This time tomorrow, I will officially be a graduate. Free of the education system and out into the big wide world of work, paying taxes and being unaffected by '20% off for students' signs dotted around the high street.
With just a day to go before I graduate from Bournemouth University's BA (Hons) Multi-Media Journalism course with the rest of my peers at Bournemouth International Centre, my mind cannot help but be nostalgic and look back over how much has changed in my life in the past four years.
So what better way to do it then recall fifty random memories from those four years - as well as summing up my time at Uni and hopefully giving you lovely readers a bit of entertainment, I thought this would also serve as a guide to show what the life of a student is really like, how much of the time really is spent eating takeaway (more than most in my case) and how in actual fact some students do work hard, do struggle with money and don't have the time of their lives at the expense of the tax payer.
So without further ado... (and these are in no chronological order. Or any other order for that matter)
1) Deciding that the ideal way to remove the daddy longlegs on the kitchen ceiling was to hurl the portion of Garlic and Herb dip left over from a recent Dominos Pizza order at it (Takeaway count = 1). Needless to say the pot was not designed with such insect-based violence in mind.
2) Enjoying my first ever night out clubbing at Mint in Poole (alas, it is no more), returning to the flat and dragging my mattress out in to the hall way to camp out there and spend the next few hours talking to my housemates about nothing in particular.
3) Using a puffer jacket, camouflage trousers, a mohican wig, some fake jewellery and a very small amount of brown body paint to take part in an 80s character social. Remains one of my favourite nights out ever.
4) Informing my mum she will have the Shaun the Sheep doorstop returned to her work colleague next time I see her - having finished filming him in a shirt and tie for a short, silent movie.
5) The Saturday ritual of waking up late, playing Gears of War then shuffling down to Greggs for lunch and BetFred to play Goals Galore, followed by drinking copious amounts of alcohol in ill-advised measures and mixes for the Soccer Saturday Drinking game.
6) The endless tuts I gave people on trains as I travelled between uni and home on various weekends/holidays, as they skipped fares, ignored fellow passenger considerations, took up table seats they didn't need, and my endless frustrations at not finding a free plug socket for the ridiculously short battery life on my laptop.
7) My second attempt at freshers week, whereby I 'did it properly'. The morning after one night out, a friend from one of the flats on the floor above called in to hand me back the entire contents of my wallet. Sandy, you remain a legend.
8) Getting on the long winding bus from Poole to Kinson to play 5-a-side footy with my fellow Corfe inhabitants. Needless to say the air flow in the rooms at Corfe didn't lend itself to leaving out used football kit.
9) The second leg of my 21st birthday celebrations, dressed as Darth Vader and hitting the town in style.
10) My work as assistant broadcast journalist at IssTV in Poole during my second year. An online news channel, my work at IssTV saw me cover the local election, waking up just as my flatmates were going to bed and working through the night and early morning editing the package at uni.
11) Running from Bournemouth Square to Poole Quay wearing a blonde dreadlocks wig and a pair of Pudsey ears for Children In Need. I raised £75.
12) Discovering the amazing food nirvana that is Georgie Porgies in Tower Park, Poole. If you haven't been, get yourself down there for all you can eat buffet with every type of food you can imagine, traditional English, American grill, Chinese, Indian, Mexican...
13) The utter rage, there's no other word for it, when I passed my 100 words-per-minute exam. That's how pleased and relieved I was!
14) Walking to a pirate-themed social in full clobber only for passers-by to comment on my friend's choice of costume instead. He just had an eye-patch.
15) The two epic successes that were our flat Christmas meals in my final two years. This was despite my best attempts to ruin the meat the first time round, by buying a turkey on the same day as the meal that was a) frozen and b) too big for our oven. Sainsbury's kindly refunded me as I returned it immediately.
16) The nights in Lava. So many different memories and yet one playlist.
17) Ken Brown bingo. And the Ken Brown rap. In fact Ken Brown in general.
18) Our course leader comparing his job to being the Prime Minister of Belgium 'Everyone has to do it at some point.'
19) Putting together a Christmas single for charity and helping to raise lots of dosh for a worthy cause, the Anthony Nolan bone marrow charity.
20) Staggering home from said charity night and treating the residents of Bournemouth to a rendition of Mark Morrison's 'Return of the Mack'.
21) Covering a Poole Town FC game which still ranks as one of the coldest moments of my life.
22) Chasing a story about a wild dog on the loose in the Bournemouth area, only to find said dog when interviewing the local dog charity nearby.
23) Interviewing the enigmatic town crier of Poole, Mr David Squires. A fine man.
24) Realising that a career in scriptwriting is only really for those who can write scripts.
25) Burning carrots in first year.
26) Ending up in Poole Hospital with pneumonia. Almost as crazy as walking out of there of my own accord at 4am.
27) Covering the BU Sport awards at the 02 academy, mainly playing the role of photographer to be honest.
28) Returning to the 02 academy to see my beloved Stereophonics. Immense.
29) The many nights at Heroes karaoke bar. Brimful of Asha being an obvious highlight. Followed closely by Enrique Iglesias' 'Hero'.
