module progress trackers

Tags: psychology, sociology, organisation, full-time, study, studying, planner, assignments, tutorials, progress, chart
Permalink 3 comments (latest comment by Simon Reed, Sunday, 18 Sep 2016, 10:14)
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