Exams and beyond

I am currently two exams down and by the time you are reading this I will have finished my third, and last, exam. So far my exam period has gone really well and hopefully my third exam is equally good. Fingers crossed!  

Over the last week the university held their standard Stress Less Fest. For those of you who don’t know what this is, it is a week-long event that takes place on campus providing students with a break from their busy exam and revision schedules.

The highlight of this biannual event is definitely the petting zoo. A whole array of furry pets and adorable farmyard animals are brought to the redbrick area outside of the Students’ Union for us to pet at our own leisure, whilst we take a few minutes to unwind from the stresses of the exam period. Other events of the week included the handing out of hundreds of bananas to students in the library to fuel their day, sumo wrestling in inflatable suits and finally a session of box-sets and beanbags in the SUSU foyer to round out the week. In my opinion the Stress Less Fest is one of SUSU’s greatest initiatives and along with services like Nightline and the Advice Centre, it forms part of the great welfare service that the University of Southampton provides.

The petting zoo was as popular as always!

With the help of various stress relieving activities, I have made it to the end of exams and with it the end of my third year of university! I can now turn my attention towards the summer holidays and ultimately towards my final year as a university student.

Next year will, once again, be vastly different to the all of the previous ones. I will be starting my masters, which will mean a significant amount of independent work researching and completing my fourth year project. The project is expected to last the entire year and will be by far the most difficult thing I have ever undertaken at university.

Going into next year will also mean that many people I know from societies, halls and my course will no longer be at university, which I know will take a while to get used to! The Grad Ball is in just over a week’s time, which will give me the opportunity to say goodbye to many of them, as it will be one of the last times that everyone will be together.  

One of the things I’m most looking forward to next year, is taking over as the president of the Fancy Dress Society. This year I had my first taste of being on a committee, as last year I was elected as the society’s treasurer, so this time around I decided to run for the position of club president. We held our AGM (Annual General Meeting) in the week after coming back from Easter to decide upon the committee positions and members for next year, as well as discussing some other pressing issues. This will probably mean a lot of extra work, but nevertheless, I can’t wait to get properly started in my new role and to try to tempt next year’s freshers into creating and dressing up in bizarre outfits.

James 

The highlights

Today is my penultimate day at Southampton. This time tomorrow I will have taken my last exam, and it will all be over – the culmination of four years of hard work, and great fun – and all that will be left to do is wait for my results and hope that I've done enough to get the grades I'm hoping for! 

So much has happened since I arrived here, and it would be impossible to fit it all into one blog post, so here's a few of the highlights; some of my favourite memories from my time at university.

Freshers Week

Inevitably, one of the best weeks was the first. No work, no lectures, just seven days of no-holds-barred enjoyment, getting to know the people I would be living with for the next year. Some hilarious memories were made with those who would go on to be some of my closest friends.

The Zoo

A visit to Marwell Zoo has got to be on every Southampton student's bucket list. We went at the end of first year, and had a great day out.

  

Moving into the Castle

In second year, I moved in with a group of girls who I'd never met before, and it was one of the best things that I've ever done. There were nine of us, and the house we lived in was so huge that we nicknamed it 'the Castle'. I was originally meant to go to Japan in second year, which unfortunately fell through. By the time I knew I wasn't going, all my friends had sorted out their accommodation and I had to find somewhere by myself. I wasn't thrilled with the idea at first, but the girls were amazing, taking me under their wing and really making the effort to get to know me and include me in everything. We're still all so close, and I'm looking forward to being reunited with some of them next week in London. 

One of many birthday celebrations

Come Dine With Me

My boyfriend's house decided to do their own version of the popular TV show, Come Dine With Me, during second year, with a different person cooking for everyone each night. I acted as camera woman, and filmed it all, resulting in a 40 minute video of the entire week. Completely hilarious and an absolute must once you're living out of halls! 

Japan

This is an obvious one, and there really is no way I could pick a favourite moment from my study abroad experience. Watching sumo wrestling in Tokyo, skiing in Sapporo or eating oysters in Miyajima would probably be some of my top picks, along with just generally being able to live and study in Kyoto, a city which will always have a place in my heart.

Doshisha was a stone’s throw from the Imperial Palace

 Kyoto is particularly beautiful in the springtime

Visiting Home

Studying abroad also made coming home that much more special. Even though I only got to spend a couple of weeks in Southampton with my friends in their final year, they were some of the best. 

Celebrating my birthday in Southampton surrounded by my best friends

Running the Bournemouth Half Marathon

This is something I never thought I would do, and to be able to do it with one of my best friends from University was truly amazing. Such a great achievement for both of us, and a day I will never ever forget.

Very proud, if somewhat dishevelled

Dissertation 

Perhaps a strange one – I'm not sure how many people would pick this as one of their highlights. But I really did enjoy researching and writing mine, and seeing it all come together in the end was one of the most satisfying feelings! I'm already looking forward to doing it all over again for my masters in a couple of years' time. 

Media Ball

I suppose I'd have to include being involved with the Wessex Scene generally in this one too. It's been a blast, and I couldn't be more pleased that I decided to run for Travel Editor last year (even though I'd never written for the Scene before!). I would never have thought that I would get involved with something totally new in my final year and make (even more) good friends, and I'm definitely going to miss it! The committee has worked very hard this year, and the Media Ball was a great way to celebrate. 

Celebrating with Tahlie, next year’s Editor

So there we have it. A select few of my favourite memories from my time here at Southampton. Aside from providing me with a lot of laughs, University has helped me develop both academically and professionally, which has left me more than ready to take on this new, post-uni chapter of my life.

Tayler

One more push

The sun is shining, the melodies of the ice-cream vans ring out around the roads of Highfield, petting zoos are once again to be found outside the Students’ Union building, and suddenly the most menial of tasks seem to take the utmost importance (never underestimate the entertaining nature of washing up) – it can only be summer exam season!

And while things with the dissertation are now all wrapped up (the Viva I wrote about last time seemed to go okay, touch wood!), it’s now time to get down to the business of exams, with one more push to go until the complete and utter freedom of the summer holidays. It’s a chance to relax, gather thoughts, do some planning for the year ahead, and chill out with friends – in my case, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for a second year in a row!

When auditions came around earlier in the year, after the incredible experiences of last time round, I simply couldn’t resist giving the Fringe another shot. With a taste of it under my belt I think I know more how to go about things (whereas when I got there last time, the amount of performances and events was a bit overwhelming!), including making the most of it from a potential career development perspective (just to keep that option open!) by attending workshops and networking a little more tactically, as well as how to identify and see the best theatre up there, and once again I’m hugely excited by the prospect of the show we’re taking up – we’re hoping it’ll be a massive hit!

This production is a well-know farcical classic, an abridged version of Oscar Wilde’s comedy The Importance of Being Earnest – but with a pretty unique twist: it’s been cast cross-gendered! Although I can’t say too much about it at the moment (we’re having a big ‘reveal’ on social media in the next couple of weeks as we kick-start a couple of fundraising campaigns – keep an eye out!), the show itself is looking hilarious, and it’s certainly been a challenge so far learning to play the part of Gwendolen, lead female – in all forms! It’s something different, something experimental and something hopefully with the potential to lift the spirits of audiences across the Fringe, so there’s a lot to look forward to – although I’m not looking forward to the promise of having my legs waxed for the part (to raise money for the trip, but still: ouch)!

Along with the dissertation, I’ve also recently experienced a wonderful breakthrough in the progress of a fantastic, long-term Performing Arts project I’m going to be undertaking across the duration of the next year. Although I can’t reveal too much at the moment (all the legal stuff’s still to be finalised), I can say that any fan of musical theatre or indeed any shows at all should keep their eyes peeled soon, as an absolutely huge name is going to be arriving at the Nuffield Theatre in 2015. If you’re around, please come and audition!

Because after a relatively intensive round of planning, writing and presenting, I’m fortunate enough to be co-directing this project alongside a brilliant production team, having won the pitch for the annual Nuffield slot! Fingers crossed it’s going to be incredible, hopefully like nothing we’ve seen before in Southampton (and potentially on a larger scale than ever before!) – I’ve plenty of planning to get done over the course of the summer to say the least (a hint: I might be attempting to source a chandelier!), but it’s very exciting indeed. Watch this space!

But before all of that comes exams, and this time round I face the challenging prospect of three, all worth 100% of their respective modules – so no pressure! With fully-examined modules, the depth of your knowledge is certainly always tested, and preparation does tend to be that bit more intense as a result, but then I’ve also enjoyed having the luxury of extra time this term to spend on my dissertation rather than on meeting assignment deadlines – so swings and roundabouts, really!

I’ve plenty of challenging material to sink my teeth into at this point as a result, and am starting to get slightly on the panicking side as the dates draw nearer, but then I guess it’s natural given the format of exam season. Having gone through it plenty of times before now, I can only hope that this extra pressure inspires me on as it has done in the past – and in the knowledge that freedom in the form of summer holidays is but less than a week away.

Amidst all of this preparation, though, I was lucky enough to take some time out (a technique commonly known at this time of the year as “procrastination”) to head along to the Students’ Union a couple of weeks ago and attend the Excellence in Volunteering Awards, or EVAs. I was humbled to be nominated this year for Commitment to Performing Arts shows, but although I wasn’t short-listed (not a surprise, as I’m about to explain!), I wanted to head along to the live event anyway to check it out and support my friends who were still in with a shot.

And what I enjoyed was a truly inspirational evening. Sometimes when you throw yourself into University life, it can seem like your activities are the most important in the world (particularly during production weeks in theatre!), but what the EVAs reminded me of was the fact that this Union and University produces, in vast swathes of different manifestations, some incredible, large-scale and humbling achievements, personalities and individuals. Be it in fund-raising for charity, voluntary work for the community, collaborating with huge number of parties or fighting for causes they’re particularly passionate about, the nominations and awards which many people received that night were mind-blowing, really pushing the boundaries of what you’d expect students to be able to achieve – and all alongside their respective degree programmes, too.

The setting was fittingly spectacular too!

It was fantastic, and also a celebratory occasion for our table as the Performing Arts Officer, Laura, received well-earned recognition for her efforts in representing so many people and groups with such wisdom, passion and diligence. Congratulations to her!

Plus, it was another opportunity to experience a glitzy and glamorous event following on from the Performing Arts Ball the week before – so yet another chance to suit up, and those can never be turned down!

The Performing Arts Ball was once again a night to remember!

So as I settle back into the slightly horrible but nonetheless necessary rhythm that is exam season, I’m reminded that anything really is possible here at the University of Southampton – and in the case of rounding off my third academic year here, it’s just going to take one more push! Here goes – good luck everybody!

Robin

Summer break is approaching

Summer break is approaching fast and with the wonderfully warm and sunny weather we’ve been having recently I’ve really had to exert my will power and determination in order to keep myself in the library and focused on revising for my upcoming exams (my first exam begins this week!). On the plus side, while I can’t spend all my time outside in the sun it does make for a good revision break to take a stroll around the campus before getting back to work. I’ve already made a number of exciting plans for the first few weeks of summer following exams, so I can hardly wait until I’ll be free from this library lockdown I’ve implemented on myself. My plans include a night out with my housemates to celebrate exams being over, a trip to Paris with my sister to celebrate my twenty-first birthday (which was about two weeks ago) as well as to celebrate my sister’s birthday (which will be in the beginning of June) and I’m also looking forward to flying back home to Sweden again. My sister will be graduating from the Swedish equivalent of high-school or sixth form which is really exciting especially with all the cool and unique traditions Sweden has when it comes to graduation. It’s going to be a lot of fun to be there and support her (especially with my dad still being in Australia, I’ll need to make sure I compensate for him not being able to be there and cheer extra loudly!).

Photo taken during one of my revision break strolls around campus. The weather has been so lovely!

This photo was taken two years ago during my graduation in Sweden

One of the traditions in Linköping, the city in Sweden where I lived, is to ride on a tractor around the streets in the city centre so friends and family (as well as anyone who happens to be in town that day) can cheer you on. Every class in each school in the city hires their own tractor which results in a long parade of tractors carrying newly graduated students dancing, singing and cheering.

Here’s a photo of me with two of my housemates

With my birthday being so close to exams I didn’t do anything huge to celebrate but my housemates did take me out for dinner which was really nice of them. However turning twenty-one is seen as kind of a big deal so I’m looking forward to my adventure in Paris with my sister where we plan to celebrate properly.

