Society farewells and Media Ball 2016

Somehow, and I still can’t quite figure out how, it’s May already. This of course means that my time here is rapidly getting shorter and shorter, and a major part of the whole transition out of university life is to hand over my current roles to some (hopefully) enthusiastic newbies.

My time as Film Editor of The Edge has been, without doubt, one of the most extraordinary and eye-opening experiences during my university experience, and to be honest, even though I’ve still got a month or so left of editing and scheduling, it already feels like I’ve kind of lost a limb.

Obviously I can’t hold on to it forever though, and with The Edge AGM last week, a new committee of super-talented and mega-capable writers was formed, who I know will totally embrace the roles and make them their own.

It wouldn’t be a proper farewell without a jolly good send-off though, and so all of the core media departments: The Edge, SUSUtv, Surge Radio and Wessex Scene, joined together to host a wonderfully wild night of incredible food and well-deserved awards. The Media Ball 2016 was held on Monday at Fantini’s restaurant in Southampton, and it was the most perfect, truly epic farewell possible.

A small group of Edgelings, suited up and ready to party!

A huge turnout of Edge writers and committee members, both past and present came along, dressed to the nines and ready for a true evening of wonder. Aside from the seriously awesome three course meal though (not forgetting free champagne!), the biggest moments of the night came from the ongoing awards ceremony, hosted by our very own team of sabbatical officers from the Students’ Union.

With a wide spread of different awards and a nominations list so long it was nearly visible from space, the whole room was totally pumped to find out the lucky winners. Judged by a team of external experts, including our very own media alumni and members of the Student Publication Association, the awards were a pretty big deal, and it was seriously amazing to see so many Edge writers being recognised for their work.

I was even lucky enough to grab a few awards myself: Best Review for our work on Reel Opinions, and Best Event for all the work put into the University of Southampton Student Film Festival over the past year. Arranging the festival was very easily one of my university highlights so, as you can probably guess, being recognised for it made me uncontrollably happy and made the night somehow even more terrific.

As far as awards go, I’m very, very proud of this one.

Ultimately, our friends at SUSUtv picked up the award for Best Media Department which was very well deserved, and certainly helped to end the night on a high.

Being a part of a number of these societies has made my life here at Southampton not only that little bit sweeter, but it’s also fed me the experience needed to take on jobs in the wider world, and getting to hang out with my friends whilst doing so was certainly a bonus.

Life at Southampton doesn’t necessarily have to end with your degree, and there’s always so many fantastic opportunities waiting just around the corner.

Looking back, I can’t recommend a role in SUSU Media enough.

Ben

SUSU's Culture Festival 2016

The University of Southampton loves to celebrate the diversity of nationalities present in its organisation.

This year, Southampton University Student’s Union (SUSU) did just so by holding its first ever Culture Festival. From the 24th until the 30th of April the Union hosted activities within and outside of its campuses which immersed students into the cultures of its diverse student body from across the globe.

From food and activities, to language sessions and movies; all the bases were covered. Some events even had free entry, such as the language lessons, film screenings, and the halls food exchange in which students had the opportunity to share food from their home country and try other traditional cuisines.

It certainly was a memorable week before the crunch of summer exams.

The Travel Fair

The first event I went to was the Travel Fair which was brilliantly organised by the Travelling Society. It consisted of the Union’s international societies which gave practical tips on travelling and suggestions on where to go when visiting their members’ countries of origin.

I was involved in the fair through being the President of the Filipino Society (FilSoc). Our committee held a stall which answered keen travellers’ questions on what it may be like to be a first time traveller to the Philippines and what other useful information they may take with them when planning a visit. Entry was completely free and even had drinks deals at The Bridge where the fair was held.

The fair filling up fast with keen travellers 

Speaking to Alicia about Jamaican food and how just upon entering the restaurant you can guess whether or not the food is going to be good or bad 

Drinks deals at the Bridge made especially for the event 

International Performance Night 

My favourite event out of all during the festival is definitely the International Culture Night. Superbly organised by AISEC Southampton every year, this was an evening of music, dancing, poetry and a range of all other creative performances by the Union’s international societies.

What really struck me about this evening was the differences, similarities and the colourful traditions within this University that we are all surrounded with.

The Vietnamese society won 1st place as having given the best performance of the night. This picture was taken during the spontaneous dance off between all societies 

With the President of AISEC, Rofini 

Global Village

The purpose of this event was to showcase the different cultures and nationalities within the University through global cuisine, international music, art, international exhibits and activities. Guests were provided with a free and unique opportunity to experience a variety of cultures through sight, sound and taste. In essence, this “Global Village” offered attendees a trip around the world without leaving Southampton!

Societies were able to set up stalls which portrayed their culture through their traditional food, clothes, music and games.

