Firstly, the University of Birmingham hosted the political debate this week. One of the things promoted by the Guild was the vote for students campaign. They encouraged everyone to wear either a Vote for Students shirt or just a pink themed outfit. The first thing that sprang to mind, apart from 'I don't own any pink' was 'I can't wear red, then'. I'm all for this particular campaign because it's about tuition fees and such but the first thing I think of when a 'wear -colour-' day comes up is either the lack of that colour in my wardrobe or the clash of colour that I will likely choose instead. I wore blue on Thursday. No pink.
Aside from the colour grumble, having the UK's media on campus was mental! It was a perfect opportunity for me and my friend because we both wanted to get some work experience in the TV industry so rather than shamelessly standing in the background of a shot we went and spoke to a few people and got some contact details. There was definitely a buzz around campus and everyone was excited to see Mandleson roaming free with a camera on him.
In other news, Joe's Bar has been moved and prettied up! Joe's is the bar in the Guild of Students on the main campus, where you can go for a drink or some food any time of the day and where quite a few events are held in the evenings. I love spending time in Joe's - even more so now that it's all done up. The prices are really good, too. For half a four seasons pizza (which, to me, could well have been a full pizza as it was a generous half) it's £3. A huge portion of chips (and I mean HUGE) it's about £2. Absolute bargain. It's all freshly made in the kitchens of Joe's, too, so it's very good quality food. If I wasn't so conscious about calories, I'd have my lunch there most days. There's also the biggest dessert in the world (perhaps not an official claim but it is pretty huge) which is aptly named the 'University Challenge', with the tag line 'do you dare or do you have to share?'. Fantastic! The onion ring tower also looks interesting. ...now I'm hungry.
Last night I met up with one of my friends from back home. He brought his BCU (Birmingham City University) friend along and I brought my boyfriend along so we all sat on Bar One (the bar on the Vale) and had a drink together then played some pool. Our original option was to go to Broad Street but considering it was a Friday night we didn't want to get caught in the mass crowds of people going to Gatecrasher and such like. Bar One always has a good atmosphere and plays good music so it was definitely a better idea. It's £1 for two games of pool (or 60p for one) so we played a good few games, which was a welcome return as I played a lot of pool in the last two terms and was itching to get back there. On Sunday I'll be returning to Bar One for the Pub Quiz again. Not quite sure what our team name should be this time round.
Through the whole of the Easter break I've been doing work and avoiding doing work. Thankfully, I only have one essay left to complete then only one exam on the 19th May then I'm done for first year. I'll still continue blogging after I've finished because I'll still be in Birmingham for the rest of the term. The contract for halls ends on July 4th and my second year house contract starts on July 1st so I'm taking advantage of that convenience and will be moving my stuff over gradually. But, as I said, I still have one essay to complete. That's in for Tuesday so I better get cracking!
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Week 10: Sleep, Work, Jedward, Jamie Afro, Equus
Pretty much all through this week I have been in a fowl mood. I have too much work to do and have somehow managed to put off doing most of it. Don't believe what the student representatives say: University is not all about going out and procrastinating! It is harrrd work. Emerging from the week of no spare time, I thought I'd feel much better and have no problem about getting my work done. It turns out that isn't true. I tried to do work but managed to keep on putting it off half an hour at a time. That is a very bad idea because even if by the end of the night no work is done, the relaxation you would normally feel after a night off is not felt due to the dark cloud of work hanging over. I've come to realise that a day is either a work day or a day off.
Yesterday I managed to get down to work and complete the Technical Rehearsal Project (basically: an essay explaining what the technical rehearsal is and who does what) for the costume allocation (see previous posts for more details). I did have an invite to go out for a drink with the person I may be living with next year. I told myself that I would only go out if I finished all the work I needed to do. I did finish the work but settled for the reward of getting into bed at 10pm, watching some ice hockey and the backstage footage from the new Stereophonics album and chatting to my friends from home on msn. I proceeded to have the best sleep in the entire world ever, infinity plus one. In the morning I woke up thinking it must be the afternoon already but found it was infact 10am. Such a lovely time to wake up. Not too early, not too late, the whole day ahead of you if you get up straight away. I even cleaned the fridge before breakfast!
One thing I forgot to mention last week was X Factor Tuesdays at the Guild. The Guild of Students has managed to book three of the X Factor's finalists to play at the Underground. Jamie 'Afro' Archer played in Tuesday of Week 9, Jon and Edward played Tuesday of Week 10 and next week the Guild is host to Lloyd. I bought a £12 ticket that allowed me entry to all three weeks. It's £5 for a single ticket. On the night, the act plays three or four songs then there's a chance to meet them in a private room in the Guild. For Jedward, there was a photographer already in place to speed things along. For Jamie, fans could take their own pictures and get his autograph. You can imagine what the demand was like for Jedward!
I promised one of my coursemates that I'd go and see him in Article 19's (a University of Birmingham society) production of Equus. I also knew the director from doing the costume for Vinegar Tom so I was intrigued. On top of that, Equus is my favourite play. When I was in year twelve, I had to do an exam about it so went to see it with my classmates. It was so good that I bought two tickets for me and my brother to see it again a mere week later. Having seen the official touring production, Article 19 had high standards to meet. They most definitely met them. I was very impressed! It was performed in the Deb Hall, above Joe's Bar in the Guild and the whole team managed to transform the space into something pretty awesome. The acting was above par, for sure.
