Moving on from Game Art

So as it turns out I have a VERY turbulent third year. A lot has happened that I'm not going to bore you with.
The recent months haven't been very kind to me in terms of my health and the stress and pressure I have put on myself to succeed in something I am frankly terrible at and have no intention of continuing after University has been slightly overwhelming.
During this time I tried my best to complete what work was set to the best of my ability but it was not always possible. For a long time I suffered alone and didn't respond to those who had reached out to me or simply brushed it off trying to play the hero; which was a huge mistake. 
 Once I finally reflected and seen what was truly going on with me I decided to make some pretty drastic changes. I reached out and was rewarded with support from those around me. I was surprised how understanding people could be and how many other people were the same as me. Using that strength I sought after ways to change the things that made me unhappy.
Luckily my energy and personality pulled me through and I found a way out. I managed to secure an internship in London as a Studio Assistant.  My connections and friends I have made over the years supported me in my application which was very touching. Reading over the application I knew it was something I COULD do and could do very well. I just had to go for it.
 Getting the place solved the problem in more ways than one. Firstly it took me away from the course which is good as I was starting to dread going in.  Secondly in puts me in a environment where I can be myself and shine, that soul crushing feeling of doing something I hate everyday for the rest of my life is gone. I feel like I can use the opporuntunity to explore further what I can and want to do in a good and supportive environment. The company ethos suits me down to the ground and for the first time in forever I can breathe. I get set new challenges everyday and I enjoy rising to each one.
Two weeks in and I absolutely adore it. My co worker are so like minded and friendly I feel like I have been accepted into the family already. Being such a small company it is very personal and I really like that side of it, I feel valued. I know its only early days and over time the job will get more stressful but I think it will be a different type of stress than what I have had to deal with before. A good stress the type that gives you a sense of uregency and energy. And you know what I look foward to it, I am acting like a sponge absorbing everything I can to better myself and my performance. I want my co workers to be able to rely on me and be able to trust me with anything, and I will work hard to make sure that is possible.
For the first time in a long time I am excited again for my future and what I can achieve. I think its only fitting to finish this dramatic post off with a good old disney sing a long. But to be fair the song is ridiclously relevant to me. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moSFlvxnbgk


If you want to follow my new adventure I have taken over the company blog! Which can be found on the Bossa Website :) 

Ubisoft Character Design Project

For this project we were set the task of creating a female character from either India, Africa, China or Japan. We were to create our character to realistic proportions so that meant no over stylisation of the shape or silhouette, however we were reminded of how different females bodies could be.

I decided to go for a rather average weight but petite African foot Soldier. I couldn't think of anything more inspiring that a modern day female soldier and although her costume may not be super challenging I thought that the facial features would be interesting to model as I had never attempted an african woman before. I also had pre existing reference of a petite woman from my self portrait project in the second year.I felt this would save me time and embarrassment in the long run.

 I know from my short experience of military life that uniforms can be very different depending on not only the country of origin but also the regiment, job role and standing of the officer.

After doing a lot of research into patterns and colour I did some different designs trying different headdresses, webbing (a type of harness with various pouches for storage), equipment and costume design .I looked into which countries used which patterns and on what uniform just to give it a little credibility. I decided pretty early on that I didn’t want to do any ceremonial dress as interesting as that can be. I wanted something realistic and relatable. I wanted her to look like she was right there on patrol just doing her job, with no fuss. Perhaps with a little mud on her knees and elbows wrinkled in her uniform and beret.

After experimenting with various outfits, I tried to go with the one with the most interesting shapes and colours. The chosen design had some features I hadn’t originally thought of which pleased me as it shows how important the design process is and although it's tempting to skip it to save time it will actually improve the overall look and quality of the work. 

 

After I had settled on a design I used my reference from the last character project as a basis for my orthographics . I didn’t bother with super detailed orthographics as the brief had stated that the silhouette was more important, not to mention the fact I had already gathered lots of reference and painted the designs before hand. 

Once I was in 3ds Max I found that progress was painfully slow, but the mesh was much better than the previous ones I had built. I found I was much happier with the topology and the general flow of the model. However there were a few times that I had to remind myself not to go too overboard on the detail, 15,000 sounds like an infinate amount of poly’s but you would be suprised how quickly they can disappear. I was also concious to remember that I was using symmetry on the body so to remember to double the tri count and leave enough for the heads and hands which I wanted to do good enough to rig.   

