A different kind of social

When people hear the word ‘socials’ – when a society gets together - they tend to think of nightclubs and bars. However, there are a whole array of different, ‘non-alcoholic’ socials that you can do instead. Even when I think back to my Fresher’s fortnight there were plenty of events that didn’t involve heading down to the nearest club and that still remains true today. In fact, a few weeks ago I went on two alcohol-free socials in the space of three days!

My first was a trip into Portsmouth organised by the Physics society (Physoc). Perhaps you might be thinking that we visited a famous landmark, a science museum or a Physics-based company to further our education. However, the truth is that we actually went to large indoor play area called 'Playzone' to run around for ninety minutes!

Playzone is a favourite and staple social for many societies across campus. Although by day it’s a play area for children, in the evenings they open it up for adults to enjoy (despite our hyperactivity, students do actually qualify as adults!). The indoor play area features four different slides, including a giant vertical drop slide and a four lane racing slide, which are surrounded by a maze of climbing obstacles, rope swings and rotating pads that serve only to make you extremely dizzy.

The vertical slide is genuinely scary! 

As soon as our minibuses arrived, we dropped our conservations about University work and regressed by at least ten years. After diving straight into the obstacles and slides, we soon set about creating a thirty person game of ‘it’ and a competition to see who could climb up the slide firsts – you never quite learn that slides are very slippery, even as Physicists!

Needless to say we were all exhausted after an hour and a half of climbing, running, sliding and jumping. The next morning I woke with every muscle hurting, including those I didn’t even know existed, but despite this it was one of the best socials I’ve ever been on and would do it again in a heartbeat. It was a great way to let off some steam!

The second of the two socials was with the University’s Art Society (Artsoc). After a session in which we practised our portrait drawing skills, we headed to a committee member’s house to begin a ‘pudding social’. The idea was for everyone who was attending to bake or buy a dessert and bring it along for everyone to enjoy. Being a keen cook I decided to bake a lemon drizzle cake and I was very happy with the end result, despite a small accident occurring when I tried to remove the cake from its tin!

The lemon drizzle cake before its little accident

In the end we had twelve cakes between eleven of us and despite our best efforts (and one cake being dropped on the floor) we could not finish it all in one sitting. That’s not really surprising though, is it?!

We may have underestimated how many cakes we'd have! 

I would say that the fact I now prefer these kinds of activities over going clubbing must be a sign of me growing older, but considering they consisted of going down sides and stuffing myself with cake, I think a claim of maturity might have to wait a while…

James

Spreading the word

At the time of writing, performances of the latest show I’ve had the pleasure to be involved with, directing as part of SUSU Showstoppers (the musical theatre society), titled The Drowsy Chaperone, are well underway! In fact, almost as soon as they’ve begun, they’ll nearly be over, with our final shows on this Friday (10th) and Saturday (11th) at 7.30pm in the Annex Theatre on Highfield Campus before there’s a new show in there next week; no rest for the wicked!

(If you’re looking for an alternative light-hearted evening’s entertainment, please come along and say hello, as it’d be great to meet you there!)

Show week is always a curious feeling from the view of a production team member, particularly when you see members of your cast rushing around before every show to get ready while you’re safe in the knowledge you’re not going on stage that night! With the show fully prepared in terms of rehearsing, there’s very little the Directors can do every night except watch, enjoy and occasionally cross your fingers whenever you know a big production number is coming up!

Of course, there’s no need to be worried. For me, it’s the greatest sense of pride I think I can experience and why I love being part of the theatrical world as, when the lights go down on opening night to signal the start of the show, you get to appreciate the impact of every small task or piece of work leading up to that first moment, even when they seemed menial at the time. They all come together to form a fully-fledged production. It’s always a feeling that sends a shiver down my spine, seeing how far the show has come from its early days, and how much everyone involved has improved on the stage and developed their skills off it.

