It feels strange picking only a few select moments from three years of incredible happenings, but in doing so it also encouraged me to look back over everything, so it proved a really useful way to kick-start that much needed retrospective.
Also it’s pretty obvious that I’m not quite done yet, and with a whole bunch of exciting events still to come (the Media Ball and the EVAs just to name a few) I’m sure there’ll be space in this list for even more fun stuff.
But for now, like some sort of cheesy, X Factor-style greatest hits montage, here are my “best bits” from my life at Southampton. Cue the reflective piano music.
Freshers’ (duh)
It’s practically impossible to run through the highlights of my time at the University without at least mentioning how it all began. Freshers’ week might well have been one of the craziest and busiest weeks of my entire life - but in the best way possible.
In the space of less than 7 days, I learned how to dance, learned how to cook (well…sort of) and managed to meet an incredible group of people who have gone on to become some of my closest friends in the entire universe (a university family, if you will). That one week of intensity changed my entire perception of life altogether, and pretty much single-handedly set up a lot of the fun stuff that came later on. So yeah, worthy of highlight status I think.
Halloween/Christmas/General Holiday-themed merriment
Any opportunity to celebrate has always been embraced here, between our own DIY-Christmases to some dodgy Halloween costumes and the occasional spot of green face-paint for a certain Irish holiday. Narrowing it down to just one is impossible!
The upside to being away from home means that as a student, you get to do a whole bunch of these things twice. I even blogged about the wonders of a ‘Uni Christmas’ back in December, and how magical the entire celebration is; the Campus Christmas lights will never be forgotten. It’s become an ongoing tradition every year here that I’ll miss hugely - celebrating two weeks early over awesome food and mismatched cutlery is something you can only ever really manage as a student, and here in Southampton we truly mastered it as an art-form.
Our first uni Christmas will never be forgotten!
Press Antics
Aside from my degree, easily the best thing I did work-wise whilst here in Southampton was to join The Edge - our on-campus entertainment magazine. Little did I know when I first wrote a pretty shoddy review of the TV show Dexter in Freshers’ week 2013 that some years later I would be Film Editor, rolling around in screener discs and rubbing shoulders with famous people!
Thanks to The Edge I’ve found myself going all-access at the BFI London Film Festival not once but twice, interviewing some insanely interesting people and even organising an entirely student-run film festival (easily the most triumphant highlight!).
Not only has it awoken my voice as a writer (due thanks must go to this here blog too!), but it’s also helped me find a career path through a multitude of experience, which is basically irreplaceable in my books.
The Edge got me this close to Chris Pratt and James Gunn meaning I will always be indebted to them
Film-athons
The one thing I really can’t get enough of is the film culture here in Southampton. When I first joined the University, I was a relatively shy film nerd with huge ambitions that I never really thought possible. Now, I feel like I can tackle anything, and a major part of getting to this point has been down to meeting so many like-minded people.
I guess it helped that I chose to study Film here, but also through societies like The Edge and SUSUtv I met a whole heap of other film nerds and together we conquered so much, taking on the Union Films Halloween All-Nighter every year (that’s non-stop horror films from 8pm-8am!), and an entire multitude of midnight screenings and other marathons!
The Reel Opinions review team attempting to make sense after staying up all night
The ultimate highlight came this time last year though, when a group of friends and I stayed up through the night for a midnight screening of the latest Avengers film (Age of Ultron), before keeping ourselves awake and hiding out in Hartley Library thanks to its 24-hour opening times, so that we could film our SUSUtv review the very second the SUSU building opened. There’s very few people who would be nuts enough to join me in such endeavours, and it feels like I could only really have ever met them here!
Then there was the time that Hollywood came to Southampton (quite literally) as the Tom Cruise-starring Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation started filming nearby in Fawley. They auditioned a ridiculous amount of our students in the Students' Union for roles as extras and I was somehow lucky enough to be picked! I’m still not really allowed to talk much about what went on, but it was quite possibly one of the most incredible weeks of my life.
I feel like I’m using that phrase a lot, but it couldn’t be more true. Over my three years here, Southampton has graced me with some of the most standout moments possible.
Looking back, it’s going to be sad to leave it behind, but the memories will always be here, and I’m sure there are more adventures yet to come!
Ben
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