I qualified as a staff nurse last week, and have my trust induction next week.
It has been a long, tiring three years and I know it's not going to get any easier from here.
I was lucky enough to get the bursary, but still had to take out a student loan on top of that, and also worked full time for the majority of my training. I still would have chosen nursing If I had to have paid tuition fees. I also don't need to pay my loan back until I'm earning 25k, and I start on 22k So it'll be a good few years before that's paid back.
I got a job as a bank hca within my trust, so was able to work flexibly around my placement and uni hours. I'm sure all trusts must have some type of bank, and in my trust it was super easy to apply for and get because I was a student (not much additional training needed). This also allowed me the flexibility to work in any area in my trust, which I fully took advantage of during my training, as it enabled me to see which areas I may consider working in as a staff nurse.
I've had 9 nursing placements; elderly care, orthopaedic, gastro, district nurse, practice nurse, a&e, general surgical ward, day surgery, coronary care.
We had to do one acute placement (a&e/itu/hdu) and a variety of community and hospital ones. We also got to pick our management placement (3rd year, last placement where you get signed off). As you can see, mine have been very varied and I've enjoyed every single one. For the most part, my mentors have been fantastic and found the time for me. I've only ever had trouble with one, which I subsequently changed to another mentor. Within your placements you have the opportunity to go on spokes/additional learning experiences e.g. time with resus officers, midwives, OT/PT, ASC, TVN etc, so it can be very varied and if you want to go to a specific area, you can through a spoke.
I personally don't think you should be able to pick your nursing placements, as it's essential you get a well rounded experience of many different areas. I have no intention of working in the community during my career, and wouldn't have picked them as placements if I had the choice, but I learnt valuable skills on those placements that I haven't learnt anywhere else.
It's also important to remember that when you qualify, it's very possible during a shift you will be moved from your permanent ward to one that is short staffed. If for example, nursing placements were chosen by students, they could very well only pick one or a couple of areas to work in, and therefore wouldn't have the knowledge or skills to work in a different area if need be.
Your last point about practising taking blood - most trusts don't offer the training until you're qualified due to time and the amount of people you'll be needing to practise on. So no practising till you qualify sorry!
Good luck for your training, it's not going to be easy. And I hope I've provided a little bit of insight!