Udemy gives me heart-eye-face

Well hello there lovely readers!

Today I wanted to share with you my latest discovery: Udemy free courses.

As career-planners, updating our skills is perpetually useful, and luckily for us - learning cool new stuff can only be a good thing. There are lots of sites out there for free online courses, or MOOCs as they're known, but I found Udemy the most accessible.

On Udemy you can take bazillions of online courses for just about anything, and many of them are free. Even the paid ones frequently have deals on them, and after I bought 2 courses I was given a lifetime discount code - I'll never pay more than £12 for knowledge again!

FREE BRAINS!

The free courses are genuinely free and there's a good number and range of them. Signing up is easy and the site is user friendly. There's also a guide to course level (beginner, all, advanced, etc) which is actually accurate, and some, though unfortunately not all, courses give an indication of how long they should take to complete. For me, it was a winner.

This is probably sounding like I'm on commission or something - I'm not!

[Although, Udemy, if you're listening.... ;) ]

I just like free stuff, and if it gets me places - so much the better!

So far I've done courses on Social Entrepreneurship, Resume Writing, and LinkedIn, and I have several marketing and management courses in my wishlist. There's also courses on languages, health, IT, software, photography - whatever I decide to learn, for the rest of my life, Udemy has my back ;)

Since doing the LinkedIn course I've made my profile skimmable, discovered how to increase my views, joined loads of useful groups, and learned how to follow relevant people. I'm already seeing ways to use it to my advantage, and I've spent the last two days stalking people with job-titles I like the sound of, and comparing their skills to mine as well as learning their career paths. I had already thought I was quite good at LinkedIn, but I was missing several tricks!

So, fellow job-seekers, career developers and learning lovers, get yourself to Udemy and feed your brain.

DON'T FORGET to chat with me below!

Do you MOOC?
Where?
What do you MOOC?

What are you doing to find a job that excites you?
Or am I stark raving mad?

Let me know down there ↓

Love love love
Naomi

RELAUNCH!!!

Well hello there lovely readers!

As you can probably see, I'm back from the dead (I wasn't dead)!

Truth be told I was busy DOING lots of stuff, and writing about it (and getting internet connection!) was a tad difficult. However, I'm now back on Scottish soil and STILL TRYING TO WORK OUT WHAT TO DO WITH MY LIFE, so here I am, writing for you all again. Scroll below for a recap of the last six months (okaaay, eight) and to find out where I am now.

A) I spent seven months living in France

Mulled wine from the Paris christmas market

As a person who could speak no French and was terrified to even try during all those high school lessons, and also as someone who has spent eight years denying I'm ever going to be a teacher, moving to Beauvais to teach English was definitely my brightest idea...

Truth be told I found this incredibly difficult, and am eternally grateful to all the other Beauvais assistants for their support and help! I may not have achieved everything I (naively, no doubt) had imagined I would, but I ate raclette and navigated supermarkets, asked for directions in French and went to the Moulin Rouge, I saw an ice hockey match and got 17 extra turns on a Ferris Wheel, and can truthfully tell stories that begin 'I was once at a party in Paris...'

B) I ran a half marathon, and a full marathon.

Me (left) and Clare at the finish line of the marathon de Paris 2015

 Don't believe the hype - it CAN be done. You don't have to be stick thin or a gym bunny to check this off your bucket list, all it takes is a few months' prep, a lot of chafing, and one similarly knackered woman to provide moral support for the last 3k (without which my whole experience would have been far more miserable).

C) I went inter-railing

Bus top tour in Berlin

I decided to go the long way home from Beauvais, and employed Kerri to accompany me. We visited Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands, drank too much beer, had our heads COMPLETELY DESTROYED at a Dali exhibition, spent an amazing day with Marketa, and, excitingly for me only, visited the convent of St Agnes of Prague in Prague (obviously) and saw an old Beguine courtyard in Amsterdam!! 

D) I moved back home.

My hometown Thurso

Yay for minimal housing costs!

