What plan?

As a nineteen-year-old student, the question I frequently get asked is, what's the plan after university? The dreaded question is one that I know haunts not just myself but many others in my position. The truth is, by the time you reach the end of your teenage years, you are expected to have your life mapped out. In reality, this time in my life has proven to be the most confusing. You begin to doubt all the plans you have made, some days I even doubt whether I am cut out for university. I usually respond to inquisitive plan askers with a simple answer, stating I want to teach, and this to some extent is true. After university I think I am going to complete my PGC. Some days, however, I have doubts. Am I cut out to teach? Do I want to finish university and then continue to spend the rest of my life in education?

Growing up I always wanted to be a veterinary surgeon. I love animals and would run head first towards any pet I came into contact with. My auntie had two dogs when I was young and afternoons round her house were filled with dragging them around like they were my children. My first pet was a bunny rabbit named Harvey, he was given to me on the premise that I was to give my room (the larger one in the house) to my brother. I agreed without hesitation, Harvey came home with us that weekend. I spent every evening outside in my garden with Harvey, I even got a lead for him so I could take him outside of the house and walk him around the block. My dreams soon came to an end after a work placement at a veterinary surgery, aged fifteen, resulted in me losing consciousness. I have always been squeamish but the realisation of the extent of my squeamishness is something that made me reconsider my chosen profession. Later realisations about my academic ability in the field of chemistry brought all ambitions of me getting into veterinary school to an end.

Once the vet cards were off the table, I played with various other ideas. As the Virgin Airline adverts got ever more beautiful I toyed with the idea of becoming an Air Hostess, fulfilling my dream of travelling. I do, however, have issues with my ears when flying, so that idea was a hit and miss. Then followed an extreme obsession with Criminal Minds, which has come and gone in sessions throughout my life, this resulted in me heavily researching the career of criminal psychology and working for the BAU. I am, however, British and that career is primarily an American phenomenon. I love the USA but I’m not keen on having to move there solely for work, resulting in the end of my BAU fiasco.

I have since gone through careers in the area of personal assistants, as I feel my organisation skills are on point. Becoming the next Nigella Lawson, as last summer I finally learnt how to cook. Being a movie critic, my obsession for films is almost toxic so watching them as a career would free up much of my time. And, of course, working in the education system. School has always been the one thing that I am good at, so why not?

To say I am sure about what I want to do and who I want to be will come one day, I hope. Until then, I think it is time to embrace the indecisiveness. In the words of Teddy from Stand by Me... "I'm in the prime of my youth and I'll only be young once." I have the rest of my life to figure everything out. So when all my family friends ask me what the plan is, I will reply with "what plan?" because in all honesty, I am absolutely clueless!

Dulux colour run

Running has recently become a new hobby of mine and I am starting to find it quite enjoyable, in a fulfilment sense. Nothing quite beats the feeling you get once you finish a really challenging run. I have always dreamed of completing the London Triathlon but I doubt I will ever attain that level of fitness, consequently, I lowered my ambition and instead took part in the 5K Colour Run. This year was the first time that the Colour Run came to London, it took place in Wembley, with 15000 people showing up in the hottest week of the year so far. I ran with my gym buddy at University, Dowse, and to say we were warm would be an understatement. The sweat that appeared before the run had even begun was actually quite impressive.

The Colour Run works by checkpoints. All the runners enter a holding bay and are released a thousand runners at a time. After each kilometre, you reach a paint checkpoint, where there are colour run helpers there to make sure you are as colourful as possible. Each paint checkpoint displays a different colour and by the time 5K is completed, all the runners look like human rainbows.

Once we passed the finish line we had the chance to have a jumping photo taken in the Dulux colour dome and there was a paint rave taking place by the stage; I guess for everyone that did not achieve full colour covering during the run. I may just be easily impressed, but I think no matter your age, there is nothing more exciting then getting covered in paint. The burning sun made it feel as though we were on holiday and the general atmosphere from all the runners made the day for me. It was a perfect introduction to powder paint and has made me even more enthusiastic for Holi Festival in about a month.

I'm Supertramp, you're Super Apple

Into the Wild is one of my all time favourite films. As an adventure enthusiast, I fell in love with the idea of saying goodbye to material possessions and hitting the road. The film is based on the life of Christopher McCandless; a young man who cuts up his credit cards, leaves behind his everything he knows and pursues his dream to live out in Alaska. The film follows the same plot as the book by Jon Krakauer, in which young Christopher changes his name to Alexander Supertramp and hitchhikes the Stampede Trail in Alaska. We follow him on his journey as he crosses paths with numerous travellers, faces various problems and meets the everyday experiences that make long term travel look so appealing.

One of my favourite scenes in the film appears when Alex meets a European couple, camping in the mountains. He only joins them for a moment as he grabs a hot dog off their barbecue, but it is this short encounter that sums up his experience of long term travel. It introduces the idea that meeting people on the road is not all about being on danger alert or treading with caution and that in actual fact you can build relationships in the briefest of moments.

The film can only be described as epic, after countless viewings it still manages to make me laugh, cry and ultimately get the travel bug. Go check it out.