PSsSsSSssSsssS
Yeserday i went for the Romania Family project appeal interview. Quite fun acutally.
It was held in Manchester, so i had to take a train up there. My first train was at 8.31am, so i got up at 7.15, prepared and left for the train station: Took the 8.31am train from Winchester(that's where my school is in case u didnt know) to Birmingham New Street. Then from Birmingham N ST, changed platform and caught another train to Warrington Bank Quay. Changed train
again to go to Manchester Piccadilly station. I reached the station at 12.40+, so the whole train ride up to manchester took 4 hrs+..what an effort..
After that i got into them London taxis and showed the driver the address. I must say that British Taxi drivers are actually really reliable. They seem to know every Tom, Dick and Harry street. The place where i was going was supposed to be quite remote and hard to find, but he found it, no questions asked. Singapore Taxis have something to learn from the British at least..
Anyway, i reached the Lighthouse resource centre(where my interview is held) at around 1.20pm, it was a 25 min taxi ride btw. My interview was not until 3.00pm, but better early than late innit. The secretary there was super nice she wanted to show me to the kitchen to help myself, wanted to get me a drink etc, but i politely declined her offers:p..
It was only when i reached there and saw 2 other interviewees that i realized the damnest thing: i was in
informal wear... i was like:
Bullocks.. They had ties and were in suits, i was in a sweater and trek pants. It just did not occur to me to wear formal, i dunno why, dun ask me. I mean, if it's university interviews i would of course wear suits etc, but for some reason i had the impression that this interview was informal, so i wore like that..
My mum called from Singapore while i was waiting and when i told her, she kinda chided me, saying like:" ...it's showing no respect to the interviewers etc etc" but there was no way i could go back to Winchester to get changed..
I wasnt nervous at all while waiting leh. I was in this 'crazy', 'talkative' mood....hyperactive might describe how i was like a bit more accurately i think. But at 2.20 the applicant before me got called in and she had told me b4 that that her's was at 2.40. I was :"
shit so fast?!" Instantly my heart starting beating damn fast, and adrenaline kicked in. My mum was still on the phone then.. so she told me:" remain calm, breath in deeply and concentrate on your breath, n we got off the phone so i could compose myself.. i did that, and it worked quite well i must say...
When it was finally my turn, they called me in
(dduh) There were 2 interviewers, one lady(Sarah Bazley, Director of the project) and a man( i dunno who). They were talking to this guy who was standing at the entrance when i walked in. I stood behind the chairs and waited for them to finsih talking. The man told me to sit down, i greeted him good afternoon, but i think i did it quite lamely, hard to explain, like as if i said it in the wrong time..When the guy at the door left, i greeted the both of them again. And then i said:"Before we start, i first would like to apologize -pause- because i think i am a bit underdressed"
They laughed and told me it was alright, then Ms Bazley refered to the man who just left, saying:"that man is our Senior Minister(i dont think i heard wrongly), and he's in jeans! Don't worry, there is no problem at all!"
I think i accidentally made a good start, because we started off at light note:D quite proud of myself there, i must admit.. I once heard that in interviews, although it can be 30 mins long, the interviewers already more or less make up their minds about the applicant during the first 10-20 secs of the interview.. First impression - very important.
So they asked me questions.. 1) what got you interested in this romania appeal project? 2) Can you give us a brief description of your work experience with children 3) Do you think you are emotionally strong enough to handle what you will see in Romania, because you would see many cases of children who are seriously affected by their former conditions
(something along the lines, i cant remember this one word for word) The man also said that i had written in the form that i wanted to pursue a medical course and asked if i still would like to(he meant if i wanted to study medicine, i didnt understand what he meant by 'pursue medical course' so i had to ask him what he meant specifically) Then he asked what universities i wanted to go into.On the whole i think i answered okay, i stumbled on my words and expressions a few times la, and during the 1st question i had to pause a long while to gathermy thoughts, but Ms Bazley was very nice, told me to take my time. In interviews u have to engage all interviewers, meaning you address all, and not only the one questioning you. I couldnt do that properly because the man always had his head down, readingmy form, so i just like glanced at him form time to time and mostly addressed the lady..ah well..got to practice on that.After the interview they said they would write to me within the week to see if i got selected.
Hahaha, as i was walking out of the room and shaking hands with them, i dunno what went into my head, i added jokingly," Don't stress yourselves out too much!" i thought because they had been interviewing pple non-stop for the whole day, so they must be tired what... They laughed.
So, after the interview, it was around 3.30, i took a bus to the train station. The ride took 45 mins...i slept on the bus, but thankfully awoke in time to get off the right stop.My train leaves only at 8.15pm. Hahaha, this meany i had almost 4 hrs, to do nothing. Technically i can book another ticket to go back earlier, but are u kidding?! That defeats the whole point of me booking the 8.15 train! hahaahah.So i wandered around the whole Manchester Piccadilly train station. I more or less memorized the whole station already man, just walking in circles doing nothing. I bought something from the Saintsbury's Supermarket in the station, and looked for a dustbin to ditch the plastic bag. Guess what..I couldnt find one!! There was not a single dustbin in the whole goddamn train station. REally Unbelievable! I walked around the station with the trash for close to 45 mins just looking for that bin. I kept getting tricked by the various different newspaper collection stands that look a hell like a dustbin from afar. I couldnt believe there was none, and thought i just couldn spot one because ofmy short-sightedness.. In the end, i found one. It was a movable one.I saw the bright orange vest of the rubbish man pushing his rubbish cart. Thats where i rid my trash at last.Anyway, 8.15 finally came, i took the train to London Euston station, the took a tube(equivalent to MRT) to Waterloo station and caught another train back to Winchester.I only arrived back at my dorm at 1.30 am. Its supposed to lock up at 11pm, but i toldmy housemaster to leave the front door open for me :pHave typed for more than1 hr 20mins, got somemore, but next time.l8er
