Conservation work at Chilworth

Last Sunday I joined the University of Southampton’s Conservation Volunteering Society to carry out various tasks in the nearby Chilworth Conservation Area, which I recently learned was established by the University of Southampton. I finally had a Sunday a free and am very happy to have been able to do some hands-on work outside in the fresh air. The various tasks we worked on included clearing bramble, digging and planting trees, removing invasive species and moving logs with the help of a pair of Alaskan Malamute working dogs. The society provides all the tools and gloves used during the day, so all we needed to bring was a pair of sturdy shoes and lunch!

Despite a bit of rain in the afternoon, it felt great to be outside, and the conservation area is really lovely. The work was good exercise, especially guiding the dogs who were pulling the logs for us. They were very strong and at times I wondered who was leading who but they were also extremely friendly and enthusiastic workers! Whenever I have a Sunday free I hope to continue taking part in tasks with the Conservation Volunteering Society. It’s also a great way to see different local areas as they carry out work in not only the Chilworth Conservation Area but also in Southampton Common, Portswood Recreation Ground, the New Forest and several more.

Entering the Chilworth Conservation Area. 

It was difficult to capture in a photo but in the midst of those large trees is where we set up the base for the day, to keep the spare tools and peoples’ belongings safe and dry as we worked. We were able to take a couple breaks during the day for some warm tea and for lunch and these trees provided good shelter from the rain.

One of the Alaskan Malamute working dogs. Running around with those guys was a great way to keep warm! 

I am lucky enough to have a housemate with similar interests as me, who also studies Biology with a focus on plant sciences and ecology. We were both keen to get more involved with the Conservation Volunteering society. However, even if you don’t have a friend to go with, it shouldn’t prevent you from joining. During the day we got to know a lot of really nice people from a range of different courses from Archaeology to postgraduate PhD students. In addition, my housemate and I weren’t the only ones joining for the first time this year, so there were actually a number of new people giving conservation work a go.

Lastly, I thought I’d give a quick update on the progress of my third year project. I’m happy to say that I’ve now completed all of my lab work and have all of the raw data I need. The whole processes took longer than expected and I had to repeat a couple of the steps along the way but I think through doing so I have gained a much better understanding of the protocol and techniques I was conducting in the labs and feel much more confident in the skills that I’ve learned.

Now I’m beginning to tackle the values I’ve obtained from my lab work and will soon begin the somewhat daunting task of the all important stats for my project. Wish me luck!

Kristin

A week of celebrations

It’s always nice to take a break from studying, assignments and project work, especially when you have something to celebrate. In the last week I’ve had several excuses to put my work away and enjoy time with friends, leaving me feeling very refreshed!

Last Saturday was, of course, Valentine’s Day and my girlfriend came down to Southampton to celebrate it. Although we had a table booked for dinner in the evening, it didn’t stop us going to the local ice cream parlour for lunch. The venue had been decorated in Valentine flair, with heart-shaped balloons and roses on the tables, which made our indulgent lunch feel very romantic! Afterwards we attended a matinee showing of Romeo & Juliet at the Nuffield Theatre on our Highfield Campus.

The play was put on by the Students' Union Theatre Group and featured a very talented cast, including fellow Life at Southampton blogger Robin! I have seen several shows that the society have put on over the years, but this was easily the most impressive, helped massively by the lighting, sound and set capabilities of the Nuffield Theatre.

Looking forward to a chocolate covered waffle! 

In the evening we headed down to Oxford Street in the heart of Southampton’s Old Town. The street is dominated by high quality restaurants, all of which were busy with couples enjoying their Valentine’s Day meals. We had booked a table at a restaurant which does traditional – but exquisite! - British food. The evening was the perfect end to a very romantic day, but ordering puddings after the main was probably the wrong move!

Dressed up for a romantic evening together. 

On Tuesday I celebrated Pancake Day with my housemates. We had prepared three batches of batter – two English-style, and one American. I ate the English pancakes with chopped bananas and biscuit spread, whilst the American ones I topped with crispy bacon and golden syrup – a combination that works surprisingly well! As usual Pancake Day quickly turned into a pancake flipping competition, with each of us awarding scores out of ten like it was an Olympic sport! At some point it became Physicists versus Engineers (since there are two of each in our house), but the outcome was uncertain – looks like we’ll just have to organise a rematch!