Since my last post I’ve also officially handed over the Jazz dance society to a new committee who I’m sure will do a great job. The photo above is a mixture of the old and new committees which was taken right after the AGM

Also dance related, and a good way to end the year and my involvement with the dance societies, was the Performing Arts Summer Ball which took place a couple of weeks ago. This ball included a gourmet three course meal at the Grand Harbour Hotel and was a fun night out before the real exam revision period began. Right before the summer ball, which included members from the whole of the performing arts societies (ie not only the dancers but also the students involved in music and theatre among others), the dancers had our own small awards ceremony before we met up with the other societies. At the awards ceremony, each dance society president was able to give recognition to a few individuals of their society who stood out throughout the year.

Photo of me and a few of my former jazz dance committee members before leaving for the ball. 

With so many of my close dance friends graduating this year, it was nice to have a night out with everyone one last time.

Anyway, that pretty much sums up the last few weeks so for now I better get back to revision!

Kristin 

Finding time to enjoy yourself during exams

Whilst most third years have been rushing around trying to complete dissertations in an eternal state of stress, my last couple of weeks have fortunately been mostly free from such mania. This is because, unlike most degree courses, the dissertation for Physics is completed in the first semester and as such, the several weeks back from Easter have been relatively stress free.

Apart from the constant and seemingly never-ending schedule of revision, I have been working hard to complete my second computer project for the computer programming course I took this semester. I managed to finish it with about a week left before it was due, so thankfully my last coursework deadline of the year didn’t prove to be too problematic! Even though I was apprehensive about this module at first, it turned out to be a great experience and a really useful skill learnt.

As I mentioned in my last blog, I celebrated my twenty-first birthday during the first week back after Easter. On the evening of my birthday I went out to students’ favourite, The Cowherds, with my girlfriend, twin sister and her boyfriend. It was a lovely evening (and pretty good on the present-front) and despite being full up after the meal, we somehow still managed to eat birthday cake once we got home!

Twin birthdays means twin cakes!

My sister and I have a friend who also has her birthday at the end of April, so we decided to have a triple birthday party and head down to Jesters on the first weekend of term. Having a combined birthday is fantastic because it means you get many more people coming, which makes the night that much more enjoyable.

My house mates also went to the trouble of putting up birthday banners and blowing up many balloons, which have provided probably too much childish entertainment in our house. So overall my twenty-first birthday was fantastic and definitely lived up to everything twenty-firsts should be!

On Saturday our house hosted a Eurovision party as a chance for people to relax before the whirlwind of exam season sweeps us all up. Every year my Eurovision-obsessed housemate takes it upon himself to organise the event and this year was no different. Before I came to university I had never watched it or understood its appeal, however after the Eurovision party in my first year, I suddenly understood why it is so popular; it’s hilarious!

I spent a lot of my Saturday afternoon helping my housemate set up for the event. We chose to do it in his bedroom because it is actually bigger than our lounge, which meant re-organising furniture and decorating the walls with flags of all of the countries, which we spent hours making for last year’s party.

It’s important not to get too overwhelmed by coursework and exams during the latter stages of the summer term. Whether it be playing sports, meeting friends or hosting a Eurovision party, make sure you leave time for things that you enjoy over this exam period. Finally, good luck to everyone taking exams!

James

All go

It's been another busy few weeks since my last post! Like Robin, I've completed and handed in my 10,000 word dissertation, along with my final piece of coursework at Southampton. Submitting my dissertation was such a huge milestone - it seems so far away at the start of the year, when you begin your research, yet it comes together so quickly towards the end. It's incredibly satisfying to see all your hard work bound and ready, and it makes all the stress and hard work worth it. Although it was a tiring couple of weeks leading up to the deadline, I've thoroughly enjoyed researching and writing this assignment, which I suppose goes to show the importance of choosing a topic which you're really interested in. It can be difficult at times, as you have so much freedom when it comes to picking, but it seems I chose well (especially as this is the area in which I want to work in the future!).

It always seems impossible until it’s done

After submission, we had the Media Ball, where all the SUSU media societies got together for a meal and to celebrate the hard work that everyone has put in over the past year. The Wessex Scene won the award for Best News, which was fantastic, and it was so nice to relax for the evening and have some laughs with some of my favourite people. 

