Ok…. This blog is about doing new things. So here’s a list of things I’ve done in the past few weeks that I’ve never done before.

1. Started writing a blog. (Hadn’t even read one until now!)

2. Got a pass for going in and out of Hampton Court. (Have I mentioned my security pass? I love having a security pass….)

3. Met a sky diving, base jumping fellow student called Katarina. I like Katarina. She told me I remind her of Jennifer Aniston. Which is a lot better than Alex… who asked me how old I was… because he’d heard me say I felt about eighty… and wasn’t sure if I was joking…

4. Had a lecture from Luciano Guibbilei.…. (hands up who knows how to pronounce his surname.)

5. Drew up a survey to scale using a drawing board and a set square after only three days.

6. Sketched a still life of a plant, a pot and a bean … several times….in pencil…. and then in charcoal. And you know what…. I’m not as bad at it as I thought I was going to be.

7. Drew an elevation. I didn’t even know what an elevation was until now. (It’s a vertical view of a garden with the plants sketched in.) But I did it….. And I feel ridiculously pleased about it.

8. Started to get to grips with using a Canon Eos 500 digital camera. It’s a lot more complicated than the point and shoot camera I’m used to. But if I’m going to illustrate this blog with lots of photos then I need to get better at it.

9. Put together a concept board using all the creative skills we’ve been learning in the first couple of weeks. It was a bit like being back at kindergarten – scissors, crayons, tracing paper, glue. Such fun! I based mine on High Cross House in Dartington where I went to school. It was the headmaster’s house in those days, a modernist dream in a rolling Devon landscape. These days it’s owned by the National Trust. It’s definitely worth a visit if you’re in South Devon.

10. Had a session on CAD. The old me of a couple of months ago wouldn’t have had the faintest idea what CAD was (Computer aided drawing? I think). But the new me has downloaded Vectorworks onto my laptop…. and used it. This might not seem much to most people. But for a woman who uses her laptop to write unpublished novels and send emails, it’s huge…..

So that’s ten things. Quite a lot don’t you think. In just three weeks.