Long time!!

It's been a while I've updated my blog - not that I've forgotten! It's been a pretty busy November which has been interesting so far. I've had more lectures, tutorials and loving every single bit of it.

I've been busy working on the submission of my essays. The first one was submitted on the 2nd of November and the second one is due now which I'm trying hard to finish before tomorrow morning. They've all been interesting. My second essay is on depression in women and it's been fascinating the things I've discovered while reading. I hope I'll be able to share it with you sometime.

As usual, being a mother and a student is not easy. The past few weeks, my kids have been "poorly" - that's how they say it themselves. They've been down with the flu and cold with its associated problems. They keep on waking up in the middle of the night and by the time we attend to them and put them back to bed, it's day break and I have to get up to prepare for school. I've been going through the week half asleep!! It's been a fun journey though. So soon a term is almost over!!

Anyway, I'm off to finish my essay on depression and see you soon.

Busy beginnings

The past few weeks have been filled with more lectures we found ourselves discussing interesting Social Work, Social Care and Law cases.

In one of our classes, we were asked to 'role play' to find out and show skills needed by a Social Worker. It was interesting.

Did any one hear the news item recently about students of some other universities complaining of not getting their money's worth for subjects they've paid for? There were some interviews on the TV. I am really fortunate to be a Ruskin Student and not one of them. True!!

In fact, at Ruskin, there's not a single day that the lecturers are absent. They're always around and teaching appropriate stuffs too. We've also been allocated tutorial groups in 3s and 2s. How cool is that eh? Maybe others should consider Ruskin too!!

See you soon. Have a great week ahead.

Back again!!

Sorry to everyone. I've been away for a while. The past few weeks had been challenging ones. I was unable to attend classes because my husband fell ill and was in hospital.

I had to juggle taking care of him and then the kids. I really missed college. Thank God he is back at home now.  Thanks to all who cared and prayed for us. The journey continues. No one said it's going to be easy but we'll get to the end eventually.

Rounding out the week

My forth day in college was fun too. The were loads of information to take in as well.

By the end of the week, I was feeling like a real student; exhausted but the joy in me was more than my tiredness.

The 3rd day of my induction

This morning I got up late. I don't know why but for one reason or the other my alarm did not ring or I may have switched it off and went ahead to sleep.

I was woken up by my children's voice. Quickly we got round the morning routine and I dropped my kids off at school and went running to the bus stop. I nearly missed my bus.

At the college we had to go to the Bodleian library for an induction and a tour of the library and we swore an oath!! Really? yeah!! We had a tour in the Social Sciences library too.

That's about it for today. Hopefully, I'll be able to go to bed on time today. I wish...

The second day

Tuesday the 29th was also good. We had a welcome address from the principal , Audrey and the Academic registrar as well. We also had talks from various departments. I was also introduced as the winner of the 'Win a free degree'.

There were loads of information to take in. Another day is over.

Here at last! My first day at college!!

 The 28th of September. The day I have been looking forward to. I woke up 5am and had my quiet time, then the marathon began. Getting my kids ready for school. Not to mention I had a telephone interview at 8:15 live with Malcolm Boyden on BBC Oxford Radio.

Eventually I arrived on Campus at Headington but Oh dear, there's a long queue at the college for registration. I enrolled at last. I also met my course mates and made some new friends. I also met the staffs at Ruskin and my wonderful tutors. Oh gosh!! I've got an assignment on my first day.  Can you believe that?

Above all, it was a dream come true. No longer was I day-dreaming but it is a reality that I am embarking on a further education against all fears, challenges, anxiety and lack of confidence. Here we go.

Read my story in Oxfordshire Newspapers

As part of my media rounds, my story was published in the Oxford Mail, The Oxford Times and the Herald newspapers. Read it here (Oxford Mail) or here (The Oxford Times) or here (The Herald).

Oh what a week!!!

The monday after the competition, I have been busy doing media rounds.

• Monday 14 Sept - BBC Radio Oxford live interview with Malcolm Boyden
• Monday 14 Sept - BBC TV Oxford news at 6:30pm
• Thursday 17 Sept - Oxford Mail article by Emily Allen 
• Friday  18 Sept - BBC Radio Oxford live interview with Jo Thoenes
  

Below is my interview with Geraldine Peers at BBC TV, Oxford.



Keep up with me for more videos to come. Subscribe to my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/seyramatruskin

Click here for some photos and also, be sure to search for Seyram Afenyo on Facebook. I will be posting more photographs there. It's going to be one interesting journey at Ruskin.

The audio interviews will be published at a later date.

My Story

I promised sharing my story with you about how I got to where I am today. It's been a long time dream of mine to pursue a degree and become qualified. But over the past 10 or more years, challenges and circumtances did not permit me to. Even when I want to study, fear and anxiety overwhelmes and discourages me. These fears arose from feeling that I won't be able to cope because I have been out of the classroom for a long time.

God bless the day Ruskin College was recommended to me. Though I had an admisssion already with a well known university, I chose Ruskin college over it and I am glad I did. For me, Ruskin college is a college for those who have been out of studies for a long time; those who have little or no qualification. Ruskin is also a college that identifies one's learning needs and provides the necessary help and direction.

How did I win the free degree? I wrote 2 essays and I was shortlisted. There were six of us that made it to the final interview. Each of us were given ten minutes to do a presentation and five minutes of questions from the judges. In the end, I was selected the winner. More of my story will be coming soon. I will publish the two winning essays online at a later date.

Introducing Ruskin College to friends

I had a short course over the weekend (study skills) to refresh my memory. It was worth it. It was a relaxed environment to learn in. The tutor was great, the food was superb and I am pleased i attended it.
On finishing I took the opportunity to pick up some leaflets, brochures and any documentation about Ruskin College to present to some of my friends in the community.

They were very impressed and expressed interest about Ruskin College. Some have not even heard of Ruskin before and I was proud to give them the leaflets, brochures and general news about Ruskin.

The begining of Change!

It's been a long, winding journey up till now. I have been tryijavascript:void(0)ng to get back to school for sometime now but one thing or the other got in the way. I will tell you the full story later. But here's a brief. I won the 'Free Degree' Scholarship at the Ruskin College in Oxford! The scholarship is worth over £9000 and this is to help me do a 3 year degree programme in Social Work.

I have so much to tell, but I'll start slowly for today. This is my first posting and for the next three years, I will be sharing my Journey at Ruskin with you. Welcome on board!!