Now this was never, ever on the cards previously, but on returning from France I realised I'd no desire to go back to Aberdeen, so it made sense to come home for a while and figure out my next steps. I briefly entertained the thought of moving home permanently, but was swiftly reminded that Thurso life is just too small for me, so now I'm working on a few things that should see me moving city-wards within a year. For now, I'm working back at the little shop I used to work in at school and enjoying seeing so much of my family - which I haven't done since I moved to Aberdeen in 2009.

So, as usual things are up in the air, however some decisions have been made. For example, I now know what I want to do with my life. I'm going to be a comedianpresenterauthorjournalist(actordancer). If you don't believe me, check my linkedin. 

I'd love to hear your comments on my career plans - eccentric, I know, unlikely, I know, but toeing the line has never really worked for me. 

Next Youtube superstar - think I can do it?

And so farewell my favourites, as usual much love and biscuits,

Naomi x

Flying Solo!

Well hello there lovely readers!

This week I had my first solo classes at the Lycee (sans accent - UK keyboard!) !

The long and short of my job is to work with small groups (anywhere between 2 and 7) of final year students, once every week or two, to improve their speaking and listening skills in time for their oral exam in April. There is no set programme of what I should cover, and thus I've had the dual conundrum of being told a) "You can pretty much do whatever you like," and b) "But here is an entire crateful of information, ideas, resources and suggestions for things we think you should be doing."

I prefer option A though, so other than when the teachers say, "ok with my group on Wednesday I would like you to look at the topic of immigration, because that's what we're doing in class," I just make it up.

This week's topic was (/is) Scotland. I know right? Imaginative. I've been starting each class with a little introduction of me:

"Hello, I'm Naomi. I'm 24, I have 2 parents, 1 brother, and no pets. My usual job is with small, primary school children so if I start being silly and jumping around it's because I temporarily forgot you're 17 not 7. My future career goal is to be Batman."

And then I ask each student to introduce her- or himself too, and say a little about themselves:

"Hello I am Jean-Luc Pierre Antoine, I have 17 years old and Batman does not get money to be Batman, so how you live?"

They're a pretty smart bunch.

My first couple of classes were no-goes: the timetable was only finalised on Friday afternoon, so my Monday morning classes didn't actually know they were supposed to be with me. Thus, on Monday I had 1 out of 5 classes, with a further 2 where one solitary girl turned up and looked terrified to actual death that she might have to speak English with me, alone, for an hour.

Tuesday's classes, however, were all present and accounted for. I did the introductions, and then, when the ice had been broken a little, I showed them various postcards, calendars, magnets and images of Aberdeen and Thurso. I need to give a couple of shout outs here: firstly to Kerri who had the foresight to gift me the postcards and magnet - they have been invaluable, especially the map postcard! And secondly to all my Facebook friends, especially Eleanor, who sent me photos of Aberdeen and Thurso to use in my lessons. The students love them! I've been using Google images too when these photos lead to further discussion.

In most cases, the discussions cover roughly the same things. In the Aberdeen part of the lesson we talk about granite, the ugliness of the Meston building, the frog at Duthie Park, Piper Alpha, and dolphins in the harbour.

In the Thurso part of the lesson we talk about puffins, whales and seals, vikings, brochs, surfing, dip with a nip and the old kirk. My aim is to inspire all the final year students in Francois Truffaut to DEMAND that their Scotland trip in February includes Caithness ;) I will start a rebellion!!!!

So, aye! Two days in and the students at least seem interested in the lessons! My plan is to link into the teachers' topics when asked, and otherwise to take inspiration from the 4 "notions" that the French system is based on, as well as bring in Scottish/UK culture. My list of things to cover has been informed by the things the students seem most interested in or ask questions about - some of them have already shown an interest in the link between Brittany and the UK, so I plan to talk about Celtic Britain at some point. I also want to look at Guy Fawkes after the October break, and to cover Burns Night and St Andrews and St Patrick, as those have all been mentioned so far.

Aaaaand now I:

Because there is a welcome dinner being held in my honour by the Truffaut English department in 2 hours and I need to shower and dress and then leave at least 30 minutes early because I don't know where the restaurant is and I'm me.

Je me suis perdu.

