Week 7: Campus Whispers, Cake, Cuisine, Sport, Epic Double Win

First of all: campus whispers. I don't know a lot about this but I do know where it stemmed from. Weekly, I read PostSecret, an online project in which anyone can send in a postcard, anonymously, with a secret and a random selection are scanned in and posted on a blog every Sunday. There have been conventions where loooads of people have gotten together to listen to Frank Warren, who founded the idea and sorts it all out on his own, and share secrets. It's quite a popular proposal situation, too. The University of Birmingham Nightline have set up their own version of this and named it Campus Whispers. It was set up for a week to test it out but the popularity of it meant that they set up several post boxes in the Guild and various buildings on campus where students and staff can post their secrets. There is also an address to send them to to make it extra secret. See the end of this post for the address. Examples are on the Facebook group and on the original PostSecret blog.

All week my boyfriend has been dropping hints at me for a cake. "I fancy a cake." "I might make a cake." "It was really nice when you made me a cake." Having already made three basic cakes (there have been two birthdays in my flat and the other cake was made simply for the return after the winter break), I decided to search through my Mum's recipe book for a more interesting treat. I decided on carrot cake. I adore it yet have never made it, somehow. There are recipes to be found in various cookbooks and on the internet with a simple Google search. I used both Aldi and Sainsburys to buy my ingredients (eggs, bananas and carrots at Aldi, the rest at Sainsburys). The total cost was about £10 but I didn't use all of everything I bought because obviously things like flour, eggs, brown sugar and icing sugar come in larger quantities than you would use in one baking session. If I was to calculate precisely, it probably costed me about £5 for the ingredients I did actually use. Perhaps less. The kitchens in the UoB halls provide a good baking environment. I mean, all I needed was a work surface and an oven. As long as the table is tidy then it's all cushty! The cake was gorgeous, by the way.

Whilst I'm on the topic of student cuisine, I want to dispell a rumour about student food. It isn't all Pot Noodles and pizza (though I did have to recycle about twenty pizza boxes this weekend). Just today I made chilli con carne. My flatmate, Sarah, is a vegetarian and regularly cooks 'complicated' meals. The guys do tend to stick to frozen food, pasta, pizza and noodles but at least they go past the Pot Noodle expectation. It is most definitely possible to eat healthily in self catering halls. I much prefer self catering to Meal Plan, from what I've heard. Wednesdays are 'curly fries' days. There are other options but I wouldn't like curly fries to be one of them.

On Thursday we got the dreaded flat inspection letter, again. From what I believe, there is one every semester. It consists of a warden or two coming over and checking that every room in the flat is presentable and being looked after. If there's subsantial mess, you fail and have a certain amount of time to tidy it up. If you fail again, you are forced to pay for a cleaner to come round. I'm not sure about everyone else but I wouldn't want to fork out some cash for someone to root around my room and scrutinise everything. No thanks. I have to admit, my flat isn't the tidiest of flats. My room is what I call 'organised chaos' but the kitchen is potentially dangerous. It's expected that not everyone will keep up with washing their own plates and cutlery but it's got a bit out of hand in my flat. I'm hoping that the imminent inspection will be a kick up the backside for the guys and they'll get the kitchen back up to standard. I remember the first week back after the winter break - a whole week on my own in the flat with shiny surfaces and a clean smell in the air. Oh how I long for those days again.

Finally, sport. In particular, ice hockey (again). The men's final in the Olympics is on today at 8pm (midday in Canada) so yesterday I went to Bar One (the bar on the Vale) and asked if they would show the game on their big screens. It took some battering of eyelashes because that's the same time the quiz is scheduled for but I succeeded. Tonight at 8pm I will be enjoying both the quiz and the final between the US and Canada. Good stuff!


To post a secret to Campus Whispers, address the back of a postcard to:
Nightline "Campus Whispers"
Guild of Students
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston Park Road
Birmingham
B15 2TU


P.S. We won the quiz, finally! It was such a sweet victory as our rivals got second place by only one point. Sa-weeeet!
P.P.S. Canada won the Men's Ice Hockey Olympic Gold very shortly after our sweet quiz victory in overtime. 3 - 2.

Week 6: Northern Society confirmation and Ice Skating

Firstly, a meeting with the Guild on Friday confirmed that the Northern Society is a good idea. Our section of the meeting lasted no longer than five minutes with a simple question to answer: what do you want to do with your society? After a brief explanation, emphasising the aim to get rid of the North/South divide within home students, there was a unanimous agreement and we were given a document to give to the office in Student Development. Bish bash bosh! We were told that in about a week or two there will be a training session and start up meeting that we will have to book and attend, dates for which will be emailed to us soon. With that under our belt, we went on a search for another one or two committee members (as the minimum is three and the average is four) through Facebook in a group message. Three people replied, one of which was in mind anyway, and the decision will be made soon. The first social for the Northern Society should happen in two weeks or so. Good news, good news indeed.

