Green Action and Halloween events

Last week Green Action held the second event of the term which was on food and the environment. We organised a speaker from Rice Up, a local whole foods cooperative in Southampton, to come and talk about how they started their business and the principles and ethics behind the choices they’ve made while creating and running their business. We also learnt about the importance of the choices we make with the food we buy and useful things we can think about if we want to buy ethical and environmentally friendly goods. In addition, we served some free vegan sausages and vegan cake which I think the members were quite happy about - who doesn’t love free food? Following the talk we held a meeting to vote in a new Web Manager and Social Secretary into the committee. It’s great having more people on the team and hopefully with our new Web Manager we’ll be able to reach out to more people with what we’re doing as a society. As for our new Social Secretary, it will also be nice to start organising some socials outside of the events we hold, so people can get to know each other better. To round the night off, we showed a movie about industrial agriculture and sustainable alternatives. Next Tuesday we’ll be having our third event, about starting a fossil-free campaign, which we’re looking forward to introducing to the members.

Last week I also met up with one of my first year flatmates who is studying Aerospace Engineering and who I haven’t seen in about a year! (It’s crazy how fast time flies by while you’re at university!) This is the same flatmate who helped me out a lot during the summer, when I participated in the intensive Mandarin Language Course for beginners. We’re planning on meeting again so I can brush up on my Mandarin skills which should be interesting, considering how easy it is to forget a language when you don’t use it often. I’m also feeling that my Swedish is slowly deteriorating (even after having lived in Sweden for six years) so I had better make sure I use it as much as I can when I go home for Christmas.

Last night I attended the dance societies joint Halloween Social. As with most of the dance socials not only are they a lot of fun, but they’re also a means for us to raise money for the annual dance show, Pure Dance, which will be held in the Guildhall O2 Southampton in March. This is very exciting as it’s a bigger venue compared to the Turner Sims hall we’ve had the show in previous years. Even though I’m much less involved with dance this year, it was still fun to go out and see everyone, especially seeing the jazz dancers - many of whom I haven’t seen since before the summer break. It was good to hear that everything has been going well for them since taking over the society.

Me and the new President of the Jazz dance society on the Halloween Social. It was so much fun to catch up! 

On the topic of Halloween, on Friday I’m looking forward to visiting Thorpe Park for the first time with one of my housemates. They have Fright Night events for Halloween which I’m honestly absolutely terrified about but equally excited! I’ve never been to Thorpe Park before but have heard from a lot of people that it’s worth a visit so in addition to celebrating Halloween there it will be fun to try all the amusement rides for the first time!

Kristin