The societies who participated include: Polish Students’ Society, Bruneian Society, Malaysian Society, Pakistan Society, Nepalese Society, Omani Society, Indonesian Society, Lebanese Society and many more.

Of course the Filipino Society took part and we brought along our karaoke machine with us for attendees to have a go at! A big part of Filipino culture is singing. Filipinos love to sing and almost every household in the Philippines own a karaoke machine so we thought it would be a fantastic idea to use as a prop for our stall.

The Filipino Society’s stall at the Global Village. Behind me is our karaoke machine where we encouraged guests to perform a song before they got their stamp on your activities passport 

Certainly many other events were available during the week. There was even a Holi Festival on the Redbrick area on Highfield Campus!

Not your average day at the Union… 

All in all, SUSU’s first ever Culture Festival was a success. I most definitely had fun participating in the events and enjoyed meeting new people from different cultures.

Being at university is the perfect time to expand your horizons by experiencing cultures you never thought you could ever have the chance to get involved in… and I didn’t even have to leave Southampton!

Rylyn

Realising projects: The University of Southampton Student Film Festival

Some time ago I spoke quite broadly about a project I had been putting together as part of a cross-collaboration between the University’s entertainment magazine, The Edge, and its film making society Wessex Films. Planning started last September and last week the dream was finally realised. The first (hopefully annual) University of Southampton Student Film Festival went off without a hitch, and I couldn’t be happier or more proud!

I won’t go into too much detail about the planning stages, since I’ve touched on them at least a few times in the past, but the actual event - an evening of celebrating the best student films the University has to offer was held last Tuesday 15 March, and it seemed to finally come together wonderfully.

Despite slight worries in the week leading up to the festival, due to the fact that we rather bizarrely ended up with too many submissions (I honestly never thought that would be possible!), all ran smoothly on the night thanks to a carefully-formed shortlist.

In the end, after 25 submissions, 14 films, ranging from comedies and horrors to documentaries and music videos, were chosen and screened in their entirety to much applause and fanfare from the surprisingly large audience. Co-founder Pippa and I had been keeping our hopes relatively modest in terms of attendance numbers, but were totally bowled over when we began noticing the room filling out. Exact numbers are still a little hazy, but it was definitely far more than we had ever anticipated!

 

Our fabulous live audience at the very end of the night!

As one of the hosts for the evening, I tried my best to keep things light. I found myself frequently surprised by not only the quality of the films we showed, but also the audience’s reactions to them. They laughed and cheered along in all the right places, applauded every film as it ended and proved generally supportive of every filmmaker in attendance. It seems silly, but little things like this are what made the event such a success in the end; when everyone is enjoying themselves it makes hosting and organising everything so much easier!

Following the screening, there was a short break for the attendees to mix and network with one another over free wine and food. At the same time, the judging panel disappeared off to a hidden room to discuss who would be walking away with which awards.

Myself and co-founder Pippa - the hosts for the evening.

The panel consisted of myself, head of the Film Department Professor Lucy Mazdon and senior lecturer Dr. Mike Hammond, with input coming in from Southampton alumnus Jonny Ramsay, the current Sales Coordinator at Universal Pictures who unfortunately couldn’t make it on the night. It was truly a testament to the quality of the films entered that deciding the lucky few took some time.

Eventually, with the winners’ names tucked away safely in a series of envelopes, the award ceremony could finally begin.

Thanks to some rather lovely sponsorship from other creative societies including Surge Radio, SUSUtv, Union Films and FilmSoc, as well as the Film Department themselves, the awards consisted of not only little trophies and certificates, but also a series of different assorted prizes, ranging from cinema vouchers to DVD bundles and even a vinyl player!

One by one the winners were read out in eight categories: Best Sound/Music; Best Editing; Best Cinematography; Best Screenplay; Best Acting; Best Directing; Best Film and the Audience Award, voted for by the audience themselves during the break. With huge cheers for all the winners, it seemed that the crowd agreed with the judges.

Our incredible, award-winning filmmakers!

Words cannot describe how happy and relieved I was at the end of it all. Six months of planning and stressing had been entirely worthwhile. It shows how these big projects may seem crazy when you first start them up, but with SUSU’s unparallelled backing they came together beautifully. There are too many people to thank and hug, but to anyone who was involved with the Festival in any way, shape or form, from the deepest depths of my heart: thank you.

To anyone who has ever had a cool idea that they thought was too extravagant: give it a shot. You’ll be surprised with how far you can get, trust me.

Now I’m just going to curl up into a ball over here and sleep for the whole of Easter…

Ben

Planning a society event

New semester, new society commitments.

