Boozy Britain: Are We Encouraging Alcoholism in Our Youth?

 Imagens Evangélicas / Flickr

Now I enjoy several drinks as much as the next student, but how much is too much? With many uni events solely based on alcohol, I find myself sympathising with those who don’t drink – there is very little left in uni culture if you don’t ‘down it, fresher’! I personally know people who just don’t like drinking or simply can’t for their own health, and I can’t help but wonder if we should do more to combat our overly boozy culture.

In a 2010 study, 83% of students in the UK classified themselves as drinkers, which means only a mere 17% chose the sober way of life. So why do we students drink our own body weight in liquor, I hear you eagerly ask?

I believe it boils down to a simple fear of missing out (or FOMO); when almost all social activities are based on drinking games and not being able to remember the night before, it’s no wonder we are a generation of binge-drinkers and budding alcoholics. What’s more striking is the way uni culture promotes this behavior, as if harbouring a hangover on a Sunday morning is almost expected of you. You’re labelled as ‘boring’, ‘no fun’ and a ‘killjoy’ if you don’t participate in Ring of Fire as opposed to your peers who can’t go one day without drinking.

 In the real world, this would be a form of acute alcoholism, yet in university culture, it’s acceptable. If you find yourself in the minority that doesn’t drink, I would suggest immersing yourself in similar company; heck, there are even some societies that dedicate themselves to not drinking, you shouldn’t be made to feel alien for not completely destroying your poor liver.

I’m not saying you should abstain completely, but maybe the Italians are on the right lines with their culture of drinking with food rather than shotting with Sarah (or any friend of your choice). By all means get to the merry stage, but is it really fun when Sarah is holding your hair up while you’re being sick in the grimiest club at three in the morning? Of course it is completely understandable when you’re bogged down with hundreds of assignments while juggling a social life to have a drink (or seven), but before you know it you’re being carried home on a stretcher (because every decent club has a spare stretcher going) and I don’t know about you, but for me, that’s not the way to end a night.

There is no shame in curling up with your favourite stuffed monkey (shout-out to Albi) while watching a bit of Benedict Cumberbatch in the evening. I don’t know about you, but to me, that sounds like heaven on Earth. Even the hardest party animals need a break and unwind with a four hour Come Dine With Me marathon especially when you’re watching sore losers. Even trips such as going to the theatre, or watching a movie makes a pleasant change and don’t come with the added plus of a hangover the next morning.

Maybe it’s different in other universities, but I feel like more of an effort should be made for sober socials. Don’t get me wrong, I acknowledge the effort that is currently being made to combat this, such as the £90,000 spent on tackling initiation drinking, but I feel like this is an issue that should be more at the forefront for societies in general – especially those with a notorious reputation.

Enjoyment is fine in moderation, as is not wanting to drink at all. However maybe Universities should do more to combat student alcoholism, or at least supply more supervision to tackle dangerous coercive drinking. I’m not putting my Gin + Lemonade down just yet, but I’m thinking about it.

Original post can be found here: http://thebroaduk.com/2016/01/09/boozy-britain-are-we-encouraging-alcoholism-in-our-youth/ 

Read More

10 Ways to Cheer Up Your Drab Uni Room

With summer almost at an end (R.I.P happiness) you might be getting ready to go back to uni or move in for the first time. University can be a daunting experience which is why it is all the more important make your room as homey as possible. I've created these 10 ideas to inject some personality without wasting too much time, money or space. If you've got more time on your hands than you can manage, this would be a perfect way to style your room without wasting precious minutes when you start studying. If you're not moving, you can still hopefully use these ideas if you're looking to redecorate.

