Logging in again

Tomorrow I have my induction day at Jewel & Esk College, and in a week's time I should start their HNC course in Health, Fitness and Exercise. I'm really looking forward to it!

My daughter started primary school last week, and her going to school and my going to college have been linked for both of us. All summer it's been "after the holidays, I'm going to school and mummy's going to college." I hope I settle in as well as she does - she's been up early every morning this week saying "I can't wait to go to school again!"

Life threw a curveball at me on Friday, when Telford College (also in the North of Edinburgh) phoned to say they now had places available on their HND course in Health, Fitness and Exercise, and would I like to come to interview on Tuesday? It took me by surprise, because I had applied to Telford, but they told me they were full, and in my head I was settled to go to Jewel & Esk.

I have to be pragmatic about my choice of college. When I study I'll still be working 4 hours a week  teaching bellydance, and my lovely children will still need to be taken to and collected from school every day. The college that makes these things easiest - by a suitable timetable or easier location - will have to be my first choice.

The cost of the course is also an important issue, but you have no idea how quiet institutions keep about their fees! I know it's because the majority of students have their fees paid by the Student Awards Agency Scotland, but for those of us who don't, it's very frustration and difficult to make a choice. What else would you be expected to chose without knowing the price? Why is education different?!

Speaking of which, I don't get my fees paid and I won't get any financial support for my course - which will, ultimately, make me a productive member of the workforce and a taxpayer. My degree - first class honours, politics, University of Stirling, 1991-1996 - means that I've got to finance myself through this part of my education. People have suggested I apply for an ILA, but again, there are unavailable to graduates - sigh. There doesn't seem to be any option for people who aren't working and want to retrain!

I am feeling bereft of training at the moment, and I'm very tempted to enter the Liverpool Marathon in October. But first I need to know how physically challenging my course is going to be. I don't think it will be productive to run 40 miles a week if I'm shaking at the end of two compulsory afternoons in the gym at college! Hopefully I'll find out tomorrow at the induction day.

Whatever happens, I have my notebooks, my academic diary, some nice new gym trousers, and a Lothian Buses bustracker app.  I'm going to college to learn and make the most of the opportunties that will improve my future.

I'm going to College!!

I'm going to college in August!

I got offered a place on Jewel & Esk College's HNC course in Health, Fitness and Exercise. I've accepted it!

I'm really pleased and excited at the prospect, and I'm enjoying getting my head around the idea that life's going to be overhauled by the end of the year. My daughter will start school, I won't be needed as a full-time mummy any more, and I'll be going to college and studying. And working. And being a mummy.

I am really excited and looking forward to it. I have so many questions about college:
do they still use books?
do I need to wear fitness clothes every day?
will I be every bit as annoying as the mature students who were on my university course when I was 17?
will there be lots of colouring-in?

I'm so excited. Only four months! Wow!!

College Interview Day

I arrived at Jewel & Esk College at 0845 for my 0900 interview and at least 20 others were there already! I tried hard not to notice that they were pretty much all younger than me, but it’s quite hard to not notice when some of them have their mums with them, or are wearing school uniform!

I was feeling good, positive and reasonably confident, even if my subconscious told a different story. Last night I had my recurrent stress dream about missing the start of a race and not being able to run - with a new, added extra scene where I went to the loo and a hand came out of the u-bend and grabbed my bum!

When all 55 of us had arrived, we were lead through the building to a theatre space where we were introduced to 4 of the 5 teaching staff in the Health & Fitness Department, and the 1-year HNC course was outlined for us. First in the room, I walked straight up to the front and sat on the floor – I found it strange that anybody would want to skulk at the back but most people did, and had to be cajoled to the front so that everyone could get in the door!

There have been 200 applications for 40 places on the HNC course. Lots of the applicants were already Telford students who’d studied access courses in the last year to try to get a place on the NHC course, but we were assured that when it comes to awarding places, we were all equal.

News to me was that the college is to merge with two other Edinburgh colleges – Telford and Stevenson – in October, and as yet there’s no decision on where further health & fitness courses will be delivered. 

After a good while of listening, sticky numbers were distributed for us all to wear on our fronts. I was lucky number 40! With 40 places on the course, I do hope it’s a good omen!

The first part of our assessment was a short exercise to music class, lead by one of the tutors, Gillian. She made it clear that the point wasn’t to be perfect, but to throw yourself into it. Well, that’s right up my street, and the fact it was exercise to music was even better! Salsa moves, facing each wall, shoulder shimmies – I was in my element and grinned throughout. I suspect there are a lot of show-offs in a health & fitness class – but I couldn’t see because I was too busy being Up The Front!