Valentine’s Day is coming up soon and so is the Filipino Society’s annual Valentine’s Party. Being new to event planning, there are lots of things I need to consider to make sure the night goes smoothly. More importantly, we need to make sure that our guests have fun. As such, as president of the society, I have a big responsibility on my shoulders.

Thankfully, each in the committee take pride in their own role for our success. Since becoming president, it has become clearer to me that a good leader is not one that does everything, but one that delegates to the best people. Effective delegation saves time and increases the morale and confidence of the team.

Our event poster 

For those who know little about the Philippines, it is a tropical nation defined by emerald rice fields, teeming mega-cities, graffiti-splashed jeepneys, smouldering volcanoes, bug-eyed tarsiers, fuzzy water buffalo and smiling, happy-go-lucky people. It has more than 7000 small islands – if island hopping is your thing, then it is the place for you!

Our British Representative, Emily talking about her experience when she visited the Philippines last year. She and our Vice President, Justine (in the picture) met when they did some work experience in the country. Emily loved the Philippines so much that she became part of the committee! 

So what does the Filipino Society in Southampton do exactly?

The good thing about FilSoc is that you don't have to be Filipino to join our socials. University is the perfect time to get to know cultures you never thought you could ever experience and FilSoc offers a chance for people to get to know a little country in the far South East of Asia.

We throw:

• Karaoke Parties: Filipinos like to sing - a LOT.
• Filipino (Tagalog) Language Lessons: Why not come to our chilled out language lessons and learn a few interesting new words while you're at it?!
• Filipino cook-offs: We love our food and we LOVE sharing it. We hold socials where each person makes a dish, Filipino or not, and shares it with the group. The best dish wins the prize of pride.
• Pub trips: who doesn't like a pint?
• Filipino movie nights: We often hold screenings of Filipino movies (with English subtitles).

Things to keep in mind for your event 

If you’re planning to hold a society event soon, there are other things you must keep in mind such as entertainment and sponsors. In last year’s Valentine’s Party, we played a live version of 'Take Me Out'. Things got pretty brutal. Thankfully, our local sponsor made the ruthlessness worth it as the “winning” couple received a £10 voucher for their date.

Looks like we have a yes from the ladies for this gentleman…

Venue

Can you bring food to the venue? How close is it? I have found that having the venue somewhere where it is easily accessible increases turn out. Moreover, depending on your expected turn out you need to consider the size of the venue too. If the event is likely to be a cosy one, find a place that is not too big so it won’t look too empty.

Date

This is another crucial part. Our Halloween party last year was held exactly on October 31st which was a Saturday. I think that had we held the event at a different day, maybe just before Halloween itself for example, we would’ve had a much bigger turnout. It is important to consider what other plans people might have on the day you have your event.

Food

Will your catering be halal and vegetarian friendly? It is important to consider the varied needs of guests that may come on the night. You don’t want them to turn up having paid money for their tickets and find that they actually can’t have any of the food you’ve made.

Entertainment

Do you know anyone who can sing or perform for your guests? Last year we had a few singers. For our last Halloween Party, we got in contact with the Circus Society who gave us a fantastic performance!

Rofini singing for us

Publicity

How will you let everyone know about your event? This year we’ve made sure to get in contact through social media with societies in the SUSU Communities’ Zone to let them know about the party and asked if they could help spread the word about it. The good thing about planning events is that you have a reason to get in touch with people you may never approach thereby increasing your network. We’ve also stuck a few posters around the Library. This is the most frequented place on campus so hopefully more people see them!

Tickets

How much should your tickets be in order for you to not incur a loss? To encourage people to buy early we’ve slashed our ticket prices by 1/3 if bought a few days before the event. This helps us plan out how much food we have to make so there’ll be more than enough for everyone.

These are just some of the things that I have learnt from my time as President of the Filipino Society and planning our big and small events. If you’re keen to learn more about a new culture and discover amazing Filipino food, why not come to this year’s FilSoc Valentine’s Party on February 11th?

Hope to see you then!

Rylyn

Student study tips for all subjects

We all have our different ways of working during exam season. Have you ever wondered how other students at the University of Southampton cope with theirs? I spoke to five students from different subjects, each with different studying styles, about their best exam revision tips. Of course, it helps to have done some work over the holidays but if you’re in crisis mode right now, I hope these help!

I’m going to start off with the top three most useful exam tips I have collected over my two and a half years here.

Name: Rylyn
Course: Politics and International Relations
Recognisable revision trait: the one who can only study at the library

1. Start writing – you can’t edit a blank page.Try this trick: imagine you only have five minutes left to get a task done. Time yourself, and within that five minutes do everything you can to finish it, as if your life depended on it. You’d be surprised at how effective this is to get you to realise starting isn’t really that difficult at all. You may even want to go over the timed five minutes once you get yourself going!

