Valentine's Eve

*subtly reaches for phone in order to remember the events of last night* 

Valentine's eve? Valentine's day eve? wasn't sure what to call this post, last night, Yarm, BeerSoc, Locomotion formal dinner. Anyway. 

Last night saw the last Locomotion dinner (a formal dinner held at Stephenson College, Durham Uni) of the academic year (sobs quietly) followed by a big night out in Yarm (organised by the very organised BeerSoc) 

Ah the locomotion, on Valentine's day, there were a lot of couples, however the singles definitely dominated the field. Standard antics followed the meal, including a poem about roses are red and taking your date to the waterside, cheap skate? was that how that went? Very poetic. Followed by typical photo taking, boys handing out the flowers from the tables to their respective others etc etc

The night moved to Central, for speed dating and ball room dancing (to Spanish music and the Killers, but who's judging?!), the speed dating consisted of people who knew each other having a chin wag (does anyone know what that means?) and the ball room dancing, people attempting to look very classy, the majority of the time it did look really cute, but by this time I was half a bottle of wine down (which I was sharing!) 

I then received a flower(s) from a rather intoxicated, line-out-themed nek-nomination rugby boy (I'll let those of you who know him guess who that is), a change of shoes, a few "we like to drink with so and so" and downing of drinks, running to the taxi, forgetting my blazer, sitting in the front with the taxi man and taking "taxi man selfies", miscalculating how many people were on the bus and somehow ending up in Yarm, with a few opera singing moments on the way. 

Yarm has the be the cutest place ever, after Durham and a few others (York etc etc), however the cobbles are not made for platform-ed stilettos, nevertheless, we made it to the George and Dragon to be greeted by the BeerSoc exec, who after being complimented were very pleased with their organisational skills, which they should be! A raspberry flavoured sambuca later (Blogger always edits sambuca to "samba" why?!) and we were well away to having a good night. The place was crawling with second years, which was really nice as we haven't all been out at the same time in ages. 

Osbourne's for cocktails and dancing to 70's and 80's classics, getting in the way of couple's lovely night out, mingling with Yarm-ers, we ended up in the Keys, with our wristbands like we were some kind of celeb pushing through the queue, or just like on Miss Congeniality when she walks into Starbucks to order her office's coffees and uses here FBI badge to push everyone out the way - it was like that, but better, ish, almost. 

For half an hour, we owned the dance floor. It was R&B night and there were some serious shapes being pulled. Stephenson college had made their mark on the dance floor, only to be made sweaty and frizzy-haired (just me then) by Yarm-ers cramping our style, nevertheless, we stuck to the lit-up trippy dance floor and danced to some incredible, black, bass thumping tunes. Maybe I was in a world of my own but I was having a great time. 

Now, I am not a big fan of Beyoncé's new album (don't judge!) but when Drunk in Love came on, oh my gosh, if you had a significant other you were grinding away like Jay-Zed's and Beyoncé's grammy performance was U-rated, if you were single, there were some serious hip shaking, Beyoncé on the beach style dancing, the bass was to die for. 

It is very fair to say, I wasn't near tipsy at all, but I learnt last night to just enjoy yourself and it was so worth it! - I was dancing to Beyoncé's new album, there was clearly some letting-go. 

What we didn't realise till we were inundated with Yarm-ers was that we were in a traffic-light party! I know, there were people running round (including bouncers) with green "single" stickers on them. I only managed to grab this "taken" sticker for blog-worthy evidence. 

By 1am, due to the heat in that club, my feet had just about given up on me, so we hobbled (ok, I), to a taxi and ate food back at our flat. yum yum. 

All in all, a great night (which you know is true when you wake up at 9am still buzzing off the night before). Newcastle on Thursday could be another one of last night all over again, that would be incredible. 

Whatever you did last night I hope you had a great time and have a great weekend. 

RHS x 

The Week Edit #5

THIS WEEK IN PHOTOS:

A banana, blueberry, raspberry and apple and raspberry juice smoothie, the morning after the halfway dinner I was in need of some electrolytes and just a large amount of hydration, this was perfect!// I spent Tuesday morning in bed writing an assignment, which was so easy, you just wake up and start typing, I'd written 1000 words by 10am!// Ok, not my greatest picture but this was so fun, at Kit Kat Chit Chat on Thursday there was a police officer talking about excessive drinking and I got to try on his uniform (which he wasn't wearing at the time, obvs) and use his handcuffs on people, very exciting// Ahh the halfway dinner, here with Natalie at our table, myself in Stevo red!//


THIS WEEK'S POSTS:

NFL SUPER BOWL XLVIII//THE WOLF ON WALL STREET//NEKNOMINATION//THE LIBRARY//HALFWAY

THIS WEEK I'M LOVING: I really didn't feel like I could write another post about Clinique, It is literally my weakness, its Bonus Time in Debenhams, that is all I shall say on that matter. What else am I loving, the halfway dinner was really cute, follow by a trip to Durham with Natalie. I have finally grasped one of my assignments which I started on 20th December! it all makes sense! yayyy me. I haven't been for a run since monday, or the gym or anything, I know its crazy. I started to get to that point, you know on The Biggest Loser where they start putting on weight in muscle, thats me, I'm no longer fitting into my jeans because my quads are tree trunks, so I'm ditching the gym of a bit in favour of some toning but not bulking exercises, more about that on thursday! Strangely I'm enjoying not going to the gym, I've been walking to uni everyday as our chauffeur has been living it up in Rome! so that has been keeping me on track, until I go home and devour six chocolates a night, I'm not doing this right am I? anyway, I haven't turned into a whale just yet, so I guess I don't need to worry.

