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