I've just realised that it's been three months since I last posted on here. The time has flown by with too much to do, and too little time. As well as my studying, which I'll tell you about in a moment, I've also had to attend a 'Mandatory Work Placement'. I was fortunate to have had a placement in a local charity shop rather than a supermarket. The shop is one of several across West Yorkshire raising funds for The Forget Me Not Trust Children's Hospice, and as I feel it is such a good cause, I continued to volunteer part-time whilst I am still unemployed. I've also been distracted by some sporting things going on in London.
Right then, time to tell you where I've been on my study journey. Last time we met, I was just setting off to Benin in the jungles of West Africa, following the journey made by the Benin Bronzes as they were 'liberated' by those jolly nice Victorian gentlemen. Since then, I've travelled all over the world via the Short Stories chapter. Destinations included South Africa, Cuba and Florida, Canada and France. So that was TMAs 5 and 6 out of the way.
TMA07 took me on an altogether different journey, into the deepest darkest recesses of... me! It was a reflective assignment, looking back at my progress through AA100; the highs and lows; the good and the bad; what I enjoyed and what I didn't; where will I go next? (You can find the answer to this in my next blog post!)
My final travels through this first leg of my degree came in the form of Book 4 and my End of Module Assessment. I quickly skipped the sections on Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome and instead plumped for a staycation, remaining in the good old British Seaside. Although the deadline is still three weeks away, my AA100 journey has ended, having submitted my EMA last weekend.
I hope you enjoyed the journey, please remember the AA100 terminates at this stop and all passengers will need to change if they wish to continue their journey. All aboard the A215 and the U214!
As promised, I've reported back to you, immediately after finishing my assignment on Pugin; I just didn't intend for it to take so long. I've been having a tough time this past month, so found it hard to motivate myself to get the reading done; then once I had done the reading, the Job Centre decided to start me on a 'Mandatory Work Placement' which means I've not had time to do the writing. I eventually finished it this afternoon - it's a day late, but fortunately my tutor is on holiday.
I've decided I'm not even going to bother with the chapters about Ireland or Shostakovich. Instead, I'm moving straight on to Book 3 and the two chapters about Benin in West Africa, then TMA05.
Something I did manage to do, last weekend, was to set up my own website where I hope to make money from writing poems and short stories. Please visit my website and let me know what you think... in fact, better still - why not place an order?
I didn't read as much as I wanted last night so I've still not moved onto Faraday (I will eventually... Honest). I was thinking about what to do on Saturday after the Induction Event at Leeds University. I've no money left (apart from the £5 I've put on one side for my bus ticket), so I won't be shopping. The event will finish around 12.15pm which leaves the rest of the day clear, and as I will have a 'Day Ticket' for the buses, I might as well get some use out of it.
I decided to start by looking at the Gazetteers on the AA100 website. They list locations around the country to see examples of works I will be studying throughout the course. After a bit of scrolling and clicking I've discovered that there is a great example of Pugin's architecture at St Anne's Catholic Church in Keighley, and examples of Benin art in the Leeds City Museum (there are others at the Leeds Discovery Centre, but this is only for pre-booked tours). I can't decide whether I should visit any of these or leave them until I'm actually studying them (possibly on the same day as a tutorial).
As I was scrolling through the coming weeks I discovered that NONE of the Ancient Sacred Sites, Roman Villa Sites or Eighteenth Century Houses listed on the website are within West Yorkshire. The nearest being in York, which although only another hour by bus would be another £6! I think a bit more research might be required to find something similar locally.
I also spent a little time today working through the online activities for using the Harvard Referencing System, and then followed this up by adding some references to my pre-prepared assignment and advising someone on the AA100 Facebook page. Now back to my reading...
