Category Archives: Returning Students

Nights In

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So you’ve probably reached that stage part way through the semester where you have either run out of money or partied out enough to have a night away from the clubs & pubs or entertainment venues. Or maybe you have a lecture in the morning or work to get to.

If that’s the case, here’s a few things you can to do keep that night out spirit going, without having to leave the front door (unless it’s to go to a friends house).

Film or Box Set Night

Nothing beats a good social film night and with films being cheaper to buy or rent in and options becoming more accesible by the day (DVD, Blu-Ray, Stream or Download via a video service) the price of a ticket to see it at the cinema doesn’t seem as appealing (though the bigger AV system does seem nice unless you’re lucky enough to have a home cinema system and a projector of your own!)

So make some popcorn in your machine/pan/microwave, turn up your speakers, drop your lights down to minimal (or just turn off the “big light”), get out the bean bags and floor cushions and enjoy a film or two with your friends!

A word to the wise, if you’re watching an action movie late at night, drop the subwoofer (if you have one) a few decibels if you want to keep the neigbours on your side! (Save it for the party nights 😉 )

Games Night

Depending on your interests, this can take many forms, but all follow the same basic principles. Find a format of game you all like (playing cards, board games, video games or make a game of your own), decide on a game to play and pick your rules. If you want to add a little twist to it more more excitement you can always make forefits to your games – for those that like to drink and gamble, more than just card games can deliver this (not that I condone or condem this of course, you make your own choice), or for the more family friendly option make a rule for something simple like doing the housework or paying for takeaway (heaven help your bank account!)

If you enjoyed your night as much as a night out, why not make it a regular thing? For Instance:

  • You could create your own FIFA tornament
  • Have a Sunday night meetup online Destiny/Left For Dead/Team Fortress/GTA/Any other multiplayer game that supports a few of you.
  • Have a regular tabletop session of Exploding Kittens/Million Dollars But/Cards Against Humanity/Bears vs Babies/Secret Hitler/Joking Hazard (but not all at once unless you’re pulling an all nighter).
  • Blow the dust of your old EyeToy/Wii/Kinect/Dancemat
  • Do a board game torunament (Scrabble/Monopoly/Boggle/Cluedo)
  • Do a real life tournament (Wheelbarrow Jousting Race!?! – definitely not for the faint hearted!)
  • Have an tabletop RPG night.
  • Arrange a murder mystery night, where you’re given a character in advance and you follow the scenario from the moment you walk through the front door.

Whatever you choose, play responsibly, have fun and try not to destroy any flat panelled screens!

Have a Communal Meal/Takeaway Night

Whether you and your friends all live together or in seperate accomodation everyone is so busy with their own schedules, you never get around to haivng a proper sit down meal and if your loan has run out and the bank of mum and dad isn’t quite paying out as much as it used to, a Sunday roast every week isn’t going to happen (it certainly doesn’t for me and I graudated first time 5 years ago!)

With that in mind, going out for a meal isn’t always an option for meeting up, so why not have one at home instead? If you can cook, all chip in towards it or if you want a real communal feel all pitch to bring something to share together. If you’re not the greatest cook, why not keep it low key and buy elements of it or all chip in for a takaway meal? You’ll soon find out that ordering 4 large pizzas between 6 of you works out much cheaper sometimes that ordering a large one for yourself and you also don’t have to choose between different topping sets when you could have 4 (8 if you go half and half).

Combine this with either good talk and whitty banter or one of the options above and you’ve got a great night sorted. Easy!

Create Something New

Many great creative projects spring from inspiration, boredom or great conversation – so why not act on some of those proposals on a free night? YouTube/Vimeo/Daily Motion channels, blogs, bands have all begun from a simple bit of free time.

If you’re a budding motion picture person, pick up a pencil and start storyboarding or drawing a frame of animation. If you’re more of a documentary or vlogging type, charge up your camera and pick somewhere to film.

If you’re more an arts and crafts person, maybe team up and create a piece for the household or each other’s apartments. Create your own photo poster or art collage. Whatever items you’ve got, recycle them into something interesting. If you plan it in advance, treat it simiar to the meal night and all bring different materials.

If you’re more of a music maker, maybe grab and instrument and strum out some chords or lyrics with your friends, you never know you might just end up with the start of a new song. If you’re more for just performing great work and want to play with others, see if any of your friends play too and have a jam session. I’ve seen many great collaborations and bands form from both my time at uni (I suppose with my studies often being based in a studio helped) and at work through just playing together for a couple of nights.

Perhaps you’re more of a writer. Whilst blogtober is coming to an end, it’s never to late to sign up for a free platform like Blogspot or WordPress and get your voice out to the world (have a look at the hashtags #blogtober or #blogtober16 on Twitter if you want some ideas to get started). If blogging isn’t your type of writing have a look at some of the more traditional methods. with fanfiction and poetry being everwhere on the internet these days, why not join the trend and collab at building a story. Sites like Poems & Quotes or Figment are great communities where you can swap and share your work and discuss each other’s pieces too if your friends can’t stick around.

Whatever your craft, try it out whilst you have the time and share it with your friends, you never know what you might make.

Sleep

It sounds a bit of a cop-out to this list, but let’s be honest – as a studnet you like your sleep right? So if none of the above appeal to you, you don’t feel like hitting the town and you can’t think of anything else to do, why not grab an early night? This doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t sleep in like a rockstar, you just get to unwind after a busy day and store up a few whisps of engergy for your next day of adventure.

