Preparation and the building panic

I applied to become professionally chartered last year.  For structural engineers this is a long, drawn-out process: once you have acquired the appropriate accredited degree, spent three or four years working in industry, compiled a lengthy portfolio proving that you satisfy thirteen broad-ranging objectives and passed an interview you are required to prepare for and sit a notoriously challenging 7-hour exam.  The pass rate for the exam alone hovers around the 35% mark, and most candidates spend months in arduous study and preparation for the ordeal in mid-April.  By the time results are released in August a full calendar year has elapsed from the date of first application.

I knew all this. So what I did when the opportunity came up to apply for a secondment within my company to another office somewhere in the world, naturally, was to apply for that too.  Ever since my brother moved out to Madrid six years ago I've harboured a desire to go and share in that lifestyle: the music, the picnics, the wonderful people and endless days in the sun.  Owain's love of his life out there is infectious and I want to go and hang out with him for a few years.

What I then did, when my wonderful boyfriend Richard apparently saw the writing on the wall and decided that I would be getting this placement (long before it was confirmed), and therefore also decided that he ought to stake his claim by getting down on one knee, was to accept the proposal and embark upon wedding planning.

I don't appear to want to give myself an easy life.  Over the past few months the fear and excitement have been steadily rising in tandem, as I career between packing, study, dress shopping, learning Spanish, visiting venues and flat hunting.  Now just three weeks remain - the exam is on Friday 13th and I start work in Madrid on the Sunday.

Wish me luck.  I believe I need it.