The Diver's Log: Night dives, Briefings and Stairs...

So, I tried to do a blog post title based off of "Lions and Tigers and Bears" close enough, right? Anyway, today we can celebrate my survival of my second week as Scuba Sur's DMT. It's been an interesting week to say the least but in my own opinion, crossed with the words of others and the lack of bollockings from my mentor towards the end of the week; I do believe I'm starting to show some improvements. I certainly haven't blown any O rings off of cylinders this week and I've remembered my weight belt everyday *Insert fist pump here* (Sorry, Mum.)

I should probably tell you all what exactly being a DMT involves. Let's just roll this back a bit, a DMT stands for Dive Master Trainee. Now as a trainee there are lots of things I have to be able to do to gain the magical mystical title of a Dive Master. There's a few main elements so just allow me to explain them all briefly:

 Timed Swims:

It's probably not much of a shock to you all but you have to be relatively good swimmer in order to become a Dive Master. You have to swim 400m without any scuba equipment and then 800m without the use of your arms but with fins, mask and snorkel. During the 800m your face must be in the water for the whole of the exercise, unless you are taking a quick look up to check your direction. It took me a couple of attempts to get my 800m time down but after nearly killing some poor old gentlemen because he swam directly in front of me even though he had the whole beach to himself. I'm happy to say I've ticked off both of these timed swims. The only thing left for my time swims now is a 100m rescue tow, sounds easy but when you're in full scuba gear, I can assure you it's exhausting.

In addition to the timed swims there is also a treading water exercise but I was given full marks for that; Thank you RLSS for putting me through the 15 minutes of treading water sessions with arms extended.

The Stress Test:

If I called the equipment exchange exercise where you trade mask, fins and BCD with a buddy then you would probably look a me and say it's not stressful. However, there is one very important element to the stress test. There is only one "operational" regulator. You are sharing a regulator with your buddy. And this is the point where I would like to formally apologise to Ryan for ever so nearly drowning him by taking too many breaths. I hated this exercise when I first did it but after some practice attempts with my mentor of just taking the BCD off and him being in control of my regs I can hopefully say that the next attempt Ryan and myself make should be much better.

24 Skills Circuit: 

Skills tests, if you're a diver on any level you will know that in order to complete a course you have to complete a certain amount of skills so you have the appropriate training for your appropriate level. Mine consists of 20 open Water course skills and 4 PADI skin diver course skills. I wouldn't mind just having to do the skills but it has been over a year since I've had to perform some of the skills and I have to get them up to demonstration standard before I can pass. So by hell or high water (and with the help of my mentor and some youtube videos) I can and will get there.

Including all of the above being to satisfactory standard you have to have at last 60 dives to pass but we've nearly surpassed the half way mark for 19 days of being here so that's not too bad really. Then there's also a theory element and a final exam.

So apart from practicing all of my DM skills, timed swims and the notorious stress test this week has been fantastic for me in terms of breaking down some serious walls in terms of my anxiety. About three days ago my mentor announced to me I would be giving the pre-dive briefing to customers about a dive site called Bahia Lila. I was terrified, I've usually been pretty good with public speaking but this was different, or at least it felt that way. But the time came around for me to give my first briefing and it was going well until I sat down on the boat afterwards. "Shoot, I forgot about lost buddy procedures." I was lucky in this instance because we were diving with experienced divers and they had been warned this was my first briefing. The next day came around and I gave the briefing again and this time I'm pretty sure I covered everything because so far neither the boss nor my mentor has pulled me up for missing anything. Brownie points for Goodwin.

The other wall I managed to smash down was my fear of night dives, when I was doing my advanced open water course last year I had the chance to do a night dive but the fear of getting disorientated was too much and I opted to do something else. So after skipping last week's night dive due to a confidence crisis, it took 3 instructors to convince me to go for the experience and I'm honestly so glad I did because after a few minutes of working out my buoyancy I loved it, the sighting of a grand puffer fish and a massive sting ray just absolutely had me made up. Ever seen an over excited marine biologist before?