Au revoir lovelies!
Be kind to each other!
Naomi

J'habite à Beauvais

Well hello there lovely readers!

I wish I had started this sooner – I may only have been in France for a week but I don’t even know where to begin!!

Ok firstly we’ll start with a reminder. As I mentioned in a previous post, I applied to be an English Language Assistant (ELA) with the British Council in France, and I was, to my surprise, accepted. As a matter of interest, that previous post says I'll be living in Amiens, but actually although I'm working for the Academie d'Amiens, my particular school is in Beauvais - a few miles away. I was a little (read: incredibly) nervous about the move because my French is très, très limiteé - I studied it at High School but I've not used or thought about it since. Nevertheless, what idiot turns down a paid, 7 month job abroad? Not me! So I got the sand out my vagina, packed my case, and here I am.*

*Sorry (read: not sorry) if this language is a bit crass for you, I, however, believe that as 50% of the population is in possession of said vagina, it’s ridiculous that its thought of as a ‘bad’ word and I will probably use it as freely and shamelessly as I would use the word ‘tumour’, which, by the way, is present in FAR less than 50% of the population.

So aye, as I wis sayin’, I’m in France working in an upper-secondary school (lycée, 15-18yr olds), and I’m loving the job. This first week has been mostly ‘observing’ – I come into the classes, I introduce myself and talk about me for a few minutes, and then the students ask me questions about myself, my family, Scotland, etc. Sometimes this lasts 20 minutes, sometimes it takes the full hour, but it’s generally always interesting. So far, the pattern in most classes has been that the questions start off as expected – “What is your name? Where are you from? Is it cold in Scotland?” – and then progressively get stranger – “Have you ever touched a koala? Have you ever seen a dwarf?”

At first I thought, “Man, big kids are as weird as little kids! Little kids ask weird-ass questions too!” But then I thought about it a bit more and the suggestion occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, the common denominator is me? But I doubt it because I’m generally a very sensible and serious person and it’s unlikely any of my ramblings would have given rise to such unusual and imaginative talk. 

;)

So the job is cool. Next week I meet my classes properly, and we’ll be doing a bit of getting to know each other and a few ice breaker games, and then after the October holidays we’ll be doing slightly more structured classes with a focus on oral comprehension and oral expression.

Yes, that’s right folks, I’m getting paid to CHAT WITH PEOPLE. Get in!

The French aspect of France is, however, a little harder. I think all the teachers quite quickly realised my French abilities are practically non-existent, which is fine in my department (English) but a little harder when it comes to the other teachers and school staff, who don’t speak English. I HATE HATE HATE speaking in English outside the classes, too. I WISH WITH ALL MY BONES I could communicate in French, but it’s just not happening. Even if I can find the words in my head, as soon as I open my mouth they fall out and disappear. I’ve just about got to grips with ‘bonjour,’ ‘bonsoir’ and ‘merci’ but other than that, I don’t think a single more complicated word has left my lips. This is despite me picking up such sophisticated French vocabulary as ‘mouchoirs’ (tissues), ‘cintres’ (coathangers), and 'bonhomme baton' (stick man). See, I told you all my chat was serious and on-topic.

La cathedrale. I'm not in any way religious, but when you stand under this building and think about the lives of all the people who built it, who have worked or prayed in it, who have lived in its' shadow, walked past it, or in any way played a part in it's existence, it's hard not to suddenly feel like your problems are completely normal, like many a person  has been in your shoes before. It's not that your worries are negated in any way, just that they're a part of human existence that everyone experiences, which gives you some perspective, I suppose.

I live in constant hope that one day what’s in my head will make it out into the world in proper oral form, and also that what’s in my head increases, but for now I will have to make do with hand signals and pointing.

What I will say though is that the stereotype of the haughty French person who doesn’t like the English language has not been my experience. Everyone, everyone, has gone out of their way to make me feel welcome and to help me out, and I am eternally grateful, if constantly guilty. I’ve had so much support and assistance that I feel compelled to learn French quicker, to try harder, to be the best damn language assistant the world has ever seen!! 

And of course I will be.