BLOG POST OF THE WEEK: I liked a while back 14 RESOURCES FOR FOODIES from OH THE LOVELY THINGS quite a while back, but managed to stumble across it again this week and I forgot its magic, there a lots of info graphs and pinterest worthy pictures. Everything from what goodness is in vegetables to which wine you should be drinking when, measures, oven temperatures, you name it, it is there, a  very handy resource. 

THIS WEEK: Ah seminar week, or should I say seminar day. Every other Monday is the bane of my life. Ok, we don't start till 11am but we don't finish till 6pm, and our lectures are only an hour long so you can imagine how many we have to go through in that time, as well as a presentation and a telephone interview, tomorrow could be a rather stressful day! Friday sees a Locomotion dinner and oh Valentine's day! I stopped being sceptical about this day last year when I actually thought if you are in a relationship it is just another day however its a day to celebrate your relationship, which I can't believe I'm saying this but Its quite cute! Anyway! I'll be going to a Great Gatsby themed dinner followed by a Bar Crawl organised by BeerSoc - yes that is right, Durham University has a BeerSoc. 

Have an incredible week!

RHS x

The Library

I thought I'd take 10 minutes procrastination time to write a blog post. I am currently sat in the library, researching antecedents of public service motivation and I am having a break of eating walnuts and drinking freezing cold water. 

I have been here, hmm about an hour now and I have already seen some very interesting sites. 

If you are in the library and not currently sitting a computer, you most definitely have an Apple product, be it an iPad, MacBook or covered in a green skin, you have one. I have to hold my hands up to that one. 

If you are in the quiet study area (as I am), it is acceptable to talk about who you are going to "cock block" tonight at the marrow strip, not mentioning any names... The marrow strip is a charity night in which people get naked and people pay to go and watch, high entertaining I can only imagine...

It is then also appropriate to chat about what you're having for tea, what you did last night, what you're plans are for your neck nomination challenge, it involves a toilet brush apparently.

It is also vitally important that you don't make eye contact with anyone when you walk in and out of the library. Ensure you maintain a straight forward "I'm in working mode" look about you to avoid any awkward "hey!"s that come out a bit squeaky as you're not sure if you're allowed to talk or not. If you do catch somebody's eye, a simple smile will send them on their way. 

As I am sat at the back of the library I can see everyone's laptop screens, not that I'm looking but so far someone has an assignment on kidney function and disease, someone has a journal open on motivation in the police force and there seems to be a few assignments based on Facebook (and blogger...)

Oh no, someone just did a squeaky hello. They are now talking about their assignment and that a girl looks nice in her new green jumper, from Topshop, in the sale. Bargain. 

Ahh Library chronicles. I really should get back to Perry 1997 

Love 

RHS x 

University secrets II

Here we go again... 

Yes, after the very popular University secrets post, it is time for another.

It has been seven months since I posted that one and all in all not much has changed, apart from the fact we are all out of halls and I occasionally wear a yellow top, emblazoned with my nickname "Mary Poppins", giving out kitkats.

Ahh second year...

"this year actually counts doesn't it"
"we got a 2.2 on an assignment - I'm going to fail in life" 
"remind me again why I signed up to this module... actually just this course in general?!"

"is our lecturer speaking in English?"

We have officially moved on from the start of First year, but that just means more to report on... 

Type "University Secrets" into google and you'll get everyuni.ac.uk telling you how to have a successful University career. Bull.

We know how to get our firsts and our two ones, what no one tells you about is University life, the nitty gritty - I'm not talking about secret spilling, I'm talking about those mad things that the people you live with do, where you wonder what planet some people were born on and the strange behaviours of your fellow colleagues at 3am after four too many sambucas. 

The constant, on going blah at Uni is the North South divide - I wrote a post on what the North taught me (I should have called it what Newcastle has taught me) but that was controversial in itself. I am from Derbyshire, you cannot get more central than central. The middle ground, the all round diplomat, I see good things and bad things about the North and the South. However, this isn't the case of Northerners and Southerners (there are a few exceptions - i.e. those that don't care). In the first week at University it was all about the North vs. the South, in fact if you get the wrong people together the debate still goes on. I'm talking accent throwing, job hunting, money, lifestyle... the list goes on. I personally prefer waking up to a field of sheep that end up packed in Sainsburys. But really, the North/South debate is refereed by the Midlanders. 

Cooking - finding out who can cook and who can't is an interesting time. I'm not talking my mother's definition of cooking which means turning on an oven and baking a potato and opening a can of tuna and being able to grate cheese without cutting a finger and working out how a microwave works. Microwaves, they have been my biggest cause for concern over two years. The people will know that I'm talking about them, I won't name drop. But one time (in Barker block), the place was almost set on fire by a young man trying to cook rice in a metal pan, by placing it in the microwave - lets just say I wasn't best pleased and corrected the cooking technique and then suggested he tries boil in a bag. There have been occasions of putting crisp packets in a microwave after too many beers at 4am - sparks were flying. There are poor souls in this world who don't have microwaves, so when faced with one, it can be quite daunting. Especially when a packet says "Cat E 4 mins, Cat D 5 mins, High Power 2 mins" - note, this does not mean you cook your food for 11 minutes - no no. It means you look at your microwave and check its power and then cook at the specified time. Top tip.