The house celebrations continued with Chinese New Year, with our housemate of Singaporean heritage cooking up his best egg fried rice for all of us, as has become the tradition. It’s a shame that we don’t get to cook together more often as a house, because when we do we always have a great time. Maybe after the end of exams in the summer we can have another Come Dine With Me competition, like we did at the start of the year. However, this would mean potentially risking my title as winner of the competition!

The final cause for celebration came with the release of exam results on the same day as Chinese New Year. I’m pleased to say I got the grades that I wanted, which is the perfect reward for all the time that I spent revising over the Christmas break.

I now have one final semester to complete and hopefully I will be celebrating again in the summer when I come to graduate!

James

Into Industry: the Software Engineering Group Design Project

Phew! Just days after the (thankfully pretty successful!) conclusion of the performances of Romeo & Juliet by the Students’ Union’s Theatre Group in the Nuffield Theatre last week, I find myself thrown back into the directing chair for the next project, the Spring season show for the musical theatre society, Showstoppers. Called The Drowsy Chaperone, it opens in two and a half weeks, leading me to ask:

“Where on earth is the time going - and how is it nearly the end of February?!”

I know it’s a cliché, but I’ve found that time really does fly when you’re at university, particularly when there’re so many interesting things to be absorbed by along with so many ways to fill every day. Be they shows, projects, trips away or coursework assignments, it always seems that one day you’ll find yourself agreeing to take something on . Weeks of planning, meetings and effort later, you’ll be finishing it off, eventually leaving you wondering what actually filled all that flash of a time in between!

This was recently the case for me and my group with our Group Design Project, the Electronics and Computer Science equivalent of a Masters’ dissertation. As I wrote last time around, last week saw the conclusion of everybody’s projects with final presentations and Q&A sessions. Afterwards, we all headed to the Turner Sims Concert Hall on campus for a poster display and buffet event, where we got to chat to other groups about their achievements as teams since the start of the year.

As ever, the lure of a free buffet also helped bring people along to the session!

One common theme subject amongst these talks was just how quickly the overall timescale had seemed to shoot by. Given how we were assigned our project briefs at the end of September, all derived from problems in various scientific or commercial industries with real-world clients providing professional specifications, you’d think three or four months is plenty of time to put together a product.

However, if there’s one thing the project taught us, it’s that it’s seemingly impossible to account for just how much else goes on in that time, both in terms of academic activities, other commitments, and unexpected delays, and just how quickly time passes when all you need is for it to slow down!

Therefore it was incredible to see just how much people had achieved, with many a display of excellent work on show at the event. From interactive advertisement performance monitoring systems - which were positively stuffed with features - to electronic implementations of safety inspection forms which had already been put to practical use around buildings and worked to splendid effect, as well as others like systems for improving communications within airports (on an incredible scale!), the variety of work at the event was huge and made for many an intriguing conversation, particularly as, three months into beginning developing, we were all talking in terms relevant to our new found industries and thus had a lot to explain to one another!

On the whole, it was inspiring to see, with teams showcasing commendable levels of creativity, diligence and professionalism in delivering some outstanding systems in such a short space of time. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to suggest that the majority of projects will end up going forwards commercially, which is a testament to just how well many groups performed, and just how close to industry the experience of the Group Design Project really is.

A huge number of brilliant projects were on display at the Turner Sims Concert Hall on posters abound!

As for our group, we were ultimately very pleased with the end result and had a brilliant experience in putting it together. With a few tweaks here and there, we believe we've provided a firm basis for future work in the development of a remote hearing test phone application. This was done through liaison with the on-campus Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR) Centre, and hopefully will go on to have huge benefits for clients’ quality of life in the future – fingers crossed!

So as I head now firmly into job application season, and potentially thence into industry, it’s been a great experience having a taste of what a professional development life is like, providing another string to my metaphorical employability bow and another project to place in the portfolio. Thanks to all involved with the Group Design Project’s organisation and that of the wrap-up event itself – and congratulations to everybody on its completion!

