Tuesday 17-07-2018 - 10:21

Alex Boulton, Epigram Co-Editor 2017-18

 

It was almost a complete accident that I ended up at Bristol. I planned open days for almost every other university with military precision, but spontaneously chose to put the University of Bristol on my UCAS form knowing almost nothing about it, except that it was the big university of the big city an hour’s train ride from my hometown.

 

The post offer day convinced me and, after three years of study, this week is the week I will finally put on the gown (but not the cap) and walk into the Great Hall to collect my degree. Looking back at my time at University, I’m sure it will be a bittersweet moment. While I am glad to have degree part of the experience behind me, I will miss Bristol and all of the things that make you a Bristol student.

 

Bristol truly has everything - diverse in its 110km² with a neighbourhood for every type of student. It’s easy to imagine you are living in one of a collection of villages; from the City Centre to Stokes Croft, the Harbourside to Clifton, rather than in the South West’s biggest city. It is the home of Banksy, Massive Attack, hot air balloons and Brunel, and Clifton campus is right in the middle of it all. 

 

You are guaranteed a good time in this West Country city. Just seconds from campus you have the choice of toffee vodka shots in [Lizard] Lounge, society night outs in Mbargos and Jägerbombs and Hawaiian fancy dress in Lola Los. Afterwards, you can go to Jason Donervan for the world’s best pun and cheesy chip combination or to Taka Taka for one of their iconic gyros or magic rolls. If you want to venture further than The Triangle, Motion, Lakota or Thekla are typical choices, while twice a year Eastville Park is transformed for favourites Tokyo World and Love Saves the Day.

 

Skip that £5 bottle of Sainsburys wine as ‘let’s go for drinks’ takes on a whole new meaning in Bristol. I came here with a contempt for cider, but now have a soft spot for the Apple’s Old Bristolian and the Cori Tap’s Exhibition. If you are saving the pennies, there is also a good distribution of the classic student staple Wetherspoons, or plenty of decent happy hour cocktail choices.

 

There’s more than eating, drinking and dancing though. Cinemas, theatres, art galleries, museums, balloon fiestas and the longest street of independent shops in Europe all make up Bristol’s famed and historic cultural scene.

 

Of course, there are things I won’t miss. The early starts to secure a seat in one of the overpopulated libraries, the ASS, Jstor, the queue in Queens Road Sainsburys and the obsession with wavy garms. But ultimately, there are more pluses than minuses to being a Bristol student.

 

Being a Bristol student means using Bristol’s hills as an excuse to skip the gym and subsequently wondering whether you have acquired that infamous ‘Bristol bum’ yet. It means donating to a Crowdfunder page so a Jamaican cleaner can visit his family, rescuing a ferret on a snowy night out or obsessing over an anonymous confessions page. It means spotting one of the University’s many flaws and mobilising to fix it, echoing the city’s strong sense of social justice.

 

As a student here, I have evolved from a shy 18-year-old reliant on her Mum to an independent and confident 21-year-old. Yes, graduating may mean an end to the social acceptability of popping to the shops in pyjamas or eating leftover pizza for breakfast. But it also means the opening of a new chapter, plus getting those iconic graduation pictures outside Wills Memorial and the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

 

Although career choices are looming and parental accommodation is necessary in the meantime, Brizzle I’ll definitely be back.

 

Alex was the Co-Editor of Epigram, the University of Bristol student newspaper