Vehicle Project

For our second project we were set a project brief by Codemasters to design and texture a vehicle using specific shaders provided.
Straight away this project frightened the living day lights out of me because firstly I am terrible at designing vehicles and secondly I knew nothing about shaders and half of the content of the brief. So I already felt like I had a challenge ahead of me.
The first thing I did was to open the example scene and try to get my head around what I actually needed to do and how I would achieve it. I'm trying to get into the same mindset of the person that made the scene and I have a serious poke about in the scene trying to see how it is different to how I set mine up. As it turns out its VERY different, overwhelmingly so which put me off even further. So I decided before I manage to talk myself out of actually doing any work I would throw myself into the design process.
I started off looking at existing cars and vehicles as designing and concepting vehicles was never my strong point. At first I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do as I'm not a massive car/plane/boat person but after speaking to one of my more enthusiastic colleagues he got the ball rolling on some feasible ideas.
At first I was think of doing a mini cooper because I love those little cars but then I thought that's not really a good enough reason to do something and it probably not going to be that interesting to look at.
Then I went on to think about 1930/1940's cars as I love anything from that time. Everything seemed so elegant and classy. I looked at many different cars from this era but I couldn't seem to settle on just one.
Then another colleague sent me a picture of this really cute vespa car. I thought it was a really neat idea especially with its cute little picnic basket, I felt like it had a lot of character. Which I know is something codies was after, so I went with it. I thought it would probably be different in comparison to every ones super sexy vehicles and I quite liked that.
I gathered a lot of imagery in the first week and prepared my orthographics to start modelling from I needed to try and get as far ahead as possible so I would have time at the end to face the things that worried me the most.

After throwing myself into modelling I found that due to my orthographics and using the symmetry modifier I was able to create the basic shape of the vehicle relatively quickly. After showing my mesh to some colleagues and tutors it turned out I had a lot of perfecting to do in order to really nail the vehicle for this project. I had to be more careful with the distribution of the poly's and I spent some time trying to make them as even as possible. I also then spent some time adding detail and trying to make the most out of the tri budget.
Looking back I perhaps too the criticism too literally and spent too much time on the mesh, especially since this project was more about the textures than anything.
Unwrapping was relatively easy due to the vehicles boxy shape. I made sure to take the symmetry modifier off for this as I wanted the textures to be unique. The hard part for me was packing all the UV's into the space because although the shape was quiet simple there was a lot of faces to fit into that tiny square but I managed it in the end.

  
I had seen many of my colleges texture pages were very matte and lacked some details, they seemed to rely on the shader too much so I wanted to avoid this wherever possible. I used a lot of reference photographs to help me with the lighting and shadows on my textures and I think it made a difference, saying this I didn't really know hoe to utilise my bump maps this time around as I felt that most of the detailing was done in the actual mesh. I kind of felt that my spec maps were a bit lack lustre too because I wasn't so sure what work the shader would do and what the spec map would have to make up for.

As for setting up the scene this is what I struggled with the most. I really didn't understand it at all and when I asked for help off James he didn't have time so I just kind of sunk into despair. The only help I received in the end was in a Skype call with my best friend in Germany. She managed to clear a few things up for me but I still don't feel like I grasped this project very well at all. I think I managed to change my materials into ones compatible with the Direct 3D shader or is it a view port shaders? I have no idea. I don't even know if I added the shaders correctly or in fact at all.

In the end I had to abandon my country street scene in favour for a studio lights set up just to show what I had managed to do. I was pretty upset about this but I really couldn't get my scene to work. If I'm honest I don't know what I would have done differently except for spending less time on my mesh as I don't really feel like I understood the project all that well. If anything this really proves to me that this isn't the career path for me as I tried to rise to the challenge and kind of crashed and burned rather spectacularly.  I honestly can't wait to get away from all of this as it really doesn't suit me at all, I have tried really hard and I have felt like I have put my all into it and I still can't do it. It's the first time in my life that I have wanted and tried so hard for something that wasn't meant to be and it is a little soul destroying to be fair. Although I pretty much despise what I have to do on the course and how ill the stress and pressure I have put on myself has made me I am very greatful towards my teachers and the university for the journey I have been on and the skills they have tried to teach me.

