Get Mentioned in a University Publication.

I’m sat in the University Library with a million documents of my dissertation open and somehow felt the urgent need to write this entry – procrastination at its best don’t you think?

Thanks to a wonderful Miss Erica Stella Toms who writes a fantastic, Bridget-Jones-esque online column for the University’s newspaper, The Western Eye, we were able to get mentioned in a university publication. Crossing another target off the list.

With the recent NekNomiations that swept across the country and with its increasing stupidity, Erica had some very eye-opening views about this ‘Neanderthal’ behaviour, proving who is superior by their creativity to down a pint.

 I however, am not going to lie. I did partake in one of these wondrous NekNominations. The boys from Oxford came to join Sarah and I on a much deserved night out and filmed their NekNoms at our pre drinks. One of the boys felt the need to nominate me and thus the disaster began...

I shall spare the graphic details. After downing my entire alcoholic pint which consisted of: Vodka, Bacardi, Morgan’s Spiced, Cider, Wine, and who knows what else. I remember sitting in Sarah’s lounge looking up at one of the guys and saying “Are we off out then boys?” The bewildered lad replied “Emma, we’ve been out, just got back, you passed out”.

Great.

I missed the evening thanks to my ridiculous behaviour and this stupid frenzy that swept across the nation. Due to these extreme circumstances and being taken out of control, Erica read our blog and in her article suggested that people create a ‘Bucket List’ to do all those important things to get the best student experience rather than passing out and missing them. We couldn't agree more!

Erica’s Blog #15 A Barbaric Invasion… Take a read!

http://www.westerneye.net/ericatoms/2014/02/15-a-barbaric-invasion/

St Matts Campus Photography Day

The Campus was previously a teacher training college, which opened in 1853.

St Matthius campus (St Matts) is where Emma and I have spent our last three years studying, along with all the other humanities students at UWE. Unfortunately, the campus is closing down in 2014, which is gutting, but also makes us feel privileged to be the final students to have studied there.

 

 

Like most of the other students, we took the grade II listed buildings and Gothic architecture for granted and it wasn’t until we stopped to take photographs of the campus that we realised that it’s not called the ‘mini Hogwarts’ for nothing.



SU Bar

Walking through St Matts you are guaranteed to bump into everyone you know or absolutely no one at all. We are going to miss sitting in the sunken lawn, the tiny but much-loved SU bar, and believe it or not, the library (our second home). So here is a collection of the photographs we took:



 

A Cute Note We Found That Read:
'Stop. Smile. Breathe.
Life is Beautiful.'

 



We couldn’t write this post without giving a dedication to our much loved campus cat Boris, who sadly passed away this year. Boris often sat in on Sarah’s Gothic literature classes and was loved by almost everyone at St Matts. Goodbye Boris.  



Getting involved in UWE politics

As part of our vow to each other when embarking upon this Bucket List we needed to do all we could to get involved in the student experience, as sooner or later we are, like it or not, going to have to become adults.

Today, we took part in one of the most student-based activities that doesn’t involve alcohol. Covering the university in posters at a disgusting 7am on a Friday morning to help our close friend who is running for VP Societies and Communications in the University’s Student Elections.

Crawling down the Uni’s hallways at the crack of dawn frantically competing for wall space, may not seem like an entertaining activity, but it is certainly the most involved I’ve been in the Students Union (besides when down the SU’s watering hole of course!).

Student politics is something that some students throw themselves into and others avoid at all costs. Sarah and I being at each end of this spectrum, myself being the one who just nods away whilst thinking about anything else, probably some pug-related meme I saw the night before. This said, however, it was good to get an idea of what campaigning, canvassing and competing for student votes was like. To see the commitment of each of the candidates and how they have stretched themselves beyond the student life to aim to achieve goals for the student collective made me feel proud to be part of such a student community.

I must admit, it wasn’t entirely out of the goodness of Sarah and I’s hearts, we were rewarded with a well-deserved coffee after our efforts battling with blue tac, posters and the drizzling rain.

UWE Pub Quiz

So, we finally made it to a UWE Frenchay Pub Quiz night, which coincided nicely with Super Bowl Sunday. Our team, consisting of four members, somehow managed to come joint-second from last which to be honest was quite an achievement considering this quiz was American themed in honour of the Super Bowl, which we knew nothing about.

Emma, being sober and knowing more about sports than the guys, led the team, Sarah on the other-hand was too busy drinking JD&Honey (a new favourite, of which she managed to spill an entire cups-worth on her lap).

We spent most of the night socialising, sharking uni talent, mocking the boys for getting their faces painted and complaining about the bitter cold.

After an eventful car-journey home which included one of the guys stalling Emma's car,  the other being rugby tackled by Emma to the ground and trying hard not to squash a birthday cake that we had made earlier that day...We ended the night safefully in Emma’s bed, eating a not so student like supper of cheese & hummus.

Shortly followed by a trip on the chunder train by the only sober participant of the evening, Emma...clearly the chicken nachos consumed earlier that night proved a poor decision.  

Crashing a Politics Lecture...

