Week 8: Birthday Week at Home and Check Lists

Considering I went home this week because my birthday was on Saturday 19th, this post won't necessarily apply to a lot of you. In any case, it was an awesome week and the weekend was even better. My Mum bought me an afternoon at a spa including a head, back and shoulders massage which was amazing. I could definitely get used to regular massages. I went out for dinner on my birthday, with my boyfriend and family, which was lovely. I do recommend beef in black bean sauce! Before my birthday, I went shopping for a dress for the evening. I found a beautiful one in Matalan for £22 which impressed the family at dinner. I did get quite angry at H&M, Topshop and New Look for not having anything I liked in my size. Birmingham's far better for shopping than Doncaster, for sure.

Something that may apply is this: car boot sales! On Sunday I managed to go to a car boot sale at the Keepmoat Stadium (Doncaster Rovers FC, for anyone who wants to know) where I spotted a few things that would be a welcome addition to my new kitchen in my second year house. I'm quite fickle, though, so I didn't indulge in a few bargains. And I was informed that a second hand one (a few people were selling new products) would be half the price. I may ask my Mum to pick me up a blender or something, though, when she goes again. The car boot sales here are hard to get to if you don't have a car because there aren't any within walking distance of halls or the centre. There are a few charity shops in Harborne, which is near, but I haven't visited them yet. The reason why I mentioned car boot sales and charity shops is because as a student you'll be leaving home for (probably) the first time. That means you'll need to stock up the kitchen, bathroom and your own room with equipment. On Facebook freshers groups there are check lists so if you're going to Uni in September they are definitely worth a look in. And don't forget spare change for laundry. I might well post an extra farewell for this year next week and include a check list for anyone who wants to know.

A running theme of my blog posts seem to be the state of the kitchen in my flat. One thing I urge all freshers to do is get an understanding with your flatmates early on about cleanliness. If you're living in halls, there are inspections to look forward to. On The Vale they come once a term (that's three times in the year you'll be living there). If you fail, you might get a second chance to tidy up and a re-inspection will be scheduled for a few days after. If you pass, you're going to make it far easier to live there. Fail twice and the manager gets involved and fines may be issued for a clean up and general lack of respect for the accommodation. I'm having issues with my flat being in a state at the moment because with exams being over (and results are now available) a few of my flatmates have decided not to pay attention to their flat anymore. Thankfully my concerns were heard by the Vale reception and I've been exempt from any charges or tellings off. I do still have to tidy up the flat before I move out because I'm the last one left. I've still got a week and a half left, or thereabouts.

So, next week I'll put up a check list and that'll be it for my blogging this year. Let's hope my boss wants me to do this for second year, I quite enjoyed it!

Week 2: Trying to see it from a different perspective

First of all, I don't think I'll bother commenting on the election fiasco. The rest of the world's media has done that brilliantly and precisely (even though I still don't think my vote helped things particularly).

This week's post will be a very honest, open view on student life from the perspective of someone who doesn't go out every week or even every three weeks. I prefer a quieter night in. Last week I mentioned meeting up with friends and going for a drink at Bar One, the bar on the Vale. That was definitely what I would call is 'my territory'. Personally, I see massive clubs like Gatecrasher and so on (see, I haven't even got a wealth of experience there to mention a few more) to be places I'd go to for occasions. Perhaps that sounded a little bitter but there's a reason for this. I've mentioned in previous posts about the atmosphere in university halls. You have to be prepared for interrupted sleep on nights that are frequent to begin with then they die down and happen only twice a week then they creep up again and so on.

I have to be blunt: I don't necessarily feel a part of the community of Tennis Court. I haven't met many people yet who don't have the, shall we say, typical student mentality of work vs play. I'm working on that. I am, though, counting down the days (two months!) until I'm in my second year house and I know I won't have to worry about the kitchen being an utter disgrace. My flat failed our recent flat inspection twice. It was spotless after the second inspection because the boys realised what they were living in. When I was the last one to leave, at Easter, I'd tidied the kitchen up nicely so I'd have something nice and fresh to come back to. I then polished it up a bit when I returned. Then it got messy. It stayed messy for two weeks. This morning I decided that just wasn't acceptable any more and I cleaned up. Luckily, the boys appreciate when this happens and I buttered them up even more with some freshly baked cupcakes so hopefully the kitchen will stay at least in an acceptable state.

In a small aside - I'm loving Doctor Who right now. Apart from the episode that was on tonight. That was slightly naff. Not quite as genius as Steven Moffat's weeping angels. Watching Confidential (which is arguably my favourite of the two parts - main then behind the scenes) I began to see how the true story linked in with the writer's idea. It kind of made sense. I'm not a history buff, though, so it took a few facts and a history lesson from one of the residents for me to understand a snippet. It's a good series, though. Ok maybe that wasn't such a small aside. And I could discuss the matter further.

Adding to my waiting game, I'm also looking forward to transforming my crowded room into a whole house. The person I'm living with - my boyfriend - may not be staying with me over summer because he'd like to spend some time at home so I'll have the house to myself for however long I stay there for (I'm thinking of getting work experience here while I have a few months spare). That means I can really move in and organise my stuff. I can buy a book shelf and make a mini library corner and a desk to put my old PC on and a little exercise corner next to the TV and a work corner in my room with all my folders. Ooh, exciting! And a shoe corner. Can't forget the shoes.

The Northern Society have been on hiatus to figure a few things out and we're back to the drawing board. Hopefully there will be more interesting news to come, with that. I urge all potential freshers to look out for us at Freshers Fair.

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.