 

If you like the occasional night off from partying, what do you like to do? Feel free to leave a comment down below and have fun…but not too much fun.

 

Mike

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Your Room

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Your bedroom is your space at uni (or part of it if you live in an American college style dorm). It’s where you sleep, where you’ll sometimes work, where you’ll unwind with a book, game or hobby and sometimes where you’ll share laughs love and memories with friends, family, fraternal/sororal relations or significant others. So you should take time to make it your own right?

Okay, some of the rules (particularly in private or university managed houses) usually disallow you from glueing stuff to the walls or customising your furniture to within an inch of it’s life, there are usually a few small mercies we’re allowed to achieve.

Build a Photo Wall

photowall

The Many Memories of a fellow housemate

Everything seems to have a camera in it these days, with some people never failing to miss an opportunity to get that amazing selfie. Of course our phones, computers, tablets and digital photo frame can show us these memories so long as you have power, and storage space somewhere (and an internet connection if it’s in the cloud).

So why not go lo-tech and create a good old photo wall?These can be anything from lightweight custom canvases to an arrangement of  favourite band posters, to simple 4 x 6″ (10 x 15cm) prints collaged together on a pinboard or tacked up on your wall with temporary adhesive (like a certain coloured tac).

Sites like Snapfish often offer free prints alongside regular orders, with HP branded products such as laptops often offering shortcuts to the Snapfish site. For US customers anywhere in the world TargetPhoto offer a printing service that you can have shipped anywhere or pick them up at your local Target store (if you have one). If you’re reading this in October 2016, they even have an offer on for the next 2 days for shipped photos, simply use the code “OCTPRINT” to get 25% off (Not Sponsered 😉 ). If you’re one of my Canadian (or US) readers, there’s also the online only Posterjack. If you’re a UK or Europe customer, don’t forget online shops such as Photobox offer great deals too as well as most Jessops and Boots shops in the UK often offering a short wait photo printing service that can be developed from SD Card, Optical Disk or good old film.

Set up Some Lights

Lighting. Own Work

Having lights up all year is another excuse not to have to unravel them again at Christmas.

This one is commonly associated with girls – possibly due to the various shapes, but I think there’s nothing wrong with any person having lights set up. Be it fairy style lights similar to what you have on a Christmas tree to rope lighting found at your nearest electronics shop. If you have screws already embedded in your wall (if not, check with your landlords first!!!) , why not recycle their use with a hung up neon sign?

Usually with a little inexpensive touch, you can create a little charm to your space, though if you’re sharing with someone, best to check with them first before you turn your room into a mini Blackpool or Las Vegas.

Add Some Inspiration

My old quotes in Year 1.

My old quotes in Year 1.

Sometimes, the wise words of others can serve as inspiration during troubled times or when you’re stuck on an assignment. Having quotes in your room, whether shop bought or printed yourself, much like your photo wall are a good way to show off what keeps you ticking and can often help remind us who were are and what we connect with.

I myself have had a number of quotes from Churchill’s famous “Let us Go Forward” poster, epiphanies that have come to me on nights out (or in) to quotes from calendars and programs with words of wisdom from writers and scholars past.

Whether it’s a holy book verse, a well known saying or something out of literature, add a little cultural touch to the walls you haven’t covered in pictures. As you complete your assignments, you may even find some great ones targeted at your work, or useful for a later project, so stick these somewhere safe too! If you can’t stick anything up, procure a whiteboard and write yourself a new one every week or month.

Adorn With Trinkets

Shotglasses. Own Work.

These double shotglasses had more than one way of providing merriment.

Thankfully as students, most places come furnished to some degree, saving you a large amounts on item cost. However, this not being your own furniture, means you need to think of other ways to inject your personality into your temporary abode. To complement your walls of pictures and posters, it’s always worth bringing along some ornaments to uni or showing off stuff you’ve found whilst out shopping or exploring during term time. Be this a Newton’s Cradle you found in a retro shop (a favourite of my halls bedroom), some fossils and pebbles you found on a beach trip, ornaments you brought back from a holiday down to your super rare guitar you’ve had since you first learned to play in school. These if anything are the main focus on presenting your personal domain as, well, yours.

Social Animal? Associate Your Lair

My Old Room. Own Work

My original games/cinema/work setup in the second half of my first year.

If you live in a communal space without a set common room, you can make people identify a place as yours with the psychological art of association. For instance, in the film ‘Bad Neighbours’ Teddy’s room in the fraternity house was associated as “The Lion’s Den” (or Tiger if you’d prefer to follow the picture!) and was the central safehouse and secondary point of control for powering the party system.

Likewise in my own experience in halls, we often created our own entertainment space and all had our own ‘function’ style rooms in addition to the common kitchen, using our environment to our advantage. For instance my friend Pete’s room was the second biggest on the floor and so was used for many night out activities, Xbox 360 gaming as well as spare time hang out space, whilst my other friends Craig and Sam were the gaming spaces for Playstation 3 and 1/2 respectively. Being the tech geek I was the alternate Xbox room or film night space (having a laptop, monitor and dual speaker system helped) for larger numbers, whilst the “girls floor” corridor was used for smaller group settings.

