Interview Day

With my head filled to the brim with Antarctic and meteorological information, and my best (okay, only) suit on, I set off on the 2 hour drive to Cambridge. I was listening to Absolute Radio who played my favourite song of the time, MGMT's 'Time To Pretend'. I took this to be a good sign, because clearly the playlist of a radio station several hundred miles away must have some influence on the decision of the interview panel...

I parked up about early and proceeded to re-read all of my notes. At this point I realised that my grey fluffy cardigan, which I'd worn to keep warm, had shed fur all over my black suit. Being a practical kind of girl I wrapped my hands in inside-out electrical tape (because clearly everyone keeps some in the car door) and tried to create some kind of clothes-roller. I only got a few weird looks from passers-by, and then got back in the car to carry on reading. A little later I got out to head over to my interview and realised the cardigan had not only shed over me, but also the car seat which I'd sat back down on, and I was covered in grey fluff again. Repeat the strange sticky-black-handed-wipe-down-dance. Head over to interview.

I felt pretty confident. I'd read pretty much everything I could find, pestered anyone I knew who knew anything about Antarctica, gone through endless scenarios with Geek-Boy about what might happen down there and what they might ask. I didn't really feel there was anything I could have done, short of taking one of the interview panel hostage and quizzing them - something that I did briefly consider.

This feeling of confidence evaporated suddenly as I did what, in my opinion, was one of the worst interviews I've ever done. First, I had to wait for about 30 minutes before being called through, then there was an unexpected exam/test thing which threw me a bit, and then another long wait, and then the interview itself, during which I forgot all but my name, and even that was touch and go at times. Still, they all seemed nice, so it wasn't scary in that respect, and afterwards there was a tour around the facilities and science kit, which was interesting. I left thinking that if nothing else, I'd seen some shiny equipment, and would be better prepared for applying again next year.