2. Make sure you have a good sitting position and comfortable lighting. There’s nothing worse than ruining your eyesight and your back at the same time. I bought myself a cheap wireless mouse and keyboard online. This means I can rest my back on my chair so I don’t have to be hunched over my laptop, and my laptop screen is at a safer distance from my eyes.

3. Here’s a good tip from my lecturer after going to his revision session: try and compress everything you know in one page using colours to help. You can use mind-maps, bullet points or even prose, but the ‘one page trick’ really can ease your mind into remembering – you always seem to remember everything in one page!


It helps to give yourself some short and timed breaks. SUSU held their annual petting zoo this week as part of the #StressLessFest. This means some on-campus perks and events to keep you sane during revision period.

More from the SUSU petting zoo. Alpaca-way your revision woes! 

Name: Sarah
Course: Criminology
Recognisable revision trait: the one who has no gaps in between exams

“Explain your work to your stuffed shark toy.”

If you can explain your subject well to someone else who doesn’t know it, then you’re doing it right! If you don’t have a stuffed shark toy, try a real person!


Name: Tim and Toby
Course: Civil Engineering
Recognisable revision trait: the ones who are always highly strung and/or anxious

“Buy a safe and lock your phone in it.”

…or just turn your phone off! It’s hard to get away from any electronic distractions. You can get sites blocked temporarily so you’re not tempted, or you could hand your phone to a trusted friend and have them swear to not give you back the phone after an hour of good, solid work. Remember to lock your phone with a password, though!


Name: Guilly
Course: Marine Biology
Recognisable revision trait: the one who’s never at home because of jobs, societies and everything else…

“Make a list.”

Using lists is an excellent way to make sure you complete the most urgent tasks for the day. During revision time, they are especially helpful. The trick with lists is to keep it to the top three things you HAVE to complete for the day. This keeps it manageable. There is nothing better than crossing something from that piece of paper. Again, it helps to start creating a list for what to revise for very early on in the revision process so you’re not inundated by tasks.

Tip: start with three things on your list for the day and as you gradually reach the exam period, reduce it to one.


Name: Georgie
Course: English
Recognisable revision trait: the one who’s a party animal

“Alternate your study space.”

For some people, having a dedicated study space is one way they learn. But sometimes even someone like me, who always chooses the library to study in, benefits from a new environment. Studies have actually shown that memory is coloured by location, so changing the view increases the likelihood of remembering what you’ve learnt. Of course, make sure that the new environment you choose is conducive to studying. So, no, don’t try and revise at The Stags on Karaoke Thursdays!


Don’t forget!

The SUSU Safety Bus runs from 8pm till 6am during exam season will take you within a 3-mile radius of uni for £1.50 or more if outside it. If you don’t have cash, they can take your student ID and you can pay for the fare and collect your card the next day at the box office. This service is my knight in shining armour during late night study sessions at the Library. SUSU’s priority is to keep you safe. Taking the bus is better than walking home alone in the dark and rain!

There is a light at the end of this tunnel: Refresher’s Week is coming up after exams. Use this to help you think of all the stuff you can get up to when this is over!

If you’re feeling a little blue, why not have a look at my fellow Life at Southampton Blogger Ben’s tips on how to cope with the January blues?

We’re almost there, guy!. I wish you all luck in your exams and well done to those who have finished!

Rylyn

Society Projects and SUSU Funding

With December now very much up and running, and Christmas cheer still being firmly spread across campus, this week I found myself a little more busy with other things. Top secret things.

Okay, they’re not really that top secret, but the sense of mystery does make it all seem that little bit more exciting. To be more plainly obvious: this week I’ve been working quite extensively on a project to help boost the University’s focus on film and film-making and to encourage increased collaboration between the creative industries. It’s still a little way off but it’s certainly still an encouraging prospect!

What this post is really about though, is my surprise at how straight-forward it is to go about setting something like this up. Without sounding like too much of a hard-sell, the University and the Students’ Union (SUSU) really do hand you the tools to help you realise a whole range of possibilities. Well, it has to be firmly within reason obviously, but the fact is, if you have an idea for an event or project that you think will benefit the University and/or SUSU, there’s nothing stopping you from giving it a go.

This all started a few months ago now at the very beginning of the semester, at the Creative Industries Induction week held by our lovely SUSU Creative team - you’ll find I blogged about said event all those weeks ago! During a team-building exercise, the creative societies in attendance were asked to come up with ways to encourage collaboration with each other, and it was at this point that myself as Film Editor of the University’s entertainment magazine The Edge, and Pippa, the president of the film-making society Wessex Films, hatched an ingenious plan.

 Together we started to brainstorm ideas for a University-wide student Film Festival.

