Week One at Outreach.



Week 1:

After the problems with my course I was unsure that accepting the job as an intern would of been the right choice. I had never had a job before and nor did I particularly rank my social skills above that of a sleeping cat but given the alternatives I decided that the internship was perhaps the best option for me. So after several days of waiting around I left home for the university, my new job and my new home for the next ten months or so.


Upon setting up my room and a quick food shop in ASDA I was ready to face tomorrow, my first day. After getting up, getting dressed and having breakfast I was ready to leave for work however I had no idea where I was meant to be going. By luck I had an email from one of the people (Dr Condé) who had corresponded with me, and by luck they had a number at the bottom of their email. So after I phoned them explaining that I had no idea what to do they agreed to meet me at the front desk of the main university building. So after slowly walking up to the building, it took me awhile as I had never been to Wolverhampton before and half the buildings look like the same thing. But by chance a member of staff saw me looking like a lost sheep so they kindly pointed me in the right direction.


So after I managed find the main building and talked to the receptionist. Dr Condé came to greet me, however they were a lecturer and had a lecture in an hour so they could only have a quick whirlwind tour of the where I would be working. Unfortunately when I arrived at my office where I would be working from, the MRO office (Market research and outreach), they had no idea I was coming so they all were equally surprised to see me, which somewhat initially started to concern me thinking I had made the internship as a twisted fever dream. after the quick stop at the office I came up to deanery where they were also mostly unawares of my arrival or the fact that I would be working in the University. Luckily there was one person in the deanery that knew of my appointment, an HR representative called Tulu, they helped me get settled and then they led me back down to the MRO office where I finally got to meet everyone properly.


The second day I met my line manager, Martin Khechara, a very active and happy bloke who quickly asked me to help unload the outreach van. Martin drove me to where the van lives and we had a quick walk back to the MRO office in which time we discussed my job role and what I'd be doing which is also a nice thing when you have a job. Though today was not all was well as I had hoped as I got "dragged" into a 2 hour meeting discussing outreach strategy, which did evoke sympathy for all the background staff at the university.


Day three was more of the same as the past two days, I had a rough outline of work but still little directional guidance so I did my best and gathered ideas ready for what I needed to know and started to understand more about what I needed to do. I was also asked to attend a meeting at RAF Cosford in which the senior members (Zoe and Martin) of the outreach team helped organize for me and my peer to work there for a period of time to gain valuable experience.


The Thursday was a special day for me as they rushed me off the moment I stepped into the office onto a trip with the school of architecture to Chester. Since I had never been to Chester before I jumped at the opportunity to go there as I wanted to see it for myself. Chester Lived up to my expectations, it was beautiful, stunning city which was almost reminiscent of Kent.


Friday was a day of fun but also hard work, the student union wanted a hand with freshers' fair and so naturally I was the first choice. With great determinism I assisted the main union stall handing t-shirts and some horrendous energy drinks. Here is where I learnt that I am able to deal with stressful situations and communicate and perhaps that sleeping cat has now awoken and is now a social animal.