Reppin' -Ahh, becoming a rep, a right of passage that everyone should try. I'd think carefully about what type of rep you want to be, or should I say what you don't mind doing in front of people, because when it comes to hustings, there is no dignity, you have just go crazy to get the votes. Or take a more introvert way and become a welfare rep. I've written loads of posts about the first few weeks of my second year running after freshers and having A&E trips - but it is all part of the experience... although not so when they bring through the defib... awks.
Being a welfare rep also means looking after fresher and ticket reps - thats a non verbally expressed term of the contract (wheyy Business Law) - it is just an assumed thing and it needs to be done.
Rep training week consisted of making up hand shakes and presenting them to the rest of the rep team, participating in very drunken pub golf where many people did not play by the rules and a few mornings hungover.
Then the fresh blood arrived, manic hit.
International students may as well have got on a plane and gone to Mars speaking to Aliens because we were not getting through (Well I certainly wasn't)
Bags were lost at airports, we had to ferry around taxis, coaches and mislaid defrosting bacon.
The home students arrived two days later, more madness. The reps were incredible though, everyone was so hands on and the girls just basically admitted they couldn't lift a fly, so it was obviously the boys' job to take the 50kg suitcases up two flights of stairs - there's equality for you
Female reps were warned to stay away from Fresh girls arriving - as I did, gingerly...
The first night was the launch night - we had to go around our block to motivate everyone to go down and get drunk.
I knocked on one boys door (I don't know his name, probably a good thing), he had a girl on his bed - I thought that was rather soon so just stood there frozen, lost all professionalism and was like errr are you two coming to the launch? To which they looked at me like I'd disturbed their wedding night. Then another rep arrived for me to find out that this guy had been training with DU Rugby over the summer and that it was his girlfriend, whom he was dropping off home that night - phewww, I was thinking that hook-up was one for the record books (sorry for disturbing who ever you are!x).



Strange behaviour/ other randomness not previously stated
I'll just list this 

• Buying a bath for your communal kitchen area was controversial (although I'm sure very fun) the porters weren't best pleased mind. ("Mind"?! who am I?! it just sounded right in the sentence)
• Playing musical instruments at 3am was fairly normal, annoying, but normal, specifically around exam times.
• Going on city trips to relive your freshers year, I will be a fresher again!!! - then ending up almost dying from alcohol poisoning
• Entering into your old block pretending like you still live there and have a block party 
• Never have I ever becomes much more difficult to lie as everyone knows what everyone has done by now 
• Nothing is a secret in second year - no sneaking around corridors at 4am!
• Flat/house parties in the first term are purely for checking out the competition
• Secrets don't remain secrets in year 2, well some do, if you're clever in whom you tell, i.e. your rabbit 200 miles away - Thanks Gaga. 
• Did we ever find out who the Gossip Girl Twitter accounts belonged to?

Be good

RHS x

 

The Durham Colleges Bar Crawl

Outside Trevs - our first bar

 If you weren't aware that Durham University had colleges, think again. We're just like Oxford and Cambridge, only 10 degrees colder and less up ourselves (well, most people). 

There are 16 college in Durham University, I won't name them all, but I am in George Stephenson college to give it its correct full title or "Stevo" to the local inmates. 

So it was time for a Rep social - the right picture shows the cool kids that actually turned up. Admitted there was every sports' social under the sun taking place on Saturday evening, for example the Football initiation had to dress up as a female singer and sing one of their songs - there was a Miley Cyrus, with a grey fitness ball, I thought that was a good effort. Regardless of whatever socials were on, the rep team consists of nearly 50 people, there were 6 of us. Not the best turn out, but at least its over 10%!

The full social actually started at 1pm in Stevo bar, the idea being to go round all other 13 bars (minus John Snow because, well, its John Snow and their igloo is tiny and seriously lacking in polar bears and Grey's was closed due to the fireworks...) by 11:30pm when they all closed - this involved a one hour bus journey and stopping to eat... anyway... 

With our cocktails in Trev's

It was 18:30 and we (myself and Natalie Brown - thats Brown like the colour) went to catch the X1- now the X1 to non Durham-ers is a bus, not a very good bus as it is never on time, always full, always too hot and the driver is like some boy (or girl - equality) racer. So we got on after several locals with 15 children and endured screaming and shouting for 26 miles to Durham. 

We were hoping to see Grey College's fireworks, as they are supposed to be really really sparkly. Now, as we live in Stockton, who blow half of their yearly budget on their firework display to draw in the charvs from the local area to spend their moulah we had very, very, high expectations. 

We thought we'd missed them (thats the fireworks at Grey by the way). We got off the X1 at 19:25 and began hearing bangs and fizzes. Thankfully, we managed to have a great view of the fireworks which always get me emotional, Guy Fawkes was such a brave guy. There was clearly no safety precautions as we were rained on several times by glittering after-spray (is that the right word... ashes or light bits) - "Make it make it rain make it make it make it rain"- sing this and pretend you're throwing money everywhere, you got it. We made a wish whilst we were being rained on, so cute. 

Anyway, boring emotional part over it was time to go to our first bar to meet "everyone" - this was Trevelyan college "Trevs" where we got lost in all the anarchy of the masses leaving Greys and had to look at the map to find out where Trevs was thinking it was miles away. We got there eventually, after looking like right Stevo tourists (even more so asking posh Durham-ers to take photos of us outside every college sign) to see four others of the rep team (rep team most represented = welfare. Of course, I'm not saying were the best but the President was one of us, so that kind of does make us the best). 