Pippa and I, hard at work on our ideas for the festival

It may have started a little ambitiously, but we soon found that actually, the University itself has everything we would need to run such an event, from a cinema in the form of Union Films, to support staff, a bar and of course, most importantly of all, funding.

Things always seem to become significantly more complicated when money is involved, but SUSU’s funding process was surprisingly pretty straightforward. All you need is access to a society computer account and the forms are all submitted online. After some hefty research to make sure our maths was right, everything was sent off for approval and I let out a huge sigh of relief.

Sending the funding forms off was surprisingly straight forward.

It’s very easy to bat these things away as impossible dreams, but when you sit down and actually begin to plan, it all becomes a lot simpler. The University, its campuses and its many, many societies and services form a condensed version of the wider world. Everything is in one place and within reaching distance (including people to help with the process) making it the perfect time to practice setting up an event or project like this.

So, to end with some wise words from the contemporary poet Shia LaBeouf: “Don’t let your dreams be dreams”. Being at University is the perfect time to give ambitious things like this a go. You’ll always find support around should you need it.

Obviously, keep an eye out for the soon-to-be-named student film festival coming to campus at some point in the new year!

Ben

How to 'winter-proof' your student house

I don’t know about you but there have been countless times that I have walked back from campus in the pouring rain, books clutched in my arms, and then feeling an overwhelming sense of satisfaction upon reaching home.

Knowing that I am now inside the nice, warm and most of all dry fortress I call my house is one of life’s simplest pleasures.

But what happens when this fortress is always so cold?! Unfortunately, there will be problems with student housing in every city. Fortunately, there are people you can go to at the University of Southampton for help when you reach a point when you can no longer take indoor arctic conditions.

Every year, around March and April, a Sustainability fair is held on campus to promote green living in the student population.

 

Maxime working the Sustainability Fair.

I spoke to Maxime Jullian who works with SUSU’s Ethics and Environmental Officer about what their Home Energy Advice Team (HEAT) does to help students warm up their houses and save some much needed funds. With an apt acronym, the HEAT team is entirely student led. They have been sponsored by big names such as EON and are run by the charity called Southampton Hub.

HEAT audit student houses for energy consumption and give insulation all for FREE. The committee are also very keen to get volunteers so get in touch if you want some sustainability experience on your CV! 

The Ethics and Environment team encourage SUSU to operate in a socially responsible and environmentally friendly way. They educate students and staff on relevant issues and campaigns and are responsible for representing the interests of Union members in the development of ethical and environmentally sound working practices and empowering members to take action to achieve this, both with regard to SUSU and the University.

The Home Energy Advice Team are looking to do as many student home visits as much as they can before Christmas break to save students up to £500+ a year (depending on the size of property, i.e. number of bedrooms). They provide the basic and removable material so there is no need for you to involve your letting agencies or landlords as everything can be removed when you move out at the end of the year.

So, what materials do HEAT provide?

Some landlords don’t care about how warm you are. Most of the time, their main priority is to get rent. It is up to you to heat up your new student home. Indeed, a lot of student house windows aren’t double glazed and thus become unbearably cold during the winter.

HEAT provides:

Reflective radiator panels. This is especially effective if your radiator is stuck to a wall facing the outside. It sticks to the wall using double sided sticky take so it is easily taken off and moved to your new student house the year after. All heat that stays at the back of radiator gets reflected back into the room as opposed to “seeping” outside.

Here’s to a nice and toasty home…(photo courtesy of the HEAT Facebook page)

Seasonal double glazing films. This is especially beneficial if you have single glazed windows. The film essentially provides another layer to you windows to prevent heat loss. As stated by the name, the films only last one season. After a year it un-sticks and is not as effective but the good thing about it is that because it isn’t permanent, it won’t damage the property one bit.

Energy saving light bulbs. These use less energy, are more efficient. An energy-saving recommended light bulb will cost you £3-£4 compared to about 50p for a normal bulb, but will put money back into your pocket by saving you around £9 on your annual electricity bill and up to £100 over its lifetime!

Draft proofing tape. This tape sticks onto doors. Like the letter box covers, these little sponges pretty much close the gaps that let draught in.

Who knew how much money you could save per year just by covering these gaps? (photos courtesy of the HEAT Facebook page)

Maxime is a third-year BSc Oceanography student who plans to work with businesses to reduce their carbon footprint and save energy. Coming from a Natural Sciences background, this is something he’s always been interested in, and the University has aided him with his sustainability work experience. If you’re ambitious, there are plenty of opportunities SUSU and its staff can provide for you – for example, Maxime is part of the Business, Ethics and Environment Programme (BEES).

I think all this talk about saving energy gives rise to the massive issue of climate change. The University is doing incredible research on sustainability science and fellow student blogger Emma has written about the recycling projects the University has undertaken.

