Not what I expected

In our third throwback post, ex-blogger and Modern History and Politics graduate Tayler Groom shares the unexpected challenges and adventures she's faced and experienced since graduating in 2014. 

It seems crazy to me that only two years has passed since I left Southampton - it feels like much longer! I can't say I'm doing what I thought I would be, two years on.

However, the older I get, the more I realise that when it comes to expectation and reality, the two rarely match up.

After graduation, I moved to London, where I spent a few months volunteering for different charities, before heading off to Nepal for six months with the International Citizen Service programme.

During that time, I led a team of 22 volunteers - half from the UK and half from Nepal - as they worked in communities in raising awareness of issues surrounding women's health, basic sanitation, mental health, climate change and waste management.

Me (centre) with some of our team outside our office in Lamjung, Nepal.

With Juliana & Krishna, two of my Nepali colleagues.

The experience was not without its challenges, and not necessarily for the reasons you'd expect. But it proved valuable to me personally as it made me realise I didn't have to travel to the other side of the world in order to have a positive impact through my work.

I came back to London to my current job, as Communications & PR Officer for Groundwork London. Groundwork specialises in environmental and social regeneration, working in some of the most deprived areas of the city to improve people's prospects, create better places and encourage greener living and working.

I get to work all over the city, on lots of different projects, so it's never boring (although it can get a little hectic working on three or four different sites in the same day!).

Just a few of the projects I’ve loved working on – a tree office in Hoxton Square, a visit from a Japanese television crew to one of our largest community gardens, and Silver Linings, which tackles social isolation in the over 50s. I’ve even ended up in the paper myself!

It's been a fantastic first 'real' job - I've learnt a lot about the role itself, and about what I want to do with the next few years of my life.

 It's also given me the flexibility to pursue projects outside of work, including One Small Something - a campaign I recently launched with some friends and colleagues to collect supplies and donations to take over to the Calais refugee camp.

I've also set my own business, making and selling gin sorbets. It's very new - we did our first couple of events last summer, and are in the process of lining up lots of things for summer 2017, so watch this space!

 My first few adventures with Sloshed – hopefully the first of many!

So, for the time being, I'm just taking lots of opportunities and seeing where life takes me. I'm not entirely sure where I'll be in five years’ time (nor do most people, as far as I'm aware!) but I've started to realise that that's okay.

Tayler