MAIT-5: London, Glasgow, Feminism and other shenanigans!

Hey y’all. Update number 3. We’re doing good.

LONDON

Back in March I went to visit Megs in London to make up for the missed birthday weekend due to the snow. It was a short visit but it was lovely to see her. I took the coach there after class (and watched some Queer Eye on the way), arriving on Friday night. She came to pick me up at Brixton because there’s nothing I hate more than arriving at a new place when it’s pitch black and having to take the bus when I can’t recognise my stop.

It was lovely to see Megs. She now lives with Hannah, a gal I met in Bath, in Herne Hill which turns out to be a really nice neighbourhood. We spent some time exploring East London, going to a few food and grocery markets and visiting some charity and vintage shops. We had also managed to score some tickets to the Dior exhibition at the V&A on the week that it opened and it was amazing! All the dresses were magical and I just really enjoyed the exhibition. I do love some costumes.

It was a short but sweet weekend and I knew I’d be back soon to visit.

EASTER BREAK: GLASGOW

During Easter break I decided to stay in the UK. Last year planned out really nicely, working in the library for a week and spending the second week in Athens. This time, I did a similar thing but went on a stay-cation with Megs (we decided it would be a stay-cation after seeing the prices of the trip to France we initially planned…). We booked flights and an Airbnb and spent a couple of days in Glasgow.

The city pleasantly surprised me. First of all, we were there during a heatwave so it literally felt like summer and it was sunny pretty much the whole time we were there, except for the last day. The city is a lot more industrial than Edinburgh, but Glaswegians are so friendly! Our Airbnb hosts were lovely and gave us a few recommendations, but we already had a list of places to visit and places to eat at, as we do.

We walked around loads, visited a few museums, took photos and ate our way through the city. I really liked the University, it felt like Hogwarts! And we also met up with Moni, my friend from Fécamp, who some of you might remember. It was so nice to see her and catch up with her over some coffee.

We also decided to visit Loch Lomond and so ended up taking the train to Balloch. Because the weather was so nice, the place was packed with families but it was still a welcome change from the city. We walked around and sunbathed by the shore.

Overall, I really enjoyed Glasgow. I’m sorry this time round I don’t have the full details of the trip, I do love writing travel posts, but if you’re planning on going to the city, drop me a message and I’ll see what I can do!

FEMINISM

This past year I’ve been trying to be more engaged with feminist activities and issues at the university. I took part in a few different events during International Women’s Week in March, including some lightning talks organised by the Gender Equality society. I really enjoyed these; they had different speakers talk about their experiences as women or allies, covering a wide range of topics such as rape, women in leadership, academia and BAME. During the week they also organised a ‘Reclaim the Night’ march from Southgate to Queen’s Square. A few of us gathered despite the rain, waving banners and listening to the speakers give their speeches when we arrived at the square.

Another campaign I have helped out with is the Free Periods campaign with Bath Minervas. They have been collecting sanitary product donations around campus using their red boxes (if you see them around, please donate!). We’ve then collected them all and delivered them to four different local charities. I helped deliver some donations to Julian House, who work to fight homelessness in Bath, quite a big issue in the city.

Finally, on the 23^rd of March was the annual Women in Leadership Conference. Unfortunately, one of the workshops I had signed up to had to be cancelled because the speaker couldn’t make it, but the four workshops I attended were great. I met a lot of strong women and learnt to further develop my skills. I learnt how to use LinkedIn effectively, learnt how to make my voice heard online at The Voice, learnt how to navigate a male-dominated space from a BAME female barrister and also how to work better as a leader in a leadership skills workshop. The day was really inspiring, meeting like-minded women and learning to support each other.

OTHER SHENANIGANS

During this past semester I also attended a few other events. I went to a talk on hate crime by author Nikesh Shukla which was so interesting! I definitely need to give his book a read! I also attended a talk on sustainability by Green EMP Scott Cato, on how the UK could be more sustainable in its policies.

But it wasn’t all talks. I did some volunteer singing with a few other BUSMS people at Manvers Street Church, a little concert for local elderly people which was lovely. On the same vein I pulled up the courage to sing ‘Kindergarten Boyfriend’ at the BUSMS Alumni Open Mic night at the Bell, which was a lovely evening catching up with former BUSMSers. There was the BUSMS Cabaret on the 15^th of Feb, which I followed by some belated Valentines drinks and random cake and tea at Genevieve and Saul’s house at 2am with other course mates… And of course, the BUSMS End of Year Meal, this time winning the ‘best multitasker’ award for producing two Fringe shows at the same time (more on that on a future post!). I do love the BUSMS End of Year Meal, it is a wonderful opportunity to catch up with everybody’s future plans and have a laugh before exams. I went to the Aquapella concert at Komedia with Leila and Megan, which was ah-mazing! They are just an incredibly talented bunch and I can’t wait to see what else they have in store (their album ‘Telos’ is now on Spotify, so give it a listen!). Georgia’s birthday at the Apex was also a lovely evening; Aquapella and a few others sang and we got to have a few fancy drinks. Finally, there were many-a-pub-quiz-nights with fellow MAIT and TPLS peeps, winning the price a few times because, you know, interpreters have to be on top of their game in all fields of life… And Saul gave us a tour of the city since he’s been working as a guide, just a wholesome afternoon with course friends and also, who knew there is echo in the middle of The Circus?

That’s all for this third post. Sorry that they have been a bit all over the place; because I’ve been covering so many months I haven’t been following the timeline but rather grouping topics together. I hope you’re enjoying them anyway and having a good summer!

Zoe x

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