The Drowsy Chaperone has been no exception, with a shorter (and more intense!) rehearsal period than any show I’ve previously known due to everyone involved being so busy beforehand! As a result, the level of talent and commitment on display from the cast and production team has had to be outstanding, the creativity and endeavour of the technical crew incredible, and the band brilliant – and thankfully, all of the above has rung true, and we’ve got what we hope is a great show on our hands!

 The cast and production team of The Drowsy Chaperone! Credit: David Aggus

The really surreal element is how I get to watch every night and observe a show which, due to a previous project being unfortunately cancelled, I didn’t know anything about before the start of the year (and found just by browsing YouTube one November night!). Somehow only four months later it has morphed into a project involving over fifty people!

It’s strange to see how such a small idea has grown and grown over the time period. However, it’s because of the hard work of first the production team, then the cast in auditioning and rehearsing, and finally the technical crew and band in making it all happen, that it has somehow all come together on a huge scale beyond anything I and my co-Director Andy could ever have imagined at the start – and we can’t thank them enough!

Aside from sorting any loose ends props-wise (looking for rubber chickens on Amazon the other day probably demonstrated to my housemates that it’s a very unusual show!) our only job has been to try and sell the show to as many people as possible. This is a tougher task than usual, with it not being too well known, despite its previous success with Tony Award wins and the like in the United States.

Once again, the task of spreading the word and getting The Drowsy Chaperone out there has been facilitated by a hard-working cast (selling tickets to friends and families, and flyering outside in occasionally less-than-perfect conditions!), some wonderfully creative individuals (my Producer, David, has been working round the clock on some amazing material!), and engaging publications, all of whom have reached new potential audience members and pointed them in our direction.

From preview interviews in the Students’ Union entertainment magazine, The Edge, to working with SUSUtv (the Union’s television station) to film the trailer (see below!), and working with Surge Radio (the Union's radio station) to have it broadcast through their Culture department, there are loads of ways to get involved with spreading the news, so if media or marketing is your thing, there are opportunities aplenty here at the University of Southampton!

Our trailer for The Drowsy Chaperone, as created by SUSUtv

We’ve also been working to welcome in as many reviewers we can from The Edge and Surge, as well as independent bodies like the Daily Echo and the Soton Tab, including a visit from the National Student Drama Festival (NSDF). Hopefully by the end of the show we’ll have lots of feedback on how we can do better next time!

Thankfully, the reviews we’ve received so far have been very positive indeed – The Edge described the show as “impossible not to love” and gave it four stars out of five, whereas SceneOne, a local company, described it as “something special” and “highly recommended” – so here’s hoping for more of the same in the near future!

Regardless, I couldn’t be prouder of everyone involved in The Drowsy Chaperone. It’s been quite an experience from start to finish, working with a larger cast and team than I’ve ever done before, but somehow it’s all come together to form a production which everyone can take a huge amount of pride in. 

Best of all, though, it’s been an honour and a privilege to work with everyone so closely over the past four months, and their achievement in bringing the show to life cannot be emphasised enough – and for that, I can only thank them! Here’s hoping we can get the word out there, and give them the audience numbers they deserve! 

Robin

Sustainability festivals and green spaces

Over the weekend I had a great time attending the 2015 Southampton Sustainability Festival with fellow Green Action members. The day was organised by Southampton Hub and focused on raising awareness of sustainable consumption and inspiring students to take action. Throughout the day there were a number of really interesting workshops which included speakers from various initiatives and organisations including Southampton Repair Café, The Environment Centre, Labour Behind the Label and the Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development. I particularly found the talks by Positive Money, on how new money comes into circulation, and The Real Junk Food Project, on the principles behind ‘pay-as-you-feel’ cafes and preventing food waste. They were really eye opening.

Over the lunch break one of my committee members and I were also able to set up a stall for Green Action to share what our society does with people at the event who may be interested, which also ended up being a great networking opportunity. We were set up next to a stall by ‘The Bug Shack’ who promoted insects as a sustainable source of protein - something I’ve actually been really curious about. It was great to have the opportunity to ask them some questions and learn more about the potential of insects.

The festival was held during Student Volunteering Week at the University.

