OK, in all honesty I'm really starting to run out alliterations here. I'm firmly stuck between the Rock of rapidly decreasing alliterations and the Hard Place of being too lazy to think of another title format and my OCD is refusing to settle on another title pattern. So there you go, first world problems at their finest there.
This week was a week for finishing up and sending in my assignments but, in what I think constitutes personal growth, I haven't been too much of a nervous wreck. When I first started studying the idea that there would come a time when I could write and submit an assignment without any tears, panic attacks, throwing of highlighters or drinking of wine seemed like an impossibly wonderful dream. It's been a gradual process (one glass of wine less while writing this essay, one less highlighter for Hubs to dodge while referencing this assignment) it has eventually paid of and I now finally feel like a full blown student. To celebrate being a full blown student in my own mind now I did what all good students do, went and mooched food from Hubs parents and came home to be smug on the Internet. See, I really am getting the hang of it.
One thing I have managed to do this year (except from reducing my Kleenex and wine bill) is finally get around to going to tutorials. My first 3 modules I never managed to make it for one reason or another, but a few weeks ago I went to my first tutorial for DD206 and I've just had a quick check of the calender and found myself pathetically excited to have another one next month. If anyone is dithering on whether or not to go I really want to encourage anyone who has the ability to go to a tutorial to get yourself there. Yes, meeting new people is awkward and yes, it does feel pretty much identical to the first day of school (I even got lost in the wrong side of the building and bumped into a scary looking girl who looked like she was about to demand my dinner money and/or loudly judge my outfit) but once you get over that it's a really positive and reassuring experience. Studying with OU it's really easy to feel like you're the only person on your course. We sit behind a screen reading quietly and occasionally seeing a comment from a fellow student pop up and that can be pretty isolating but getting to a tutorial seemed to prove to me that other people are doing the same course in the same way. It's reassuring to realise that your not just a singular keyboard warrior colour co-ordinating by subject matter, there's a ton of other crazy (and probably normal) people out there too and they completely understand in a way that even the most incredibly supportive and empathetic of family and friends would struggle too.
TL;DR Go to your tutorials!
