That Girl from Derwent dwells on the value of religion this Christmas.
That Girl from Derwent has learned a few more things about prejudice since moving up North.
That Girl From Derwent reckons if you're going to be offensive, you should find a better reason.
That Girl from Derwent considers why it is that some words have wider implications than others.
Maths. It’s all about maths. Ten by three by ten by five by ten by fourteen. That’s how our year is divided.
Each ten week period is intense – there’s just not enough time for all that socialising, sport, oh and getting a degree of course. But then again, ten weeks is a long time. Seventy days spent within a two mile radius. Claustrophobia can creep in.
Weekends in York are, in comparison to the weekdays, considerably less exciting. Indeed, the hike in night club entry prices combined with the surge of locals dressed up for hen parties hitting the streets, makes staying on campus seem very, very appealing. And, after doing 'The Big Three' (that’s Tru, Ziggy's and Gallery), the concept of another night in town is out of the question.
So without the prospect of dancing until the bouncers kick you out followed by sleeping all day, and for those of us who as of yet aren’t required to do much for our degrees (all the lucky first year, non-science students), an alternative is needed. After all, as a fresher, you can only be seen for a few hours in the library, more than that is just not cool. That would just ruin the myth that freshers don’t actually do anything constructive.
University Bubble Syndrome (UBS) is a severe illness. Symptoms include a general inability to do anything constructive
University Bubble Syndrome (UBS) is a severe illness, prevalent especially among freshers whose families live too far away to rationalise weekly trips home to get the washing done and to eat real food. Symptoms include spending hours pointlessly facebooking friends, watching endless episodes of whatever is good these days, and a general inability to do anything constructive. UBS becomes more severe when the afflicted person takes a walk around a suddenly empty campus, or looks across the courtyard to see a wall of windows leading onto empty rooms. University Bubble Syndrome must be taken seriously, and if caught early, can be reversed fairly easily.
Cures for UBS are quite radical; they involve breaking free of the campus bubble. This is a concept that seems obvious to the non-university student, but once inside York, one quickly forgets the world outside the walls. Indeed, on my occasional successful attempts to escape the bubble, I have inevitably received phone calls demanding a meeting somewhere on campus in the next fifteen minutes to which I have replied, “Sorry, I’m in Whitby right now but I’ll be back in a few hours”. “Sorry, you’re what?”.
True, the English public transport system is ridiculously hard to figure out, and the lack of buses running on weekends is a touch problematic, but where there’s a will there’s a way. With buses taking only an hour to reach Leeds and two to Whitby and Scarborough, it seems silly not to explore the wild and windy county of Yorkshire. Or if you really don’t do planning, societies like the Outdoor Society and the Travel Society organise several budget trips around the country.
It’s as easy as that. Prevent UBS before it hits. There is a cure.
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