Just as a side note to my fellow divers, be aware of your tank positioning because if you should slip and fall down a set of near vertical stairs into the water below, it could save your back, I was very lucky that my tank took the full hit. Also make sure your jacket has some air in it too, so you just float back up to the surface. In other words, just don;t be as clumsy as me if you can help it.

I think I'm gonna leave it there for this week guys, I know his as been a long post but I can't put into words how stressed, how exhausted but how truly happy this job makes me. Yes, you have bad days in this industry but with a team like mine I know that even if I have a bad day they are there for me and they never fail to make me laugh with their antics.

Upon Review: 1st Week As A DMT

Hi all, since I got such good feedback from my last post about my first day as a Dive Master Trainee (DMT) I felt it would only be natural progression to move onto how my first week as a DMT went. This post won't be any candy coated truths, it may show some vulnerability on my part but that has been the function of the blog from the beginning. To be honest, to be truthful and to be open because it may just help one other person out there who could be struggling,  in a new job, in a new country or in an internship. Or maybe you can have a laugh at my expense too!
My first couple of days on my internship were interesting to say the least. Those who know me know that the line "if it can go wrong, it will go wrong" has a tendency to follow me around wherever I go and whatever I do. This couldn't be any truer than now. I've blown O rings out of cylinders, I've jammed a tank valve (although actually, that wasn't my fault, it just had to be attached to my BCD at the time.), I've forgotten extra weights, weight belts and to top it off, on one occasion where my mentor and myself were doing an introduction dive, guess who forgot to turn her air on. Yep. So I snorkeled the entire thing. So at this point I'm already in the minus brownie points. And my mentor has lost a considerable amount of hair in the last week.

However, everything that has happened has taught me how to do something new. I've learnt how to replace O rings, rig up tanks to the compressor to be filled, that a wrench is a perfectly good tool to use to jam your tank open so you can dive with it, I've memorised a checklist in my head like it's second nature so in the last three days I don't think I've forgotten anything (To my fellow Harry Potter nerds out there a rememberall would be fabulous round about now.) I've also gotten over my fear of snorkelling, Although I will always retain the fact I'm a scuba diver, not a snorkeller. Oh and now I have an overwhelming paranoia of making sure my air is on.

All of these things are only practical aspects but in the last week I have learnt a few things about myself, how I operate, how I work. This trip was never meant to be on of those "self-finding, tree-hugging, mud spa experiences", I knew it would be sun, sand and hard work but I guess when you take on endeavours like this you can't help but discover some things. I've known for the last 5 years I have been a hard worker but this last week I felt the mental and physical strain of burning the candle at both ends; so working in the day, then coming home and reading up on the theory side of things, sleeping and repeating that entire process. It wasn't until yesterday when by chance I ended up on the beach for 20 minutes after work and I jumped in and just enjoyed being in the water, not having to worry about timed swims, scuba kit or students. It's time to stop operating like a machine and start working smarter, not necessarily harder.

And I think I'm going to leave it there for this week folks, it's been a hard week and mentally draining so I'm going to enjoy my day off today, be lazy and recuperate. But enjoy this lovely quote below in my absence.

The Diver's Log: (12 &13) Internship Day Numero Uno

Hi everyone, as promised I would update everyone on my endeavours as I'm now (after a year of waiting am in the canary islands doing what I love the most - Scuba Diving. And today was my first day properly on the job as a DMT; A Divemaster Trainee. Yes, folks, my now boss concluded that I had enough responsibility and sense to be an almost position of authority. I know, it's frightening isn't.

Anyway, here's a (near enough) hour by hour breakdown of how my first day as an intern went, and then I'll finish up with my final thoughts of the day. That sounded a bit like the end of the Jerry Springer show, I digress, on with the blog.

6:30/45am: Wake up time!

After a little bit of a miscommunication error, I thought we would be leaving today at 7:25 to go to Scuba Sur and start setting up the boxes for the day. Hence the stupidly early wake up time. At least I got to enjoy a leisurely shower, a nice cup of tea, eat my cereal whilst watching the sunrise over Patalavaca. Beautiful.

8:30am: It's Show Time!

