Before my injury, I was taking my gap year with the plans of going to university after that. However at the end of my first gap year, I decided to take another and go to study abroad. For this, I went to Tel Aviv to study Analytical Thinking and Jewish Thinking. One day when I was going to a wedding, I crossed the road and was hit by a car. Immediately, I was knocked out and was rushed to hospital. This happened in 2003 when I was nineteen years old.
My mum, who is a doctor, heard about my incident and moved me from Tel Aviv to a hospital in Raanana which was known to be the best hospital for rehabilitation. I ended up staying there for a two year period.
In 2005, I returned to London. Art has always been the love of my life and so I continued down that route and undertook an Architecture degree at the University of Greenwich. This is a seven year course but it is split into sections. The first is an initial three year course, followed by a one year work placement, then returning back to university and completing the other three years. Insofar, I have already completed the first three years, but I did it part-time over the space of four years. Currently I am at the work placement/experience stage and that is where Attend comes in.
I came to Attend in hope that they would help me find a placement for this course. Before that, I had tried to find work myself but had no luck. After working with Nichole, she recommended for me to try out for a placement in an Architecture office in Harrow on the Hill which does extensions, home conversions, school projects and so on. After helping me with the application and all the other necessary bits, I got the role and am currently working on a project for a house in Devon.
This has been incredibly satisfying and so far, I have learnt a lot here so it has been a much valued experience. What’s great is that I am able to build up on my portfolio there too. Currently, I am there for two days a week, from 9am-5pm, but I hope to step up the number of hours in the upcoming months.
Attend have not only helped me with the placement, they’ve helped me on a personal matter too. After my injury, I didn’t look forward to much and had very little to do. I felt rather useless and a bit lost in society. However, after I came to Attend, I felt very motivated – they encouraged me to get back out there. Attend gave me much more of a focus and put me back on track in life. I think the people are amazing here.
In the immediate future, I wish to continue my work at the placement and then complete my degree at Greenwich. After that, I won’t say that I want to go into Architecture but I do wish to get into some sort of art-orientated world. Ultimately, I wish to use my artistic expression in some sort of format as it’s been my passion since young.