So this morning Sarah and I underwent the next mission on our Bucket List. To crash another courses lecture, and by crash we mean sneak in under the radar and sit there like a pair of geeks making more notes than the actual course students.  Our friends assured us that it was a big lecture and there was no chance of us possibly being spotted by the lecturer, by big class, they meant the top attendance of 10 students.

Being final year history  (and English) students, we wanted to attend a lecture that was different, something creative, but instead we opted for politics.

To be perfectly honest, I, myself, was not intending to find the lecture at all interesting. This is primarily because two days before the lecture I was talking to my friends who study politics and revealed that I wasn’t even entirely sure what government Britain was currently under. I know, shocking. Sarah on the other hand studied politics for A-level, so was somewhat more clued up to the political world.

Though Sarah and I went into the lecture and quite possibly enjoyed it far more than we intended and took around 4 pages of notes each, we did also ensure that we didn’t miss the opening sale of Arctic Monkeys tickets and made sure we purchased a pair whilst the lecturer was discussing the Economic Development of Latin America.

What did we learn? Erm… that politics is geography? International development, external economic market pressures, economic improvement, industrialisation, ISI’s and Neoliberalism are all terms that cross over what appears to be politics, geography and of course, history. The words conservative, election, franchise, revolution, were never uttered once. The lecture therefore, proved not only to be surprisingly interesting but also opened our eyes to the world of politics (marginally) and highlighted that there’s more to it than just sitting around in parliament shouting at one another about the best way to avoid paying taxes on their second homes.

Hosting a New Years Eve House Party - Bristol Style:

New Year, New Start?

No. Of course not. The New Year saw us continue to carry ourselves in true student fashion. Mascara smudged around our faces, mouths as dry as the Sahara desert, one next to a guy, the other next to the toilet.

It was decided we were too old for New Year’s Eve clubbing, as it’s always expensive and a disappointment. So it was clear what we needed to do, embrace our last New Year in Bristol, as students, in a house that if damaged, the biggest cost would be the £350 deposit. I, (Emma), drew the short straw as hostess and armed with supplies of cocktail umbrellas, 2014 sunglasses and £10 worth of bacon, we were ready, or were we?

All in all, it was successful, there was Shot Roulette, Ring of Fire, Beer Pong, burnt pizza, Romanian shots, tears, massages, and of course, the occasional trip on the chunder train.

I thought, no host can do better than supply an abundance of pizza, Doritos and of course, booze. However, I over-looked one vital factor, this being, my physical state and my ability to successfully cook the pizzas. By pizza number 8, all the windows were open and we could no longer scoff at the taste of charcoal; it became a bitter sweet familiarity. Though my chef skills failed, everyone was grateful for the carb overload to try and counter the alcohol flooding our bloodstreams. Nonetheless, this didn’t necessarily work for everyone, after a round of Raspberry Sambuca, one of the boys merely looked at me, cursed and chundered in the kitchen sink. Chunder No.1 of the evening under our belt at a mere 9pm, we knew there was plenty more to come.

MIDNIGHT: We *apparently* gathered in my living room all linked hands like the one big dysfunctional Oxfordian family we are and sang Auld Lang Syne. All that is but one, who by 10:30pm had been tucked into my onesie and passed out in my bed.

This is one of the few images that were taken that evening. We played a guess the caption moment the next day trying to figure out if this was Sarah eggin’ the boys on in a fight for her honour:

A personal highlight of mine comes from my co-author of this blog, Miss Sarah Gore. She, like myself, and almost any girls our age, has a very apparent thing for men with beards. Upon emerging from a room at around 4am, I found Sarah, along with 4 other men in my hallway. I heard the words ‘I don’t like you. I just love your beard’. This couldn’t have been a prouder moment for me.

As we all know, house parties are awesome, you’ll never beat them, until you remember you’re the host and you don’t own a cleaning service as a side business to fund your degree. Doritos became an official part of my floors décor, and the carpet doubled up as a swimming pool. It was 5 bin bags later and a very much deserved Maccy D’s on News Years which made us realise, we may be third years, but we’ve still got it. 

Christmas Last Orders at the SU:

Me and Emma first met down at UWE Students Union a
few days before our first term at University started. It was our first night at
the SU, and we both bonded over a Cider & Black, the fact that we were from
Oxford and were both studying history (being the deal breakers).

Three years on and still best friends, we decided
that we needed to take a trip back to Frenchay Last Orders, which brings back
blurry images of us being over-excited drunken freshers. We dragged a few
friends along, drank a lot of cheap vodka and even bumped into a few familiar
faces. Familiar faces including some of those you want to duck from, if you
know what we mean, and we even bumped into the SU Pres (this time Sarah refrained from eating his face).

Being the first and last trip to the SU this term,
we forgot just how cheap and fun it can be. We have vowed to go again, pull a
fresher and get back into the Student Village. These two vows take form as
other goals on our University bucket list, and therefore must and will happen.

All in all, another banter-filled drunken night, which ended in a long teary bus journey home, pillow-talk, spooning and eating fresh baguettes in bed.

Another great student union night out to add to the
collection of drunken memories, and yet another drunken toilet selfie: