In May of 2014 I was given the pleasure to be appointed as one of the patient and service user representatives for the Guideline Development Group for the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence as part of the Social Care Institute for Excellence. I am part of the Guidelines Development Group (GDG) for the Transition from Childrens' To Adult Services project. This is something which I am very excited to be a part of . As someone who has been through transition and has had both positive and negative experiences, I hope that my input will be useful when coming up with these guidelines. More information and updates about this project can be found on the NICE website, there you will also be able to find the scope for the guidelines as well as other key information if you are interested in finding out more. 

Здравейте (Hello) everyone! In my last two weeks of my first year at UCL I had the chance to take part in the first year program of the UCL Global Citizenship Program.  This was something which I signed up for close to the beginning of the new year and went into without really knowing what to expect. 

The UCL website described the focus of the program as "The first year courses focus on the UCL Grand Challenges – enabling students to tackle the same key global questions as UCL’s world-leading researchers. The courses are specially designed to be multidisciplinary, accessible and enjoyable."

Within the program I was able to pick a strand on which to focus on, the strands which were available were: 

• Inter - cultural Interactions - The Danube 
• Human Well-being - People and the Sea
• Sustainable Cities - Global Alliances for Local Change 
• Global Health - Health in Future Cities 

 
I chose to follow the inter - cultural interactions stream, which had a particular focus on The Danube. "The Danube is one of Europe’s major rivers, passing through 10 countries as it flows from Germany to Romania. It is both a barrier and a bridge to cooperation, a cause and a cure for conflict: this course will explore both sides of the river’s role in bringing cultures together and keeping them apart, through history, politics, environmental science and literature. Students will also have the opportunity to undertake taster lessons in one of six Danubian languages." I had the opportunity to learn about the language and culture of Bulgaria. I will be sharing my experiences below.