Blitz Rooftop Project

For this project we were set the task of designing a roof top level in the space of four weeks, using our concepting skills, 3DS max and the Unreal engine. Looking at the project brief I a bit uninspired because of the reference images and tight texture budget but after some investigation I found that the budget had been doubled which was a relief. It was still a slight adjustment as I hadn’t attempted a project with a realistic or tighter budget since January. So as you can imagine I was a like apprehensive. 
I was quiet aware of the fact that I and many others can spend a ridiculous amount of time faffing about with concepts and not actually getting down to the job. This was certainly the case for me in the Mortal Engines project last year. I was certain not to do this again so I quickly drew up a schedule. I had given myself one week to model and unwrap the scene, the second week was for texturing and readying the assets for export and then my last two weeks were for importing and spending time in the engine learning its functions and so on. I think as a plan it might have been a tad ambitious now and should have been slightly more flexible but it certainly gave me a push at first.
For my rooftop I chose to make something small and intimate, I was very aware that the larger the space the more stuff you have to fill it with. I wanted to use something from real life because as I mentioned before I didn’t want to spend ages concepting as I wanted to get a head start . I decided to base my idea very closely on a hotel I had been to over the summer called the Silken Diagonal Hotel in Barcelona. Which is a very high design business hotel with a rooftop bar and pool.

 The more I thought about the idea the more I liked it as it was rather simple but had lots of interesting features. I had plenty of reference and I had the first hand experience of actually going there. I thought this could benefit me when in engine as I would have a better sense of scale and positioning.
One of the things I really liked about this idea is its strong use of lighting I felt I could use this to make my level stand out, although I had never actually built lighting myself in engine but I felt that I had compensated this in my plan.

After discussing the idea with a tutor I found that my idea also had a very interesting skyline that I could incorporate into the scene. Although I had absolutely no idea on how to do this I was excited about the idea of it. I was told that many games companies often borrow landmarks and bring them closer to offer a more iconic looking level. I could very easily do this as there are many landmarks in Barcelona that I could bring closer to break up the view. Such as the la Sagrada Família which has a very iconic shape. I think it would look really good in my skyline lit up. I’m pretty positive I want to do my level at night if possible as I think it would be more striking.

I gathered lots of reference images of the overall look, the lighting, any special features and all the assets I wanted to produce; from this I created an assets list and started building.

 Although I started building on the first day I had lots of questions about what I could realistically do in engine and of course about all the things I had forgotten over the summer.  Within the first week I was almost on target with most of my original assets modelled and unwrapped. However in my ignorance I hadn’t actually made a white box and checked its spacing in UDK. Once I had done this I realised that my level looked a bit empty especially because of the glass railings I had used around the edge of the building. For a moment I considered blocking it all off and building garden walls around it but I really wanted to stick to the original feel of space with was modern and sleek, I felt that big walls would destroy that. So I set about making a solution. I decide I should break up the space a bit and went back to my original reference images. I remembered that on certain occasions the hotel hosted pool parties and set up a DJ and dance area. I also noticed a space above the bar area and thought I could have some stairs leading up to it and have maybe a small cinema screen and seats up there. I gathered reference and built the necessary assets.

By the second week my progress had began to slow down, although everything was now built and unwrapped,  I was getting confused and lost in what I was doing. I had forgotten a lot of basics that I had learnt last year in regards to texturing and organising my work professionally. Especially since sometimes the only time I had done certain things it was up to a year ago and I hadn’t done it very well then.  I was extremely frustrated with this but I only have myself to blame as I hadn’t really done any extra work over the summer and any that I had done was unrealistic in budget or didn’t have a budget at all! Which is pointless really. I got really embarrassed by the things I had forgotten I started to put off doing work; and this is where it all went downhill. I really struggled with simple things like working out my texture pages and fitting all the assets in the space. I was constantly trying to think of ways to improve the way in which I was working and trying to be more professional. But I spent too much time thinking and not enough doing. I began to feel like nothing would look the way I wanted to and got really stressed out and then I totally lost momentum. Meanwhile a lot of things outside of the course started catching up on me and all got a bit much. And I had found a whole week had gone by without me really doing a lot and that I hadn’t had a day off my “part time” job in quite a while.
It feels ever so pathetic admitting all of this because all in all this is a really nice and easy project which at the beginning I was really enjoying. Technically speaking I didn’t actually find most of it hard because I had done it all before most of my frustration came from the fact I couldn’t remember it or that I was constantly second guessing myself.  I had to have a sit down and think really hard about what I wanted to do and what I enjoyed. And the answer was the course is what I want to do and I really want to succeed in it. Everything else was as unimportant, in fact it was nowhere near as important, I didn’t need it at all. I decided that I needed to cut all of this drama out in order to focus on what’s important. It’s strange because I have always thought of myself as someone that needs to be busy; I work best when I’m busy. I suppose this is true because in the last week I managed to get everything else done well I missed a few things such as all those little details I was so obsessed with in the beginning such as the water feature and the smoking cigarette. But I can do these at a later date. I’m so frustrated at myself for letting everything get to me especially since I have proven to myself how quickly I can work. I’m really disappointed in myself and what I have achieved, I’m actually embarrassed. But if I can take one thing away from this its I will never ever let myself get into this situation again. This is my final year and I have to make it count. I’m cutting all the distractions from my life as I haven’t worked for two years at this to let it slip away now. I want to have a portfolio even if I don’t want to be a game artist anymore I still want to prove I can do it.
In the last week of the project I managed to pull some of it back. I was still arranging stuff in engine but I was beginning to feel pleased with it’s overall look. I found grid snap rather annoying so I found out how to turn that off. I then had a bit more freedom to move around.  Once all the assets were placed I thought I could quickly add some water to my pool. Adding the water volume and surface properties was relatively straight forward however the water in engine didn’t come with a texture, which wasn’t something I had even thought of. I couldn’t think of how to do it so I followed a tutorial online. It looked really complicated due to the amount of nodes and I think it must have been because after following and looking over again and again you could still see the default texture through my water texture. I eventually gave up because after hours of looking for different tutorials and try to tweak the texture it still wasn’t how I wanted it.

