WOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

OMG I am so ridiculously happy! I. GOT. A. PLACE!!! Wooo!

Ok, and breathe.

I can't believe I got a place on the course! I think this is probably one of the best days in my life!

I'll talk you through the whole interview and everything up until right now!
First off, my interview was 19th November in UNN at Newcastle. I managed to find the place ok (ish - I'm so rubbish at directions so I just chatted to some girl on the metro who so happened to be be a student there already and then we walked together) I was there early so I got a drink in the cafe in a hopeless attempt to steady my nerves. Anyway, found the room ok, and was asked to sit down with three other ladies who were applying. It was quite nice to chat as I thinked it calmed us all down, and we could ask each other questions about what we'd heard about the Uni and the course. This year is the first year that UNN has done a post grad diploma in Child Nursing. I had previously applied to do both the adult and mental health courses since I graduated in 2006 and I was getting pretty desperate to be a nurse! I actually got an offer last year for the Mental Health course but if I’m entirely honest, it just didn’t ‘feel right’ and I always follow my heart over my head, so I deferred it. It wasn’t until late this year I saw that the Child Nursing course was starting, and, do you ever get it when you think ‘This is really it’? I can’t explain it, I just knew that the child course was the one I really wanted (needed!) to do. I rang up the Uni straight away and asked if I could apply, they said they’d pass my previous application on then a week or so later, when I thought it must have been a ‘no’ I got an interview letter. I was over the moon! All I needed to do now was try my best not to screw up the interview, easier said than done when you’re me!

So, back to the interview. After we had been chatting for a bit we were called in to meet the staff that had devised the course and would be teaching it too. It didn’t feel like an interview as they were lovely, really friendly and chatty, nonetheless I still felt my tummy knotting up! We had discussions about the various issues in todays nursing, how we could overcome them, our thoughts on such things, and it was really interesting. The only bad thing was when they said there were only ten places availiable - I literally felt my tummy drop. Not. A. Chance. Then it was time for the individual interviews and I volunteered to go first, not just to ‘get it out of the way’ but I knew I’d be even more nervous if I had to wait! The first question was ‘Why Child and not Mental Health Nursing’ which I was kind of expecting, but I explained how I felt and it must have worked! I was then asked a few other questions ‘Why would you make a good nurse?’, ‘If we asked people to tell us about you what would they say?’ etc, these are the ones I find most difficult as I always find it near impossible to sell myself!

The interview came to an end and I was told where the lessons took place and I was allowed to have a look round, so I did and it was amazing! Everything is brand new, but that’s not why it’s amazing! It’s just that, there are little cubicles with all the machines (I will learn the right terminology!) and it looks so real, I could see straight away that it would be such a good place to learn everything. I chatted to a student already there and she confirmed it was a fab place to study nursing, which got me even more excited. But, even all this being good, I felt that I’d messed up the interview and tried not to get my hopes up. I came away in a good mood because I had FINALLY found the career that I wanted and listening to the placements and the lesson topics, I had not a single doubt in my mind that this is what I wanted. I felt a bit sad because I *knew* that I wouldn’t get a place, so when I went home I went on the internet and looked up all the Uni’s which did this course and worked out how I could apply for next year – I was that sure I wasn’t going to get a place.

Cue forward to today, when I’ve come home from a long day in a crappy job which I absolutely detest…and I have a letter from the Uni offering me a place! I really can’t believe it, there has to be some mistake! Unfortunately I was on a late shift so I can’t ring up to confirm my acceptance til tomorrow, but I will not sleep tonight!Anyway, what a loooooong blog, I don’t think the others will ever be this long (or this boring!) but it’s my first of many! I just went into the interview details in case someone hoping to apply for nursing can see the format of interviews and it might help them!

Right I’d better be off, I have some celebrating to do! I have a bottle of champagne which I’ve kept in the fridge since my 21st Birthday (ages ago, well 4 years!) and I was saving it for a special occasion, and whilst I love champers, I can’t afford it (!) and I think this is the moment to open in! Yay!