Highlights of my life at Southampton

This will be my penultimate post for the Life at Southampton blog! My first and last exams are this week, after which I’ll hopefully be celebrating, packing for Europe and preparing for my move to Australia. I thought it would be good to dedicate this blog post to some of the highlights of my University experience, all of which I’ve written about in more detail in previous blog posts.

Here’s a summary of some of the amazing things I’ve been up to over the past few years (apart from the obvious which is working towards my degree…)

First year biology field trip to Spain

One of the highlights of my first year was definitely the 10 day Biology field course in Bolonia, Spain. I was able to see, do, learn and experience so much and all in a gorgeous location with wonderful weather. You can’t really ask for more! You can read about the field trip in detail (including lots of lovely photos) see my past blog post “Easter break past and present”.

Getting involved with the dance societies

In my first year I joined three dance societies: Jazz Dance, Ballet and Contemporary, and I auditioned for the advanced competition squads for all. Before coming to the University of Southampton I had never been in competitions and I had mostly danced Ballet, but after making it into the squads I quickly made some of the coolest friends I have at University and I found other dance styles which I really love too. We had an amazing time training together, attending the competitions and taking part in the annual Pure Dance show in both my first and second year. Also, in my second year, after enjoying dance so much in my first year, I took on the role of president for the Jazz Dance Society. I’ve written a lot about my dance experiences in previous posts (also with lots of photos), for those of you more interested in the dance societies you may want to check out these past blog posts: “Getting you up to speed…”, “Dominating at the BNU Dance Competition”, “My last dance competition” and “Pure Dance 2014 and more”.

Mandarin language course 

During the summer of my first year I applied for a place on a three-week intensive mandarin language course which I still feel very lucky to have taken part in. The teacher was super supportive and encouraging and I was amazed at how much I had learnt in just three weeks. If you want to read more about my experience you can check out my past post “Light at the end of the tunnel”.

Obtaining my ocean diver qualifications

At the end of that same summer I finished my ocean diver qualifications with the University’s Sub-Aqua Club. I still find it a little funny how my first ever dive was in dry suit in cold and murky UK waters rather than somewhere in Australia (I had only ever been snorkeling when I lived there). Nevertheless, it was still a great experience. The second location we dived in was pretty cool; the water was clear and there were different parts of wreckage placed around the site so when we were diving we swam past things like a sunken car, a humongous, old, industrial tumble drier and aircraft wreckage. The instructors were really great too.

Third year project

This includes both my field experience in Italy over the summer and the lab experience in at the University during my third year. I’ve learnt a lot during both of those experiences and I had fun while doing it too. I’ve mentioned bits of my lab experience in more recent posts and if you’re interested in my Italy experience check out my past post: “Field experience in Italy”.

 

Green Action

In my third year I took on the role of president of Green Action Society. I was actually completely new to the society when I ran for the role but I was very keen to get involved. I’ve met a lot of new people and learnt so much, gaining new perspectives on global issues, particularly environmental issues but also social issues and the links between the two. I’ve had opportunities to network with people and organisations outside of the University and attended many events connected to the interests of Green Action. Overall it has been a great experience. Past posts where I’ve written about Green Action in more detail include: “Green Action and student campaigns” and “Sustainability festivals and green spaces”.

There’s a whole lot more I could write about but this blog post would be never ending and I need to get back to revision with my exams fast approaching!

I wish everyone good luck in their exams!

Kristin

Pure Dance and garden parties

During the first weekend of the Easter break I met up with two of my friends from last year’s contemporary dance squad to go and watch Pure Dance 2015. For those of you who don’t know, Pure Dance is a massive show put on once a year to showcase performances from all of the University’s different dance societies including street dance, ballet, jazz dance, breakdance, ballroom and Latin, tap dance, belly dancing and bhangra.

The show covers performances from each level within the different dance societies so that everyone has a chance to perform a routine, demonstrate what they’ve been learning over the year and how much they’ve improved. The University’s competition dance squads also perform at the show.

With so many different dance societies and several routines being performed from each society from beginner’s level to advanced dancers, the show ended up being almost three hours long! This was my first time watching the show, as for the past two years I’ve been a performer. It was a fun new experience and I have to say the show went by unbelievably quickly - it didn’t feel like three hours at all!

I really enjoyed watching some of my dance friends from last year and checking out some of the new talent that has joined this year. As always, I was blown away with the squad routines, and after watching everyone I realised how much I miss dancing. I think I will probably try and take a couple of classes after the Easter break before exams begin and we end for summer.

Setting up before the show begins in the O2 Guildhall. 

This year the show was held at the O2 Guildhall in Southampton which was really exciting. In the past two years that I was in the show it has always been in the Turner Sims Concert Hall which is located on campus. My friends and I arrived a little bit early so we could wish some of our friends good luck before the performance began.

Now one week of the Easter break has already passed (I feel like I say this in every blog post but time is passing by far too quickly!). As I mentioned in my last blog post I’m staying in Southampton rather than going back to Sweden for Easter and have been working on my third year project. However, I have also found some fun things to do as a break from project work! Some of the people from the Kickboxing Society are also still around in Southampton so I’ve managed to fit in two kickboxing sessions which is a great dissertation break and a way to relieve stress!

I also went to an awesome get-together at a friend’s house (who I’ve known since first year). We also happen to be doing the same course, but because biology is quite a broad discipline we’ve chosen quite different modules so it’s actually been a while since I saw her last. She organised the night with a group of friends and they really put in a lot of effort. There was lots of food, a small fire people could sit around outside, and several of the guys brought guitars and were playing music outside. People were dancing and singing, and they also moved the sofas into the back garden and put up lanterns and lights. It was fantastic. I got to meet a lot of new people and had a lot of fun. Again, a great way to take a break from work for a night.

They went to a lot of effort so that everyone would have a great night! 

Many people left to go home on Sunday so my house is feeling rather empty. I’ll also be taking a short stay away from Southampton later in the week to visit my Auntie so I’ll be spoiled with some of her home cooking for a few days! Until then, it’s back to work on my third year project. While there is still a lot to do, it feels good when you can see parts coming together.

Kristin