1. Make a statement wall

Statement walls are my personal favourite as they provide a brilliant focal point for the room and they're perfect for lazy people like me who can't be bothered to decorate their whole room (there's a whole FOUR walls you know!). Since you can't make any permanent fixtures, it's worth either covering your wall with posters using easy to remove Blu-Tack; although be careful with removing it from the walls as cheap paint (which uni no doubt uses) tends to come off with it. I had no problem with it last year because I tried to remain delicate in an attempt not to cause any end of year fines but if you're rough, you'll have chipped paint and a hole in your wallet. I quite like the idea of a mood-board design as I've tried to recreate in the image on the right. Yes, I know it's very Tumblr and pretentious but I'm trying to keep the motivational quotes and clichés to a minimum, I promise. 

2. Stick to a colour theme 

Probably the simplest of tips but having a distinct colour theme makes your room look so much more meticulous. They said I couldn't do it, but I showed them! I painted my room at home a shocking yellow (to make it brighter and to feed my Utopia obsession) then decorated it with white accessories to really make it pop. Obviously you don't have to go to this extent, but using two contrasting colours can really make your room unique and give it an extra burst of life.

3. Decorate cushions

Fill up your room with cushions, cushions and more cushions! I regret not doing this in my first year because when binge watching some classic Will & Grace I would have loved to cuddle up amongst a collection of cushions. I genuinely believe they allow you to transcend into the ultimate level of comfort. To save costs as much as possible because we all know that's what student life is all about, stores like Wilko (which is amazing may I add) sell white cushion inner pads for as little as £1 and they're so easy to cover! (check out this cool tutorial here) If you fancy yourself as a budding Picasso, you can buy your own fabric paint and create your own designs: the paint itself is cheaper than some cushions themselves and this way you and integrate it to the theme of your room and let your imagination go wild!

4. Homemade artwork + frames

As a budding young photographer, there's nothing better than to see your work printed on a canvas. If you don't want to spend lots time adding various posters and little elements to your room, you can keep it simple and print out one of your favourite photos - it could be a candid shot of you and your bezzie mate, or even your best holiday snap. You could either get it enlarged for a reasonable fee (Boots or Asda usually offer the best deals) or get it printed on a canvas and hang it up above your bed. Again, since you can't afford to be nailing things down if you have a canvas, a good alternative might be sticky pads. If you want something on a smaller scale, try buying a nice decorative frame second hand and jazzing it up with gold/silver spray paint then putting your photo of choice inside to make all your flatmates jealous of your creative ingenuity.

5. Fairy lights/LED candles

In your first year when your electricity is included in the bill, it's nice to create an ambience with fairy lights usually hung around your bed. However, in your second and third years when you have to watch your electricity usage, I'd probably skip the fairy lights and just live in darkness instead (uni life, am I right?). If like my first year accommodation you aren't allowed to have any candles in your room for health and safety reasons, it might be worth buying some LED candles if you really can't live without them. These mock candles are totally safe; they run on battery power and some of them are even remote controlled for those lazy students out there (I'm mainly directing this at myself). If you can't find any LED candles you like, just buy some plain ones and decorate them - it's amazing the transformation a bit of glue and glitter can give.

6. Homemade shelves

If like me you're pushed for space in your uni room and have more books than you do shelf space (shout-out humanities students!) this is a great way to utilise all the space you have. It's handy if you already have some wicker baskets lying around; if not, I'm sure your friends (or Amazon) will lend a hand for your strange requests. Place some sticky pads on the four corners of the basket and stick them to the desired area on the wall (this image I found from Pinterest shows you how it looks). If you're not a fan of sticky pads then try some adhesive based removable hooks - you shouldn't damage the basket if you just poke the hook through the gaps in the wicker. However, be careful not to overload these makeshift shelves - after all, they are makeshift. I'd suggest putting your heaviest items on the actual shelves and lighter things or things on your D.I.Y shelves.