So to sum up: the overall mood is a good one, despite their being constant peaks and troughs, multiple times a day, where I think “Gah no don’t make me do that!” but I smile on the outside and metaphorically get the sand out my vagina on the inside, and then I do it and it’s either bad or it’s good but it actually doesn’t matter because at least it’s done. 

Et voila! I managed to sum up my experiences without going into every boring detail and without taking up 10,000 words!

Special shout out to Anna, Nicole, Rory and all the other assistants I’ve met this week, et bon chance!

Over and out,

Love love love

Bisous!

Naomi

Ambition

Well hello there lovely readers!

In this post I want to talk a little about what it means to be ambitious.

At two, very separate points in my life, it has been suggested or even stated outright to me that I am unambitious. This could not be further from what I believe to be true about myself, and makes me wonder about the meaning of the word 'ambitous.'

Let's start at the beginning. I am 17 years old and about to finish High School. I have a confirmed place at university but have deferred entry for a year because I have booked a one-way ticket to Australia. I've spent over two years working part time in a shop in the roughest part of town, saving every penny I can and forsaking any kind of social life so that I could save up the required £4,000 to do so. Some of my school mates and I are talking about our future plans and when I talk about my insane solo venture to Australia, about going to university to study a subject I love, and hoping the rest will fall into place later, someone told me my plan, or lack thereof, was 'unambitious.'

Skip forward 6 years. I have an MA (hons) degree, I won the Mary Chenoweth Prize for Excellence in Church History 2011-12, I have a Saltire Award for 200 hours volunteer work (plus, if we're being fancy, equivalent awards for 50 and 100 hours work), I have been working 2, at times 3 jobs for the last 18 months so that I can afford to live independently while building new skills and finding new opportunities, and I am about to move to France for an extended period despite my dubious language skills because I want to continue to push myself out my comfort zone. I made a comment about how many of my friends have proper graduate jobs and are stressed out their ears, and how I was glad to be in the situation I am in, and I was called unambitious.

No, my friend, I am not. My ambitions do not involve getting a certain level of job, having the right make/model of car, or having 'executive' in my job title. I have no desire to work in the Oil & Gas industry and 5 years in Aberdeen has not changed my mind.

I want to be the best and HAPPIEST version of me that I can and I want to change the world.

I am not unambitious.

Go F&%K yourself.

Over and out
Love love love
Sorry for swearing
Naomi

All the hashtags: Update

Well hello there lovely readers!

You may remember I did a few blog posts at the beginning of the year around the hashtags #100happydays and #readwomen2014. And then, in true Naomi style, I got bored of them. Well, actually, that's a little unfair. I had technical issues with the #100happydays one that meant it was just too annoying to try and post everyday, so I decided to do '1 Happy Month' instead, then gave up. And I'm still doing the #readwomen2014 thing, I just haven't posted about it.

Check/connect with my Goodreads for more on this, but to sum up - I've still been reading women this year! 

My 'to read' Bookshelf.

So far all the books I've read have been by women. I've managed to get through:

Jojo Moyes - The Girl You Left Behind

Audrey Niffenegger - Her Fearful Symmetry

Dorris Lessing - The Grass Is Singing

Sarah Langan - The Keeper

Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre

Sylvia Townsend-Warner - Lolly Willowes

Philippa Gregory - The Kingmaker's Daughter.

I'm also currently reading The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton. The Kate Morton and Jojo Moyes books were books I borrowed from friends, and were both the 'Richard and Judy' type books I'd probably normally avoid. They've been quite good though, and this is actually the second Kate Morton book I've read, having finished The Forgotten Garden after leaving uni last year. The rest were a mixture of things on my to-read list based on recommendations from other books or articles I've read, all of varying genres and subject matters. I'm very interested in issues of diversity, and my bookshelf is no exception! I also have a few books on my 'to read' shelf (my actual, physical shelf) that I picked up in Sainsbury's, which were among the bestseller types. Again, I would normally avoid these, but I know Joanne Harris is readable, and the others were Scandinavian and therefore automatically get 5 star ratings from me. (My sole ambitions in life are to become a superhero, and to be Swedish. They're both tricky, hence why I have a whole blog dedicated to being lost in life). The moral of the story is: so far, books with flowery covers are not always bad, although I'm still a total book snob and am yet to even attempt reading anything by Katie Price* or which looks like it might be of the same shocking quality.