If you and your friends need somewhere to hang and don’t fancy hitting the town and party houses, play to your strengths and offer to host your low-key activities and hopefully get chance to make friends and attend others too.

A Comfortable Workspace

My bedroom workspace today.

My bedroom workspace today.

One thing you might need to do at some point is of course your assignments and if you don’t want to spend your time in the library or study space, your room is a great place to get on with it. Of course not everyone likes to spend all of their time at their desk, so make a space that you feel most comfortable in, be it on your bed or in a bean bag. If you do prefer a desk, make sure you set your space out in a comfortable and productive environment, with the stuff you need most in the right place. If your desk isn’t big enough, don’t be afraid to get creative – you never know what you can achieve with a few extra bits from your local Target or Wilko like shop can help extend your space (as a graduate, I’m currently writing this post on a converted wardrobe desk, which proves creativity should never stop). The most creative I’ve heard so far was my regular work partner who set up his printer in his unused sink and spread out the rest of his Music Tech setup on top of his in-room fridge, leaving his desk as room for his Macbook!

So how have you all set out your spaces? Have you been allowed to go wild or had to come up with creative hacks to make your room your home away from home? Feel free to share a comment down below!

Mike

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Assignments

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So far we’ve covered enjoying yourself and surviving your various sit down sessions with your tutors.  But we all know there’s a missing element here. The all famous and sometimes infamous assignments – the homework and coursework equivalent for your degree.

Whether you have hundreds of them that count to little nuggets of your modules or a couple of huge ones that define halves of your respective modules and indeed whether you like them or not, you will need these alongside your exams (if you have those too). If you have just exams, then don’t worry too much about this article just yet, but it’s worth folding a corner on for next year (if you have one) as they can show up any time your tutors see fit for those future modules.

So in the true spirit of trying to keep this below 2,500 words (something that I oddly used to struggle to write up to), here’s some tips to help you complete them without bursting an artery!

Plan Ahead

In my experience the best thing to do when given your structure is to make a plan or a schedule. It doesn’t have to be much – a few dates in your diary would do. Just know when assignments will be due before they’re set and at least you’ll always have an at-a-glance workload on view when planning other events, parties and trips in the future.

Collect Stuff

When you write essays and writeup documents you’ll be expected to reference everything (which we’ll get onto later). As you do your research online, in the library and perhaps through your own book collections, if you pick up on an interesting point that you might find useful in the future, make a note of it. You could save yourself a ton of work in the future!

If it’s online, why not look at a useful note collector such as Evernote or OneNote? Evernote comes with a plugin for most browsers that allows you to “clip” items to notes, which in turn can be synchronised to your cloud based account and any devices you install/sign in the desktop software on. I’m not sure if OneNote has all the same for websites, but you can copy and paste links in and it will keep track of what you import. For offline users, consider getting a cheap notebook or pocket notebook and make a note of the book, chapter and page number it was on so you can come back to it.

For those taking a more practical approach this applies too, be it recording video footage or audio, doodlings or sketches, collections of samples that you like or may use in a piece or snippets of other works that may inspire you to expand on or build further in your own creations.

Refer & Reference

I’ve essentially put the same word twice here, because there’s two different parties you’ll need to always remember as you write your findings, arguments or descriptions.

Firstly you always need to refer back to your title. It might sound silly and you may think you always are, but as you get into the meat of your scribblings, you’ll find that just like conversation it’s really easy to go off on a tangent and perform every tutor’s nightmare, waffling. When encountered with a wall of waffle, your peers and markers may still read it, but they may skim through, potentially glossing over an important point you make right in the middle of it!

Keep the waffles to your toaster and the point to your writing and keep it as concise as you can (Even if your word count is struggling – you might just have room then to make another one!). If you’re not sure if your paragraphs are to the point, book a tutorial or email a tutor for a quick read through.

Take Breaks

The human brain is capable of taking in information for 45 minutes at a time during revision and I’m pretty sure there’s something similar for output too. So make sure you do take breaks in your writing – particularly if you’re looking at a screen too for your eyesight’s sake! Even a few minutes is enough to get your brain doing something else for a while and you never know, if you’ve been stuck for a while on a small problem, approaching it with a fresh pair of eyes might just bring you the solution you’ve been looking for in a matter of moments.

Proof Read/Review

Once you’ve done a section, it’s worth reading, looking or playing back what you’ve done at point to make sure that it all fits together and makes sense. However, once you feel you’ve signed off a section, I wouldn’t stop there and I’d make sure you revisit it and check it over in the future alongside newer work as part of a ‘bigger’ picture to make sure everything flows smoothly. If you’re unsure, as I pointed out above, get your tutor or another colleague (or even your housemate or a family member) to have a read/look/watch. They don’t necessarily need to know the subject or feedback on that if they don’t know, but whether it’s interesting, flows right and feels like it’s not plagiarised (you should be able to spot this if they credit you for something you put in as a quote).

As the projects get bigger and take longer to do, consider redrafting where necessary and repeat this process as many times as it takes. Whilst it’s sometimes easy to say “it’s only 40% I need” in the first year, the second and third (and sometimes fourth year) do count, with the first year sometimes being great practice for this because when every mark is worth something, so should every second, word and millimetre.