Yesterday I managed to get down to work and complete the Technical Rehearsal Project (basically: an essay explaining what the technical rehearsal is and who does what) for the costume allocation (see previous posts for more details). I did have an invite to go out for a drink with the person I may be living with next year. I told myself that I would only go out if I finished all the work I needed to do. I did finish the work but settled for the reward of getting into bed at 10pm, watching some ice hockey and the backstage footage from the new Stereophonics album and chatting to my friends from home on msn. I proceeded to have the best sleep in the entire world ever, infinity plus one. In the morning I woke up thinking it must be the afternoon already but found it was infact 10am. Such a lovely time to wake up. Not too early, not too late, the whole day ahead of you if you get up straight away. I even cleaned the fridge before breakfast!
One thing I forgot to mention last week was X Factor Tuesdays at the Guild. The Guild of Students has managed to book three of the X Factor's finalists to play at the Underground. Jamie 'Afro' Archer played in Tuesday of Week 9, Jon and Edward played Tuesday of Week 10 and next week the Guild is host to Lloyd. I bought a £12 ticket that allowed me entry to all three weeks. It's £5 for a single ticket. On the night, the act plays three or four songs then there's a chance to meet them in a private room in the Guild. For Jedward, there was a photographer already in place to speed things along. For Jamie, fans could take their own pictures and get his autograph. You can imagine what the demand was like for Jedward!
I promised one of my coursemates that I'd go and see him in Article 19's (a University of Birmingham society) production of Equus. I also knew the director from doing the costume for Vinegar Tom so I was intrigued. On top of that, Equus is my favourite play. When I was in year twelve, I had to do an exam about it so went to see it with my classmates. It was so good that I bought two tickets for me and my brother to see it again a mere week later. Having seen the official touring production, Article 19 had high standards to meet. They most definitely met them. I was very impressed! It was performed in the Deb Hall, above Joe's Bar in the Guild and the whole team managed to transform the space into something pretty awesome. The acting was above par, for sure.
Monday, 26 October 2009
Week 4: Remember that 'work' thing?
This week was a revelation week for me. It hit me that I have to keep on top of my work. Over the weekend I did take some work home with me (a huge anthology of drama and a folder for a module) but I still felt rather behind when I returned to classes on Monday afternoon. This can become an issue. Well, it effectively is an issue. Within the Drama freshers, one popular topic of discussion is 'how are you doing with your reading?'. The usual answer is 'I'm behind'. This isn't at all due to laziness but it's the change from sixth form to university.
For some people it hits a bit harder because they either have taken a gap year or did a course that didn't carry a large workload. I'm aware of how limited my experience of workload is here because I'm writing from the point of view of a Drama student. To give a wider outlook, from what I know, the person in my flat with the most work to do is Dan, a psychology student. Hearsay has it that psychology is one of the most work-intense degrees anyway so that's to be expected. Nathan, studying political science, has quite a bit of reading to do. Katy, studying Sport and Exercise Science, often has work to do that is quite complicated (at least from my point of view). I haven't asked Sarah (Geology/Geo Science) about her workload but she goes home every weekend without work to do, comfortably. Mike has the least amount of work to do, being an economics student. Today he showed how much work he has to do by playing basketball on his iPhone in the kitchen. He did look absolutely ridiculous so that evened out the bitterness of having a nice pile of reading waiting for me in my room.
In any case, the jump from sixth form (or college) to university is a shock for most people and its understandable to get a bit worried about the workload. It's Week Five now (the post title is retrospective because obviously week five hasn't completed yet) and I'm trying to get on top of my reading. It really is hard work and sacrifices must be made (that wonderful social life I had in Week 0, 1 and 2) but its satisfying when I can tick something off the to-do list.
For some people it hits a bit harder because they either have taken a gap year or did a course that didn't carry a large workload. I'm aware of how limited my experience of workload is here because I'm writing from the point of view of a Drama student. To give a wider outlook, from what I know, the person in my flat with the most work to do is Dan, a psychology student. Hearsay has it that psychology is one of the most work-intense degrees anyway so that's to be expected. Nathan, studying political science, has quite a bit of reading to do. Katy, studying Sport and Exercise Science, often has work to do that is quite complicated (at least from my point of view). I haven't asked Sarah (Geology/Geo Science) about her workload but she goes home every weekend without work to do, comfortably. Mike has the least amount of work to do, being an economics student. Today he showed how much work he has to do by playing basketball on his iPhone in the kitchen. He did look absolutely ridiculous so that evened out the bitterness of having a nice pile of reading waiting for me in my room.
In any case, the jump from sixth form (or college) to university is a shock for most people and its understandable to get a bit worried about the workload. It's Week Five now (the post title is retrospective because obviously week five hasn't completed yet) and I'm trying to get on top of my reading. It really is hard work and sacrifices must be made (that wonderful social life I had in Week 0, 1 and 2) but its satisfying when I can tick something off the to-do list.
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Name: Vici Royle