We were greeted with "do not get the Trevs college drink - it tastes like e-numbers" - now to a girl who gets high on smarties this was great news, but it actually tasted like those Panda pops you got at your year 5 disco, or like R.Whites lemonade which had seriously gone out of date. Not nice, so we got a cocktail, we were going to get two Long Island Ice Tea's but then I was sure they didn't have coke in them (no caffeine allowed and all that) so I had a sex on the beach - in a pint glass, lad. 

Mary's had a Toastie bar! - mind = blown. 

We had to down those to keep up with the others - who had already been to about 5 other bars earlier that day, so were a lot of tipsy then ourselves. Next, after an awkward pose outside the entrance it was time for Mary's - the cutest college, ever. Like a Kiera Knightly film I was in love with the grounds. This college used to be an all girls' college. Which I think is lovely, its now President-ed by a boy - how lovely. We don't judge single sex schools. 

Mary's was slightly on the small side, nevertheless they had a good house shot called "the witch" which we were told was lovely, they meant to tell us it was horrible (Thanks Chelcie and Tom), but it was actually delightful - Archers mixed with Bacardi - mm. There we met El Presidente of the whole university, our very own Daniel Slavin (now pronounced Daniel SlaRvin - because he's not ultra posh), he used to be Stevo's president and now runs the whole uni and is loving it I hear!

So he joined us in our continued mission of the college bars - next it was Castle - in a Castle, yes, yawn, you have to hand in your campus card when you get in - after you have broken your back getting through that ridiculously low door, inside is like some wine cellar, with the proper aches are brick walls. Next it was Hatfield - whose college drink I have to say was incredible - I'm keeping the recipe for my own pleasure and refuse to share it with anyone - sorry! - go to Hatfield! We were entertained there with a few pub golfers after realising time was ticking we needed to get round the rest of the bars.

Me and Thee outside the Cath. 

Next was Chad's - like some weird greenhouse upstairs and then a home from home Durham tube-mapped-esque wall of all the "important" places in Durham - quite cool. There we only had time for a shot - Sambuca obviously - go hard or go home (we did shortly go home, we were slightly tipsy. And you know when Natalie is tipsy as she runs and with those knees she doesn't run when sober, so there we go) We legged it to John's college, to find that is was closed, sad face, then the last one was St. Cuth's, which, when we got there was more like an old mans social club, but hey, the drinks were £1.50, so who's complaining?

That concluded our college bar crawl, admittedly myself and Natalie didn't go to all of them, but the state of us after just six was plenty for one night. We then proceeded to head back into the centre of the city in search of some alcohol-soaking food. We all had noodles as Wok-Sup, mm, lavely - although the next day had that food smell on it. Oh my I cannot stand food smells, I have a change of clothes that I cook in to avoid smelling of food. Vile. 

It was then time for we six reps to go home, at about 1am - we were probably going to leave at 10pm, thats how good a night it was -reps you so missed out! The X1 took 20 minutes to get to the bus station, where I proceeded to shout at a fresher that I saw him in the gym earlier, he just looked at me blank as if I was some kind of freak - just because I was in the weights section! - boys are so mean. We also saw second year football boys in superhero outfits and Danielle Britton in a onesie running after the bus. Note to everyone - sitting on the road so the bus can't drive is NEVER a good option, ever. 

I have eaten half a Terry's chocolate orange whilst writing this and it's nearly time for MIC, so thanks for reading because that was a long one! If you didn't get this far, thanks for the view! 

Go to Durham Uni

Love
RHS x 

p.s. Don't choose John Snow 

Warm Fuzzy

Its Monday evening, I think half of the University are having their picture taken for the Marrow calendar - involves partial nudity (hence why I'm here, not there) and I'm currently organising Birthday plans - gonna be a good one! Just be in Derby City on my bday and you'll find us somewhere! 

So I've had 5 hours of lectures and seminars today and there is no better way to chill out then to listen to a bit of the Queen of pop - Bey. The lyrics are beautiful and the remixes are perfect for the gym. But for now enjoy the original from 10 years ago this month (yes really, yes we are all very old, but Beyonce looks younger...) - head bouncing and booty shaking are acceptable (if you can do it slow!) 

"All the ladies if you feel me help me sing it out..."

Be your own best friend!
RHS x 

Happy Hallowe'en

Its officially Hallowe'en - I just prefer putting a " ' " in. I'm so tired right now I can't remember what they are called. 

It was a Durham University night out last night at the infamous Loveshack, a place I was yet to add to

Shrek, a.k.a. Tom Perkins

my clubbing portfolio till last night. Of course the theme was obvious. There were a lot of pumpkins, I was going to go as a pumpkin but the vest was very small - like the overweight hockey girl in school - you know what I mean. So instead I was a dead child (a zombie-esque-thing) - hopefully made obvious by the poor Winnie the Pooh rucksack I made into my clutch bag, whose ear was cut off and had several holes in it to look like it had been to hell and back. I can't put the photos up because they are scaring me. There was Shrek, sported by Tom who looked incredible in his ogre ears and green face and the shirt thing Shrek wears to go with it. He would shout at people "get out of my swamp!" if they were to pass through the group on the dance floor, then proceed to roar at them, brilliant. There was a Michael Jackson (Mark), well a dead MJ anyway (I'm guessing by the eye makeup) A champagne bottle (Greg), a clown (Andy), a fairy (Faye), a killer nurse (Kirsty), a skeleton (Sam), a cat (Rachel), a witch (Natalie) and several other crazily good costumes (boys in tutus was a weird observation I made - a popular choice). Sorry if I've forgotten your costume! 