Once I asked for some help making the skybox was pretty straight foward although I had some difficulties later on with it in the actual engine. As it turns out there was a lot of default settings that were messing up the look of my scene such as fog. Now i had no idea that fog was in the scene automatically and it was making my night time scene look strange, when I eventually figured it out and moved it away it looked much better.  All I had to do then is figure out the lighting. As my scene was at night the majority of the lighting was artifical, luckily I had already placed my strip light meshes where I wanted the lights so it was just a case of putting the lights next to or in them. Once I had done this I still wasn't happy with the look so I decided to add an emissive map to try and give them a natural looking glow. Which I think worked.

After tweaking a few bits and bobs I was relatively happy with the outcome even if it wasn't what I had orginally wanted, it did still resemble it. All that was left to do was the flythrough. I found it pretty easy to set up the matinee and set the cameras key frame but unfortunately I couldn't get the fade in and out effect I had been shown, which annoyed me a bit. I added it to the matinee sequence but it just didn't seem to work when I played it through! I also had a lot of difficulty with rendering my flythrough. Although my flythrough worked perfectly in UDK once it had rendered out it the camera just fell to the floor in an empty scene and just flopped about like a dying fish. The first time it happened I couldn't help but laugh but after the 4th or 5th time rendering it I got increasing irritatted. So in the end I had to just screenshot my work to show it. Here are some shots from my scene, sorry about the visible lighting icons but because I totally forgot to do a second UV channel for my assets the lighting won't build properly, what an idioctic mistake.

After tweaking a few bits and bobs I was relatively happy with the outcome even if it wasn't what I had orginally wanted, it did still resemble it. All that was left to do was the flythrough. I found it pretty easy to set up the matinee and set the cameras key frame but unfortunately I couldn't get the fade in and out effect I had been shown, which annoyed me a bit. I added it to the matinee sequence but it just didn't seem to work when I played it through! I also had a lot of difficulty with rendering my flythrough. Although my flythrough worked perfectly in UDK once it had rendered out it the camera just fell to the floor in an empty scene and just flopped about like a dying fish. The first time it happened I couldn't help but laugh but after the 4th or 5th time rendering it I got increasing irritatted. So in the end I had to just screenshot my work to show it. Here are some shots from my scene, sorry about the visible lighting icons but because I totally forgot to do a second UV channel for my assets the lighting won't build properly, what an idioctic mistake.

Summer Part 2

So for the great finale of my awesome summer I went on holiday to Barcelona with my other half. It was really nice to get away somewhere warmer, but don't think for one second that I was just relaxing. I couldn't help myself, what's the point just lying around on the beach when there's so much to see and do! So much culture and history. Is it terrible that I had so much fun planning everything I wanted to do? I think I managed to fit quiet a lot in. Yet again its that whole thing that I can't just let opportunities go by (which I think is a good quality), I mean who says I will ever be there again I might as well make the most of it.
Now don't you worry I'm not going to go through what I did day by day, I'll just give you the best bits!

