The Adventures of a Country Girl in the Big City

The last few days have been spent whizzing around, and now I'm quite tired!
On Friday I headed up to London for the New Designers exhibition and caught up with all my lovely course mates. The train was a monster - a 3 1/2 hour journey which can normally be done in 1...wasn't that impressed, had to keep reminding myself that I only paid £9.20 for it, not the normal £33...
Well anyway, after an annoyingly long queue for cash at Paddington, and the tube ticket machine subsequently deciding that it wouldn't accept the notes I'd just got out, I eventually made it onto the tube and decided to have a little fun...

So I pissed off every person on the journey to Angel - I read over shoulders, I smiled at people (my favourite form of attack on the tube) and even "dared" to speak to some people. They were not impressed (*snigger*), I love it how Londoners think that it's absolutely absurd to communicate with others. Anyway I had a great time on the tube.... :D

The show itself was good, Tom managed to get me a free ticket which saved some more money, and the Loughborough stand was suitably impressive and had a huge presence that the adjacent stand couldn't muster (I got the impression they were fed up of being near the frankly outstanding Loughborough stand).
I stayed around for a fair amoutn of time, chatting to my friends and wondering around the stalls, to be honest the only other universities that even remotely competed were Brunel and Northumbria. The guys at Brunel were, however, frankly hilarious. Identi-kit black suits with no tie, identi-kit bleached blonde hair, and they looked bloody knackered. I heard that they'd been forced to be in 10am-6pm every single day, whereas the Lufbra lot were casually and individually dressed, and attended the show appropriately, whilst not draining themselves. I was also disappointed at the lack on impact in Brunel's displays. Their artwork was small and "un-impactful", it did however look professional, but I know employers were a little disappointed that their models didn't actually work, unlike Lufbra's ;)

Northumbria had a wonderful stand, however I was disappointed not to see more of their prototypes. They are definitely an upcoming university to watch for design graduates, they certainly seem to be getting stronger every year.

The other exhibitions were good as well, I was particularly impressed with BCUC's furniture, some absolutely stunning and forward thinking pieces. And I have to admit I kept heading back to it just to admire their work.

After the show we all headed out for a drink and on to a tapas bar which was good fun, and I think were finally headed home at about 2am, to be followed by a rather restless night in the stiffling heat of the Elephant and Castle digs that the guys had rented for the show.

I was back in Wilts by 2pm on Sunday, and napped before heading to my cousin's 40th birthday. We got there late and didn't stay long as Stu was driving and was very tired, but it was nonetheless a great night.

On a job related note, I haven't heard back from my latest potential job, I really want this one as well, it;s exactly what I need being a junior industrial design job. The agency said they'd chase it up for me, but I still haven't heard from them. I'm also waiting for my first dole cheque, having been to the delightful offices in Trowbridge. Without wanting to bitch about it, they've said I have to apply for at least 3 jobs a week, unfortunately they don't quite understand that Design jobs don't come up at a rate of 3 a week...1 per 7-10 days is more like it.
So do I fake my records...or do I start applying for shitty jobs that I have too much dignity to work in?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm