What can you do with £9000?

First of all, why hasn’t Harry written a blog since the end of August?

a) Third Year is difficult

b) Third Year is difficult

c) I’m lazy

d) Third Year is difficult

Good, glad that’s dealt with. Moving on…

Dreary afternoons in the library spent weeping over my dissertation has led me to wonder what else I could be doing with my £9000 a year. So, I did a little research, and found some pretty interesting alternatives. Here are my top 5:

You could take 26 baths a day or flush 450,000 toilets*

It costs £700.80 to bath twice a day for a whole year. Not feeling like a degree? Then you could run 25.68 baths a day instead. Or instead flush it (literally) down the toilet…450,000 times.

*I didn’t say this list would be useful.

Buy a really expensive drink

A bar in London is selling a cocktail, called the ‘Gigi’ for £8,888. Screw 9am lectures, you could have a combination of vintage champagne and an ultra-rare Armagnac brandy that pre-dates the Boer War.

A waterproof pool table

Ever been swimming, and thought, “this water is really missing the facility to be able play pool”? Well you could use your well-borrowed money to buy a waterproof pool table, solving a problem you never knew you had.

Buy a massive gumball machine

Ever wanted a bubble gum machine that was as tall as you? Me neither. But for your tuition fees you could have 3! Money well spent I say.

A Gold Lego Brick

No Lego set is complete without a 14K solid gold Lego brick. For $14,499.99 you could have one. Now I know this is more than a years worth of loan but you got to save up for some things.

Bet that degree seems wasted now…

 

 

Brexit – What it means for students

Unless you have been living under a rock and you think that Brexit is a type of cereal, you’ll have noticed there was a ‘little’ referendum earlier this week. Most students, whom this blog is aimed at, (75% in fact) voted for the UK to remain in the European Union. But it wasn’t enough. The resentment and tensions that have split the country in the past few days have been unprecedented, and there are many people who feel cheated by the result. Young students feel let down by the older generation – the over 65s especially, 60% of which voted leave. The backlash on social media has been extraordinary. Anger from the remainers at the result. Anger from leavers who feel that frustrated remainers are being sore losers. Anger from leavers at policy u-turns already from the leave camp. Anger at those who voted out but didn’t actually think it would happen. Tensions through the country are at fever pitch, and this is quite honestly a rather scary and worrying time for the UK.

What does this decision mean for students and the higher education sector in general? The vast majority of higher education receives a considerable amount of funding through EU institutions and, quite understandably, this will place pressures on universities and concern students who may lose financial support through the cancellation of this funding. Last Monday, the heads of 103 universities issued a letter expressing their concerns over Brexit, cautioning voters that the power of universities over communities should not be underestimated. The signatories added; “Every year, universities generate over £73 billion for the UK economy – £3.7bn of which is generated by students from EU countries, while supporting nearly 380,000 jobs. Strong universities benefit the British people – creating employable graduates and cutting-edge research discoveries that improve lives”. Following the result, NUS President Megan Dunn has written to David Cameron seeking his assurance that students and the younger generation would be thoroughly consulted “in any decisions made, not just older generations”. Dunn added; “This result will have vast, wide-ranging implications for students and their futures. The voice of students and young people must be heard and represented as critical decisions are now made as to how we move forward. We know that this decision will affect young people more than any other, and it would be wrong that older generations dominate discussions and decisions.” Dunn mirrors the atmosphere among most students. There is a genuine fear, not just for their places in higher education, but their future careers. This is where frustrations lie. I am in no way suggesting that the older generation should not be allowed to vote, democracy is a wonderful treasure. However, what I will say is that there should have been a bigger sense of responsibility among the older generation. Yes, it is their country as much as ours but they are creating a future in which we have to live in.

A study carried out before the referendum, identified that leaving the EU would lead half of employers to reduce the amount of graduates they hire. The study cited that the reason of downsizing would be due to the impact on the economy, the general uncertainty and a lower pool of EU graduates able to apply for jobs. Whilst it was found that a minority of employers would employ more British graduates to compensate for fewer EU graduates, the majority would pay for work permits to maintain the current level of EU graduates, or reduce their operations in the UK. Lucrezia Reichlin, economics professor at London Business School and former head of research at the European Central Bank says “the real question is what happens five years from now, after the loss of access to the single market. There might be a gain from taking control of immigration, but jobs will be threatened when companies find it harder to export to Europe. Ironically, the people who voted for Brexit will probably be the biggest losers”.