7. Personal bookends

Instead of going out and buying some boring run-of-the-mill bookends, why not use heavy items like cute souvenirs to add a quaint touch to your room? A brilliant store for little gadgets and toys is a store called Tiger -  check out the website for some inspiration. The majority of branches are in London, although some can be found dotted around the south. If you don't have a Tiger near you, you could also make your own personalised bookends by buying some papier mache letters, cutting the bottom out, adding some marbles to weigh it down, cover the bottom and spray paint the letters whatever colour you want and Bob's your uncle! (That only really works if you have an uncle called Bob)

8. Organiser!

Goodness knows how many pens and random stationary I had dotted around my room - to create some sort of method to the madness take some old cereal boxes and paper rolls, paint them using acrylic paint however you like, glue them together and you've got your very own, unique (probably not state-of-the-art) desk tidy! You can glue these boxes whatever way you like to maximise space and style. Add your own blackboard or notice board and you've got your own mini office going on to remind you of your future 9 to 5 job.

9. Heart photos/memory wall

This is probably the most generic idea (apologies) but if you're feeling homesick it gives you a lovely reminder of home. Print off your favourite photos and then decide beforehand how you want to organise them. Most people go for the classically girly heart shape, but why not push the boat out and place your photos in the shape of Pacman or a space invader? It's really up to you how you want to decorate them, but I'd definitely recommend some sort of photo collage if you're really feeling low. If you're not a fan of the photo idea, I enjoyed creating a memory wall where I would stick up little mementos like concert tickets and wristbands so I could look back on that LIFE CHANGING Red Hot Chili Peppers concert many moons ago.

10. Motivational posters

Yes, yes, I know, another cliché but hear me out here - this usually works for other people, but if you're hungover in bed and just lacking the motivation to do anything, guilt trip yourself by putting tons of motivational posters that'll make you more likely to get up and do some work! Not exactly 'get up you lazy piece of dirt', put something a little more subtle. Something like YouTuber Superwoman perhaps?

 

These were just some of the few ideas I have if you want to quickly jazz up your room. Feel free to make any other suggestions in the comments below (go on mum) and let me know if you try any of these for your room, I'd love to see the end result. 

Read More

10 Top Tips for Keen Freshers

So you've got your results and you're off to uni - congrats! If you are as eager as I was, you'll listen to my advice and treasure it because second year Angie would give fresher Angie a slap in the face and then sit sunken in the corner in shame/embarrassment.

1. Do NOT, I repeat do NOT write on your uni's freshers page

Leave the making friends part until you actually get to uni, please. When you start, you'll get 'hey weren't you that girl who posted loads on the Facebook freshers page?' and then you'll never live it down. Trust me, I'm still hearing about it to this day. *facepalms*

2. Minimise your luggage as much as possible

You're probably a savvy student who already knows what to pack for uni, but being the hoarder that I am, I couldn't bare to part with my beloved shoes which I haven't worn in 5 years and that treasured book which I haven't read since I was 12. You really don't have a lot of space at uni so take what you use regularly and pack the bare essentials - no, that doesn't include your collection of novelty snow globes. 

3. Take advantage of the freshers fair as much as possible

I made the mistake of arriving late and missing out on all the brilliant freebies (this article seems to be turning into a giant list of my mistakes) which included FREE PIZZA and bottle openers which are essential, obviously. My advice would be dump your stuff in your room, run to the fair and grab 10 of everything. Free notebook? I have several already but at least I've saved myself the anxiety and torment of running out of paper. Hey, maybe you can even sell it on for a decent profit. No shame here.

4. DON'T BUY A FRESHERS WRISTBAND

So you've probably gathered I was a little too keen for uni and went positively insane when tickets for freshers events were released. The big ticket scandal of 2014 when the website's server overloaded meant that I couldn't get a wristband but still ended up spending the same amount of money on tickets to individual events! *sigh* When the time came, I was stuck in bed with freshers flu and couldn't even go to half of them! Freshers events will undoubtedly be better in your second year when you're familiar with everyone and can plan group nights so for the first year just stick to the most popular events and then see what the general consensus is when you get there.

5. Get involved in societies ASAP

One of my biggest regrets was not getting involved in more societies earlier. When you go to a societies or sports fair you get overwhelmed with the amount of societies there are so plan ahead or think realistically - will you actually go to that Taoist Qigong society event when you still to this day have no idea what they do? Join a small handful of societies and actually go to the first socials, as that's when groups start to develop and you get to know everyone; it's a lot easier than joining the society halfway through and trying to fit into a clique.