Credit Everyone

With university being heavily focused on research, naturally large parts of your projects won’t be your original work, but drawing from or quoting others and this needs to be referenced correctly. Depending on your subject, department and local university customs, the model for this varies. The most popular one is the Harvard Referencing System and this can be mastered well using the astounding guide provided by the Library of Anglia Ruskin University. Two other popular formats used are the Chicago Manual of Style and for Psychology students, the APA style. Using these styles, you will be expected to either footnote the content you have borrow and write your reference in the footer of your current page, or to make a shorthand reference in brackets at the end of the borrowed content, and expand on this further in a dedicated references section at the end of the document.

It’s also important to acknowledge the media, people and resources you’ve had access to, even if you didn’t cite them directly in your content. These can be completed in separate respective bibliography and acknowledgements sections also at the end of your document.

For the specific layout of each document for your specific course, department, university and for the assignment, please refer to your tutor.

And Finally…

Assignments are important to getting your final grade, yes. But don’t overstress yourself to the end. If you’re struggling, speak to your respective tutor or personal supervisor, because at the end of the day you’re paying them to teach you and help you discover these things and they only want you to get this right (for both your reputation and indeed theirs). If you don’t get the greatest grade on it, don’t melt down like it’s the end of the world either. Yes it sucks, but you tried your best and not every person will be strongest in every subject. Again, talk to your tutor/supervisor to find out why you got the mark and where you may be able to improve. If you really want to resit it and feel you can do better, ask – but remember, they take your highest mark and often they’ll only let you resit/resubmit it the once.

Good luck with the writing and 1337 words… Not bad 😉

Mike

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Maximising Your Night Out

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A night out is often the pinnacle of student lifestyle, whether it’s a visit to the cinema, a restaurant or more commonly, on the town.

In order for you to actually make it through these nights without hurling, passing out in the street, destroying friendships or spending part of your night in a police van or ambulance it’s worth considering these little tips.

Please note, this article focuses mostly on drinking alcohol, but it can apply to those who aren’t drinking too much or who are under any sort of influence.

Whatever your poison, please enjoy responsibly and know your limits.

Have Somebody Responsible Available

It always helps to have ‘responsible’ people nearby if you plan to let your hair down, on the off chance something doesn’t quite go to plan. This doesn’t necessarily mean a friend has to stay sober as a judge with you all night. A responsible person can be anyone in a fit state to help you or look after you – a housemate that’s staying in, friendly bar or waiting staff or a residential warden. These people will make sure you stay having fun during the night, know when you’ve had enough and ensure that you’re still in a fit state to get home, or if not make sure that you can get home and hopefully not end up in too dangerous of antics (i.e.: Passing out on the toilet in a locked bathroom, falling asleep in somebody’s garden, jumping off a roof, or skinny dipping in ice cold water).

Many people will follow an unspoken take of turns and help each other back to houses, sat down, drinking some water and in worse case scenario making sure you get into your room and into bed okay.

Mix It Up (with Water)

Now I know everyone thinks it’s lame to drink water part way thorough the night, but it’s a proven tactic (particularly if your tolerance is lower), that if you drink a pint of water every few bottles/glasses of booze it’ll slow you down generally and allow you to party on through the night, rather than downing it all in one go and finishing yourself off before you even make it out of the door.

Keeping hydrated also reduces the feeling of sickness and will help to counteract the dehydration alcohol will create.

Think Your Outfit Through

I’ll be careful with this one. Now if it’s regular night out, wear whatever feels comfortable. Dress up, look sharp/pretty, enjoy yourself!

If it’s a theme night or it’s winter though, think function before fashion. What I mean by this is: question those heels or those smooth shoes before you step out the door and think likewise is a black shirt in a busy club in the height of summer a wise choice.

Ask yourself, will I be stable enough to walk?  is there foam/water/ice involved? (I’ve known friends break ankles wearing heels in slippery foam) Will the foam ruin my clothes? (Never ever wear suede!) Will I be warm enough? If I decide to go for a spontaneous swim in the sea, can I walk home in these clothes?

I know it sounds silly, but if you make a few sensible choices on top of deciding what looks good, your really expensive clothes will live to see another night and so will you!

Don’t Talk Taboo After Two

Ever heard of the phrase “Nothing Good Ever Happens after 2am”? Well Ted from How I Met Your Mother was certainly right for some topics! One important thing to do once inebriated is to avoid confronting more controversial topics. These can include trying to resolve or announce a conflict with a friend or partner, talk about social taboos within your circles or express negative feelings towards others. It sounds a little obvious, but it’s very easy to do when under the influence and sadly it’s very easy to react too, often leading to arguments, disrupting yours and your friends’ nights or worse – leading to  violent fights that will inevitably get you, your opponent and anybody that decides to get involved thrown out of the venue you’re in, possible barring and (if started or continued in a public street) may also get you arrested for assault.

If you wouldn’t say it to somebody in the street when you’re sober, don’t think about it when you’re drunk or it might just not end well.

And Finally

Have fun responsibly. Despite many primary school programs making partying looks like it’s all terrible for you, it is possible (yet not at all necessary) to drink and enjoy yourself if it’s kept in moderation. Likewise you shouldn’t need to drink to have a good time if you don’t wish to. But otherwise, keep a level head, have a laugh or two and enjoy the times you get to go out to the fullest.