The boxes are set up and on the Carrito (golf carts to you and I but I can imagine people would get offended if I started saying that. Sorry team.) So off the lovey Collin and I went. Just to update the blog Collin is my DM mentor, He's a cool scottish dude. The first dive of the day was beach dive were I would be observing a student. This, fellow readers is where the first cock up of my internship occurred. i was kitting up, everything was going great, until I had to get my weight belt on. (This is where it all starts to go belly up.) It was twisted, and it took me 11 or so tries to work out how to sort the problem of the bloody evil twisted weight belt. We got there. So I went down to the beach to find Collin and the student, put my fins on and joined them, we went to descend. Bugger. I wasn't descending. Then my mind drifted back to when we were all kitting up together; Colin said to put extra weights in my pockets for the student and to help me with descending. So back up to the surface, up the beach (In full gear so you can imagine how much I am perspiring at this point.) I grab two extra sets of weight, y thinking; it would help me descend and if the student needs two, I can provide two and not worry about rapidly ascending. Back in the water I go, this time, all runs smoothly. Kudos to Collin for putting up with my cock up his morning. Expect many more to come and many "don't worries" to be said.

12:00pm: Lunch Time -

My favourite time of day, naturally, there's food involved. After having a chat to the team, Collin says to me that he believes I'm a hard worker. Those who know me know that meant the absolute world to me; I'll grapht for this, it will be no different to anything I normally put my mind too, just a bit hotter.

2pm: Second Dive of The Day -

The second dive of the day was a very gentle one as it would be the student's final open water dive to complete her PADI scuba diver course. Located at Bahia Blanca - It's a rocky reef with a wide range of different ecosystems and very beautiful to go and see, due to it's limited depth of 12m, it's perfect for beginners or for a gentle dive. It was a great dive and one I'm happy to say went without a hitch. Plus there were plenty of starfish there to see! After the dive, I don't recall so I'm dropping it into this section; my colleague Sam, taught me how to clean the boat and put all it's coverings on for in future if I'm asked to stay behind after a boat dive and clean it. So that was pretty cool. Cheers, Sam!

4pm: Operation Clean Up -

When the boat has come in and/or the beach divers come in and the students are on their way. We start cleaning the container and preparing the boxes for the following day, it's hard work but I enjoyed it - always nice to learn some new skills.

5:30pm - Home Time -

For me, the day passed really quickly so when the boss said it was home time, I was shocked to see it was already 5:30! So I filled in my logbook as the final job of the day on my personal itinerary; hene why the title contains the numbers 12 and 13, because today we finished dives 12 an 13; 47 to go until dive master status is achieved, and an exam, and everything else...

So that's what my day was like; how was yours? send me an answer in the comments below. All in all, today was pretty good day, I'm slowly starting to find my feet and with a team as supportive as the one I've been blessed with;  I know everything will be just fine.

10 Reasons To Move To (Or at least visit Canada)

Yes, I have returned from my first travel adventure this summer, and with only tomorrow to go until I go off again to begin working in Gran Canaria for a couple of months. I should probably update my blog. So here it is a list of 15 reasons on why I want to more to canada, or at least 15 reasons why you should probably visit it. This will have a few of my own personal reasons why I want to immigrate to the land of the maple syrup, but dear viewer, I'm sure you won't mind reading them! (Or having a snoop a my personal life... whatever you prefer really...)

1) My Family

As most people close to me know, I have more family members in Canada than I do in the UK, of course it would be hard to leave the ones I do have here but I know all of them are capable of jumping on a plane to come and see me. I also don't want to miss out on losing any more years with my precious 3rd cousins, who are all 8 and under at the moment, they're all so talent,clever and just down right beautiful that I don't wan to miss anymore years of watching them grow up.


2) It's Greener

Aesthetically and outside of the capital city of Toronto you entre a type of area under the name of Rurban. (Geography students amongst you may get as excited about the use of that word as I did... Or I'm just really sad.) It is, as you may of guessed, the area between the rural and suburbs and it's perfect for me. It's got the rolling green fields, gorgeous scenery and the sleepiness of a local village for you to be able to relax in but you're never too far from an outlet mall or other local amenities for you to do your errands.