*Actually, this is a lie. I did once read a Katie Price novel that I got free in a magazine out of pure curiosity, and it was the most predictable, unimaginative, ridiculous yet utterly compelling thing I've ever read. It was like a car crash: I hated every second of it but somehow I had to keep reading!! But now I have suffered through this for your sake and I can tell you it's not worth it. Ditto for 50 Shades of Grey. And the sequels. Don't look at me like that I'll read whatever I damn well please! 

*smiley halo face*

I do intend to add some more reviews, but they're quite time consuming so I'm not making any promises. I enjoy writing them though, so if I do get a spare few hours, or if I feel particularly strongly about a book I read, I will definitely write one. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, please do feel free to interact in the comments if you've anything to add :)

Don't forget to read women!

Love love love,

Naomi

English Language Assistant (ELA), Amiens

Well hello there lovely readers!

AHHHH! I told you I would have some exciting news soon!

Although, the exciting news I have is not the exciting news I thought I might have. Basically, I've been applying to do a year abroad via the European Voluntary Scheme. This is essentially a load of do-gooding organisations througout Europe, who do valuable work with lots of different kinds of people, animals, and environments, who advertise for long-term volunteers to come and help them in their work. It's essentially a funded place, costs paid by the volunteer are limited, and it's a great chance to get lots of fabulous experience. I've been applying for placements within gender equality, refugee work, and, in one case, with the European Movement Latvia, who work to encourage participation in European political arenas. Not long ago I had a Skype interview with the EML, which was terrifying as it was very last minute, and I've not had any responses to my applications so far. I did the interview (I HATE INTERVIEWS), and it actually went quite well. Moreover, they told me I was one of only 5 interviewees out of over 50 applications - so already I think its a success. Anyway, I got an email about a week later to say I hadn't been selected for the post, but I was fairly certain of this beforehand anyway, as they were looking for someone who could be competent in Latvian within 3 months. Pah, I'm British. We don't do languages. So anyway, in general the interview was a positive experience, and it's left me feeling a bit better about the dreaded 'I' word. Yeugh. 

(Also, my interviewer said I had a "wonderful" blog. Woop!)

SO, I hear you say, WHAT IS THE NEWS?

Well, I had also applied to be an English Language Assistant for a year through the British Council. Last Friday I got an email to say I'd been put on the waiting list for a place, as all available posts had gone to French students who are required to do a placement as part of their course. They explained how things worked and also said that I'd find out by the end of September. Then, a mere few days later, I got a phone call to tell me that someone had dropped out, and I'd been selected as the replacement! So, long story short, I now have to apply for an International Child Protection Certificate, and then I shall be working as a Language Assistant in a Secondary School in Amiens from October! :D 

This is my 'OMG it's cool but now I have to try and remember how to speak French!' face.

And before anyone even so much as whispers the 'T' word: I still have no intentions of being a teacher.

So there we have it. No closer to having a plan for life, but at least the period from October 2014 to June 2015 is sorted. Just got to earn enough money to make it possible beforehand, and then deal with having nothing to come back to at the end...!

I'd still really like to volunteer with the EVS (mentioned above) though, so maybe I'll just never come back! 

Hah, how often do I say that?

Also, I'm now not sure where this leaves me on the New Years Resolution front, where I vowed to get an actual graduate job this year.This isn't a graduate job - however, I am once again doubting whether I actually even really want a graduate job. I mean, BLEEEEUUUGH!! They mostly sound so boring!! I just don't think I'm a real job kind of person! I still secretly harbour hopes of running away with my Latino lover and learning to Flamenco. Who, for the record, looks like Antonio Banderas in The Addams Family/Interview with the Vampire. 

This is probably so inappropriate. 

Ha, I'll leave you thinking about that as I go and try to re-learn French!

Au revoir mes amis!

Love love love,

Naomi