 

6. Get ahead on your course

This sounds like one of the lamest tips but I would recommend filling in the gaps of your subject knowledge during summer so you're on the right lines for your first year and are not completely daunted during your lectures (but don't go overboard, it's still your summer). I'd especially recommend it if you have just finished your gap year and your brain has had a nice loooooong rest. You don't want to be starting uni wondering what the answer to 2+2 is.

7. Don't stick to one group of people

Being bezzie mates with your flatmates is all fair and well, but sometimes it makes a nice change to have other friends like course mates you can go out with. Heaven forbid, you might even be in the situation where you dislike your flat and have to find another circle - finding a good bunch of people on your course is the easiest option. Uni is all about meeting new people from all walks of life, so why not make the most of it? Think of your flatmates as family; sometimes it's healthy to get away from family for a bit.

8. Keep track of your finances

If there's one thing I did RIGHT during my first year, it's that I kept a track of where my money was going in a handy little spreadsheet, so there was less room for discrepancies. It might seem pernickety and unnecessary but it's amazing how much you can spend when you're not keeping track. If you don't want to spend time meticulously creating a spreadsheet, you can find plenty online usually in the trusty Student Room.

9. Stay safe!

Again, another boring one but probably the most important - freshers is a time where alcohol is flowing which means you'll be at your most vulnerable. Just make sure you don't put yourself in dangerous situations and if you're going out make sure you go out with a big group and try not to split up from anyone because in a dark, dingy club with no signal it's near impossible to find your mates again.

10. Lastly, breathe! 

Living life without parents in a completely new place can be incredibly intimidating, trust me I understand. Remember these things take time and although you might be feeling incredibly homesick and stuck in the deep end, try and establish a routine when you're familiar with everything. For example, after every 9am Wednesday lecture I would go and do my weekly shopping. It's all about finding the right balance between social life and study and once you're in the swing of things it'll be simple. Remember there are always people to help you like residential tutors (if your university offers that), support officers and impartial student run advice centres - it's their job to help you!

Even with all the little slip-ups I made during freshers, I still had a fantastic time making hilarious friends and even better memories (apologies for the cheese).

If you still any worries or doubts, I'd be happy to help - Tweet/DM @funkycrimee

Mad freshers night..........watching Rugrats in the corridor

Read More

It's Great with This Much Time on Your Hands...

As a humanities student, scratch that - as a Classicist I get so much flak for my chosen subject. "Why the hell are you studying a dead language?", "You must have so much free time on your hands" and "Wanna hear a joke? Angie's degree" are just a few of the inane comments I have received. Now don't get me wrong I can take a joke as much as the next guy and yes, while this was mildly amusing within the first few weeks now the only joke is how long this charade has been going on. I'm not going to justify why I study my degree and why it is important because I shouldn't have to; it doesn't take a genius to work out why a history degree is significant. If you don't think it is then please for the love of everyone involved - stop reading. Immediately. 

If you think your Economics or your Maths degree is better than anyone else's then you need a long, hard look in the mirror and re-evaluate your decisions gurlfriend! Quite frankly if you think like this surely it highlights your ignorance rather than my 'lack' of a degree? I find it quite sad that one degree is considered less respected than another, it not only belittles the hard work of scholars but it completely demoralises the student who is paying literally (sorry I'll stop using that infuriating word) thousands of pounds for an education. We're paying the same amount for a degree: last time I checked no degree was easy. 

Also, whatever happened to equality? Some people (not all, might I add) claim they are all about the equal rights ultimately end up demeaning someone else's hard work - but hey, if it boosts your ego, why not? I fundamentally can't understand why you would make fun of someone's degree when at the end of the day we'll all be severely unemployed. For now let us enjoy prolonged education and little responsibility.

Read More