There's a difference between Durham campus students and Queens campus students. Its official. I have done my own research. Both are Durham University, however the one further South (just outside Middlesborough) is the one which is looked down upon, even though this campus houses Accounting, Medicine and Psychology. hmm. Its official that the girls form Durham campus are slightly on the, shall we say, rude side. They just love annoying you, I thought my deathly stare through my sudocrem-ed face and black eyes would scare anyone but it just makes them more likely to stand on your foot another several times or push past you in the queue for the toilet or just be generally rude and bitchy. Ouch. I don't know about the boys, but boys from Durham campus need to man up and meet the girls from Queens campus and the girls from Durham just need to have lessons in appropriate behaviour. I'm sure there are a few exceptions. Interesting study. 

So back to All Hallows' Eve! did you know its a time (from 31st October to 2nd November) to remember the dead, hence the death costumes (tomorrow its All Saints' Day). I won't go into the different days or what they all symbolise, you are all capable of getting onto Wikipedia. But what is Hallowe'en without a few jokes! (I'm awful at jokes by the way, I find the most unfunny things hilarious)

what do you get when you cross Bambi with a ghost?

Bamboo! (hohoho)

why do ghosts like to ride in elevators?

It lifts their spirits (ooooh)

what's a vampire's favourite fruit?

A NECKtarine (ahh, haha)

ok, ok, last one. I'll make it good. 

I used to be a werewolf but I'm alright nOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW

haha. 

No really, 

I am a werewolf 

November 17th - the next full moon. 

trick or treat! 

RHS x

p.s. it was a trick, I'm not really a werewolf, at least I don't think I am. 

p.s.s. I do however talk in my sleep - true say.
p.s.s.s. All of the views in this post are my own and are not those of Durham University - certainly not those at Durham campus. That's all x 

Boys Creepin'

Creepin' already

Myself and my MOH had out first night out together since being back, we don't spend much time together normally (hmmmmmm) so we decided to go to our unique Thursday spot in Middlesborough - Medicine bar, the night: Creeps. And this week the theme fitted the boys' pulling tactics down to a T. 

There are always more boys than girls there and they are definatley more Natalie's type then my own, but nevertheless they are normally very nice to us, apart from this particular night when we were preyed on in the oddest ways. 

Firstly I had someone grab my bum only for me to slap his hand and push him away for him to say "worth a try" - it really wasn't was my reply. This then happened once more so the boy decided then to try it on Natalie only for me to slap his hand away and protect the poor girl. 

Secondly a boy asked me if I was from Teesside University "God NO!" was my reply to which I think I offended him slightly (I'd still rather be from Teesside than John Snow) he then walked away and came back and said to me "I'm going now, so, good luck! you'll need it", erm, thanks?

Thirdly, this happened to Natalie, she was politely asked if she wanted a drink (I turned away thinking I shouldn't get involved) to which she repplied "No thank you, I've had enough" - brilliant. I laughed, he was offended, Natalie just stood there with her innocent smile that said "but thanks anyway!" and we continued to dance to Annie Lennox. 

Finally there was a group of three boys dancing round us, with us, almost in our private space, awkward when there was two of us so one of them put three fingers to his friends, they all nodded, he then put two fingers up and walked away... so there was just two of them left, neither of blessed with the best looks, but at least they acknowledged the fact there was two of us and three of them, which never works out well does it. #thirdwheel 

It was an 80's night but an Indie 80's night so it was very tied into the venue and the occasional India song was played by bands with names like Stroke My Cat and Emily Loves Kettles and the Cotton Vegans. You get the picture I was swaying like I knew what I was listening to whilst Natalie and the other hundred people were banging the ceiling in delight at the random mysterious music. 

So needless to say,  there wasn't a lot of eye confectionary however its always a good night after several cocktails, raspberry sambuca shots, rosé and gin. 

Get your creep on!

RHS x 

The first house party

Lets just first get out the way how amazing College Colours was - Middlesbrough live, a massive dance floor, amazing lighting, average (vile) female dancers (but whatever, I can understand there was a budget), pyrotechnics and tunes that I havn't danced to since I was 16 - Amazing and all whilst I was completely sober - which is hilarious as you see everyone really really drunk and get to tell them "you're drunk!" and receive abuse back - timeless. You also don't have the hangover the next day.

On an even better note due to a week of running after freshers, dancing, no alcohol and drinking gallons of water I have lost weight (yahh) - "become a fresher rep bootcamp"- I am going to start it up. It works wonders

Ah so its now all over and the end of an amazing week would not be complete without a house party and there was one - seeing as most people had been drinking since 2pm everyone was slightly on the tipsy side shall we say - my friend and I hadn't had anything by the time we got to the party (ok one G&T for Natalie and a V&O pour moi (vodka orange - obvs) so we were quite sober-ish. Well after a week of not drinking, two glasses of wine soon went to our heads and the madness started...

We had to sit on my bed when we got home and jot down everything because it was all too hilar to forget. Now where to start - the last thing that will ever be relevant to me - I have a Maid of Honour - A little early, I know, especially seeing as marriage isn't on the cards - ever - and its very obvious who my MoH is, we both have the same talent. Anyway, we hugged it out after we agreed to be each other's so thats one less thing for me to stress about! 