Now, back to directing those Chaperone rehearsals…!

Robin

Green Action and student campaigns

Last Tuesday Green Action held the first official event of the year. It was great to see a lot of new people with an interest in the welfare of the planet and the health of our environment as well as a willingness to get more involved in taking action towards making meaningful green changes. The aim of our first event was to remind and inform people of the importance of the campaigns we are running and to leave people feeling motivated to participate in the first Global Divestment Day event (which was held last Friday).

During the meeting on Tuesday I gave a brief introduction to the campaign for those who weren’t familiar with it, followed by a film showing of a documentary about the power and aims of the movement. The film covered the importance of taking action, and talked about the role we all can play in helping to make change happen. We also organised materials so that members of the society could contribute some art to the stalls we planned to set up at the day event. We made a large banner to hang on our stalls to help grab people’s attention during the day.

I was involved in the planning of the Global Divestment Day event, but due to lab work commitments I was busy for the majority of the day. However, I heard from my committee that it was a lot of fun and that they were able to gain a lot of signatures! The Marine Conservation Society, who have joined us in the campaign, also did a great job, collecting signatures and helping to raise further awareness by reaching out to more students.

It feels great to have taken part in the first ever annual Global Divestment Day and running our own independent campaign.

While at times controversial, it feels good to be able to work towards making positive change for something you believe in and to be able to work with other students who are also passionate about a greener future for our planet.

Social media has also been really useful in raising awareness and my committee were taking loads of photos during the day.

The Marine Conservation Society put together their interpretation of what an oil spill could look like.

It’s great to have another society to work with on campaigns so we can raise awareness from different perspectives.

Through being involved in this campaign I have been gaining a lot of experience in organising different events and coordinating different groups.

If you’re passionate about campaigning, or the environment, there are plenty of chances to get involved at Southampton as a student, and there are so many ways to help with causes which you feel strongly about!

Kristin

Getting back into the groove of university life

I’m writing this blog post after completing my first assessment of semester two, which feels bizarre to say as it seems like we’ve only just started the semester! The assessment in question was a piece of group work for my Space Plasma Physics module that counts towards the coursework portion of the overall course mark. The assessment consisted of being split into predetermined groups of four in the lecture room and having to answer three questions that cover the topics learned over the last few weeks.

Usually Physics coursework consists of problem sheets that you can take away and work on for a week, but this is the first time I’ve had this kind of in-class assessment (except for the mid-semester tests of first year). Naturally this method is a lot harder, but it does give good practice for exams (not that I haven’t had enough over my four years!) and the nature of the questions require a lot of approximations to be made, which for scientists is a great skill to acquire.

Three weeks in to this semester and I feel like I am on top of all my modules and I am especially enjoying the Nanoscience module, which I was a little unsure about taking because it is a collaboration between the Physics and Chemistry departments. In addition to my modules, my Master’s project has progressed a fair bit; the most important development being the production of our first plots and thus our first results! I have also begun to write my final report - 500 words down, only 7,000 more to go!

In addition to getting back into the swing of doing university work and assessments, my extracurricular activities have restarted. I was looking forward to the first Art Society (ArtSoc) meeting of the new semester all the way throughout exams because it was the return of the cheese, wine and charcoal night that I missed last time around.

Anyone who knows me will tell you how much I love cheese, so it was no coincidence that I was the first to arrive, even beating the committee! Since it was the first event after everyone had returned from the Christmas holidays, the evening was mainly a chance to socialise and an excuse to pig out on cheese and wine. Naturally that meant that very little drawing was actually accomplished!

The first of many plates! 

Unfortunately I couldn’t make it to the following session, so the next Artsoc event I attended was this week’s Valentine’s Day-themed arts and crafts session. Seeing as my girlfriend reads this blog I won’t disclose exactly what I made, but I can tell you it took me an hour to assemble and involved a lot of cutting and gluing!

After the session had ended we began our first social of the new semester, which, after a brief stop in the University pub, saw us heading into Portswood to visit a fancy cocktail bar, where we enjoyed their 2-for-1 deals!

Susu (the Students' Union resident cat) came to take part in the Valentine’s Day fun, but sadly she declined to join us on the social afterwards! 