3) The Prime Minister is a Babe!
Justin Trudeau, Canada's 23rd Prime minister and most of the country has appeared to fall in love with him and so have I; for a plethora of reasons, in recent days he's announced that the Canadian government is exploring the idea of having gender neutral ID cards (#winning), has acknowledged and is ready to step up Canada's commitment to climate change (#doublewinning) and has said if that anybody ever makes a film of his life, he wants to be played by Meryl Streep. And of course he's been pretty darn good for the country in terms of politics. And for some unknown reason he likes to balance babies on his hand, you do you, Justin.

4) Niagara Falls

One of the seven wonders of the world! And it's just down right beautiful, it's the main supplier of all the hydroelectricity in Canada, so win to the Canadians for being awesome and eco-friendly. You can see the falls form almost every angle, I've been in a helicopter over it, I've done a walk behind it, I've been on a boat in front of it, and it's completely breath taking.

5) It is The Land of Tim Horton's

Yes, I know, Starbucks and Costa are the main coffee retailers in the UK and yes, I know a lot of you are addicted to them but I promise you, as soon as a Tim Horton's Hot Chocolate, or a Double Double, touches your lips, it will touch your soul and you will be addicted forever more. But, unlike Starbucks and Costa; Timmies is good value for money, for 5 large coffees we paid $18. that's about £12, you pay that for just two large coffees at starbucks!

And P.S: The Ice Capp's are truly magical.


6) The Pace Of Life

So I've lived near the City of Bristol and in the city of Hull over the last 20 years and everybody is always rushing to do something, there is never any down time, there is never anytime for people to relax. So I got a bit of a culture shock when I went to Canada about 8 years ago, nobody was in a rush to do anything. They always have at least one long weekend due to a bank holiday every month, which means people did have ample time to relax. You go, Canada!

7) Patriotism

Everybody out there is immensely patriotic about their country, I can guarantee you wouldn't make it 500m without seeing a canadian flag, or a newfoundland flag or any other nationality that the resident there may have. Everybody is just so proud of where they come from and it's absolutely beautiful to see.


8) Better Job Prospects

It's common knowledge that I do a Marine biology degree and I'm absolutely loving it, after finishing my first year with a 1st, I've started to ponder on the next stage of my life; post-uni jobs, I have options in Canada such as the Simcoe dive school/shop, and there are multiple research institutes and lab facilities in Ontario. But to anyone who is contemplating moving to Canada, as long as you have a skill, you can probably end up with a job out there.


9) House Prices are very reasonable

Or at least in comparison to British house prices, when we go over there we like to taunt ourselves by looking at various real estate magazines. But I found a property, 3 bed, 2 bath, in a nice area but on a small plot of land for $30,000 dollars! yes, you read that correctly, 30k, that's, with the current exchange rate around £22,000.

10) The People

I know I'm probably very biased because most people I meet are always something to do with my family. But hen I've been in the grocery stores, or buying a coffee or just wandering around towns, people smile, people say hi, people seem to go nuts when they hear you have a British accent but anyway, the Canadian people (or at least the majority of) seme to have the same positive ethics and morals that I do; they believe in taking your children outdoors to have adventures, not sitting them in front of a TV. They don't have the Jeremy Kyle culture that most of our bigger cities and towns do an it's so refreshing.

And that ladies and gents completes the list of 10 reasons why should move to, or at least visit some part of Canada, but a word of advice, unless you like to touristy things, stay a little way away from Toronto, really experience some of that Rurban lifestyle.

And stay tuned for my Divers Log posts coming up soon, because once I've established internet connection, I can start writing about my adventure sin Gran Canaria. See you on the other side people!

The Diver's Log: DAN... DAN who?

Oh look, another feeble attempt at me trying to be witty in the title of a blog post. I've been watching too much Mock the Week and stand up comedy programmes on Netflix and it has evidently taught me... nothing... absolutely nothing. Anyway, on with the post!

This is a very quick post and as misleading as the title sounds it actually involved no diving whatsoever. That's in the next diving post, I promise. No but today I became a DAN qualified Emergency Oxygen Provider. So, let's treat his like a Geography GCSE question and break down what that means.

Seriously, Rebecca, who is DAN? And why is his name in capitals?!

