Originally, I was doing my Learning from Life placement in a very hands-on environment where I would be spending my time outdoors working with animals. My plan had always been to be creative and present my portfolio as a scrapbook as we had been told we could present it in any way we wanted. Unfortunately, during my first week at my placement I developed a severe allergy to something there and I was advised by my doctor and a specialist asthma nurse to leave as this allergy was affecting my asthma. This was incredibly disappointing as I had been planning to go to this place for placement for a long time and I was really looking forward to working with them. I had to make the decision to put my health first and leave my placement.

I remember when we had some of our first lectures about the Learning from Life placement my lecturer mentioned what you would need to do if your placement fell through last minute or something happened during your placement. I remember thinking at the time “I hope nothing like that happens to me”. Famous last words! As I now found myself in the situation where I had to email my university and let them know the unfortunate situation I was in. At this time I was really concerned. What if I had to go somewhere else for a placement I do not enjoy as much? What if I do not find a placement and will not be able to progress to third year? There were several “What if’s” going around in my head!

Luckily, only a couple of days later I received an email from my lecturer telling me she had found me a placement. I was delighted as well as slightly nervous. Once I had found out more about this placement I became really interested and I got in touch with the Chief Director of the organisation. I had found another placement that sounded fascinating and I couldn’t wait to start.

Since the nature of my placement has changed I have decided to present my portfolio on here rather than a scrapbook. Because of this I have several posts that I will be posting close together as I already had some information waiting to go into my scrapbook.