Adam

What I thought would be a couple of hours in Caffè Nero with Adam turned into a seven hour marathon. It has admittedly been a long time since Adam and I have seen each other, in fact, his first appearance on Blipfoto this year. Our first meeting came seven years ago when the two of us, young, naïve and fresh-faced, started working for Argos and we soon realised we had a similar sense of humour and outlook on life. Spending nearly three years working under people who should have taken management courses (even though they probably already had!), and around people who wanted to just doss around, we became fast friends and have been ever since. We only get to see each other once or twice a year, so there are always things to talk about.

Talking to Adam about my time in France, and about everyone I had met and hearing about his year really did put things in perspective. I am so lucky to have been granted the opportunity to have a year away from university with no real university work to do, giving me the time and energy to fully immerse myself in another town, another country and a whole new life. I think universities make a massive mistake loading work on any students who are on a year out for their sandwich course…as it really doesn’t help the student when they are trying to adapt to a new place, a new place of work, sometimes even a new language. But what do I know; I can only rate my experiences against those of others and say that mine has been vastly superior compared to those who have been given a lot of work.