Cheeky questions from a Cardiff-based student nurse-wannabe!

[Pedestrienne Ellie]

Good evening everyone, and thank you for peeking at my thread! I hope as much as possible not to be a bother with my questions.

My situation is this: I'm a soon-to-be 27-year old Australian currently living in Cardiff. I've burnt out working admin jobs and have spent the last squillion years racking my brains about what to do with my life. Forever I've thought that I want to get myself in a career where I can use compassion and empathy and perseverance to try and take care of people as I'd want to be taken care of myself. (Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby is an inspiration!) So I have a sneaking suspicion - nursing is the thing!

I'm between temp jobs at the moment so I have spent the last week poring over the internet to try and decide if nursing is right for me. I know I can't go to school in the UK, but since I'm committed to being here for the next six months I need to be making use of that time to be doing things that lay a foundation for giving nursing a go.

I have started doing the rounds looking for caring-type volunteer jobs and I have stumbled upon a phlebotomy training course (http://www.phlebotomytraining.info/), plus am planning to undertake first aid training with St. John's. Does anyone have any other bright ideas about what I could do to get some healthcare experience? Or, even better, contacts in Cardiff for volunteering/shadowing in a clinical setting?

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read!

All the best,

Ms Wannabe