SEPTEMBER 2017 Inside: Freshers' events Advice from UCL students Tips on how be a Londoner Welcome to UCL 2017 studentsunionucl.org #myUCLyear Welcome Welcome to the start of it all. Welcome to UCL. You’re the newest member of our Students’ Union, this Union is now your Union. It’s made of all kinds of people from all kinds of places. You’re coming to UCL because you’ve got the potential to do anything. So, what will it be? At Students’ Union UCL, we’re making more happen. We’ll help you learn more than you’re taught, and create your dream university experience. We’ll help you find that passion you’d never considered, enjoy nights that you’ll talk about again and again, harness the power to shape the world around you. The Union offers all sorts of ways to discover something that will become a part of who you are. Get up on stage. Be creative. Lead a movement. Push yourself further than you imagined. The opportunities are endless and finding the one that fits you, however big or small, is what it’s all about. Contents The Weird and Wonderful World of Clubs and Societies 4-5 How We Made Friends 6-7 14 Things That Happen to Everyone During Freshers’ 8-9 5 Ways the Union Can Help You Get That Dream Job 10-11 Bloomsbury Fitness 12-13 Not Living in Halls? Not A Problem 14-15 A Week to Remember 16-17 How Volunteering Helped Me Unlock London 18-19 Seven Important Faces and Why You Need to Know Them 20-21 How to Think Like a Londoner 22-23 Support a Cause 24-25 How TeamUCL Won Varsity 26-27 Where to Eat & Drink on Campus 28 Welcome from Your BME Officer 29 Lead a Movement 30-31 STUDENT LIFE The Weird and Wonderful World of Clubs and Societies By Alex Hall, 3rd year Chemistry A man covered in a green sheet, pretending to be a plant that was taking over the world. That was my first encounter with the Union’s societies. It was during Musical Theatre Society’s Freshers musical production of Little Shop of Horrors. Before coming to uni, I remember being really nervous about joining clubs and societies; I was worried that I wouldn’t fit in or that people wouldn’t like me. I think it’s something we all struggled with when we started here, but I bit the bullet, got past the initial anxiety and just went for it, and it’s the best decision I’ve ever made. There’s a joke we often make in the UCL Arts societies community, “I do Musical Theatre at uni and a Chemistry degree on the side”. I’ve been involved with UCL Arts for three years now and over that time I’ve made friends for life, developed new skills and found new passions. When I started out with Musical Theatre, I never could have imagined that I would end up being so involved in so many different branches of the UCL Arts community. I started with performing but I decided that wasn’t for me and that I wanted to do more to help put student theatre onstage, so I ended up assistant producing one of the society’s big shows. I was 18 and I was responsible for a show that was going to performed in a West End theatre. It was a lot of responsibility, but an incredible opportunity. Being a producer got me involved with UCL Stage Crew, an amazing society who are responsible for the stage tech for all UCL student productions. I got hooked on tech and wound up helping do tech for nine shows that year! 4 STUDENTSUNIONUCL.ORG There is a club or society for almost anything you could want to do at the Union. They can also be anything you want them to be - they’re there for you to indulge in your hobby, get some much needed headspace from your degree, network or start building an incredible CV. The best way to find the group for you is to come to the Welcome Fair at the end of Freshers’ Week. They’ll all be there to tell you what the team is like, when rehearsals are or how easy it is to start as a novice. If you want to get a head start, there’s a list of every club and society at studentsunionucl.org/clubsandsocs It was my technical experience from Stage Crew and my production experience from Musical Theatre that helped me get a paid junior management position at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival that summer, a job I never would have got without the help of UCL societies. When I came back for my second year, I started getting involved with UCL’s official student magazine, Pi Media. I got experience writing, reporting, filmmaking, video editing and designing. While I was with Pi, we broke stories that made national newspapers. It was an incredible feeling seeing stories that I broke being read across the country. I’ve been referring to the UCL Arts societies as a community, and that’s because it is by far the best way to describe us. We are one big happy family! We share knowledge and expertise, we live together, we go on holiday together, we love each other. Over my time here I’ve been involved in over 20 student productions, helped produce a dozen magazines, written countless stories and served on three society committees including one as President. I may leave UCL with a degree from one of the world’s top universities, but that is nothing compared to the friends and experiences I gained while being a part of UCL societies. STUDENTSUNIONUCL.ORG 5 STUDENT LIFE How We Made Friends Maddie Wigmore-Sykes 3rd year Medical student I was really nervous about starting uni, but as soon as I arrived I knew I didn't need to be. I spent the first night in halls chatting to my new Jo-Yee Yap flatmates and within a few days it 3rd year Economics student felt like we had known each other so much longer. We're still living When I first arrived at UCL, together now. everything was an exciting blur. There was always an important With over 300 students in my Freshers’ event to attend, party to year, it was pretty daunting, but go to or new person to meet. But Freshers' events run by the Union despite the seemingly all-important helped me meet people and form events, that’s not where I made friendships in those early weeks of the friends that have made my first year. university experience so amazing. Instead, I met people in my halls’ Making friends isn't just something kitchen, my bible study group and, for term one though, I regularly most unexpectedly, by getting meet new people in lectures or at involved with volunteering. events put on by societies! If you get involved in as much as you Through the Union, I was able to can, whether it be sports, arts or set up a volunteering project called anything in between, you'll be sure The After School Crew that helps to make the most out of UCL and children from migrant families in meet some great people along the King’s Cross with their homework. way. The team of people that joined the project is incredibly diverse, in both nationality and field of study, but meeting a group of people with a common goal, passion and enthusiasm creates an incredible atmosphere that glues everyone together. The project has been an amazing way to give back to the community, but also make many new lifelong friends. “Freshers’ events run by the Union helped me meet people and form friendships” 6 STUDENTSUNIONUCL.ORG “we still laugh over that ridiculous coat!” Dawn Liang Affiliate Mathematics student Riley Forson Final year Law student Whilst I was here, I joined the Mountaineering Society. I attended On my second day at UCL I sat one of their taster sessions in behind a boy with a really fluffy September, then went pubbing and coat hood. I couldn’t see over went out with other members.. the top, around the side, or Eventually, my entire friendship anything but fluff! After trying group consisted of climbers that I really carefully to move this hood, had met through the society and I finally was brave enough to tap there was no escape! this stranger on the shoulder and ask him to take his coat off. The stranger replied “you know you could have asked before you kept trying to move it, I don’t bite!” with the friendliest smile of anyone I’d met at UCL. That boy, named Leo, is now my best friend. Leo was only at UCL for one year as an Erasmus student, but we now travel back and forth between London and Paris to stay with each other and we still laugh over that ridiculous coat! “my entire friendship group consisted of climbers” Find volunteering opportunities and societies to join at studentsunionucl.org/student-life STUDENTSUNIONUCL.ORG 7 STUDENT LIFE 14 Things That Happen to Everyone During Freshers’ Don’t say we didn’t warn you By Katie Findlay, 4th Year BaSc student 1. Wondering if you really need this much stuff Your parent's car is literally rammed. Your teddy bear’s face is pressed against the back window. It takes 15 trips up the stairs to get it all in to your room.