I really feel like I’ve been gaining a vast amount of new perspectives on various issues I feel passionate about through the lectures and assignments I’ve had this semester, as well as through additional events such as the Southampton Sustainability Festival.

A couple of weeks ago Green Action teamed up with SUSU's Marxist Society and Southampton and District Young Greens for a joint event on capitalism and the environment which again was really interesting and eye-opening. Studying biology, I tend to focus more purely on the science behind a lot of the current environmental issues society is facing, but I feel it’s very valuable to able to see these issues from various perspectives in order to gain a greater understanding on how best to tackle them.

Attending so many green events does make you appreciate nature more. As a third year student, while I have been able to attend a number of fascinating events I also spend a lot of time in front of my laptop by a desk, so my one of my housemates and I have been trying to find ways to spend more time outside. In my last blog post I wrote about taking part in one of the Conservation Volunteering Society’s Sunday tasks at Chilworth Conservation Area.

This weekend my housemate and I decided to go for a 5km run on Southampton Common. For those who don’t know, the Common is a large green space close to the University and the city centre. It’s been a long time since I last went running but thankfully I didn’t feel too exhausted and I definitely got to fill my lungs with some fresh air!

A refreshing morning at Southampton Common.

I always enjoy stepping away from my desk and mixing with different groups, learning more about the environment or making time to enjoy Southampton’s green and natural spaces.

Kristin

The career pathway

This week the Career and Placements Fair took place in Garden Court on Highfield campus, which is one of the many different career-based activities that the University of Southampton’s Career Destinations puts on. Unfortunately I couldn’t spend much time there, since a double lecture and two hours of project work with my partner coincided with the majority of the fair’s opening time!

Despite this, I have still been thinking a lot about my future after I graduate in the summer. Regular readers will know that my interests lie in the field of Medical Physics, in addition to educational jobs and, of course, writing-based careers! Although I do have a firm direction in mind, it’s always good to still be looking, as there are many different types of jobs that you’re not aware of.
 
I attended another Careers Fair in February, which was aimed purely at Engineering and Computer Science jobs, which of course have a huge overlap with Physics. This is especially true for me because I have taken two computer coding courses and last semester I also took a sustainable energy engineering module. Although a lot of the jobs involved technical computer science knowledge, there were still a good number of businesses on display that both appealed to my interests and aligned with my skill sets. There was even one business that used similar Physics that underlies Medical Physics, but for a completely different use!

The other advantage of a careers fair – the goodies! 

In fact I’ve found this to be true for a number of different industries. In early February, the Physics Society (Physoc) held a talk from a local company called Symetrica, who are an offshoot from the University’s Physics department. They work in the field of radiation detection, producing detectors for ports and other high-security locations that range from small handheld devices to giant portals used for scanning trucks. The interesting part of their work is that these detectors use the same core Physics that a hospital’s PET scanner makes use of!

After the talk, which outlined the Physics principles behind their work and their growth and development since leaving their original home on Highfield campus, attendees were offered the chance to go on a tour of their premises two weeks later. I signed up straight away as I was keen to see more of their work and I was also interested to see what a Physics in industry looks like – I’ve always had images of mad scientists in cluttered warehouses!

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you want to look at it, there were no mad scientists in sight and their workshop areas were meticulously tidy too! The tour took about two hours, during which they showed us their products and production methods, whilst explaining more about the theory behind how the detectors worked. The company was very impressive, but more importantly they showed me that were are many different avenues into careers related to and involving the concepts behind Medical Physics.

Finally, I attended a teacher training course open evening at the University one evening last week. There currently seems to be a giant demand for Physics – and general science - teachers, and after having conversations with some of the University staff and teachers from local schools, this particular career avenue definitely remains an option for me.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve learned that there are so many different careers out there and, more importantly, that there are many different ways of getting into a particular field – something I hadn’t really considered before and something I would definitely recommend investigating yourself when you start looking for you career pathway.

James

Stories to tell

It seems strange to say in the knowledge that there’s only a few weeks left of the Easter term, but there’s nothing better to remind you of how few days there are in February than a deadline or two creeping up on you at the beginning of March!