Unfortunately most of us don’t see the effects of climate change first hand. Most of the changes are so variable and so incremental that a debate even exists on whether or not climate change is true!
But this is the truth: we don’t often make the link between turning off a tap and wars around the world. That’s because most of the negative effects of climate change are experienced by the global south – by poor and, mostly, developing countries.

Sustainability is a pertinent issue. I’m glad the University is investing a lot of mind power and funds into it!

Don’t forget to get in touch with the HEAT team if you are looking forward to going home to a nice, warm house. After all, 'Winter is coming'.

(Sorry, I couldn’t resist…!)

Rylyn

Reduce, reuse, and recycle

It’s impossible not to notice that, when in halls or walking around the University's campuses, there are very few general waste bins, particularly inside University buildings. Instead, we have food waste caddies and separate bins for recyclables.

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting the University’s Waste and Recycling manager and we had a chat about the University’s system for dealing with all of the waste produced by its thousands of students and staff.

It turns out there are 12 people who are part of the waste and recycling team, and they get up to far more interesting things than the job title suggests.

 First of all – what happens to all the rubbish?

The University (including halls) has over 1,000 bins and produces an estimated 2,200 tonnes of waste yearly. All of this isn’t dealt with by the Hampshire Local Authority. We have our own contractors which means that much more is recycled.

The most interesting recyclable that the team deals with is food waste, which is why you find food waste caddies in halls and kitchens around campus. Rather than just being composted, which was what I thought happened to it, it’s actually sent to an anaerobic digestion plant, where the waste is broken down by bacteria.

 One of the food caddies used across the University

This process releases carbon dioxide and methane, which is used to produce electricity. The remaining product then becomes a high quality fertiliser to be used in UK agriculture.

This is why the University encourages us to separate food waste from regular recycling. If food is put into the mixed recycling, it becomes contaminated and cannot be recycled. This is why you have to separate your sandwich from its container before you throw it away in the staff kitchen or in the Piazza!

All the other recyclables are sent to a recycling plant where it is separated and reprocessed. A newspaper becomes a new newspaper within a week, glass is melted and made into new glass and metal becomes, you guessed it, new metal parts.

 So many recycling bins in Hartley Library!

If you live in private accommodation, glass can be recycled by using bottle banks (see the Recycle for Hampshire website for more). Within the University, buildings don’t have access to glass recycling since the University uses an external system, so glass can be recycled via the compounds.

For those of you in University Accommodation it is particularly important that you make use of the external mixed recycling bins for glass, and don’t just throw it away in mixed recycling bin in your kitchen. It is requested that glass is taken straight to external mixed recycling bins because of health and safety hazards for the wonderful people that come round and empty your bins. There are some special collections for waste electrical electronic equipment (WEEE), because anything that has a plug or a battery is required to be collected separately.

This whole system is hugely environmentally friendly and saves money, as recycling is cheaper than sending waste to energy from waste or landfill. It also means that materials can be used again and again. If money is saved by recycling as much as possible, then there is more money for student services - a win-win for everyone!

One of the posters used across the University to explain the recycling system

There is also a focus on re-using rather than throwing away. This year the team have worked with the charity Farm4life to divert a tonne of waste in the form of old furniture. The charity selected the furniture that was still usable and in decent condition, and shipped it to their project in Ghana. So far this has been a huge success and the team are planning to do more in the future.

Farm4life isn’t the only charity that works with the University. The British Heart Foundation collect unwanted items from students, particularly at the end of term. The estimated income from these donations in 2015 was £47,516. There is also ‘Shift Your Stuff’ with SUSU and at the end of the year unopened tinned food is collected from halls and given to a homeless charity in Southampton.

The waste and recycling team are key to making sure that life at Southampton isn’t just pleasant but sustainable as well, by emptying the bins and performing all of the litter picking,

Happy recycling!

Emma

Making the most of my last undergraduate year

Last year I had a chat with a representative of PwC. It was an informal CV consultation in an event set up by the University’s Careers and Employability team. I had no obligation to apply for the employer after I graduate - it was simply an opportunity to have an interactive one-on-one session with someone who was hiring. What we spoke about during this meeting has had a profound impact on my last year as an undergraduate student.

As we chatted through my CV, we spoke about how my grades and job history were good, but there was a space that was missing a lot of writing: extra-curricular activities. It is true that your grades are crucial to your job search. At the same time, however, so are your activities outside of academia. As cheesy as this may sound, it indicates to employers how wholesome you are as an individual and thus plays a crucial part in what give you an edge as an applicant.

Never managed a team before? There is support out there for you. I got this book from the Academic Skills  shelf on the third floor of Hartley library.

So, in light of this, I became President of the Filipino Society. I had never managed a society before, let alone had been part of a committee. I am still getting used to delegation and event planning, but with the help of the team I hope to make this year a successful one for the society. Our first event for the year was, of course, the Bunfight.