Looking glam with some of the Wessex Scene committee at the Media Ball

It's now well into exam season, so it's back to the early commute and long days in the Hartley Library. I'm so far managing to keep my stress levels down, stay healthy and get enough sleep, although I feel by the end of it all I might not be able to say the same! It's crazy to think that in exactly two weeks I will have finished at Southampton for good! There still feels like there's so much to do!

Revision, powered by green juice!

I've also begun fundraising for my ICS placement in Nepal. In July, I will be running 100 miles in seven days (with the help of some of my amazing friends) and have already managed to raise over £100 in sponsorship. My target is £800, so still a long way to go, but I'm actually enjoying it far more than I thought I would! 

Training, however, isn't quite going to plan – I hurt my foot last week and have hardly been able to walk on it. On Sunday evening I bit the bullet and took a trip down to A&E to get it x-rayed. Thankfully, I haven't broken anything! It's a suspected torn ligament, so should be healed in a few weeks. For now, it's no running, but I'm still allowed to swim and cycle.

Talk about timing – A&E is always a great place to spend a Sunday evening!

Looks like my 100 miles might be tougher than I thought! In the meantime, I'll continue to hobble around the library. Good luck to anyone taking exams over the next few weeks!

Tayler

Learning to speak

It’s almost done. Nearly a year after our kick-off meeting, and after months of sweat, toil and more than a few sherbet lemons (what my parents would call “brain food”!), I’ve now almost completed the whole of my Third Year Project – or in more general terms, a dissertation! Crikey, that makes me feel old!

As I wrote last time, the Easter holidays were mostly spent working on the Project itself, while occasionally popping out to see friends (and take much-needed breaks)! Returning to Southampton half a week before term began to give myself a little bit of settling time back into the rigours of independent life (whereas at home it can be quite easy to take meals magically appearing, and laundry seemingly doing itself, for granted!), I knew that the submission deadline for the ten-thousand word report, along with the programming “artefact” we were tasked with constructing alongside it as the basis of our research, was alarmingly close, so there was plenty to crack on with to make it the best I could!

And despite my sleeping pattern adjusting itself into that of true scientific fashion, as I only ever seemed to have huge brainwaves every time I clambered into bed (typical!) – often which I then felt I had to act upon if I wanted to doze off that night – I ended up managing to get plenty of content written and checked (despite a minor last-minute panic where I thought I’d accidentally deleted my references!), with everything submitted in good time and (hopefully) form – phew! So the challenge, thankfully, was met, and after what I can honestly say was one of the most gruelling, but ultimately rewarding, months of my life, I’ve come away with a final project of which I believe I can be proud.

Setting out to find some way of linking my love of my subject, Software Engineering, to my other great passion, the theatrical world, almost a year ago now, I definitely wouldn’t have foreseen the end result, particularly as my initial research surrounded topics like robotic puppetry!

But I’m pleased to be able to say that, despite the occasional questionable result here and there (as ever in engineering projects, nothing’s perfect!), I’ve managed to research around, and program, a fairly bespoke computer system which takes in multiple-camera video streams of theatrical shows and analyses them without human input, producing ‘suggested cut’ files of their contents. It’s a tool which hopefully might prove hugely useful to the theatrical societies in the future in terms of speeding up the editing process, and one which I’d love to look into developing further in the future, although after ten months of it, maybe after a short break, perhaps!

But although the battle to hand everything in on time was thankfully won, the war is not yet entirely over, as my dissertation Viva follows hot on the deadline’s heels and takes place next week. This is a forty minute or so presentation where I have to explain, demonstrate and then defend my work throughout the year to experts in the field of such autonomous agents, having been promised the asking of questions designed to test the range and depth of our knowledge to the extent that we’ve been warned we may struggle to answer them all! It certainly will be a test of how far the project’s come in its lifespan – and how much theory I’ve picked up along the way!

Yet one thing I’ve realised while preparing for the Viva is how much it says about the developmental opportunities both my course and the University have afforded me that I’m not quite as nervous regarding the presentation element as I’d have previously anticipated. Although the prospect of the questioning section still completely terrifies me, I’ve found myself over my three years at University becoming more and more confident with public speaking, including improvised speech, which is odd as, if you’d have asked me to present for that period of time at the beginning of my University career in such a high-pressure situation, I’d have run a country mile! It’s strange to think just how nervous and shy I used to feel in front of people before I arrived in Southampton, in contrast to how I feel about it now.