The Tour

We were quickly taken on a tour by Andrew (thanks Andrew) which we were so impressed with because from a flat for 3 people to a 9 bedroom house we were slightly gobsmacked - no beds made, all windows open, don't even know if the floors were carpeted or not because we couldn't see the floor. However I was impressed by the size of the rooms and a very large stash of protein in one of the largest bedrooms and at least 3 guitars (Anthony's room if I remember correctly), shoes were very nicely lined up downstairs (has anyone checked in the brown leather pointy ones yet? I would), I was very impressed that I didn't see any posters of naked women on any walls - classy boys (we didn't enter the 2 girls rooms who lived there) and the kitchen was spotless - has anyone checked the freezer? #quack.

Things got messy 

sober as. 

I left my phone with several people whom I should not have left my phone - never a great idea leaving your phone with tipsy people - unless you want snapchats sending to everyone and having to play rock paper scissors to reduce the number of seconds a picture is sent for - I have lovely friends. I was approached by the DJ who was holding a turquoise tea pot and was drinking out of the spout - me thinking this was some sort of drugged cocktail concoction was mortified until I was told to try some and to my utmost horror it was tap water - and as Ben said it made for very smooth drinking. However it did remind of "drink me" in Alice in Wonderland and we all know what that film was based on.

The end

The night finished with a chat with a really sober, fresher rep, rugby playing medic who swore to be a "good boy" this year and pass - you pinky promised - the JCR Chairman saw (who was busy watching breaking bad - great show) and my MoH. I almost can't remember all of that conversation but I remember something was said about being "1/4 Congolese, 1/4 Ugandan, 1/4 Argentinean and 1/4 Egypt" (yes not Egyptian, just Egypt)- Sorry to disappoint! 

It was then time to leave - after shouting "KIT KAT CHIT CHAT" at my fellow Kit-Kat Chit-Chat partner (5 times too many) and leaving the Vice President reading a very, shall we say 'interesting' book about fulfilment - complete with pictures we hopped into a taxi - where I had the door opened by my rock paper scissors opponent - then we got hope Natalie ate porridge out of a mug with her hair tied up like a chav (she said it! not me) and wrote down everything that happened - and some of which is far too inappropriate for a blog - I kept this relatively clean. By the way, we found 3 rubber ducks and hid them...

sums up Freshers'

A quick note about Freshers'

A&E trip aside, it has been an incredible freshers' week (sick?), its so amazing to wear a yellow t-shirt and represent the college as a Welfare rep and I know the Fresher reps and Ticket reps will agree too (and the exec!). Its been just over a week of karaoke, acoustic nights, Hawaii, fairs, Matriculation, too many chants, too many stairs, long nights, early mornings, little food, no alcohol, sports bar crawls and painting by numbers, the lion king, Ku, Noah's Arc and about a million other things that I am honestly too tired to remember. Buts its been a great experience and I've made friends that I never thought I would.

ttfn

RHS x 

p.s. Mike. 

p.s.s. No ducks were hurt during the party

"Treats", Hawaii and Noah's Arc

Firstly its been 6 days since my last post. Sincere apologies.

Secondly, its because I've been having an INCREDIBLE time with the other reps making this years Stephenson College Freshers' week amazeballs - Don't mention balls, not after some poor fresher went along with the Rugby team on a sports bar crawl and had one strapped to his head - no fresher was hurt during the crawl. We hope. 

So its been 6 days of madness, not enough hours in the day, too much vitamin C intake, run-ins with Police, dancing when sober (not easy), welfaring welfare, 3 Freshers' fairs, a few chunderers, chants against the other college (including words which wouldn't usually be uttered) and a Durham University mix-up of 'Dilemma' - throw in a trip to A&E and we have ourselves a freshers week! woop woop! COME TO DURHAM UNI (stevo, obvs)

To highlight a few events (working backwards, I've forgotten what day it is already) last night was the Silent Disco and parent night - we all have kids to look after for a year and can I just point out one of  our kids is going on Pointless, yes the pointless TV show on BBC where you guess what no one else guessed and its incredibly hard to win... the point? - there isn't one, hence the name pointless, because its pointless because no one ever wins? is that clear? So we have the next George Clooney in our brood. So far we have 5 kids for 6 parents (very modern) so if anyone wants to be adopted then let me know! Ah the silent disco - included putting your fingers in someone face and mouthing "TWO!" "ONE!" and raving away when they turn over and avoiding singing when someone approaches you with no headphones on. 

Mr&Mrs Stevo - ahhh strong (unfortunately strong) memories from last year fill my memory, swapping clothes, inappropriate dancing, downing water - it all seems quite tame (until you add the things it wouldn't be PC to add. This year includes sucking lollies and downing drinks, spinning round and working out an anagram - all for a week of being known then everyone forgets that you ever were in Mr&Mrs Stevo - Oh until next year.... thanks, 'friends'. 

Durham was an interesting night, the Hawaiian night, which jumbled into the pirates night and the cowboys and indians night - Durham is too small. It included some very, very, very very drunk freshers (fresher), a 4-bar bar crawl (with "treats" in one - thankfully just drinks, we were worried), reps dancing alone when the freshers were ushered to the next bar, a pleasant chat with a Policeman (not really but I'll be good), a pleasant chat with a nurse a Dr, a paramedic and a taxi driver telling us about his bankruptcy for 40 minutes and how everyone called him superman - I politely said "aw" at occasional intervals - it got a bit creepy when he started playing the superman theme tune, more creepy that he had it on his phone - last time I checked Superman wasn't 18 stone and didn't like to sit in an igloo. 