This was one of he first questions my mother asked, and due to the fact she is the predominant reader of these blog posts. I will explain. DAN is Divers Alert Network, the diving industry’s largest association dedicated to scuba diving safety. DAN provides emergency assistance, medical information resources and educational opportunities. DAN is a non profit organisation and it was the first organisation to notice that there needed to be specialist insurance to Scuba Divers, due to the nature of injuries that can occur whilst out on a dive, especially in cases of lung over expansion or Arterial gas embolisms, in layman's terms, not very pleasant things to experience.

So, What did you learn today?

As mentioned above, DAN occurs educational opportunities; becoming an Emergency Oxygen Provider is one of them. I learnt how to assemble an emergency oxygen cylinder with rebreather mask and demand valve attachments, as well as attaching an oronasal mask (pocket masks that most people get when they finish a first aid course.) for when dealing with a non breathing diver, so I can do rescue breaths and they get oxygen in between those rescue breaths. The nature of different diving injuries, and how to treat them. If in doubt - give an injured diver oxygen, only if you're trained of course. But if you're on a dive without an oxygen kit and some who's qualified... I just wouldn't go if I were you.

Why did you do this?

This course just seemed very much like natural progression before I qualify as a rescue diver (Roll on Sunday, woo!) {UPDATE: I'm now a rescue diver! More on that in another post} but as I want to go on to do my dive master and my instructor; being trained to administer emergency oxygen is a necessary skill, just in case something ever goes wrong.

My Bucket List As A "20 Something"...

As I mentioned on my previous post about my return to blogging. I turned 20 at the start of the month and although some might not class it as a age milestone, for me I do. It's the age where I really need to seriously take a look at the direction I want my life to take. So, I felt I would create a bucket list of everything I want to do before I hit 30. I have 10 years to do the 20 things on my bucket list as a 20 something. As, I do believe that's the age bracket I fit into now... ish...

1) Travel -

I don't mean the all inclusive holiday package to Magaluf with the girls over the summer where most of it is spent in a haze of drunken nights and hungover mornings. That's just not what I would consider travelling nor do I think of it as particularly fun. However , dear reader, if that's what you enjoy, you do you! Go out there and have fun! Nor do I mean going round being cheap tourist tat (okay, maybe a little bit but that's just a bad choir tour habit!). No, I want to travel and learn about new places and new cultures, I want to go Thailand, to Brazil, even maybe Alaska. I just want to see new parts of the world that I would never normally conventionally see. I have always had a very intrinsic "wander lust" about me, so the goal is to go to 5 new places I have never been before.

2) Go To The Galapagos Islands -

As a marine biology student you end up learning a lot about Darwin, and consequently, Darwin's finches of the Galapagos islands.I know this is similar to my first point but hear me out. The Galapagos is meant to be an absolutely stunning place to go and dive, with a host of different marine creatures, so I am determined to go there and get as many dives in my log book as humanly possible. Plus it would be great to see the finches first hand of course.

3) Be a PADI Qualified Diving Instructor -

It's a career path I never really started to consider until about 9 months ago but the more I look into it and the closer I get to becoming a Dive Master, the more it seems like a natural road to go down. I don't care if it's in the UK or abroad, I want to become a certified diving instructor. With the way things are going, it's looking quite plausible that this could be a job I take up when I graduate uni to keep me busy whilst I look at what I want to do for a masters.

4) Raise The Money To Send My Parents On a Honeymoon -

Momma Goodwin and Papa Goodwin never got to have a honeymoon when they first got married because they just quite simply couldn't afford to.And with everything they have done for me, such as a supporting em through uni, I want to raise the money to send them away on a holiday by themselves where they can truly relax, it might be a few years away but I will make it happen, by hook or by crook.

5) Finally Get My Driving Licence -

If I'm honest this is something I want to complete in the next year or so. I haven't done it yet but because I'm not a competent driver; in my head I can do all of the maneuvers, just when it comes to actually doing it all my anxiety kicks in and I freak out. So I will over come my anxiety, Will pass my driving test and then I'll finally be able to stop relying on public transport, yay!

6) Run a 10k -

I've been getting into running a lot more recently because I'm going a lot more sprints for my HIIT training on the treadmill, I would really like to run a charity 10k one day, predominantly because every consultant I've ever met has told me not to run... yep. And the charitable aspect of course.

