Monday:

Today was completely different to my usual Mondays as I was not working, instead I was GRADUATING! Honestly, I am still in disbelief at the whole day, I can’t believe that I have done it! The stress I felt the morning of was off the charts, even the slightest of traffic jams made me panic. I ended up having to get dressed in the car which as you can imagine was rather comical; “don’t drive past any lorries or buses for the next five minutes please Dad”.

We finally arrived and I waddled out of the car to registration in ridiculously impractical heels (rooky mistake). After putting my cap and gown on I went to meet my friends and their families before heading over to the ceremony. The ceremony was fantastic, and I cried at least 3 times (I am an emotional wreck). I think this past year has just become so surreal to me because it wasn’t the final year that I had envisioned, and we have all gone through so much, but everything happens for a reason and I could not be prouder of myself and all of my fellow classmates.

Photograph of Rachel at graduation.

After the ceremony I had my pictures taken and then picked up my complimentary picnic basket from the front lawn – this was amazing. It was in the most gorgeous big black box and inside contained: prosecco, a selection of sandwiches and cakes, crisp, a sausage roll and a quiche. Edge Hill really did go above and beyond to ensure this was a special day. I spent the rest of the afternoon with my friends and our families dipping into the picnic and celebrating the past three years. We finished the day off by walking round Edge Hill’s beautiful campus together one last time and recounting all the amazing memories we made here together.

Photograph of Rachel at graduation

Tuesday:

BACK TO WORK! It felt strange this morning going back to working for Edge Hill after spending the whole day on campus yesterday. I started the day by getting organised and speaking to colleagues to ensure that I hadn’t missed anything too important the day before. I then decided to complete a LinkedIn Learning course just to get me started and wake my brain up for the day. The weather was beautiful today, so I decided to put the parasol up and work in the back garden which really uplifted my mood – nothing better than a bit of sun to brighten your day!

For the rest of the day I dived right in with accessibility, I wanted to make sure that I caught myself up on the hours that I missed by not working on Monday and therefore really threw myself into it. This became quite a long day for me as the module I was working on consisted of a lot of similar PDFs. However, I broke the day up with LinkedIn Learning and still felt great about the progress that I made. On to the next day!

Wednesday:

Today I woke up determined to finish the module that I have been working on. It consisted of over 60 PDFs all containing multiple pages and I very much wanted to complete it and move on to something else. With this motivation in mind, I woke up and dived straight into accessibility. PDFs are such a peculiar document to work on as some of them are incredibly easy and quick fixes, whilst others take up half of the day and still don’t quite reach 100% accessibility. Most files that I had been working on today needed tagging from scratch and then little things such as adding a title and the language. Depending on the size and content of the document these tasks vary in completion time. However, I went into the day with a strong mindset and the results of this showed through the amount of work that I got done – another proud day at the office.

Thursday:

This morning I began by finishing the module I had been working on. After doing most of the hard work yesterday I only had to work on a few extra things before this was finished which was a great feeling. Later on in the morning I attended the FAS catch up meeting with a few of my colleagues and the leaders of the internship. I always enjoy theses meetings as it gives me an insight into what everyone else is doing and allows me to address any problems that I have faced. It’s also a lovely way to stay connected with others and not fall into the trap of isolating myself whilst working from home.

After the meeting I had half an hour till lunch, so I decided to start a LinkedIn Learning course and wait till after lunch to start a new module. After lunch I had a quick meeting with some other colleagues about blogs going forward and just discussed some new ideas as a group. I think it so much better sharing my ideas with others as it helps bring them to life and other people’s opinions really allows any ideas to reach their full and best potential.

For the rest of the day I started on a new module, again focusing primarily on making PDFs throughout the module 85% or more accessible.

Green plant beside white desk, with phrase on wall saying 'punch today in the face'.

Friday:

It’s Friday! Can’t believe we’ve made it through another week already, time is going so fast it’s crazy!

Today I continued to focus on accessibility, however, because I had so much to do, I decided to break up the day with LinkedIn Learning. I decided to follow the routine of an hour and a half accessibility and then 30 minutes of a LinkedIn Learning course. I did this for the whole day, and it turned out to be productive!

When it got to half an hour before finish, I completed my daily tasks such as my weekly reflection, daily reflection and time sheet. I am really looking forward to having these reflections to read over once I have finished the internship. At 5pm I closed my laptop and got myself ready for another exciting weekend – see you on Monday!

By Rachel Roche (Student Intern)

Photograph of Rachel Roche