30) Being a gentleman and giving a girl I'd only just met a tenner to pay for her taxi home. Only to find out she lived in the halls of residence five minutes up the road.
31) Staying up late to finish a page layout on final year project, and escaping to the McDonald's in the nearby 24-hour Asda with two comrades.
32) Performing horribly at drinking roulette and feeling very, very ill afterwards.
33) Tailing an ambulance to Bournemouth general hospital which contained the brave goalkeeper Kyle Reed, who had broken ribs whilst claiming a corner for the mighty Hacks FC.
34) Bournemouth beach. The sun, the sand, the barbecues. Gonna miss it.
35) The Bonham Road dance. Although other members of Bonham Road will most likely be unhappy with this association. In case you're wondering it's face wave, face wave, shoulder brush, shoulder brush, thinking man, thinking man, clap, clap, sprinkler. Repeat.
36) Halloween and dressing as the grim reaper.
37) Breaking rank and failing to get a costume for a fancy dress social. Then travelling to Asda at the 11th hour and becoming Dalmations thanks to some white shirts and black marker pens...
38) Rowe's Chicken & Veg pasties from Tesco/Asda. Spent too much of my student life at Asda clearly.
39) Beach football - in particular the acrobatics of Mr Nathan Alder.
40) A lecturer approaching me at a bar and asking about my recent Freedom of Information request put in to the University about the use of tuition fees...
41) Eating at an Italian in Poole where my fellow diners and I suspected the waitress was working under duress..
42) Taking over Bournemouth Square and telling the public to Kick Up The Arts!
43) The late night/early morning Singstar sessions, learning and repeating the games' sound effects along the way (Still yet to complete my collection of Singstar games by the way).
44) Terrifying people of Lava by celebrating the arrival of 'Boom! Shake the room' by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince with perhaps a little too much enthusiasm.
45) Missing out on the Journalism end of year ball (sad face) but being voted journalist of the year by my cohorts (shocked and amazed face)!
46) The amazing things I've been able to do since leaving Uni like cover the London 2012 Olympic Games.
47) The graduation ceremony (I hope will be a great memory anyway...)
48) How supportive my parents have been throughout the last 48 months and beyond. Can never say enough how thankful I am xx.
49) All the amazing times my amazing girlfriend came to visit me and make my day amazing. The best lectures were the ones when I knew I was coming back to the flat to find you there Sam, thank you for all your support these past few years - I couldn't have done it without you xx.
50) All the amazing memories with my fellow BAMMJs, Corfians and associated others.
Great times had, thank you for all the great memories.
With just a day to go before I graduate from Bournemouth University's BA (Hons) Multi-Media Journalism course with the rest of my peers at Bournemouth International Centre, my mind cannot help but be nostalgic and look back over how much has changed in my life in the past four years.
So what better way to do it then recall fifty random memories from those four years - as well as summing up my time at Uni and hopefully giving you lovely readers a bit of entertainment, I thought this would also serve as a guide to show what the life of a student is really like, how much of the time really is spent eating takeaway (more than most in my case) and how in actual fact some students do work hard, do struggle with money and don't have the time of their lives at the expense of the tax payer.
So without further ado... (and these are in no chronological order. Or any other order for that matter)
1) Deciding that the ideal way to remove the daddy longlegs on the kitchen ceiling was to hurl the portion of Garlic and Herb dip left over from a recent Dominos Pizza order at it (Takeaway count = 1). Needless to say the pot was not designed with such insect-based violence in mind.
2) Enjoying my first ever night out clubbing at Mint in Poole (alas, it is no more), returning to the flat and dragging my mattress out in to the hall way to camp out there and spend the next few hours talking to my housemates about nothing in particular.
3) Using a puffer jacket, camouflage trousers, a mohican wig, some fake jewellery and a very small amount of brown body paint to take part in an 80s character social. Remains one of my favourite nights out ever.
4) Informing my mum she will have the Shaun the Sheep doorstop returned to her work colleague next time I see her - having finished filming him in a shirt and tie for a short, silent movie.
5) The Saturday ritual of waking up late, playing Gears of War then shuffling down to Greggs for lunch and BetFred to play Goals Galore, followed by drinking copious amounts of alcohol in ill-advised measures and mixes for the Soccer Saturday Drinking game.
6) The endless tuts I gave people on trains as I travelled between uni and home on various weekends/holidays, as they skipped fares, ignored fellow passenger considerations, took up table seats they didn't need, and my endless frustrations at not finding a free plug socket for the ridiculously short battery life on my laptop.
7) My second attempt at freshers week, whereby I 'did it properly'. The morning after one night out, a friend from one of the flats on the floor above called in to hand me back the entire contents of my wallet. Sandy, you remain a legend.
8) Getting on the long winding bus from Poole to Kinson to play 5-a-side footy with my fellow Corfe inhabitants. Needless to say the air flow in the rooms at Corfe didn't lend itself to leaving out used football kit.
9) The second leg of my 21st birthday celebrations, dressed as Darth Vader and hitting the town in style.