Such was the case in the past few days, when my first assignment of the term – preparing and delivering a short presentation on the principles of an IT-driven business investment within an organisation of our choice – suddenly arrived on my doorstep. I’d always known that this presentation was due to take place at the beginning of March, but somehow with fewer days in February, it came around a lot quicker than expected – if only it were a leap year!

As I wrote last time, my latest project as an amateur Director, The Drowsy Chaperone (with the musical theatre society, Showstoppers), goes on stage next week – so the appearance of an unexpected deadline caused a bit of panic amidst all the preparation being undertaken for that!

Nevertheless, after I’d realised, I was able to spend plenty of time in the ever-stocked and inspirational Hartley Library with my head in a book, making sure it was completed and delivered to the best of my ability, in between all the other intensive rehearsals and production-based activities last week!

Such an anecdote is just one example of the many stories I seem to have accrued during almost four academic years at the University of Southampton, many of which have formed the basis of my posts here on Life at Southampton. I was flattered recently to be invited to be interviewed about my time here (both from an academic and an extra-curricular perspective), just to chat about my experiences at the University.

As someone whose is always quite nervous during interviews, I of course went into it fearing that I would freeze and have nothing particularly interesting to say, and that I’d dry up completely. But once things got going, I found, much to my surprise, the exact opposite: I’d so many different answers, ideas and thoughts which the University has fostered through my course in Software Engineering, and through my time as a member of the Students’ Union, that I had to cut myself off lest we would talk for hours!

From the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to the programming laboratories, there were stories of interesting lectures and assignments (sometimes featuring relatively last-minute submissions) stories of plays and musicals, stories of trips and tours, stories of academic conferences and production activities and projects, and stories of learning experiences (I’ll never forget to boil the potatoes for long enough after my first-year attempt at sausage ‘n mash!).

There were stories yielded by friendship groups which fell completely outside all of the above. There’s nothing quite like just meeting someone new on the bus and getting chatting to them, or even just around the Union. It’s not a rare occurrence; the sense of community across campus makes it far less awkward than you might think! The majority of these seemingly unrelated stories were provided by my first-year flatmates, whom later went on to become my housemates for three years. We didn’t do much together in terms of shared academic courses or societies, but there are multitudes of memories, quotations and photographs which I don’t think I’ll ever forget!

 

My first year flatmates, and second and third year housemates, and I at last year’s astonishing Grad Ball event – it’s strange to not see them as often now, but we’re still in touch!

Having this myriad of experiences, anecdotes and even jokes to fall back on has already proven useful in terms of my job application efforts. Typical application and interview questions such as “Describe a time when…” and “What experience do you have in…” seem far easier to answer, even on the spot, when you’ve a number of scenarios in your head which you can apply to different situations and transferable skills.

In many ways, one of the best things I’ve found to do is to read this blog (and my 90 previous posts on it!) just to give myself a quick reminder of how much has actually gone on during my time here, and how much I’ll miss the University when it’s all over!

The stories continue to aggregate, with The Drowsy Chaperone now very much on the horizon and the associated challenges of directing a large-cast and large-scale musical fully in the forefront of my mind! It’s been a pleasure so far, and has provided plenty of new anecdotes (including ones regarding the difficulties of sourcing a revolving stage for the first time in the society’s history!). It looks like it will be a fantastic and hilarious spectacle of a show.

If you have any love of musicals at all – or even if you don’t, as it’s a parody of their tropes! – then Drowsy is the show for you, and we’d love to see you there! It promises to be a side-splitting feast of musical cheese, featuring a revolving stage, blindfolded dancing on roller-skates and even an aeroplane landing on stage, along with an incredibly hard-working cast, crew and production team to whom I couldn’t be more grateful.

So come along and catch the show! Who knows? It may even provide you with another story of your own!

The Drowsy Chaperone takes place in the Annex Theatre (Building 2a on Highfield Campus, by the Interchange) from Wednesday 11th - Saturday 14th March at 7.30pm every evening - we’d love to see you there!

Robin

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