In other news, after a weekend away in Sheffield to see the Winter Varsity Ice Hockey game between Hallam and Uni, a childhood want was reborn: I've always wanted to be able to ice skate, with even a very young dream to be a figure skater (this is before the hype of Dancing On Ice... in fact it was before Popstars). I knew already that there are no ice rinks in Birmingham. Ironically, the Birmingham rink was burnt down a few years ago. There is a rink in Solihull, though, which can be accessed by bus from Birmingham Moor Street. Lessons are in five week blocks at £36 plus skate hire (£2 per session). Though this seems a bit steep to me, having known a cheaper block in Doncaster which includes skate hire, Solihull Blue Ice rink do include the invitation to the extended session afterwards for free. For those who become or are already competent skaters, the University of Birmingham has an Ice Hockey society which includes access to the Birmingham Eagles, the team with players from UoB, Aston and City.

Week 5: See-Saw Work and Valentine's Day

I was told earlier in the year that the work load for Drama first years would see-saw: first it would be a shock with seemingly lots, then there would be a dip, then there would be a few essays so the work load would increase and so on. I'm experiencing a dip at the moment. Not that there isn't any work to do. Oh no, definitely not. It's reading week (which is a week off time table in the middle of a semester) right now and I actually don't have a deadline really close. Last reading week, I had two essays to write. I have an essay plan to write but that's due in week 9 so I have plenty of time. It's very odd. I feel like I should be reading extensively... but I'm not because I have no reason to. I may actually have to... relax.

On the flip side, it was Valentine's Day yesterday so my boyfriend treated me with a trip to Stratford Upon Avon. As it was a play we were going to visit out of necessity anyway, it was lovely to mark the day with a sense of occasion. For the purpose of this blog, I'm going to give the lowdown on what to do on a day out there - minus the mushy stuff. First of all, it takes just over an hour to get there from University station. The journey starts at University station and goes to New Street then it's a five minute walk to over to Moor Street and, if you're lucky, a forty five minute journey to Stratford. Our journey included a mix up of a cancelled train to we had to change in Hatton and wait twenty minutes for the final part of the journey but we still arrived there only fifteen minutes after we were meant to.

The main attraction of Stratford is that it is the birthplace of William Shakespeare, the playwright. The house he lived in is open to the public (and always very busy so I gave it a miss) but this week's fact is that the house they use it not actually Shakespeare's. It was figured out yeeears ago then a re-evaluation found that the actual house was three or so doors down. The real house is also still preserved but to 'keep American tourists happy' they didn't change to open house. I learnt that on QI. If Stephen Fry said it, it must be true.

The secondary attraction of Stratford, perhaps, is the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) theatre. I ate lunch in the 'official' RSC after-show pub which is decorated beautifully, over its traditional beams and such, with posters of past shows, all signed by their ridiculously talented and rather famous casts. Anthony Sher has even signed the wall itself, alongside a picture he drew. Judi Dench's signature sat behind my head as I tucked into a good, traditional pub lunch. For international students unaccustomed to English tradition, a pub lunch should definitely be on the list of 'to do'. Preferably on a Sunday. Preferably a roast.

Shakespeare's grave is also marked out inside the Holy Trinity church and a small donation is requested for viewing: 50p for students, £1 for adults.

We even found a museum of Witchcraft. They had, disappointingly, hopped on the Rowling train and adopted a few iconic things from the Harry Potter series. I don't suppose Rowling would be too happy seeing them in there. There was the sorting hat, which looked only slightly like it. There was the sign for Platform 9 3/4 which did excite me but wasn't placed right. The wands didn't quite look right. It was meant to, I was led to believe, be a museum for the 'proper' magic of the age of the witch so adopting the world of Potter was, in my opinion, a bad move. To add insult to injury, the place was a complete steal of the famous pub in Hogsmeade, 'The Creaky Cauldron'. No no, Stratford, no no.

Aside from the dodgy museum of magic, Stratford Upon Avon proved to be a lovely place to visit for a day trip. It reminded me of a wider spread York. York is also a must-see for those who haven't yet.


Birthplace of William Shakespeare plaque.
Birthplace of Shakespeare... not really.

Week 4: A slow week

This week really has been slow. The only 'news' to report is the mess in my kitchen, which seems to be a permanent fixture. And that's not really worth reporting about.

I suppose I could give some good news to potential Drama students:
After week 11 of term 2, timetable is void and the only lectures/seminars/classes you have to attend are those of your MOMD (extra module outside your main discipline - I chose Theology). Luckily for me, I won't have any lectures in term 3 at all because my MOMD lectures finish at the same time as my Drama classes. I only have an exam to look forward to and a few essays to write. I'm waiting for results from some essays I did over winter, actually.

Apologies for a bit of an empty post but, really, nothing exciting has happened this week, as such. I didn't even get third from bottom in the quiz.