Although the last few weeks have definitely been some of the busiest of my University life, I have somehow still managed to squeeze in plenty of relaxing and socialising too. Getting back into the groove of University life has made me realise just how much I will miss the University, and Southampton in general, when I come to graduate in the summer.

James

Congratulations, celebrations and the student social scene

Although life at Southampton has most recently been fairly hectic in terms of workload, career planning, and theatrical commitments aplenty (with rehearsals stepping up a notch for the Student Union Theatre Group’s production of Romeo & Juliet, which lands in the Nuffield Theatre this very week!), there’s another side you often hear about before you go to  university, and with good reason: the very active, varied and enjoyable social scene!

My Group Design Project wrapped up this week after the final project presentations and showcasing at the Turner Sims Concert Hall (the presentation weirdly somehow felt like another performance to prepare for!). Now it’s time to take stock of the year so far, do a bit of planning for the weeks and months ahead, and set some new goals for the rest of 2015 and my time at university.

While the semester’s new modules are still in that early stage where you’re being gradually eased into subjects, and content is a little more introductory in nature, you tend to be given a brief respite from the coursework assignments around the corner while settling in to the new term. This therefore makes it the perfect time to celebrate a first term well done by meeting up with friends, relaxing a little more, and generally appreciating one another’s slightly less library-centred calendars, at least for the time being!

Plus, while Romeo & Juliet rehearsals have been happening so regularly recently, it’s been great to be able to go along with the cast and crew to the Students' Union pub, The Stag’s, on a few occasions. After a productive session of Shakespeare or two, it’s the perfect way of getting to know one another better (rather than our Veronian characters!) and cementing the natural camaraderie that arises through being members of the same cast, particularly when you’re all struggling with a text which is at times quite baffling in terms of language – it’s good to reassure one another you’re not the only one!

The pub itself, The Stag’s, is a fantastically vibrant and homely place where not only are prices suitably cheap (and therefore great for living on a student budget!), but also the variety of options are perfectly tailored to the student market. For example, they’ve just introduced toasties to the menu, with plenty of options in terms of fillings; the annual ale festival offers plenty of tantalising selections local to Hampshire, and the atmosphere around when there’s a football game being shown is second-to-none, as I found out last summer during the World Cup!

Aside from The Stag’s, the University’s Highfield Campus also offers a communal restaurant, the well-stocked Jubilee Sports Hall and Gymnasium, the awesome Students’ Union café (with some of the friendliest staff you will ever meet!), bars, a nightclub, a cinema, many sports halls and multi-purpose spaces aplenty - and that’s just scratching the surface! The best thing, though, is that there really is a social space for absolutely everyone to visit, regardless of how you fancy spending your time (catering for activities both alcoholic and non-so!) – so it’s very easy to end up adopting them as a home from home as a result!

On another social front, I’ve also recently been lucky enough to attend the Daily Echo Curtain Calls, the self-titled ‘Oscars of the South’ which are always a brilliant opportunity to celebrate the achievements of the amateur dramatic scene in the South.

This time around I went along to the glitzy ceremony to celebrate the achievements of my incredibly talented housemate of four years, Robyn, who had received a well-deserved (and unexpected - by her, at least!) nod for Best Actress in a Musical, and I also attended wearing the Presidential hat of the musical theatre society SUSU Showstoppers, to support its other nominated members.

A few of us at the Curtain Call Awards Ceremony 2015, a great occasion!

A nominee myself last year for Best Director of a Drama with my favourite production, ‘Equus’, I knew a fantastic evening lay in store for everyone, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. There was a vivacious atmosphere, stunning decorations and entertainment, a great disco and, best of all, a sumptuous three-course dinner that positively tickled the taste buds - a mile away from the beans on toast I’d been wolfing down before rehearsals every day!

In terms of the awards themselves, it was another hugely successful year as two members of the society, Ruthie and Scarlett, emerged with the coveted ‘Best Choreographer’ award, along with a member of our sister society, Theatre Group, who won “Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy.” Congratulations and celebrations all round!

So while my second and final semester here is slowly but surely gearing up into full swing, Southampton life seems to have retained its ability to never have a dull moment, and I couldn’t be enjoying it more!