The highlights for me were mostly incredible sights. First one being the top of Montserrat the whole thing was just incredible. I was really rewarding to climb part of it too, its not something I ever imagined doing. But I'm really glad I did.
The monastery there was absolutely stunning, it was pristine with some of the most beautiful vistas imaginable. I always have this strange conflict when I go to places like this though, places of religion. I always think of how beautiful the buildings are but then I think of what conflict and pain religion has caused and it makes it bitter-sweet. I had the same feeling at the Vatican, especially when I found that the building materials had been "recycled" from the Colosseum if only we could have kept both. Although I still appreciate their beauty and historical significance. I always think that if I could go back and do a different degree I'd do ancient history or the history of art.

  The other highlight for me was the La Sagrada Familia. It was actually magical and I never use that word. I couldn't believe my eyes! From the outside it is beyond impressive but then you step inside and are transported to another world. If I had to describe it honestly I'd say its like some Disney princess castle on magic mushrooms. It's so heavenly and beautiful but then its also twisted and distorted; it is a work of art! I don't think there is or will be anything like it; and to think that Gaudi in visioned all of this in his day its truly inspiring. I would recommend everyone to go and see this with your own eyes as it is absolutely breathtaking.

Once I had returned from Barcelona I had to prepare myself go go back to reality which was a bit depressing but oh well.
First thing I did when I got back was board a train to London in order to attend the Women in Games Jobs conference. I was so anxious about this as I had in visioned it to be  this really intimidating event, full of people pushing and shoving to be heard. I had tried to prepare myself the best I could I had had business cards made and made myself look as presentable as possible but I was still super nervous.
But once I had got there I had found it to be the exact opposite, I felt right at home amongst these people as they were so helpful and welcoming. I don't know why but I always feel like I stick out like a sore thumb because in the end I got on with everyone and made some contacts and more importantly learnt a great deal. It was really interesting to hear what these industry professionals had to say about their work and how they see the industry. It was also encouraging to see that many of them are pushing for change and encouraging people like me to take a chance on myself and have some confidence. One of the statistics that stood out for me is that studies showed that a male is more likely to apply for a job if they only had 3 or 4 out of 10 of the desired criteria but a female would hold back on applying until they had all 10! That rings so true for myself! I think as a female I often put myself down and see others as being more capable even if they probably aren't. The whole conference made me feel less isolated and alone listening to what others had been saying made me realise that all of these inspiring and successful people had once been in my shoes and had felt the same. This comforted me somewhat. I felt really positive after returning from the conference as it seemed that there were more people willing to help me as I originally thought. I tried to savour this thought as I knew I would feel less positive when I returned to uni once again.

Over the summer I had done some leisurely painting work and studies but not a lot of 3D work and any that I had done, I had lost momentum and not finished. If I'm honest it's hard for me to be super passionate about producing stuff for my artist portfolio as I don't actually want to be an artist anymore. It feels a bit redundant especially when I get myself so wound up about it; it can get a bit much with all the hounding competition and cock swinging that goes on. I just want to do stuff that makes me happy and sometimes 3D just makes me miserable. Sorry but it does, I don't want to pretend that I want to be the worlds greatest 3D modeller or texture artist because I don't and I'm not a false person.It's a bit of a kick in the teeth that I find this out after 2 years on the course but that's life unfortunately; I will try my best to complete this work and finish the course. But I have my eye on something else, something that I'm better suited to and I will excel at. I think since day 1 on the course I had the underlying felling that I wasn't going to get anywhere at this, at the time I thought it was just a crisis of confidence but I tried my best and it's time to face it, its not for me. BUT I can take what I have learnt and apply it to something I am good at and something I have a passion for, Which is exactly what I am planning on doing.

Here's a piece I enjoyed doing over the summer, it came about after watching the entire 2 series of the BBC's "Sherlock" in a relatively short space of time.

Summer Activities Part 1!

So I know I said it was a new blog for a new year but I think what I did over summer was interesting and somewhat relevant so I'm going to tell you anyway.

Me and dad outside the main house - Calke Abbey

Firstly I went to Calke Abbey in Derbyshire, which was a real treat. I absolutely love history and used to visit places like this all the time when I was younger and its something I miss doing. I was particularly interested in Calke Abbey for the efforts that the National Trust have put in to keep it in the exact same condition that it was given to them in. When it was given to them 1985 the house was in a serious state of neglect. The estate tells a fascinating story of the decline of country estates as time goes on and modern life as we know it creeps in. These beautiful houses are so impractical for modern life these grand spaces were built for a staff of at least a hundred and as society changed there was no need for them and it became impossible to keep them running.
It's fantastic work that they do, it actually takes a lot of work to keep the house frozen in time the way it is and it's really interesting to see. I have never seen a house like it has such an obvious story to tell and as you walk through the rooms you can see the different periods of times that the house has been through and how it has struggled to adapt.
And theres not just the house to see either, the grounds are interesting too, theres a church, gardens, out houses, stables and a grotto. I would recommend that you go and see it for yourself but I believe the house is shut for the winter as it is incredibly hard to heat. Which leaves me with a slight problem, I was considering doing this house for my FMP (Final Major Project) I was so utterly charmed by it I could resist the idea of re creating it myself!
If I were to attempt it I would have to get in contact with the national trust or at least the team that runs it so I can gain access. I'd need to take a ton of pictures for reference but last time I was there they said I could take as many as I like. I can't see it being too much trouble but I would have to see.