10) My work as assistant broadcast journalist at IssTV in Poole during my second year. An online news channel, my work at IssTV saw me cover the local election, waking up just as my flatmates were going to bed and working through the night and early morning editing the package at uni.
11) Running from Bournemouth Square to Poole Quay wearing a blonde dreadlocks wig and a pair of Pudsey ears for Children In Need. I raised £75.
12) Discovering the amazing food nirvana that is Georgie Porgies in Tower Park, Poole. If you haven't been, get yourself down there for all you can eat buffet with every type of food you can imagine, traditional English, American grill, Chinese, Indian, Mexican...
13) The utter rage, there's no other word for it, when I passed my 100 words-per-minute exam. That's how pleased and relieved I was!
14) Walking to a pirate-themed social in full clobber only for passers-by to comment on my friend's choice of costume instead. He just had an eye-patch.
15) The two epic successes that were our flat Christmas meals in my final two years. This was despite my best attempts to ruin the meat the first time round, by buying a turkey on the same day as the meal that was a) frozen and b) too big for our oven. Sainsbury's kindly refunded me as I returned it immediately.
16) The nights in Lava. So many different memories and yet one playlist.
17) Ken Brown bingo. And the Ken Brown rap. In fact Ken Brown in general.
18) Our course leader comparing his job to being the Prime Minister of Belgium 'Everyone has to do it at some point.'
19) Putting together a Christmas single for charity and helping to raise lots of dosh for a worthy cause, the Anthony Nolan bone marrow charity.
20) Staggering home from said charity night and treating the residents of Bournemouth to a rendition of Mark Morrison's 'Return of the Mack'.
21) Covering a Poole Town FC game which still ranks as one of the coldest moments of my life.
22) Chasing a story about a wild dog on the loose in the Bournemouth area, only to find said dog when interviewing the local dog charity nearby.
23) Interviewing the enigmatic town crier of Poole, Mr David Squires. A fine man.
24) Realising that a career in scriptwriting is only really for those who can write scripts.
25) Burning carrots in first year.
26) Ending up in Poole Hospital with pneumonia. Almost as crazy as walking out of there of my own accord at 4am.
27) Covering the BU Sport awards at the 02 academy, mainly playing the role of photographer to be honest.
28) Returning to the 02 academy to see my beloved Stereophonics. Immense.
29) The many nights at Heroes karaoke bar. Brimful of Asha being an obvious highlight. Followed closely by Enrique Iglesias' 'Hero'.
30) Being a gentleman and giving a girl I'd only just met a tenner to pay for her taxi home. Only to find out she lived in the halls of residence five minutes up the road.
31) Staying up late to finish a page layout on final year project, and escaping to the McDonald's in the nearby 24-hour Asda with two comrades.
32) Performing horribly at drinking roulette and feeling very, very ill afterwards.
33) Tailing an ambulance to Bournemouth general hospital which contained the brave goalkeeper Kyle Reed, who had broken ribs whilst claiming a corner for the mighty Hacks FC.
34) Bournemouth beach. The sun, the sand, the barbecues. Gonna miss it.
35) The Bonham Road dance. Although other members of Bonham Road will most likely be unhappy with this association. In case you're wondering it's face wave, face wave, shoulder brush, shoulder brush, thinking man, thinking man, clap, clap, sprinkler. Repeat.
36) Halloween and dressing as the grim reaper.
37) Breaking rank and failing to get a costume for a fancy dress social. Then travelling to Asda at the 11th hour and becoming Dalmations thanks to some white shirts and black marker pens...
38) Rowe's Chicken & Veg pasties from Tesco/Asda. Spent too much of my student life at Asda clearly.
39) Beach football - in particular the acrobatics of Mr Nathan Alder.
40) A lecturer approaching me at a bar and asking about my recent Freedom of Information request put in to the University about the use of tuition fees...
41) Eating at an Italian in Poole where my fellow diners and I suspected the waitress was working under duress..
42) Taking over Bournemouth Square and telling the public to Kick Up The Arts!
43) The late night/early morning Singstar sessions, learning and repeating the games' sound effects along the way (Still yet to complete my collection of Singstar games by the way).
44) Terrifying people of Lava by celebrating the arrival of 'Boom! Shake the room' by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince with perhaps a little too much enthusiasm.
45) Missing out on the Journalism end of year ball (sad face) but being voted journalist of the year by my cohorts (shocked and amazed face)!
46) The amazing things I've been able to do since leaving Uni like cover the London 2012 Olympic Games.
47) The graduation ceremony (I hope will be a great memory anyway...)
48) How supportive my parents have been throughout the last 48 months and beyond. Can never say enough how thankful I am xx.
49) All the amazing times my amazing girlfriend came to visit me and make my day amazing. The best lectures were the ones when I knew I was coming back to the flat to find you there Sam, thank you for all your support these past few years - I couldn't have done it without you xx.
50) All the amazing memories with my fellow BAMMJs, Corfians and associated others.
Great times had, thank you for all the great memories.