Robin

Exploring new places

While there’s a lot to see and do in Southampton, it’s also very easy to travel by coach or train to the neighbouring towns and cities. I’m always keen to go and visit new places, so last weekend I took a day trip to Reading with my housemate, before heading to London for a concert! We were really lucky to have refreshingly sunny weather, and it was fun to see the town where one of my closest university friends grew up in.

Knowing that I’m likely to be moving back to Australia once I graduate has made me keener to make an effort to see and explore more places in the UK before I go. It’s so easy to travel to and from Southampton.

Checking out the Museum of Reading 

A walk in Forbury Gardens, enjoying the great weather. 

Last week I attended the first Biosciences International Students meeting of the semester. Meetings are arranged for the first Wednesday of every month and are organised in order to help EU and international students with any difficulties they may be having while getting used to university life in the UK. We’re always given a free lunch and time to talk with other EU and international students, often to discuss any issues we may having with coursework or lectures (which is usually particularly relevant for those who have English as a second language). Optional English Language Support classes are provided for those who feel they could benefit from this extra resource.

In addition, we’ve started planning a couple of day trips for later in the year including a potential trip to the New Forest and a visit to the Royal Society in London. Talks are also organised to help support us with our studies and to help us when deciding on what to do after graduation. In the past, these talks have included information about postgraduate study with a focus on PhD’s in the UK, giving a good presentation and graduate entry into medicine for those who were interested.

I also held the first Green Action Society committee meeting of the year last week. After not meeting for several weeks due to the Christmas break and exams we had a lot to discuss and plan, which is all part of the responsibility of running a society. During our first official society meeting of the year we will be preparing for the first annual Global Divestment Day which will take this Friday. It’ll be exciting to see if we have any new members keen to get involved as well as continuing to inform current members about our plans. The aim is to get everyone motivated and excited about getting involved in order to reach out to more students and spread the aims and importance of our campaign.

Kristin

Don't Rush - student housing

It is at this point in the academic calendar that many students begin to think about finding somewhere to live for next year. Being in my final year, my plans for next year are currently unknown, so I don’t have to consider housing situations just yet! However, for non-final year students it is the usual time to start considering where to live next year.

Being at Southampton over the last three and a half years, I have noticed many changes to the University. Perhaps the biggest change has been the drive to increase awareness about common mistakes when it comes to student housing, and the provision of some general guidance, which all ensures that students end up with the best possible tools to guarantee that they’re sorted for the year ahead.

The biggest factor in all this has been the emergence and constant growth of the ‘Don’t Rush’ campaign run by SUSU, the Students’ Union, which aims to make sure that students take proper consideration of their housing situation, despite the natural urge to get it sorted as soon as possible. This includes being careful about the quality of the building and landlord. Take a look at this campaign to find out about risks and precautions when it comes to house hunting. SUSU have also set up their own letting agency for students.

The first step to house hunting before you even start looking is to make a firm decision about who you want to live with. There is a surprising amount of things to consider when doing this; it’s not just case of eeny-meeny-miny-mo!

For example, the guy who lives on the floor above and loves to party late into the night might seem like someone cool to have in your house, but I’m sure in reality they would be a nightmare to live with if you don’t share the same priorities! This is especially pertinent for first years, who have only known their friends for one semester.

My advice is to live with people who have similar traits as you. For example I am a very tidy person, who likes to work at home in the day and who likes to get up and go to bed early (relative to standard student time, which is similar to GMT + 3!). Therefore I live with people who, for the most part, align with these traits.

I’ve also found that I prefer living with a smaller group, as this year I now live with a house of four, rather than a house of six as I did in second and third year. One of its main benefits it that it is a lot easier to organise things together. This includes everything from the mundane, like paying utility bills, to the fun, like going on nights out!

Our most recent outing as a house was a trip to a popular nearby ice cream parlour in Portswood, whose lavishly topped waffles and sundaes have a level of infamy across campus. We decided to go last Friday evening after our busy first week of the new semester and even though I had already had dinner, I still managed to finish my extremely indulgent Banoffee sundae! It’s great to do things together as a house.

The Banoffee sundae didn’t last long!