The Arc - we clambered in with the other college in 2 by 2, the elephant fox and kangaroo, Noah was late but he is 3000 years old, his wife came too (just had to rhyme the last bit...) The Arc is the first night the Freshers meet the other college and actually get to try out their new chants and see a teeny bit of rivalry (utter lunacy to be exact), the Arc consisted of bad cheese jokes (which I thought were hilarious but anything makes me laugh), Natalie being soaked in Jack Daniels and Coke, Rahil singing a 5 minute mash-up of incredible songs whilst playing the piano, Lizzie doing her thing on her guitar, Ricky remixing Dilemma "Even thought I'm from John Snow, oh you know I'm crazy over Stevo" or something like that I've slept since then and then some performances from John Snow, hilariously inappropriate gas bill jokes and blind date with an Irish girl and Indian woman and cocktail sausages (no girl wants to hear a boy say his favourite cocktail is a cocktail sausage - just for a heads up HAHAHA).

So College Colours tonight - the excuse to lose your voice shouting the C word and calling the other college names you would't shout at your worst enemy - ooh it gets harsh - the excuse to hate anything that is blue - I'm currently looking at my dashboard on my laptop and not liking that Safari, Twitter, iTunes and Word (oh and Mail and half of Finder) are in blue - at least Calendar and Dictionary are with me) - the excuse to shark on the John Snow freshers (thats Stevo freshers on John Snow freshers). It will be a good one.

I now have to finish my typing because I can no longer concentrate as my room is wobbling, windows shaking, light flickering and ceiling creaking - I wish whoever is above me would take trampoline practise outside. thanks. 

Stevo Love, 
RHS x

p.s. I sincerely hope "BLOGGGG" was shouted in a certain household when I posted this - I will be very disappointed if it wasn't! Love x 

Stevo Rangers

I've been told to keep this short and sweet, I've also been told my blog someone's "guilty pleasure" and they have me on tab (not tap!) - A fast rugby player... but I'm not allowed to say who, I've had four requests to feature in a post and I've heard people are jealous that a picture of others has appeared in a post! - I'm more than flattered. Thanks guys and dolls!

Stevo Rangers - we're a bunch of bear hunters who go and hunt bears to eat them and wear their fur. We also belong to Durham University Stephenson College and last night was the Freshers' week launch. I am a welfare rep (if you didn't know that previously), there are other welfare reps, Fresher reps, ticket reps and the exec and non-exec and it was out job last night to introduce the Freshers into Stephenson college in true Stevo Ranger style - after they caught their first bear they had to complete several challenges set by their block captains - my ideas were very tame and innocent such as "find someone with the same birth place as you" and to tell an exec member that you're interested in mountain climbing and "where is the nearest mountain?" whereas as the night went on I saw Freshers' with several numbers written on their arms, phone numbers? hats were stolen and I mean stolen - naughty, reps were thrown in the air, catwalk walks were done and 'shoe phone' was seen (where did that come from?), Freshers got drunk and Freshers completed their first chant - trying to get 400 Freshers to listen was damn hard mann but oh so worth it. Other challenges included putting a condom on your head (for safe sex obvs) in the fastest time and having a Stemo (VK Cherry, Apple sours shot and Cointreau), the college drink or a Lollipop (yum!, its a non alcoholic drinks to all the t-totallers). It was very interesting (in an abstract psychological, non weird (ok weird) way) to see how the newbies came out of their shells - 6 hours before I had met their parents and their innocent angel faces but oh how things change when the 'rents leave - I'm never having children. 

Bar crawl tonight! - Letting the rabbits, rangers and ravers into a club, after several rounds of drinking games and a formal dinner things could get not messy, but chaotic! - WOOHOO, can't wait. 

//P.S. to all the people I have promised a mention to I will get round to it! I'm just concocting the best post ya see 

Stay safe Fresher! (and reps!) 

RHS x

Ku

Tuesday night, after a day of moving in a handful of International students, a nap and a risotto there was a mild panic about what to wear - It was PUB GOLF - so golf attire was "e-s-s-e-n-t-i-a-l" acc. the  Head Fresher Rep - forfeits for those who slacked (usual forfeit: drinking a raw egg mm-mmmm)

So some terribly short shorts it was and a knitted jumper with a collar. For most it was the jumper over the shoulders "hot day on the GC look" 

Anyway, that minor panic aside and our third flat mate arriving (as we prayed we wouldn't be late and have to sit (or drink) a forfeit) we headed to Pub Golf which began in our college central (Central), where we were allocated partners. Now this was interesting as it had to be a boy and a girl and there was another mild panic as we prayed it would be someone nice (everyone's nice, but you get the picture) so my friend and I were partnered up (everyone asking us if we were ok with our partners and I will just say that they were the best - downing a pint of Gunniess when it isn't even one of the challenges(my partner)? and talks about babies (my friend's partner)? - we were just fine! 

So we were given our scorecard, in which showed the challenges - the first challenge (drinks, always) - A Steamo - which contains an alcopop, commonly known as VK (I have been paid to say that) - the college drink which is very red and very cherry flavoured but the downside it contains caffeine - which means poor Ruth can't drink it so I had to get my scorecard edited - a Steamo became a Rosé Spritzer and Jagerbomb became Jaegermeister and lemonade - yes really. 

The idea of Pub Golf is to down your drink in the number of sips stated for each hole - hopefully you can down your drink in one to keep up with the scores but trying to down a 1/2 pint of cider (cidre if you're French) which is freezing cold is never easy, think brain freeze for your throat so the ability to swallow becomes impossible...

