Funny how things work out
Earlier in the week I was talking to the guy I sit next to at work about school because it was GCSE results day and we work on exam papers.
During the course of the conversation I explained how I only ended up doing Classics at school because I changed schools between Year 9 and Year 10 (beginning of GCSE course for those outside UK) because my mum died and we moved back to London. I'd originally planned on doing French and German but the timetable didn't work out at my new school, so I chose German and then did Classics as well.
I hadn't thought about this for years, but back in Somerset I had planned to keep studying languages and to then eventually work in languages in some way, although back then I didn't know what I was planning to do with them or where I was planning to go. As we were talking I realised that actually I changed course a few times during my education, either because of circumstances or getting fed up with the subject and then finding something new (Heritage Studies <3) and then when that was done with I changed again because I realised I wasn't willing or able to work for nothing while I got relevant experience in the Heritage industry.
So after my degree I had some office jobs, including one that was rubbish that had a good bonus system (which helped me afford the flat, because I'd been saving my bonuses and as much of my salary as possible), and then seven years ago (!?!?!?!) I got my current job, working on exam papers. And the papers I worked on changed over the years (some languages, Economics, Engineering & Manufacturing, Accounting etc.), until last November when we merged with another team (we actually split away from them about 9 years ago, I think, but they do love fiddling with stuff in my company) and I took over working on International GCSE language papers. This is the first time everything I work on has been MFL papers, but it wasn't until talking to my colleague that actually, I am doing what I wanted to do when I was 14, even if back then I only had the vaguest idea of what would be interesting.
I can't even tell if this is serendipity or if it just proves that I am a very predictable person (I totally am though)!
I am in currently in the frame of mind where I think that generally things work out, but sometimes it takes a little while longer than you'd like. I am currently in this frame of mind mostly because I'm typing this in a maisonette - my maisonette - which is super quiet on a Saturday night and is generally quiet enough for me to sleep without earplugs, which is something I thought was going to be a long way off. So yeah, it took a while and it was really fucking difficult at various points along the way, but I got there in the end.
During the course of the conversation I explained how I only ended up doing Classics at school because I changed schools between Year 9 and Year 10 (beginning of GCSE course for those outside UK) because my mum died and we moved back to London. I'd originally planned on doing French and German but the timetable didn't work out at my new school, so I chose German and then did Classics as well.
I hadn't thought about this for years, but back in Somerset I had planned to keep studying languages and to then eventually work in languages in some way, although back then I didn't know what I was planning to do with them or where I was planning to go. As we were talking I realised that actually I changed course a few times during my education, either because of circumstances or getting fed up with the subject and then finding something new (Heritage Studies <3) and then when that was done with I changed again because I realised I wasn't willing or able to work for nothing while I got relevant experience in the Heritage industry.
So after my degree I had some office jobs, including one that was rubbish that had a good bonus system (which helped me afford the flat, because I'd been saving my bonuses and as much of my salary as possible), and then seven years ago (!?!?!?!) I got my current job, working on exam papers. And the papers I worked on changed over the years (some languages, Economics, Engineering & Manufacturing, Accounting etc.), until last November when we merged with another team (we actually split away from them about 9 years ago, I think, but they do love fiddling with stuff in my company) and I took over working on International GCSE language papers. This is the first time everything I work on has been MFL papers, but it wasn't until talking to my colleague that actually, I am doing what I wanted to do when I was 14, even if back then I only had the vaguest idea of what would be interesting.
I can't even tell if this is serendipity or if it just proves that I am a very predictable person (I totally am though)!
I am in currently in the frame of mind where I think that generally things work out, but sometimes it takes a little while longer than you'd like. I am currently in this frame of mind mostly because I'm typing this in a maisonette - my maisonette - which is super quiet on a Saturday night and is generally quiet enough for me to sleep without earplugs, which is something I thought was going to be a long way off. So yeah, it took a while and it was really fucking difficult at various points along the way, but I got there in the end.