With my first exam two weeks on Monday, I’ve been getting into the revision thing since last week. I’ve made myself a little revision timetable of the subjects I want to do each day, and have stuck to it so far. I have a set of revision lectures next week and the week after, one for each lecturer. These are usually quite useful as they give you a good idea about what will be in the exam depending on what they concentrate the session on. Doesn’t seem long until they will be upon me, a short while after they will be over and I can concentrate my efforts on the search for a job.

Just got back from my skiing holiday in Austria. I went with the Scouts for seven days to Wildshonau in Austria. Got some really good photos and a couple of videos in the photo gallery.

The coach journey out took near to 24 hours with a couple of stops in Luxembourg and Germany. We arrived about 3pm, picked up our skis from the ski hire place then had dinner. For the next three days we skied in Wildshonau itself so those who needed to learn could do so there on the relatively easy slopes. Bearing in mind it was the very end of the season the snow conditions were pretty good. Only the slopes nearer the top had snow on them, and some of those had patches of grass and mud in places. As I could already ski a group of us went round and explored the slopes on our own (photo of us on the chairlift)

On Thursday we went to a new resort in the Wilder Kaiser region which was about a 45 minute journey. This resort is one of the biggest resort in Austria with around 250 km of slopes, although not all were open. On the first day a few of us just did some runs to find our way around. Compared to the last place, this one was huge. We managed to go the whole day without skiing the same slope twice! On Friday the Explorer scout people skied together to help Jo and Emma - video of Jo skiing like a pro. The last day I was really tired so I just did a few runs and took it easy before starting the journey back at about 8.30

Here’s a photo of me standing with some huge mountain in the background.

Had my last lecture today! Thats it, all done. Nothing left now but exams. I’m going to have one last read through my dissertation tonight, and hand it in at some point tomorrow. We have to submit it online, so I don’t even have to bother going  in. Its quite scary really that the end is now so close. This last semester has gone so fast and now theres only six weeks left till exams. I might even have to start looking to get a job!

Just got my exam timetable. First one is in six weeks! Oh no! Most of them are spread between 14th May and 21st May, with only the Friday off, then there is a week gap with Corporate Finance on 31st. So overall, they have managed to spread themselves over three weeks, with the majority concentrated within the first week. Officially I have 9 exams, but 6 of them are really the same module but spread across two semesters, but they give us two separate exams for them.

Got my graduation ceremony day yesterday as well - Tuesday 17th July. Exactly one week before I go on the Jamboree!!

Haven’t posted anything for a while, so thought I’d let you all know what I’ve been up to. I’ve been rather busy the last few weeks with general stuff. A lot of it uni work, with my dissertation being due in by the end of term in two weeks time and various assessed worksheets to keep up with. I’ve mostly finished it now, just need to tidy bits up and see what my supervisor thinks of it when I finally get to see him. I’ve also been working hard getting the Wombourne Youth Action Team set up. We had the first proper meeting on Thursday just gone which went well, so everything should progress a bit easier from now on.

Looking forward to going skiing in two weeks time. I’ve got all my bits and pieces I need for that had some last minute practice at the snow dome a couple of weeks back. We’re going to a (hopefully) nice resort in Austria called Wildshonau, a collection of villages in the Austrian Alps. Hopefully there will still be snow there when we arrive. Reports currently range from no snow in the village we are, to 50 cm in the surrounding villages. Fingers crossed it snows in the next two weeks!

Went on a trip to London yesterday with KOSSMIC for a tour round the Houses of Parliament. We left at 8.30 and got there by about 11.30. We went on a tour round the Cabinet War Rooms first of all as our visit wasn’t scheduled until 3.30. This is the secret bunker where the Cabinet spent a lot of time during World War II under Whitehall. They had all sorts of offices and rooms for the Prime Minister and his staff to work during air raids. It is also the home of the Churchill Museum which was opened in 2005. Both a very interesting visit if you are ever in that part of London.

At 3.30 we went over to the Sovereign’s Entrance to the Houses of Parliament and had our bags checked and started the tour. After walking through the door, there is a huge hall on the left which is the oldest remaining part of the Palace of Westminster. Don’t think its used much any more. Then we went down a corridor to the Main Lobby, which is the part you see on TV when they do interviews etc. From there there are two corridors leading off; one left to the House of Commons, and right to the House of Lords. Turning down the left hand corridor, there is another lobby area which has pigeon holes and other information for the MPs and statues of some Prime Ministers of the 20th Century, the most recent of which is the statue of Margaret Thatcher which was unveiled earlier in the week. Around the outside of the actual chamber is another corridor which is the Voting Lobby where votes are taken. We then went into the chamber itself. On first impression, it is much smaller than I expected it to be based on what I have seen on TV. Apparently there are more MPs than seats, so if every one of them turns up some will have to stand.

We then went out across the main lobby to the House of Lords. It is obvious the difference in the status of the two houses - this side was much more elegantly decorated with carved wood, and a huge gold wall at the one end with the thrown where the Queen sits on the opening of Parliament day. The seats here are red as opposed to the green seats in the Commons. Again, the chamber itself is very small and there isn’t enough space for all of the Lords to sit if they were to all turn up, which rarely happens.

A very interesting day out. If you ever get the chance to visit the Houses of Parliament, it is an absolute must see - the home of all democracy and law making in the country.

Just found my timetable for next semester on Webct. It looks just as I expected - Monday 9-2, Tuesday 12-2, Thursday 2-5, so thats an average of 10 hours a week lectures. Not bad! Also means I officially get Wednesdays off this time round aswell as Fridays. I start back next Monday, so I’ve got this week to try to get all the work finished. I have five assorted things to do for next Wednesday!

Finished Uni for Christmas yesterday. Officially the term doesn’t end until Friday, but there is only one lecture on Thursday as the rest of the courses have finished, so there’s no point going for one lecture really and I have Fridays off anyway. I’m going to spend the rest of the week doing not very much before I have to make a start on the pile of work I have to do for next year.

Less than two weeks left ’till Christmas! I haven’t done any shopping whatsoever. Might get round to it eventually.

Went to the snowdome this afternoon with my brother to make sure we can still ski before we go to Austria next April. We’ve been waiting for a chance to go for a while to get the cheap deal - it cost me £15 for two hours on the slope, including ski hire on student prices. Not having done any skiing for some five years I started off slowly and only went part way up and after a few runs was going the whole length. Great fun!

It must be like riding a bicycle, because all the movements came back pretty much straight away which was good. It wasn’t too busy either for a friday afternoon so we managed to do several fast runs. Must try and get there again very soon, its real good fun!

Just two weeks left till I finish uni for Christmas now. Getting scarily close. Unfortunately, Christmas isn’t going to be much of a rest though as I have quite a bit of work to be getting on with: 2 business essays, one of which is a group project, 3 assessed worksheets and my major research project. Hmmm.