After that I spent some time in London meeting all sorts of interesting people. It was around that time in the summer where its was ridiculously hot, even more so in congested London! First I went to meet Sophia Coney again and see how her new job in the capital was fairing. I had a great time catching up and afterwards we went for drinks with all her co workers. I felt ever so grown up in London having after work drinks with a bunch of people in the industry. It was really nice to be around these guys they were all so genuine, it was really comforting in a way, sometimes I feel that the course can be so dramatic and that some of the people on it can be so self involved and ignorant it can put me off the industry all together. But after that I felt like I could fit in and that the industry was full of actual people and not ego boosting students. I could really see myself working for a company like that. The employee's seemed pretty happy and thats always encouraging. Every time I see Sophia I feel like I can achieve stuff, I feel inspired and like I'm not crazy for wanting to do something different. Sometimes I feel so isolated on the course for wanting to do something else, I feel very misunderstood and on the outside. But in a way thats okay, I feel like I have my eye on the bigger picture and I need to work to my strengths.
Anyway it was a good experience, after that I met up with some international Internet friends! I stayed in a hostel with a bunch of girls from around the world and it was great. After not really having a summer last year as I was catching up after my illness, this year I wanted to make the most of it! after all it would be the last summer I would get. Call it seizing the day or whatever.  It was really interesting from a career point of view though, now stay with me on this.
I met Cameron Parker again that day (I hope he won't mind me talking about this). The first time I met him back in February 2013 he gave off the best first impression ever. He was so enthusiastic, warm and friendly I felt like I had known him my whole life, he managed to make everyone feel welcome and comfortable and there was a lot of people there that night. I couldn't help but think that this was a ridiculous talent of his and that this must be what they call a people person. Then when I met him again he was exactly the same he even remembered my name which is amazing considering the amount of people he must meet. As the day progressed I began to realise why the company he worked for was so successful. A lot of it was down to him and his skill set; his job is in marketing but he is essentially the designers right hand man and I can see why. He is well organised, friendly, warm he makes people feel like they are part of something special and when everything seems to be falling into chaos he does the most amazing thing and smiles. Not only does he do all this but he also runs his own company on the side. I find him pretty inspiring and he has opened my eyes to what I can do with my own skills. So thank you Cam

Me the girls and James Lillis in St James's Park

Outside Buckingham Palace with the girls

After all that excitement I got a promotion at work. I'm now a supervisor, which is good. I mainly just want as much as experience as possible. Any opporuntunity that comes along I want to grasp, I'm just trying my best to build up a good set of experience that may one day lead to a job I enjoy. I'm taking as much responsibility and training as I can handle and I hope that all this will make me more employable. After all I have so many balls in the air I think that kind of proves I can multi task and manage my time efficiently! Even if it sometimes gets a little much. Either way it's something for my CV not everyone can say they are a third year student and a supervisor running the store on their weekends.

I also took the time to do some touristy stuff in the summer and went back to London and visited my old flatmate down south. I visited a few beautiful sites such as Windsor castle, Longleat House Westminster Abbey and Eton College.

And we are only half way through. I better save the rest for another post though as I think I have rambled on long enough.. for now.

New Year, New blog

Now I must admit I hate saying goodbye to an old blog especially one I enjoyed writing but I think its a good idea to start fresh for my final year. I think this blog should be much more focused and clear about what it is I want to do. I will be more critical and hopefully professional about my work but I still want to keep my personality in my writing after all that's what makes it interesting right? I want to keep my old blog so don't despair if you already follow it and I am going to update it periodically so you can keep up to date with my journey from the very beginning it will probably be a bit more informal than this though.

So its only one month into third year and a lot has already happened! We have already done one project and I have been part of a few different events around the country! Which is exciting. There already been some highs and lows and I feel that I have learnt a lot in a short amount of space. Busy month right?