7) Read More -

I really need to get back into reading again, I want to be one of these people who can read one book a week, I know when I was a lot younger before exams came along, I would read ALL THE TIME. So I want to start doing that again; because it's the easiest way to absorb several lifetimes worth of knowledge

8) Come Off My Anti-Depressants -

Again, another self-explanatory challenge, as much as they have been the biggest help I've ever had the sheer cost of prescriptions is beginning to mount up every month, and I don't want to rely on them forever.

9) See The 8 Wonders of the World -

Ties into the #travel point that I made first but if I'm honest, I want to see thse 8 wonders of the world, although I've already seen Niagara falls and it's lovely! But I also want to see if they really are just that wonderful...

10) Learn To Ride a Bike -

Yes, dear reader, it's time for me to confess that I just couldn't learn to ride a bike as a child, I could never get my balance right and I'm pretty sure it's genetic because when my mum rides a bike she goes backwards. Yeah.... No.... We don't know how that works either.

11) Re-Visit Choir Tour Sites -

The Choir Tours of 2010 (Barcelona), 2012 (Berlin) and 2014 (Tuscany) will always ALWAYS have a very special place in my heart. It's where I made some of the best memories I will ever had, learnt about history, saw things I would never even dream of seeing such as The Sagrada Familia, Concentration camps, the leaning tower of Pisa. So I want to re-visit these gorgeous places 10 years after I orginally went, 2020, 2022, 2024. If fellow choir members are reading this and they're interested in doing something like that too, pop me a message, we have some planning to do.


12) Get a Tattoo -

Mum, Dad, I'm sorry. I know you're probably going to skin me for writing this one but I really do want to get a tattoo, one with meaning, I want to get one that celebrates my family and at the moment it's looking like the anchor thigh piece which I've wanted since I was about 15. Because my family have always been there for me and always will be, holding me strong and steadfast through any storms and rough seas of my life.

That was a bit more poetic than I had first intended... whoops.

13) Go On a Road Trip With Friends -

Another reason why I want to pass my driving test, I want to grab four other friends, jump in my car and travel from the south of the UK, to Ireland, the north and then to Scotland, then going to all the places we missed on the way back down, staying only in cheap hotels we find the day or two in advance, or other people's sofa's whatever happens at the time.

14) Get A Job I Love Waking Up For -

This is just a general life goal really, I have said to myself if I ever found myself in a job role where I woke up in the morning with anxiety and fear of going, I would hand my notice in there and then and find something else because my parents taught me that no matter what you do in your life, just do what makes you happy.

15) Go To Mermaid School -

Before you laugh at me, these are real things, not something that I have made up in a dream. (The jumpers for pigeons weren't a dream either, Mum who's probably reading this!)  They are all over Europe. What I learnt from some research is that they are effectively free diving classes but you get to wear mermaid tails and clam bras, wooo! Dream come true for this water baby!

16) A Skydive -

Please don't ask why, I just want too. Okay? I'll do it for charity and everything.

17) Do An American Food Challenge -
I watched a lot of the TV show "Man Vs. Food" when I was younger. Adam Richer must've inspired something in me, and my Dad probably encouraged my ambition to take on a food challenge and win. I'm a naturally fast eater anyway and as long as it's a meat based challenge (chips and bread would just fill me too quickly.) I should be absolutely golden.

18) Get my MsC -

Amongst all of this meat eating, mermaid schooling tom-foolery I do still have an academic goal. I want to complete my masters at a minimum, my overall goal is to do my PhD but I'm gonna take this one step at a time. I've got a whole lot of life to live first.

19) Be a Self-Sufficient Blogger -

Occasionally, I pay a little bit of money to advertise my blog on facebook. And because it's something I love doing so much and I love hearing people's feedback from, I would really like to reach a point where the money raised from putting advert on the blog, is put straight back into advertising it on facebook, thus growing it's audience. Heck, I want to get to the point where there are "The blog with a porpoise" t-shirts. Wouldn't that be cool?!

No?

Okay then, sorry.

20) Compete -

I'm about to become a hypocrite. Please allow me a second to brace myself for this moment.