As you can see, and was the case things got messy, chants in the middle of Stockton town centre "WE ARE RANGERS" -  yeah cool, a train of golfers, normal, storming into people's locals however was hilarious to see their faces, running out of wine glasses so we were drinking out of cups to down our wine - so classy - the locals helping behind the bar and overcharging for snakebite and black (just a word to Mr Snakebite - why would you invent such a vile liquid?!), taking pictures in the toilets so that we miss the "move on" to the next bar, hearing "FORE" and having to dive on the floor, whilst paying for your drink, or throwing yourself against a wall - all t0 avoid having a shot - wow, we so cray. 

Our Partners - The Storytellers

the 8th hole - The Storytellers, I spent most of that time in the toilets with the people who were totally not being sick (which added +10 onto your score), singing (shouting) happy birthday at complete strangers (she loved it) and taking pictures that resembled Zoolander? is that right - jeez I must have been slightly tipsy - so much so I may have not done the challenge in that bar and may have written that I did my Jaegermeister and lemonade in one - which I obvs would have been able to do - I'm so sorry! I'm defs getting a forfeit for this next time were out. 

The 9th hole - Ku - thats Ku like cue, or queue, not Ku like a bird cooooo coooo - Ku like a snooker bat not a blue tit, got it, good. We were welcomed into the club by Kendrick Lamar and his swimming pools - he was totally there... in spirit anyway. Everyone came alive then, and everyone was best friends - as everyone is after a couple too many Sambuca shots - thats a Sambuca shot for £1 BTW - I should be paid for this. The music was the best of urban, R&B and other chart - all was well in the world of Ku, cue and queue until the other college arrive, the name slips my mind but they came in masses, admittedly it was only about 11:30pm by the time we got there but several alcohol related challenges later they looked as fresh as a daisy and we looked like trodden on tulips, ok maybe that was just me but its all ok because the creator of our college made steam trains and astonished the world and theirs invented white stuff that annoyingly falls from the sky when its cold - choose your college wisely! 

Scorecard

Ah so all was going swimmingly in Kendrick Lamar's swimming pool when we had to go and help my friend who was slightly on the tipsy side, the amount of people who regurgitated nasty concoctions of alcohol isn't possible to count on 5 hands - it was a lot, Pub Golf is a dangerous non-sporting activity and should not be a joke, although its very funny to watch everyone's golf hats be turned upside down and people saying how much they haven't spoken to you much before but are "literally in love" with you and people forgetting how to drink drinks normally so down every drink they see and people getting taxis home when they live 2         minutes walking distance away - standard.

I will use this opportunity to mention a certain boy, a fellow Welfare Rep, a Yorkshire man, Thomas Perkins (Tom, Tommy P, Perky, whatevs) I need to say (he didn't ask me to write this) his dance moves were so slick even the black (or gangster, lets be equal) kids couldn't compete, as above the hat was turned upside down and those shapes put Justin Timberlake to shame - girls, watch out, in Ku Tom lures you in and keeps you hooked watching his dance moves. Those hip do not lie. 

That was Rep Initiation over and it was undoubtedly brought everyone together - awww. So now the arrival of the freshers, we already have an array of internationals in college and the home students arrive on Sunday then Durham Freshers Week 2013 officially begins! woohoo #DurhamUni #Freshers2013 #Unay #bestweekever #bestsongever #pinkflyingturtle #Stevo 

NB: I am a welfare rep which means this post was not intended to promote heavy drinking.

Take it easy tiger! 

RHS x

In which I am christened "Welfare Rep"

I've been back in Stockton now for four days, which is nothing to shout about, apart from that we are living in a flat right on the high street - right next to B&M and Topshop, (only in Stockton). With a broken oven, TV port, microwave, hoover, extractor and no hot water, however we do have Virgin Broadband which is so fast. But I definitely wouldn't recommend Jomast property group.

Moving on from the boring issue of council tax exemption forms and broken flats in general, I am a Welfare rep this year, along with several other slightly incredible people. This involves me being T-total through the majority of my 2nd year and looking after Freshers - not holding back their hair if they are being sick but ensuring no one dies - which would be a bit tragic.

So far we have received our Fresher Rep tops, bright yellow for Welfare - which, lets be honest goes with absolutely no skin tone, but at least we can be seen and at least I have "Mary Poppins" on the bottom of my top as my "Banter name" - hilarious.

So yesterday involved us doing a boat race - to all those innocent young-ens out there you stand in a line and down an alcopop as quick as you can to beat the other team - really healthy, really good for you and you don't get bloated at all. So anyway VK it was which soon turned into a J20 for me as VK has caffeine in it - can you believe?! - J20 is much easier to down, as there are no bubbles!

call me Mary

There were also egg competitions which involved building a tower with newspaper, to support the egg and be the tallest of all the teams - the losers, or anyone who dropped the egg had to down 2 raw eggs - yummy, there ended up being 3 downers of eggy alcopop - all that protein.

Day 2, today - the "serious" stuff, which involved trying to rein-act the handshake from parent trap, only to be bettered by a twin who knew the whole thing, damn, and learning an "interesting fact" about everyone which we had to tell the group the most interesting one we had heard - from no nipples when born to having a rabbitt called Lady Gaga, haha who does that?!

So, the serious stuff, Nightline, the Durham University version of the Samaritans, apart from they aren't religious and can give no advice at all and are just there to listen - we were given example role plays which got so deep you had to hold it together! If anyone needs a good listener I know 50 reps that have been trained! 

Onto tomorrow - filling the Freshers' rooms with welcome packs and calendars, an against smoking course and all for the arrival of the International students. Aww - can't wait!! 

Its gonna be a crackin' Freshers'

Peace out bread bin

RHS