Catherine Barnard, a professor in European Union law at the University of Cambridge says: “Since we project that Brexit would lead to a decline in economic activity, we naturally expect that Brexit would lead to job loss too.” She estimates that around 550,000 jobs will be lost by 2020. Steve Coulter, who teaches political economy at the European Institute of the London School of Economics, agrees: “Brexit would lead to a fall in growth, jobs and investment in almost all scenarios.”

With forecasts of fewer jobs and higher prices, the choice to vote leave becomes increasingly – and frustratingly – bizarre. There were of course compelling arguments from the leave camp over Brexit, but not concerning students and higher education. This has been a lose-lose situation for them. Even though a large majority of students voted to remain, it is clear that there are many in the 18-24 age bracket who were disillusioned over the situation and simply didn’t vote. From a students point of view, the EU referendum result is not a happy one. University funding is due to be affected, and the job market for graduates looks much bleaker. I am sure that this will increase and improve again, but by how much? Is it going to be by enough to justify the leave vote and years of job loss? I think not. Worrying times lie ahead.

 

The One Where I Blog Again

Oops. Hello again. I may have forgotten to write a blog for a couple of weeks…or a month…okay more like three months. I’d like to pretend that I am someone who can multitask, but lets cut to the chase. Exams are an inconvenient, yet necessary distraction away from far more entertaining past times (i.e. this blog and sleeping). Something had to give. Anyway, back now. This is just a short blog, one to kick things back off again.

Everyone imagines sharing a house at uni is the formula for week after week of wild house parties and sitting up with housemates until 5:00 AM discussing complete nonsense. Whilst this still happens to an extent, sharing a house actually consists of lazy students, a grubby home and conversations along the line of “What bin day is it tomorrow?”. But more importantly a student house is a hive of lies, deceit and petty theft. I’m referring to housemates using/stealing/keeping your things, mainly from the kitchen.

As humans we don’t have a problem with this because we dislike our fellow housemates, its just we are very protective over our stuff – even a teaspoon. Also because we are British and love to avoid any sort of confrontation, no one says anything about it at first, slowly letting it build up.  A teaspoon here, a mug there. If scientists and clever people marked on a graph where tensions boiled over, it would be when someone uses your milk. As a group of people, students are very protective over what is effectively cow juice.

Full blown arguments have been known to break out over the unauthorised use of milk. Some students try to solve the problem by sharing one big carton of milk. But this just causes more issues as some buy the milk more than others. I’ve talked about milk too much. Let’s move on.

After this there is inevitably a passive aggressive message sent to the group chat in which the aggrieved person ‘kindly’ asks for their plate to be returned and very unsubtly mentions the milk situation. No one actually answers the message, but sure enough the plate magically returns and nothing more is said. In the real world (i.e. not students), people would consider this a very dysfunctional environment to live in.

My point is, why must we live in this world of strange tensions over people borrowing our stuff? We have a agreed to share a house, I think within that agreement there is a shared knowledge that we can use each others stuff (as long as you wash it up, I hate when people don’t wash up my stuff). Peace, love, rubber gloves etc…

It never gets better than being a fresher

Listen up freshers. Make the most of your time, because this is as good as it gets. The first year at university, as it turns out, is the best one. Its all downhill from there. Never again will you have mad flat parties with everyone in your block. Never again will you live around a load of students, your neighbours for the remainder of uni will contain a family – they don’t appreciate rowdy pre drinks.

First of all, it won’t ever be as exciting as that first mad week of freshers. The night after night of going out is a fond memory as you soon realise that you actually have to do work in the remaining years of your degree. Everyone who lives around you in first year is spread out in different houses for the next year, trying to organise a group pre drinks will be a logistical nightmare, in the end you give up and just agree to see each other when you’re out, which just isn’t the same.

After successfully scraping through first year, you actually have to go to your lectures and pay attention because the work becomes much harder, and, well, this is your degree. There’s no more skipping 9am lectures, dodging seminar work, or doing the bare minimum. The amount of time spent in the library increases, and the amount of time spent on having a social life, sadly, decreases.

When you live in a house for the first time, you realise that university halls were actually really easy. There were no bills to sort out between everyone, no working out the bin rota, and the university cleaners made your life much easier. Its not until you no longer have these “luxuries” that you realise how easy first year was.

Don’t get me wrong, university is still great, despite the increase in work. You still have mad nights out, and its still great fun living in a student house, but nothing will beat that fresher feeling.

