When I first moved to Sheffield I was a mix of nervous and excited starting my new course, I wanted to make new friends and was eager to move onto this next stage of my life. Just three weeks into the term I ended up changing courses from Fine Art to Interior Design. I was sad to leave the friends I had already made but I knew it was best to transfer onto a course which I felt I was better suited for. I managed stay in touch with a few friends on this course and also made more friends on my new course.
Extra-curricular Activities
Whilst studying at Hallam the experiences outside of my course had a great impact on my university life. In my first year I became a member of the Salsa society and in my second year I was their equality and diversity officer. This new skill allowed me to make friends in Spain and Amsterdam on placement as well as any new city I go to now. In my first year I was also part of an Interior Design team that refurbished and redesigned our students union bar in Hubs into ‘The Hideout’. We were given the ‘Above and Beyond Award’ at the Hallam Awards for our efforts. Throughout my degree I also had varying involvement teaching and training in the Jiu Jitsu Club at The University of Sheffield and in my final year I ran this club as the Lead Instructor. Running the freshers sessions was the most fun part of the term, we had 60 people in our first session and 50 in the next! And it was amazing to take the team to compete in two national competitions.
Part-time Work
In terms of part-time work, I have been a Hallam Insider for the past three years; I have attended lots of events, used social media platforms, blogged, vlogged and even done some modelling for university campaigns. This led to opportunities to be on the marketing panel for the university and get involved in collating information for the university guide as well as work on The Student Room advising prospective students. In my second year I also worked as an Ambassador for the Students Union for open days and events. In my fourth year I also became a university Ambassador and had the opportunity to work on community projects, work on an online platform called Unibuddy helping prospective students and working online open days. In my final year I also worked in the role of Go Global Ambassador supporting students on studying abroad.
Placement Year
During my placement year I worked for IKEA Sheffield for three weeks and due to this, and in collaboration with the university in my role as a Hallam Insider, I did a video on ‘How To Make Your Halls A Home’ using simple solutions from IKEA. Later in the year I moved to Barcelona for a few weeks, unfortunately this placement didn’t work out. I ended up getting involved with the Placement Year Enterprise Scheme to set up my artwork as a business whilst I looked for my next placement. I was soon jetting off again to Amsterdam where I worked for five months at an experience design company called Leisure Expert Group.
One of my favourite things has been working as a Hallam Insider, it gave me back my confidence in writing and this led to me writing two books in my final year to accompany my projects; one of which was nominated for the Interior Educators National Writing Award. I was also nominated for Interior Educators Best Sketch or Exploratory drawing for my sewing piece I created as part of my final year project ‘The Sewing Cube’. It has been a roller coaster of emotions but I have loved my time at Hallam. I have had access to such wide a range of opportunities, met so many amazing people and made friends for life along the way.
I leave Hallam having graduated with a first class honours in Interior Architecture and Design and I am now looking for a creative role in a company in the UK or abroad. I also want to pursue my writing further as well as get involved in more videos and filming!
Thanks for reading !
Written by #HallamInsider Chandni Soren