One last tip. If you do decide to drink, make yourself two pints of water up before you go out and as soon as you get in, drink one before you sleep. You’ll see why the next day when you’ll want the other one 😉

 

Mike

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Feeling Homesick or Alone

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Hey everyone. After watching a recent video, I really thought this would be a great time to post this topic, just as the realities of university will be sinking in for newbies to the student life and for those returning students that may have moved in on their own for the first time or indeed any time.

Living away from home can be a life changing experience, but as with every up, comes it’s down sometimes. After a few weeks it’s perfectly normal to miss life at home  and sometimes feel a little homesick.

Alternatively, it can sometimes feel lonely if you live on your own or your friend and significant others are away for a long period of time. You might even feel lonely when others are around  (for instance being single around people in relationships, the general feeling of being in a new place with nobody you know or other more personal reasons).

To help you combat this unpleasant feeling, here’s five different suggestions to help you on your way to feeling yourself again.

A big shout out to great The Huffington Post, The Guardian & KEEPINSPIRING.ME for the helpful examples and to the very lovely Hannah Witton with this video for inspiring me to add my own experience and compile this list.

Keep Busy

Sounds obvious right? But honestly, a common prerequisite to loneliness is doing nothing. Not doing anything productive or entertaining, often leads to boredom, boredom leads to internal contemplation, contemplation leads to realisation and then you reach the penny drop that you’re there. Alone. And it’s not cool. And left to fester, it gets quite depressing. So how do we avoid this decline?

Do stuff.

Don’t worry, I won’t just leave you contemplating that. You should do something you either enjoy or you feel benefits you. This could be a hobby, some housework , some studying, going to the gym, anything that will keep your mind and body occupied and off that other subject we mentioned earlier.

Immerse Yourself In Another Universe

If you don’t feel socially fulfilled in this world, transport yourself in a fantasy one where you can connect with other character or indeed other real players around the world. Read a new or favourite book and let yourself get lost in the world and the actions of the characters described. Watch a non-easy watching film in the dark and experience the drama as it unfolds around you, or contrast with something comedic (after all laughter is meant to be the best medicine!). Log onto a game server (RPG, FPS and MMO games will be great for this) and become somebody else for a few hours. You never know you might meet other like minded people along the way and both indulge in the great life away from life together (or just blow up each other to smithereens!)

Don’t Get Drunk Whilst Lonely

You see it happen in the movies and it it looks like it’s a good solution, but what they’re really going through is kept off camera. Alcohol is naturally a depressant, both physically and  psychologically, though how it affects people is different to each individual and depends on a lot of variables (making it already a bad idea). My personal experience with large amounts of alcohol is that it’s like an amplifier for emotions. So in a parallel universe where I’m sober, if I’m having a good time, in the drunk one I’m having a blast! However in this case, if I was lonely, I’d be a bit down sober, so I’d feel much worse after a number of drinks – therefore negating the whole point. That and you’ll feel the hangover the next day extending your gloom further.

Go Exploring

When I recently became single, I didn’t find the idea of sitting in a bedroom all day too appealing. I wanted to get out and at least explore more of the county I was in. Considering I don’t (yet) drive I had to rely on public transport – and this turned out to be a great thing. I could pick a different destination on the map every few weeks and take off to somewhere else using the money that would have otherwise been spent as a couple. Not that you can’t do this if you’re in a relationship, just make sure you budget carefully so as not to miss out on opportunities when you spend time with your SO. If you’re not sure where to go or you’ve just moved to a new location and therefore know little about your immediate environment, pick a random place that looks interesting and take off. Just make sure that somebody knows where you are though if you do this.

Seek Out Your Family or Your Closest Friends

Your family are the support network you’ll never lose and your closest friends are the ones you get to pick. In today’s connected world, most people have access to communication of some kind (from top of the line video conferencing to a simple land-line phone or nearby phone box/booth/thing). Just a few respective characters and you can have somebody on the other end of the line to converse with and talk to. If phone calls or video chatting aren’t your thing, have a kitty for trips home. A brief trip back to home life can often be the thing to get you back on track. One word of advice though, keep to the three week rule when you first move out (if you have). If not, you won’t be so much of a “home bird”  as somebody that doesn’t leave the nest (which is always worth trying out in life! Once you’re used to it, a whole new world opens up for you!)

 

I hope this post has some great advice for you and if you struggle with feeling lonely or homesick I strongly encourage you to check out the links above and to follow these tips. Feeling lonely can affect everyone at any point in their life. Nobody should ever feel embarrassed about it and nobody deserves to suffer in silence. 

Don’t hide it, Don’t ignore it.

 

Thanks for reading and I’ll post another slightly more positive post again on Tuesday.

 

Mike

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Lectures & Seminars

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Undoubtedly you’ve noticed since you’ve joined student life,  College and University teaching is on a whole different level compared to your school classes. For starters,  they’re usually much longer and,  particularly in the case of lectures feel something akin to  going to a cinema rather than a lesson (only less exciting and with no overpriced popcorn).  Now,  some people are cut out for lectures and can happily take in and write notes on the swarm of information thrown at you on the slides and spoken by your teacher. Others struggle to understand it or lose focus around the 45+ minute mark (the rough single track attention span of studying young adults).  Either way, if you’re struggling to get it all in and you’re afraid of having no reference when asked question in the seminar, here’s a few tips to keep you both to the lectures themselves and surviving the endless drone).