Next was a bodyweight circuit with Simon – the meatiest of the tutors, and a graduate of the course. This was more challenging – squats, jump squats, press-ups, burpees and lots of static poses. Woah – I was wobbling by the end of those 10 minutes! Lots of the applicants had well-toned upper bodies and did the ‘manly’ option of jump-switching hand positions between push-ups – which is surely just showing off ;) Simon said he was impressed that nobody quit, and I suspect he wasn’t thinking too much about our technique!

We were split into groups according the month of our birthday – an exercise it getting us to speak to each other, but I’m not sure it worked. I was the only December birthday, which struck me as a bit spooky. 

Anyway, we were lead upstairs to some nice, modern, comfy classrooms with smartboards where we had a group discussion on how the fitness industry can tackle Scotland’s poor record of exercise and increasing obesity. Simon was to listen in to our discussions and assess us – he told us the trick was to keep talking and not be quiet. 

Most of the 5 people in my group managed to contribute usefully, although I found myself asking open questions, encouraging people to talk, and noticed that the others seemed to be addressing their comments to me – I didn’t *mean* to take on a tutor role but I suspect I did!

Finally, there was an interview booklet to fill in, with questions including:

“What is the difference between a health & fitness course and a sports-based course?”
“Where do you see yourself in five years?”
 “If you go to the gym, describe your typical workout, reps, weights, structure etc.”;

as well as a pie chart to fill in with details of your typical daily nutrition; a questionnaire to grade yourself on the type of learner you are (visual, auditory, kinetic); and a “fill in the name of the muscle, joint or bone” pop quiz. I wonder how many more of these I would have known the answer to if I’d done Higher PE.

Then there was a long and boring wait to be taken for a one-to-one interview with one of the staff.  My 10 minutes were with Mel, a former gym manager and currently teaching the course unit in ante- and post-natal fitness. She was very friendly and encouraging, and it felt much more like a chat about my goals and current work than a formal interview. The fact I didn’t have my 1989 SQA certificates didn’t seem to matter, she seemed happy enough to see my First Class Degree from Stirling University and my Post-Graduate Diploma from the CIPR. I don’t think there were many others like that around today.

I enjoyed my child-free time with a quick cup of tea in The Club – I’d been in the college for four hours and I was parched! I reflected that although the 200 applications for 40 places make it a tough course to get on to, I felt like I was the only one in the room who *really wanted* to get on the course – or at least the only one who gave that impression.

When I started my degree course in 1991, it was the only Film & Media course in Scotland (at that time!) and the competition was really tough. I later found out that the board had been impressed that I had Higher Physics, not that I’d been working in journalism in my year out. 

So, although it’s hard to predict what a college is looking for, if Jewel & Esk are looking for someone  smart and enthusiastic, who’s happy to throw themselves into any task, encourage others and really, really wants to be on their course,  they’ll want me on the basis of my performance today.

Eight days and counting...

On April 10 I have an interview at Jewel & Esk College to get on to their HND in Health, Fitness and Exercise. That's one week tomorrow. It's been a long time since I had to prove myself in an interview situation and I'm pretty nervous, even though I know it's an opportunity to prove myself and get further towards my goal of being a personal trainer.

As well as having to bring with me any certificates of qualifications I have (I'll need to get my degree and post-grad diploma out of their frames and, more challlenging, search the house for my higher and o-grade certificates!), I'll need a pen (I can manage that, I think), "indoor practical kit" (that'll be gymwear, right?) and supply a referee, "either academic or work related which is current (i.e. no more than 6 months old)." I haven't studied for a decade, and as a self-employed person, I'll need to think creatively about the reference - I don't think they'd be too impressed if I went to my boss for one!

And if that wasn't arduous enough, "the interview will take the form of a group discussion and an individual interview." Not only difficult questions but interacting with other people!


Tomorrow is a four-mile run, which is well within my comfort zone, so I won't be too tired to be preoccupied with preparing for the interview! My biggest ally here will be Paul McKenna, the hypnotist. Earlier this year I prepared for a dance show using his hypnosis CD and book "Change Your Life in 7 Days", and it was an amazingly positive experience. It was doubtlessly the best performance I've done, and it was all down to fixing my head with Paul McKenna. I'm really looking forward to doing it again for this interview.


Better knuckle down!