Planning this turned out to be quite enjoyable, and we decided that the best way to introduce newcomers to Filipino culture is through the stomach.

So, we got sweets!

The Filipino Society’s stall at the bunfight. The tubs on the right hand side are Filipino sweets and chocolate.

Our aim is to bring Filipinos together and to promote our culture – anyone can join, regardless of nationality! But I must state that the sweets weren’t to lure people into signing up for the society. We decided to have them out as it was a good conversation starter and, well, who doesn’t like treats anyway?

We also chatted to prospective members about other events we are planning to hold such as Karaoke nights, Movie nights and last but not the least, our Filipino themed Halloween Party!

Our poster/invite that we handed out at the Bunfight!

The Freshers' Week Bunfight was exceptionally busy this year. Within the first hour we must have chatted to over 100 students! I also had the time to look around other societies’ stalls, and I was surprised to find out about groups that I never even knew existed.

Are you a fan of Harry Potter? Game of Thrones? Did you know that Southampton has a Fandomonium Society where you can express your love for your favourite books, TV shows and more? Amazing!

The Bunfight in full swing! (Credit to University of Southampton’s twitter page)

 Of course there were perks to being a committee member and running a stall too…

The Bunfight pass allowed stall runners to skip the queue and have a wander through the stalls on their breaks!

I also attended the LGBT Society lunch at The Bridge. The purpose of the society is to provide a space for LGBT+ students to socialise with one another and express who they are free from judgement. I believe in this cause so I’ve also decided to join this year.

Me with the LGBT Society Committee

Looking back on my first time at the Bunfight, I realised how easy it was for me to sign up to too many societies. SUSU has over 300 different student groups, including over 80 sport clubs and 30 performing arts groups.

For me, it is far better to actively contribute to one or two clubs or societies than be a passive member of them all!

And so, the final countdown has started; I may have to be a bit more organised but the pleasure principle need not be lost!

Happy socialising!

Rylyn

Getting involved in the Creative Industries

After all that waiting, it’s finally here. The legendary Freshers' Week is now very much upon us. In fact, by the time you’re actually reading this, it’ll most likely already be on its way out. Even as a Third Year shuffling through the unbridled madness for my final time, it seems sad to see it go; the sheer enthusiasm and energy is unlike anything else university has to offer. But, of course, all good things must come to an end, and I guess there are these little things called degrees that we’re actually supposed to be getting on with too!

In fact, for me, the first few weeks re-settling in to the university way of life have actually been about one thing and one thing only. No, not that damn spaceship oven again - I’m talking about the Creative Industries.

As Southampton students will have no doubt noticed by the sheer size and scale of this year’s annual Bunfight (that’s the Union’s societies fair to anyone else), there are an awful lot of societies on offer, ranging from the subject-based to the downright insane. The Creative Industries is built up of a much smaller section of all of these groups and deals with, well, anything creative. This stretches from my own loyalties as Film Editor of the University’s entertainment magazine The Edge, to the likes of SUSUtv and even as far as the circus society.

Of course, in the spirit of creative collaboration, this year saw my first attendance at the annual Creative Industries Induction Week, wherein all the committee members for all of these creative-minded groups hang out in a gigantic room and talk/learn about how to be the best at what we do. It’s a pretty jam-packed week full of all sorts of fun stuff, covering everything from the likes of media law to simple team-building and beyond, giving everyone involved an almost encyclopedic knowledge of our own societies.

The Edge Editorial Team was certainly out in force too, as we took advantage of some incredibly useful workshops on how to use industry-standard software like Adobe InDesign to lay up our latest issue. It may have been slightly fiddly at times, and I may have become rather irate with a certain computer, but ultimately everything just about fell into place, and the new-look designs are pretty incredible. Our first issue of the year has been distributed throughout Freshers week (look out for the odd review inside from yours truly) and our second is on its way to the printers as we speak - so look out for more entertainment-related fun hitting Southampton very soon!

Our stand for The Edge at the Bunfight was a thing of beauty.

Just in case that wasn’t enough, the whole week was topped off with the team-bonding session to end all team-bonding sessions - a DIY laser-quest tournament held within our very own student club The Cube. Equipped with some classic retro Aliens-style laser guns and with plenty of inflatable barricades and camouflage netting around to hide behind, it certainly was a rather epic way to pull the week to a close. Our mixed-society team may have ultimately lost out on the top spot, but we definitely learned an awful lot about communication and team-work along the way.

With the induction over, it was over to the Bunfight to spread the word about just how great the Creative Industries are. I may have been standing around for a shocking amount of time, repeating the same pitch to what felt like hundreds of confused-looking faces, but spreading the word about one of my closest passions, and sharing our work with the University community certainly filled me with an incredible sense of pride and achievement. Joining a society and becoming a part of something bigger really enhances the university experience - I couldn’t recommend it enough!