Keep Hydrated

Let’s be honest, you’re going to be in there a while and whilst your coffee/tea/energy drink might keep you awake and alert, you’ll get thirsty and the caffeine does only work for a finite amount of time. Water will help fuel your system whilst you’re in there and whilst it might not feel like it at first, it will help to keep you hydrated, which in turn will help to keep your focus (why do you think Athletes live by the stuff?). Bottles of water are usually the best bet as these are allowed in most lecture spaces. Make sure you have a lid on though or when you accidentally knock it (which it possible if you’re scrawling notes at speed) you’ll give your notes and the person in front of you an unwanted shower! – even if they probably could do with one!

Pens and Pencils

Even in this day and age it’s worth keeping these close at hand so you can get everything down. If you’re a technology user, it’s worth keeping at least one pen about as you’ll need one to sign in to prove you’ve been there (unless your campus has upgraded to the new badge/fob scanners). They’re also useful just in case your battery goes flat and you need to quickly transfer to a lo-fi solution. If you’re still an old school writer, take at least two – that way if you do lend one to a friend or peer (which if you don’t know them that well there’s a small chance you might never see again), you still have something to write with and it’s great as a back up for other emergencies too (e.g: Pen running out or pencil lead snapping and you forget to bring a sharpener).

Use Evernote or OneNote to Remember & Annotate Stuff

If you’re a laptop or device user, you might find typing notes an easier and more readable method. However there’s only so much help that Text Wrangler, Word or Writer can do to help with note taking at speed. Microsoft’s OneNote really shines here and comes bundled with the most basic versions of Microsoft Office (Home & Student). The notebooks will allow you to write anywhere on the page and bring in tables, bullet or numbered lists and images as quick as a few key taps or dragging and dropping. Best of all, this is automatically saved as you type, so you’ll never miss a word. OneNote is available on a huge number of platforms allowing you to synchronise your notebook through Office 365 (which online is free for students and teachers with an academic email address) or as a Notebook file through a network drive or OneDrive. The Program is available on Windows and Mac computers, on iOS (phone and tablet versions) and watchOS, Andorid (phone and tablet versions)/Android Wear, Chromebook and online through onenote.com If you’re not an office user, never fear! Evernote is a free service (With a premium upgrade that’s 75% off for students,  for more features) on  that allows you to take a similar approach. Admittedly the “type anywhere” feature isn’t part of their notes, but you can import many things natively and everything else will be included as an attachment. The main selling point to Evernote (like many programs and apps these days) is that it backs up to the cloud (known internally as “Syncing”). This can be done periodically or on demand by pressing any of the large Sync buttons in the program or device apps and once completed can be accessed on any session you run on another device – which can range from PC or Mac programs, iOS, Android apps or the Web based version at evernote.com.

Can’t Keep Up? Record It

It’s worth getting permission for this one first. If you’re struggling to take in the talk first time around or you can’t keep up with writing notes, see if you’re allowed to record the lecture for playback later on. There are many options for this from inexpensive dictaphone style recorders to more high end capsule or externally connectable portable recorders. If you’re on a shoestring budget and have a smartphone or tablet handy that can pick up the lecturer or PA system, use that. I will be covering recorders like these in a later post on the sister site WAVE Media but if you’re already struggling and need one in the next couple of weeks try the phrase “portable recorder” on sites like Amazon or eBay or your local music/electronics shops.

Get the Slides

Much like obtaining the voice, if there’s some important data that you want from the lecture (that you can’t find from their references), ask nicely if you can get a copy of the lecture slides. You might have thumbnail versions on a hand out, but having a printed or digital copy will always help, particularly with visual learners that may have associated a particular part of the lecture with a particular slide. If you were lucky like I was in my later uni years, they may have already uploaded the slides (or plan to) to your respective virtual learning environment or LMS (e.g: Blackboard, Moodle, Sakai etc) so you can download them when you’re next in the library or on your computer.   I hope these few tips may help you out in the many years of being talked at and – on the rare occasion – talking back to your lecturer and your classmates.   For those of you that already have a few lectures and seminars under your belt, what methods do you use to retain the information? Feel free to leave a comment in the box below. Thanks for reading and class dismissed!   Mike

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Sports, Societies & Socials

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So, no doubt you’ve settled into your new abode and met a few new friends or been reunited with others. As many fresher’s weeks have drawn to a close and lessons are now in swing, there’s no doubt you’ve been around the fairs and the student union and been given flyer after flyer after sign up sheet, suggesting you join this and that.

If you feel a little in over your head or are beginning to question if you should have really signed up for every table you visited then don’t panic. Thankfully most of the sheets at fresher’s fairs are mostly there to gather interest and you usually don’t commit to joining a society until you’ve either paid ‘subs’ or been to the first few meetings.

Let’s break some of these groups down to get a better idea and hopefully demystify some of the assumptions.

Now bearing in mind colleges and universities around the world will operate slightly differently (sometimes inside a country itself you can have different institutions with different governance and representation), so this guide won’t fit every place perfectly. For that reason I’ve missed out specific lifestyles (such as Greek Life) and tried to cater generically to both Student Unions, Guilds and organisations alike. For the sake of translation, most student organised groups will be referred to as “societies” and teaching rooms as “labs” or “spaces” and job roles described as generically as possible.

