Two years of studying with the Open University passed, giving me 120 credit points, equivelant to 1 year of study at a conventional university. As you can imagine it felt pretty slow going so I had to think about my options.
What I had learned and passed so far had apparently got me to level B1 in Spanish but I wanted my degree and I wanted it quick. So at the end of those two years, I enrolled for double the amount of courses, cutting my remaining time in half allowing me to finish after a further two years of study.
This led to more problems. If I did that I would effectively be studying full time, but not getting the same maintenance loans as a conventional university. Also I was looking at jobs relating to my future degree, alarm bells started to ring when I was looking at the requirements, some of them needed a bachelor degree, but not through distance learning. Were my studies all for nothing?
So what did I do? I contacted my nearest University which was Huddersfield to see if I could enrol with them and start my studies at year 2. Now bear in mind, I left scool at 16 without any exams under my belt, all of my studies were as an adult, however they were happy to have me on board due to my studies with the OU, but the courses they had on offer did not suit my previously completed modules.
I took the plunge and enrolled and started full time at Huddersfield in September 2016. The degree route that I was now taking was English Language with Spanish and I had to start at year 1. I was really excited until I arrived for my Spanish seminars and realised that I was out of my depth. Huddersfield's Spanish in year 1 was at a lower level than I'd achieved with the OU but I wasn't up to scratch and had to do something about it. I didn't want to give up Spanish and at the same time, I didn't want Spanish to affect my final grades, so I made an early change. There's no going back now, my final route is English Language and Linguistics, while doing Spanish as a programme route outside of my degree. I still get to study Spanish in the same seminars as degree students without it affecting my degree and still get a graded certificate each year.
The change has been the best move that I've made. My mind has opened up about the English language, it's easy to think that I speak English so why study it, but there's so much more to it, think about child language aquisition or forensic linguistics for example. Anyway my studies are going well, my first year is complete and my combined marks for my first year overall have got me on track for a first.
So what about the OU? Was it a waste? The answer is no. I did learn a lot, but not enough to do my grades with them any justice. My experience with them has helped me get into a conventional university. And the courses with them have not gone to waste. I was awarded a Certificate of Higher Education, Language Studies.

Next time what are my future career intentions.