I guess this growth in confidence in learning to speak could well be attributed to the amount of time (some might say too much!) I’ve spent on stage through theatrical activities, but I think it’s also largely come through elements of my course; as group projects often form a large element of Software Engineering and Computer Science modules, the ability to stand in front of people who you’re aware are assessing both you and your words is a skill you’re given plenty of chance to practice throughout in many different contexts, letting you soon learn what works when you have to present yourself – and what doesn’t!

And it’s a skill which has multiple applications across different contexts, be they job interviews, technical presentations, business pitches (myself recently having quite a big one – I’ll be sure to write about the result next time!) or talks to particular audiences, like those I was granted the honour of taking part in with the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education during last summer’s Open Days.

Speaking in the Nuffield Theatre to audiences of hundreds of parents last summer was certainly nerve-wracking, but hugely rewarding!

Although public speaking doesn’t always go to plan – I’ll always remember the feeling of forgetting the material in my second ever stand-up comedy set after just one minute of talking out of sheer nerves, even though I thought my first set had gone down pretty well – it does always provide a fantastic challenge, and with enough rehearsal this can usually be overcome, while providing that incredible feeling of running off performance adrenaline and improvising to deliver the best presentation that you can.

So I’m sure that, however the Viva ends up going I will, one way or another, end up enjoying it (to an extent!). At the very least, it will finally see the end of the exacting, but rewarding, Third Year Project, right in time for exams – so fingers crossed for the days to follow!

Robin

Back to reality and new opportunities

I arrived back in Southampton last Wednesday and since returning I’ve been hit with the reality of deadlines and upcoming exams! I had a wonderfully relaxing time while in Sweden but have now had to switch into to ultra efficient work mode in order to meet all my deadlines. It was much harder than I anticipated to focus and get work done while I was at home visiting family and friends so I’m going to have to compensate by spending more time in Hartley Library over the next few weeks. It’s hard to imagine what life would have been like had I chosen to stay in Sweden and live at home while attending university. I guess I would have adjusted, but I think moving out on my own has been a really great experience in many ways and I've come to realise that I’ll probably never live at home again. I can’t really imagine moving back; I’m too used to my own ways now, but in any case it’s always nice to visit.

This photo was taken on my walk to the bus station the morning I left Sweden. I was really lucky to have surprising warm and sunny whether during my stay.

Leaving Sweden

So exams are approaching which means I’ll be occupied with revision for the next few weeks. Luckily, due to the dance season being over, I should have more time on my hands since our weekly classes will be more casual (now that we’re not rehearsing for any performances). Furthermore, tonight the Jazz dance society will be having our annual AGM and a new committee will be elected. I remember debating running for President last year, worrying over whether or not people would vote for me. Now I have society members facing the same hurdle and I’m the one trying to convince them they have nothing to lose by trying for a position. Nobody will hold it against you if you run for a position but are not elected, in fact most people won’t even remember. As one of my favourite quotes sums up: “doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will”.

Myself and the contemporary dance president after this year’s Pure Dance show. We were each given something as a thank-you for our work throughout the year.

On the subject of societies and committees, I’m excited to reveal that I will be the new president of the University’s Green Action society! Green Action organises events and campaigns to do with environmental and social issues. Over the past year they've primarily been focusing on a Fossil Free campaign as well as organising visits from several guest speakers. In all honesty, I only very recently found out about the society through a post on the University’s conservation society’s Facebook page. As I've mentioned before, I will not be continuing with dance next year (the intention being to give myself more time to focus on my degree) however I have long wanted to get more involved with some of the charity and volunteering societies. After being on a committee this year (and President no less) I had ideally liked to join the committee of one such society but thought my chances where pretty slim, seeing as my involvement was pretty poor this year due to dance commitments. 

In any case, I decided to attend the AGM for Green Action and find out more about what they do. After spending the first forty minutes asking questions and getting to know the current committee members I decided to run for President! My main interests are within food and energy security, both of which are strongly connected to many environmental and social issues. I’m excited to see what I can do with this opportunity and I’m looking forward to working with and getting to know some new and interesting people. But for now it’s best I get back to focusing on exams…

Kristin