VIP Club Nights and Dining Discounts

The offers you’ll have received here are usually vouchers for drinks deals and discounted entry to dedicated student nights. Some clubs occasionally give away or offer discounted VIP subscription to encourage you to visit them more. There’s never any commitment to do this of course and sometimes the more you connect with the better chance you’ll have of a cheap night out.

As for food discount codes and cards, it’s always worth a quick read thorough the terms and conditions, particularly when it comes to deals. Sadly most places won’t let you apply for discounts alongside deals (e.g: For Domino’s Pizza, you can either have x% off with your discount code OR you can have a deal such as ‘Two for Tuesday’ or a seasonal offer, not both), but again shop around the different takeaways to work out who will give you the most nosh for your dosh.

General Clubs & Societies

These are great little groups (sometimes known informally in their short form as as ‘socs’) often formed by students for students (with the occasional help from staff if it’s related to a subject or department), often free or for a very low joining fee. The scope of societies is as large as anyone’s imagination (within lawful reason) from chocolate to history to gaming to geocaching.

If you missed the sign up at fresher’s fair, there’s almost always an opportunity to join at a later date. Simply turn up at a meeting night or contact either a society member or even your student activities co-ordinator (if you have a specific one) and likewise if you wish to leave, give one of the above the courtesy of some notice rather than just not turning up, or you may keep hearing from them regarding events and subscription fees.

If you society doesn’t exist yet, why not start it yourself? It’s usually just a word with a student activities co-ordinator, a few signatures from your initial members, a decision on if your society will be a free and if so how you will fund activities) or subscription based one, submission of the paperwork to have it ratified by your SU/Guild council or guild to make it a formally approved and supported society and an initial general meeting (which becomes an annual requirement) in which you democratically elect a president (if not already agreed), a secretary and a treasurer. How formally you wish to enforce these rules in your society is up to you during each year in office (within many societies the title is just a formality), however bear in mind if the co-ordinator needs to enquire on something for whatever reason, these elected members will be the ones contacted first. Once you’re ratified, you’re away and the rest is up to you and your members to organise (although your guild or union will always be there to help should you need any advice or basic support on matter such as fund-raising, locations or issues with members).

If your society is of an academic nature, it’s worth speaking to your relevant department when you set it up. Whilst as non-students they may not be allowed to run the society itself, they may be able to provide support on a voluntary basis or allow you to use equipment or a teaching space in free hours (for instance, a Science Club may let you have supervised access to lab equipment or a Drama society have access to a performance space). If you have the funds you may be able to book spaces both on and off campus to host events (e.g: a play or a special night function) or seek sponsorship to get it for a discount/free provided you promote their services.

Whilst societies are often pretty relaxed, there may be some ground rules you may have to follow, particularly if it’s not a free membership. The president does have the right to exercise these within reason, so please respect them if you want to reap the benefits and memories of being in a society.

The Athletic Union and Sports Teams

Most universities will separate sporting activities into their own sub division known as the Athletic Union or AU (though not all Student Unions or Guilds have this). Alternatively the University themselves may manage the sports teams. Much like at school these aren’t strictly as formal as the ‘real world’ sports clubs, but unlike student societies will expect a degree of commitment, particularly if you’re competing in a university league or competition).

Once you’ve registered your initial interest at Fresher’s Fair, you’ll be invited to ‘try out’ for your chosen sport(s). If you meet the criteria for a position you’ll be invited to join the team. For larger universities, there may also be reserve teams, so if you make the grade but somebody else go there first too, don’t despair! Unlike a football table, University team are often fairly equal in ranking and are just as responsible to fighting for the competition and league titles.

Sports clubs are usually funded through sponsorship, either by business who will often be printed on your uniforms or by bars, pubs, taverns and clubs whom you’ll be expected as team entity (not necessarily as individuals) to visit on various nights out (sometimes on a dedicated ‘AU Night’ or ‘Socials’).

In addition to your match days, practice sessions and evening socials there’s often a chance to go ‘on tour’. This in effect is an organised semi-holiday/semi-sports week with your teams and other teams from your campus to join other university teams in  a predetermined country (which changes each year at the discretion of the tour company organisers) and often has activities geared towards friendly inter-campus and inter group activities.

University Opportunities

As the heading suggests, the University also like to get involved at the fair too, offering opportunities to students to help them out in addition to participating in the student union. This can be both voluntary and paid job roles for both immediate start and information on positions for the future.

Opportunities can involve outreach work for supporting the staff on open and applicant days & to visits to colleges and sixth forms, to becoming a university ambassador who may be part of the above in addition to further internal and public events  – representing the face of the university. There’s also opportunities to support different departments such as lab assistants for students in higher years or performance technicians and front of house staff for theatrical, musical and conferencing events.

Outside of academic roles, there’s also opportunities in the community such as wardens for student accommodation (be it a dorm/room advisor, part-time and live in residential wardens, fire safety officers or accommodation reps) which can allow both the mix of some or all of the following: reliving the fresher student life again, having responsibilities to safety or accommodation matters (all of which look great on CV and Resumé type documents) or generally just the warm feeling that you’ve made newcomers to the adult world feel welcome and supported as I’m sure you hopefully would have felt when you first started university. If you’re a fresher yourself. I wouldn’t recommend these roles for immediate start (and often it’s quite hard to get them for your current year as they usually start just before you arrive) and would wait until the second year when you will have got your head around how your university works.