12 people you’ll meet on a night out

Going on a night out is like going on an adventure down the yellow brick road. You meet all sorts of people that only ever seem to appear on nights out. Here’s a run down of some of these unique characters.

The One Who Is A Chunder Wonder – Seriously what time did you start drinking? Its 10 o’clock and you can’t even remember your own name. This person will most likely not even make it to 12, if they are lucky they might make it into the club for about 20 minutes before the bouncers chuck them out for being a mess.

The One Who Is A Taxi Try-Hard  – “Has anyone ordered a taxi yet?” Dude chill out, they aren’t going to run out of wheels.  This person goes on a night out just to organise people. The worst.

The Ones Who Outrageously Flirt – These people, in all honesty, are not interested in the night out at all and are just waiting to get it on as soon as possible. Just leave these two to their own thing, they don’t want to be disturbed really.

The One Who Is A Game Maker – This person always has a new stupid drinking game they read off BuzzFeed, that makes them believe they are the best thing since Cosmo in a can. They are besotted with the rules and become hideously power crazy. “YOU BROKE THE CIRCLE SEE THAT OFF”. They harbour no fear, beware playing Never Have I Ever, this person has zero limits.

The One Spiller – you know who you are.

The One Who is a Chatty Taxi Driver – nobody wants to be in the front of the taxi because the likelihood is that the driver is going to want to chat about absolute rubbish. This results in a weird and awkward conversation on the way to town, whilst you hope that every traffic light is green.

The One Who Chats to the Driver – unlucky son.

The One Who Cuts in the Queue – I was wrong about the organiser. These people are in fact the worst. We’ve been stood here in the cold for twenty minutes and then you turn up with your “Ladz” and push in. Jog on.

The One Bouncer That Makes Fun Of Your ID Photo – yes I am aware I look about 12, no need to point it out buddy. Just let me in please.

The One Who Thinks They Know You – This overly friendly character can be mistaken for someone who you thought you knew. In the cold light of day, whilst wondering who this Facebook friend request is from, you realise that you haven’t got a clue who this person is.

The One Who Barges – A dance floor is always crowded, thats just what happens, but there is always one person who feels the need to push everyone out the way so they have more room for their sick moves.

The One Who You Meet In The Toilet – This person is a complete stranger but treats you like you have been friends for years. You talk about irrelevant things and then go your separate ways back into the club.

BSc vs BA – which is better?

One thing I have learned after almost two years of university is that there is a huge amount of snobbery and that everyone gets very protective of their degrees (myself included). Everyone has worked hard to get to university and if anyone makes a slightly snide remark towards someone else’s degree, its usually met with a flimsy response along the lines of “Yeah..but..well more people are employed on average by my degree!”.

There is a particular rivalry between those who take BSc degrees and BA degrees. Those who study science degrees are certain that their degree is more worthwhile than those who study degrees of the arts, and vice versa. Who is right though, which is better? (I am aware as a History student I may be slightly biased)

Starting with the obvious, students of BSc degrees are probably going to land better paid jobs than those who study BAs. Also people who study BScs had higher entry grades into university and are on average slightly more intelligent. However this does not mean that their degree is harder. I totally agree that BSc degrees are difficult, plonk a maths equation in front of me and I will just run off in tears. But maths and science is all based on fact, the answer is either right or wrong (generally). For many BA degrees (mine included) correct answers are based around interpretations and making a strong argument, as well as finding facts. Learning facts can be drilled in to someone, but learning how to interpret and give meaning is much harder to learn.

Who has the better time at uni? Well I know that BSc students’ weeks are jammed with lectures, and that BA students do not have many at all (I have 6 hours a week), so you’d have to say that BA students have it easier and can go out more without the pain of having to wake up for a 9am lecture. However, this theory doesn’t always fit, as I know some people who do BSc degrees that have as little lectures as I do.

To save myself a raft of complaints, I better finish by being neutral. Everybody thinks their degree is the best, they wouldn’t have picked it otherwise. I don’t think it can ever be proven whether BAs or BScs are better, we just have to appreciate everybody’s degrees for what they are.

 

(But History is the best degree really, the rest of you suck)

 

Going back home is weird

Everyone has periods of home sickness, especially in their first year. As exciting as university is, every student misses the comforts of their home. Mum’s cooking? A clean house? Your washing being done for you? Everyone hates to admit it but we all miss home, no matter how much we love the freedom.