The Edge and SUSUtv joined forces for some bunfight fun (Image courtesy of SUSUtv)

Freshers’ Week is just a mere taste of the extra-curricular opportunities on offer from the University, and based on the turn-out and enthusiasm so far, it really feels like this is going to be a fantastic year.

Ben

How to house-hunt - looking for student accommodation

After a week of travelling, I’m finally home in Oslo again. This time my trip was to London and Southampton and I think it’s safe to say that this was my last trip abroad before the University year starts. It also gives me an immense pleasure to say that I am finally completely ready for term to start!

Miranda and I have (finally) found where we are staying for next year! We couldn’t be happier with the place we found and I think that definitely underlines the importance of waiting until you find something you like. Next weekend most Freshers will move in to halls and I’m sure that by October you will start hearing about housing, thinking about housemates etc., so this is why I wanted to dedicate this blog post to student housing.

Although this might be most ‘relevant’ in January/February, I think all year around is ‘housing season’ for students. Why? Because the student housing is a huge business in Southampton and you will meet all sorts of people trying to convince you to look for next year’s houses very early, in September or October.

I think I’m already proof that you definitely don’t need to start looking for anything until after Christmas (at the earliest!). So, here are a couple of things I think you should be aware of in this jungle of house hunting:

Don’t rush!

 

SUSU, the Students' Union, and the University of Southampton run campaigns every year about how important it is to be sure who you want to live with before looking for houses, while letting agencies tell students how important it is to find a house early, because ‘all the good stuff will go first’. I think SUSU put it very nicely last year when I read an article from them saying that it was important to remember that there is no shortage of student housing in Southampton. Hence, you won’t live on the street if you don’t find a house by January.

As said by SUSU: “Get to know the people you want to live with before you commit to a contract. Second years will say “Housemates are more important than the house!””. Therefore, it is a good idea to visit the SUSU pages on housing and stick to what they say and also go to the housing day in January/February organised by SUSU. You can read the article I've quoted here.

To be fair, when considering accommodation it is always a good idea to listen to the University and SUSU. We were told this week by multiple letting agencies that September is a really busy month for them, mostly because the international students arrive to find houses for this academic year, so I hope I’ve made my point about waiting with the house hunting!

Civic Centre in Southampton with Mayflower Halls!

Be aware of the landlords and/or letting agents.

 

As I mentioned, student housing is a huge business in Southampton (as it probably is in every major UK student city), so you are bound to meet a few dodgy landlords and/or letting agents. Again, SUSU has done surveys amongst the students about the different letting agents, and identified the ones which are worth your time.

The number of people who were shocked and almost concerned we waited this long to find a house was surprising. I do agree, we probably waited a bit longer than we should have, but we ended up finding an apartment we really liked with a very desirable location for us and therefore it was definitely worth the wait! We have tried to be very conscious about everything in the process.

I would be lying if I didn’t say we have had a couple of viewings where things weren’t quite right – for example, lack of communication, professionalism and customer service. This is so important to remember in the whole house hunting process. It is perfectly OK to expect certain things from your potential landlord. For example, if you like a house/apartment, but it hasn’t been cleaned properly you are fully entitled to say you expect it to be cleaned thoroughly before you move in. Most students will rent furnished houses/apartments, but if you end up with a bed that isn’t OK, you are allowed tell your landlord this, or negotiate about getting a new desk.

During your viewings you will be told how amazing the place is, but if you don’t agree, you shouldn’t be afraid to say so and hear what can be done to change the things you don’t like.

Highfield campus with its local inhabitants, the ducks

The condition of the house is important!

 

This is not to argue against that housemates are more important than the house, but don’t forget that the condition of the house is important. After all, it will be your new home for a year (maybe more), so even if we know a student house will have its quirks, it still needs to be in a bearable condition.

You would never buy a house with mould in it, so if you see mould on the viewing you shouldn’t think that it is acceptable, even if the house looks nice. The location of the house is also important, so this is something all future housemates should discuss and agree on before starting to look at houses.


This post is not intended to scare anyone into thinking house hunting as a student is a nightmare - after all, most of the ‘horror stories’ you hear are minimal compared to all the positive experiences people have when renting. Just remember to be aware and determined (without not being open to new or different ideas). Just because you are a student doesn’t mean you any less important than any other tenant, so think about what is important to you in the process of finding a house and don’t settle for something you are not happy with. I hope you find this advice helpful!

 

I just had to post a picture from my trip to London

Bye for now, England – see you again soon! I can’t wait to move into my new apartment - it was well worth the wait.

Alexandra