Hopefully this has provided some insight to the life around uni outside of lesson time and as always I’m keen to hear your additions and comments in the comment box below if you have any.

Thanks for reading and hope the start to your respective years is going well.

 

Mike

Moving Into a Student House or Apartment

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Moving into a student house or apartment, be it as a newbie to University or a returning student, can be a life changing experience. If you’ve never lived on your own in a house before, it’s a great opening to adult life. If you have, then prepare for a totally alternate lifestyle!

Most people have been at uni for at least a year will often move into a house with people they know, though that isn’t always the case and can sometimes end up like fresher’s that don’t choose halls and will move in with complete strangers. Whatever your circumstance, here’s X tips to help you either make & stay the best of friends and brothers/sisters or at least co-exist peacefully as housemates.

Have At Least One Gathering

It’s important to get  know the people you’re going to be living with for the next year, even if it’s just a little bit about them such as they’re name,  their course and an idea of  their daily habits so you’ll know what to expect.

It doesn’t have to be a huge thing in you or they aren’t especially social.  Something as simple as drinks in the kitchen or a common space for a couple of hours will start you off nicely.

If you’re concerned about breaking the ice,  perhaps suggest an activity such as watching a film in addition,  playing a video/board game or

Physical a game such as football or pool/billiards (whatever you prefer).

The better you get to know your housemates,  the larger chance you will have of potentially increasing your social circle,  less of a chance of loneliness or isolation and a foundation on which learn to work together to live together easier.

Make a Rota

Accomodation needs maintenance to keep it in shape and since you’re living in a shared space,  it only makes sense to split the work on the areas you share fairly. Many households benefit  from a basic maintenance rota.

It can be as simple as a cleaning rota for the common areas. If you’ve grown to become a family away from home you may wish to apply to this or add other activities such as cooking or shopping (in the case of my housemates in our first  year together we  made a weekday cooking schedule and fended for ourselves over the weekend).

Try between you to stick to it and make amendments for those struggling to ensure you’re all contributing fairly.  Once the process builds  momentum you’ll find the workload better than managing a large place on your own and you’ll breeze through landlord inspections much better.

Agree Some Ground Rules

To ensure everyone gets the respect they deserve and people’s schedules don’t clash a few basic unwritten ground rules don’t go amiss. Most of them will probably be part of your contract anyway and many of them are common courtesy  so it may be be as simple as negotiating together locally so you’re all on the same page.

Typically most people will agree on noise levels and times (many contracts specify no noise leakage to the outside world after around 11pm), cleaning up what is made messy,  agreements on sharing the TV if you have one in a common space,  decisions on house parties or gatherings.

If you’re struggling,  searching online or speaking to your parents or accomodation officer should provide some inspiration.

Once you’ve all agreed,  use your head when you go about you day and remember which rules take priority.  It may be acceptable now and again to turn a blind eye (since nobody like a grass),  but breaching contract rules and law can lead to more serious discipline from your accomodation officer,  landlord or even the police.

Communicate the Important Stuff

If you’re going to introduce an important change to the ecosystem of your home which as getting a pet (good luck getting one allowed in university managed accommodation!), if you’re bringing someone to stay or  if you’re moving out. If it’s going to have an impact on your other housemates lives,  it’s only fair to give them a heads up,  rather than giving them an unexpected surprise. 

Communication is also important at the management level too. If you are a resident  warden or fire warden,  give your housemates plenty of warning if you’re going to test something such as the electric RCD fuses or the fire alarm and likewise if a problem occurs in the house,  voice these concerns to your warden or landlord.  Likewise if something happens and work is required in the house/apartment building  whilst you’re  a tenant your landlord or accomodation office should provide notice to you that contractors and/or their representatives will be visiting. If this communication doesn’t occur,  either party can end up in serious trouble,  so keep the lines open and everyone in the loop. 

Split the Bills

If you live in accomodation where your bills aren’t covered,  you’ll usually only receive one bill for the property.

Just like the cleaning rota,  unless someone is running up the meter with an entertainment system built for a small nightclub,  the bills will be fair game between you. There’s several ways to achieve this and it’s ususally easiest to automate the process through direct debit and run everything on a fixed monthly rate (which if you use less you’ll all get back just as equally in credit). So whether you wish to pick a utility each and pay each other the difference or you set up a house “kitty” and an elected treasurer or took on turns you pay it manually each month.

A creative approach is to set up a payment system like PayPal where each person pays said “treasurer”  each month into their PayPal (not bank account) as credit,  then you pay off your bills through this virtual kitty. You could use a pay book or maybe use a spreadsheet package like Microsoft Excel,  OpenOffice/Libre Office Calc  or Google sheets to track people’s payments and ensure nobody is falling behind. If you choose to do it this way though,  make sure there’s some credit in there first each month  and everyone has contributed  or your treasurer will have a hefty withdrawal from their bank account!

And finally…

Have fun! Uni is one of the first times you’ll be able to move in strangers and move out lifelong friends so take advantage of the opportunity to make new friends and enjoy the experience of living on your own (bit at the same time not in your own if your sharing with others) and –  if your going straight from college or sixth form  –  begin to learn what it is to ‘adult’ each day.

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