*big intake of breath*

Right, okay, I'm ready....

I said I would never ever compete in a fitness competition, however, after starting my figure competitor training programme for  abit of fun, I have been enjoying the style of training more and more and I've decided now that one day, when my academics are on pause and I'm working full-time, I will train to compete in a bikini figure competition. Just to say I've done it.

Phew. Well, dear reader, you finally survived to the end of this bucket list and I survived writing it. And for that I would like to present you with a medal but as a poor, skint student, I can't do that. So I will give you a metaphorical pat on the back. Aren't I nice?

Maybe I've inspired you to start thinking about your own bucket list. If so,What's on your bucket list? I would really love to know some pop me a comment in the box below,

Your wait is finally over... for now.

You're probably all sat there wondering, where the bloody hell I've been, why such an unannounced hiatus, Rebecca?! Be rest assured my dear readers, it's not you, it's me. To quash the rumours to begin with, no I haven't given up blogging, I've actually still been quite active over on my twitter page @RebeccaByTheSea. Anyway, I digress your favourite penguin loving, Marmite lady (See my first ever blog post to understand that reference.) has returned from the perils of her first year university exams.

To be perfectly honest with you, dear reader. I just simply couldn't cope with blogging alongside my studies, my mental health, going to the gym an awful lot more and keeping together some pitiful excuse of a social life. For that, I am truly sorry. :( In amongst all that I've actually done (what I consider to be) some pretty awesome stuff. Oooooh yes, the lists are back people. and if you read that "Ooooh yes" in the Churchill car insurance dog voice, stop watching so much telly.

 1) I've landed myself a role on the university's sub aqua club committee -

Yes, the lovely lads and ladies of HUSAC, for those not in the known, that's the scuba diving society of the university of hull; have decided they like me enough to make me the treasurer of the committee. Nobody else would do it.  In other words, I will be looking after their finances and chasing down the people who haven't paid their joining fees, in the style of a short ninja debt collector of course. No one is safe. Not even you.

2) I turned 20 -

I'm now officially a "twenty something." I really don't know how to feel about it as a lot of people say I already act like a 30 year old with my slippers, tea and persistent symptoms of a mid-life crisis. But all I know is I have such an awesome bucket list of all the things I want to do, all the adventures I want to go on, and the stupid things I want to do with my hair before I turn 30. Which all going well, I should have posted by Sunday evening.

3) Hi, my name's Rebecca, I'm an emergency first responder, may I help you? -

I finally got my Emergency First Response (EFR) qualification! Meaning I'm one step closer to my PADI rescue diver qualification. Wooo! What this qualification has trained me to do is CPR, Defibrillator delivery, basic wound treatment and some other first aid bits and pieces, so may the lord help you if you ever end up with me as your emergency first responder in a bad situation. (Joking!) I had to do my EFR as part of becoming a PADI qualified rescue diver, which if all goes as planned, I should be as of this Sunday. Setting me up nicely to becoming a PADI Dive Master over the summer!

4) Started a new training plan -

Yes, I've got the idea into my head that I would start a figure competitor training programme. Although I'm not going hardcore on it yet, I'm 3 and a half weeks into it and the muscle definition I've gained in such a short period of time is fab and I just really love the programme. The exercise combinations are so much fun and not too complex. It seriously helped me get over the fear of going back into the gym. If anybody wants the link to the plan, just shoot me a message!

And that's that really, I don't think I've been up to much else over the last couple of months over than studying and what is listed above. But as I write this I realise how much I have missed blogging and I can't wait to start producing more content, especially when it comes to updating you all on my adventures over the summer. Be rest assured, there is so much exciting stuff going on that you'll probably end up with a blog every few days!

To finish this post up, If you've known me through this 3 month period of exam preparation you know I could quite often be spotted in the library, crying horribly softly over "The Introduction to Genetic Analysis" but to each and everyone of you both here in Hull and at home, I would like to say a massive thank you for keeping me sane over the last few weeks especially, whether that's been a friendly text message, phone call, plying me with sweets and chocolate in the library or a coffee and chat, I genuinely couldn't of done it without you guys.


NOW GO AND HAVE THE BEST SUMMERS EVER.