Department for Culture Media and Sport
Jeanette Akinbouewa's diary
Jeanette Akinbouewa's summer work experience diary at GOE. Her placement was arranged in conjuntion with 'Action for Children'. Action for Children is a children’s charity that supports and speaks out for the UK’s most vulnerable children and young people.
Monday 24 August 2009
First I got my laptop and passwords for everything and met my new work colleagues. Wow!! It’s amazing how many passwords you need to remember, you need one for the doors, logins and one other password which I don’t really understand the use of. We then had a little meeting about what we will be doing throughout the week. Sounds great! After that we joined the Government Olympic Executive team meeting where people discussed their different tasks and gave feedback to the rest of the group. We were then introduced to the team which felt very good. Off we went back to our desks to start our work. We have to a report and presentation on different things. I’m doing the volunteering legacy, Rochelle is doing the sport legacy and Milton is doing the culture legacy. I find it interesting but unfortunately my internet didn’t come on until about 3:00 which limited the amount I could get done today. However, I did manage to start the last two slides and my diary log. This day has been brilliant and I’ve met many nice people. Can’t wait to come in tomorrow. :-)
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Tuesday 25 August 2009
Got in one minute early, Rochelle said what time do you call this as if I was late. Gosh!! I got straight to work on my presentation I felt ready to work because I had the internet now. I started my slide on “Who Is Responsible for Volunteering in England?” it was a bit confusing at first because I didn’t really know what to write, I asked for help and was given good advice and I understood and got straight back to work. At about 11:30 we went down to see a presentation by the former coach for the GB wheelchair basketball team for the Paralympic games in Beijing. The presentation was about how they won the bronze medal. He talked about the different disabilities they had and the difficulties they faces travelling to the Olympic games. He also talked about all the things they could do well which surprised me because it was quite a lot of things. I realised that they are just as independent as me. He also talked about how they won the medal; the different people involved and told us some stories about some of the players. It was very interesting and inspiring. After that we went back to work on our projects. Times flies!! Its lunch time now, we went down to the canteen to see what they had there. After lunch we went back to do some more hard work. I finished off my blog and part of my presentation. After we went to a meeting at V, it was interesting to see how meeting take place formally. They talked about a project they did with children and the future. After the meeting we got a chance to ask questions about V, I didn’t have much questions but Rochelle wanted to clear something up with them. After the meeting we headed home.
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Wednesday 26 August 2009
Wow what a day! First of all I got a lay in till about 9 o’clock because we were due to meet at Stratford station for 11:10 to go on our exciting tour of the Olympic Stadium. I arrived there quite quickly; it took me about half an hour to get there. When I did I met Milton, then Rochelle arrived shortly after. We all walked down to the bus stand to wait for our bus to take us to the stadium. Whilst waiting there was this gust of wind that dragged all the dust with it and hit us in the face, we all over reacted which was quite funny. Finally it was time to go on the tour. We got on the bus, I sat next to Rochelle. It was amazing, you could see stuff taking shape. I saw the Olympic stadium, aquatics centre, basketball arena, velodrome and the Olympic village. It was all quite exciting and it’s interesting that we will see the before and after. After the tour we went back to Stratford station where we got the train back to the office. We went straight to lunch. After lunch we got straight back to work on our presentations.
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Thursday 27 August 2009
First thing today we went on a tour of the Houses of Parliament. We went on a tour with a really educated man who knows a lot about the history of Britain. The tour was really interesting because I found out what goes on in debates and I found out about what they house of parliament was used for in the past and now. First we visited the house of the Lords; gosh I haven’t seen so much gold in one room! Everything was red and I learnt that it was red because in those times the red dye was the most expensive. The house of commons is green because it was the cheapest dye you could get in those times. The house of commons is where we visited next. It was also interesting to know what it is used for and how they debate, where each person sits, and how they are called to debate or vote. I never knew Britain was so ritualised in the things they do. We continued the tour around the building and I continued being intrigued in what I was hearing. After the tour we walked back to the office. It was kind of a long walk. When we got back we carried on with some of our work then went to lunch. After lunch we went back to work and we continued working for the rest of the day. Wow, what a long day. It’s a good insight to what the people here do every day and it makes me appreciate what they do. Going home and am ready for tomorrow!! The final day. :-(
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Friday 28 August 2009
Today is the last day unfortunately. Wow what a week. I arrived at work early as always. We got straight off to work I completed most of my slides and diary log. At about 10.30 there was a group legacy meeting that we sat in. The room was cold as always but the meeting was interesting. They talked about the challenges they faced getting funding and things and they also discussed other meetings they will be having. After the meeting we went back to work for another hour and then we went to have lunch. Whist eating we had a conversation about what we want to do next. After lunch it was back to work again. At about 3 o’clock we had a meeting with the director of UK legacy. He told us what he does in the office and he told us a little insight of his life which was inspirational. After the meeting we finished off everything else we had to do and then we met Sol Campbell’s agent. This week has been the best and I enjoyed every bit of it. I have learnt a lot and hopefully will keep in touch. THANK YOU!!!!!
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