However after craving the home life for a whole semester, going home is just slightly weird. Yes its great to see your family again, and its also fun to catch up with your friends again, but after that initial excitement of seeing everyone again for the first time, you begin to realise that things have just changed a little bit. You’ll always miss your parents but after a few days of living with them again, you’ll remember why you love the freedom of university so much. At university you can leave the house whenever and don’t have to explain to anyone where you are going. You can eat food at anytime you want and not be tutted at. You can sleep in until 3pm and spend your day in the house in your pjs and nobody questions it. Living under the rules of your parents again is strange, and not something that you’ll ever get used to do.

Seeing friends from home is also a weird experience. With your very closest friends, nothing will change, and thats why you are best friends. However with those not-so-close friends, conversations are slightly strained and awkward. You end up having the same conversations over and over again until you eventually run out of things to talk about. Don’t get me started on “friends of your parents”. This ridiculous exchange with a person you barely know about is just strange and awkward, why do we even bother having the conversation? Its always the same; “Hows Uni?” “What do you study?” “What do you want to do afterwards?”. The worst small talk ever.

University is not only exciting because it shows you freedom, it also shows you how precious that freedom is. Going home will forever be a little bit strange.

 

Every mistake you’ll make as a fresher

If there is one point in your life where you can remodel yourself and be as free as you’ll ever be as a person, its your first year at university. However, with new found freedom, comes inevitable mistakes.

• Spending way too much money in your first week – Its a classic rookie error. You just want to fit in and have fun, so you end up going to the most expensive club in the city. Or  you end up buying ridiculous things when you go for your first food shop; “I might need this tin of sausages at some point”.
• You’ll make friend with the first person you meet who does the same course as you – You’ll then realise after about a week how you really don’t get along with them, and spend the rest of your time trying to avoid them. The odd smile and wave now and then – maybe a quizzical look at your phone when you don’t recognise this person on Facebook – is as far as the friendship will go.
• Deciding to live with your whole flat in the second year – It may seem like a great idea after a month of living together, but after a year you will realise that there is at least one person who doesn’t fit in the group, or you just simply don’t get on with.
• Saying “I’ll just have a quiet one” when your friends are going out – This will inevitably turn into one of the biggest night outs you’ll ever have and that 9am lecture the next day, that you were having a “quiet one” for, will be hellish.
• Underestimating how much harder university work is – Every student assumes that work at uni will be the same as their A Levels. Even as a first year, the work load is vastly increased and staying up the night before deadlines to finish coursework will become a regular occurrence.
• You’ll get it on with someone from your course – The following days, weeks or even months will be met with awkward smiles and hellos as you try to forget that it even happened.
• You’ll invite your home friends to come and visit – This seems like a great idea, your home gang can come and party with your new friends. However, you’ll spend the whole time feeling awkward as your two lives clash together rather pathetically. home friends are for home.
• Finding a house becomes way too stressful – everyone wants to find a house before they all go, however as newbies to this you and your group will inevitably get mugged off by letting agents. The house wont be what you wanted and you’ll pay way too much for it.

Don’t listen to the stereotype, dating your flatmate is great

The phrase “don’t sh*t where you eat” was repeated to me about a hundred times in my first year. This is of course referring to being in any type of relationship with your flatmate. University folklore tells you that sleeping with your flatmate is forbidden. You treat your flatmates like family. You wouldn’t date your sister would you?

Well this stereotype is flawed. Going out with your flatmate is ace. It started with a few cheeky kisses on nights out, that we shook off as freshers fun. Then we became cuddle buddies. Until it got to the point where we hated the other one bringing anyone else back. Its at this point that you realise that maybe its time to go on a date.  All the naysayers say that it will be awkward if we break up. University is about trying something new and exciting, what is the point in worrying about the future? Besides I don’t normally look to date someone if I’m going to break up with them.

Living with your girlfriend/boyfriend may seem pretty intense, but if it ever does get too much (which it rarely does) you have the rest of your flat too hang out with and you still have your own room to lock yourself in. Even though you realise sometimes that things have got intense pretty fast – conversations like “we need some more milk” do make you think twice about the situation – it is still great. You have someone to sleep with every night, meals become cheaper and it honestly makes the relationship stronger. My girlfriend and I are on different courses and play different sports, so we still have time away from each other. It didn’t change the flat dynamic, we still all went on nights out together, just make sure everyone is on the same page.