My final piece of advice to those of you who are hunting for a house is that, wherever you choose to live and whoever you choose to live with, make sure that your choice makes you excited about the year ahead, because living in a house with your friends is one of best parts of university life!

James

Teaming up and grouping together

Although it’s never something to be encouraged, the last-minute assignment rush, where time seems to speed up tenfold and everything becomes a bit of a blur, certainly never grows boring! Last week, as the hours ticked down until the Group Design Project report deadline (with a suitably ominous countdown clock displayed on the computer lab’s front screen!), it seemed plenty of other project teams, scattered throughout the labs, agreed with me and my team!

It wasn’t that we weren’t ready to hand the report in or weren’t happy with it at the time, but rather we were trying to make every minute before the deadline count, as can often be the case in real-world projects! After all, when the time is there, and after days of meeting up to write, edit and format, you never know which extra diagram, paragraph or newly-found mistake (there can be a few typos in 25,000 words!) will get you that additional mark or two which might make the difference. There’s always a temptation to have that one last proof-read or check up on the references and appendices, even if it risks running it close to the line overall.

When it finally went in though, after many days (and, admittedly, nights!) of work, worries and meetings, there were the typical sighs of relief all round from me and my teammates – followed by the usual sudden curious onset of not really knowing what to do!

It’s always a strange feeling after a large assignment has gone in as, up to that point, it’s very often the only think you’ve really thought of for a while! Moments after the automatic electronic hand-in receipt had made its way to our email inboxes, though, we decided to go on a celebratory trip to the Students’ Union pub, The Stag's, for a well-earned pint and couple of hours of rest and relaxation!

 The traditional dissertation hand-in ‘selfie’ with my group – this time, a little more exhausted!

I’ve written about the concept of the Group Design Project – working on a project typically stemming from an industry-based problem (for example, ours was developing a telemedicine approach to cochlear implant monitoring - so it has the potential to hopefully make a big difference to people’s lives!) over the course of three months, before writing up a large report of your findings – but somehow, even in the final week and a half, it managed to surprise me.

Although I’ve worked in a few groups over the course of my degree programme here, as it’s a great skill to develop, this time round felt a little different. Despite the amount of ground we managed to cover in a very short time, we strangely found that we were all having a great time as a team despite the pressure of the impending deadline, which was a testament to the solid understanding and camaraderie we’d formed as a working unit over the previous fortnight or so.

Likewise, the Performing Arts is a fantastic place in which you learn the value of teamwork, not least when you’re organising shows as a Director or Producer! Quite a lot goes into putting them on, from actually learning, rehearsing, teaching, devising and designing their on-stage presence to getting tickets sold, publicity materials distributed, and all other manner of tasks to get them in the theatre in the first place. It’s a fantastic challenge to tackle with friends, and one which truly tests your organisational, creative and personal abilities.

So it’s with that I’m delighted to say, following the latest round of pitches (where society members compete for the right to put on shows) of the musical theatre society, Showstoppers, I’ll be attempting both Directing and Producing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for the first time this year, having gone as a performer previously in 2013 and 2014. This will be a huge challenge, but a potentially incredible and invaluable experience which will make for an unforgettable summer once again!

The team of The Craft of the Cooper, coming to an Edinburgh Fringe 2015 near you!

 
Last but certainly not least, I’m currently writing in the middle of intensive rehearsal period for the latest production I’ve been lucky enough to have a part in, the Students’ Union Theatre Group’s rendition of Shakespeare’s timeless tale Romeo & Juliet. Taking place in the magnificent venue of the Nuffield Theatre on Highfield Campus from February 11th – 14th, it’s yet another show that has been a pleasure to be involved with, and it’s been great to meet, get to know and act alongside yet another hilarious, friendly and talented set of people; a great mixture of old faces and new.

No rest for the wicked – Romeo & Juliet is in the Nuffield Theatre between February 11th-14th, and we’d love to see you there if you get the chance!

Teamwork is a huge part of University life. I work with many groups of different sizes, all of which are brilliant to be a part of, both within my degree and in my spare time. I can’t wait to see what they all come up with – and some, given deadlines, sooner than others!

Robin