Lesson 22 - Comedy boxsets you must own

There's nothing like you and your housemates chilling out in the lounge, possibly nursing a hangover, watching a lovely little comedy boxset. Here's my top 5 pick of the best of British, because home-grown comedy is the best type of comedy.

The Office

The British comedy to end all British comedies. I'm ashamed to say, I've never actually seen all of it, but I came into my house on numerous occasions to find my hungover housemates giggling in front of David Brent et al. It's so easy to watch episode after episode of this programme without realising how much time has passed. If you don't "get" it initially, just go with it. It's easier that way. 

Green Wing

My brother and I have spent far too many hours quoting this genius Channel 4 comedy at each other. It's never seemed to get the recognition it deserved in my opinion. Maybe that's because I have a warped opinion due to the insane amount of quoting that goes on in mine and my brother's emails. Look out for "you bloody bloody bastard" as well as "you will never feel my super-vagina again" and basically anything that the character Sue White (played by the hilarious Michelle Gomez) says.

Spaced

Nothing quite says "student" like this sometime-surrealist comedy does. The early work of the makers of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, it's hard to believe that only 2 series of Spaced were made. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Jessica Stevenson have all since become some of the most recognisable faces in British comedy on both the small and big screen. If you understand all of the pop culture references and jokes, you're a better person than I am.

The Inbetweeners

Since the first series hit our screens in 2008, the popularity of The Inbetweeners has soared, with a movie being made and EVERYTHING. Based around 4 teenage boys, this comedy will make you laugh and make you cringe. It's hilarious because the situations and characters are recognisable to any young person. We've all got that friend who is hopelessly in love with someone to the point where it's embarassing. (If you don't have that friend...you know that guy/girl you text every day...you're Simon, they're Carli. Go figure).

Gavin and Stacey

You'll have to forgive me if I gush about Gavin and Stacey, because I love it more than chocolate. It is beautiful. Written by and starring the wonderful Ruth Jones and James Corden, Gavin and Stacey brings people from two worlds (well, Barry Island and Billericay) together. What started as a little BBC Three comedy has gone on to win BAFTAs, an NTA and was aired in a primetime BBC One slot on Christmas Day 2010. It makes me howl with laughter and weep with silent tears. If I'm ever feeling a bit down or a bit stressed, I just shove it on and everything's fine, for a bit at least. I can't recommend it enough. Well, I probably can, but I don't want to bore you...

Chuck your suggestions in the little comment box below please!

Lesson 21 - 21 signs you've become an adult

I've been in full-time work for 3 months now, so thought I'd write a cheeky little post about the transition from student to adult, and the depressing realisation that I'm a grown up now...

1. You own a season ticket.

2. You own a security pass to get into your building.

3. Your alarm wakes you up at 6am every morning...

4. ....and you consider waking up at half 8 at the weekends a "lie in".

5. You own a suit.

6. You receive details of a pension plan in the post. (Kill me now). 

7. Saturday Kitchen becomes a must-see programme at the weekends.

8. You accidentally answer the phone in the same way you answer the phone at work. "Hello The Indepen...oh hi Uncle Paul!" (This actually happened).

9. You have an old lady who you say hello to on the walk to the train station every morning.

A couple of these = drunk (see number 10)

10. A couple of glasses of wine on a night out and you are completely wasted.

11. You have to arrange nights out with your friends weeks in advance.

12. A "quiet drink" after work is literally a quiet drink. It doesn't get out of hand and you don't end up at a  nightclub because you have to get up in the morning.

13. You go and see a comedy gig with your mum and you really genuinely enjoy it.

14. Staying in is equally appealing as going out.

15. You are disappointed to discover that Just a Minute isn't on Radio 4 that week.

16. You know what day of the week it is by what you're watching on telly, because your life is dictated by routine.

17. You bake shortbread biscuits for your colleagues.

18. The prospect of a decorating competition in the office fills you with joy.

19. You always know exactly how many days it is until the weekend/payday/the holidays.

20. When you go back to uni for a week, you spend about £300, mainly on buying drinks for your friends because "it's ok, I've got a job".

21. You intend to write a blog about becoming an adult about 2 months before you actually get round to it. 

Lesson 20 - tips for an awesome social

In my time at university, I sat on a hell of a lot of society committees. One of the big things about being on a committee is organising socials. I loved socials. If you're a regular member of a society, turn up to your socials because chances are, some of your subs money is going on them and they're a fantastic way of meeting new people with similar interests to you. Be yourself, try and remember people's names and avoid making a fool out of yourself. Your reputation as "the guy that was sick on the bus" will stick. True story.

If you're on a committee then - no pressure - but socials are often used as the benchmark for how good the society is as a whole. If you run a rubbish first social that no one turns up to, and those who do turn up have a rubbish time, you're facing an uphill struggle for the rest of the academic year. The key to that crucial first social is being inclusive, having a lot of fun and showing your new members what you're all about, as well as reminding your old members of how good they have it. 

Perhaps try a themed social. This year, I'm told that Livewire1350 ran an amazing Scavenger Hunt social. A scavenger hunt is basically when you split your society into teams, give them a list of photo-based missions and a disposable camera and send them on their way. If you get the missions right, it's a great way to get people talking to each other and getting to know their committee members. 

Pub golf (trying to down drinks along a pub crawl essentially) is always a good social but it's maybe not right for a first introductory social. Putting pressure on new members to down drinks might end badly and probably won't go down well with your Student Union. 

Concrete Pen Party 2011

I consider the ultimate social to be the Pen Party. Running a Pen Party in the second semester of term is almost a guarantee of success. By this time, your members know each other well enough to start scrawling profanities and dubious doodles over each other. Get your members to turn up to the social in a cheap plain white t-shirt, provide them with pens and send them on their merry way. Make sure you check with your final social destination that they will let your inky members in. No one likes being turned away at the door. 

Make sure you promote the heck out of your social. When a lot of socials are going on at the same time, you want yours to stick out and be worth remembering going to. Facebook events are an easy way of doing this, but providing members with social details when they join up is also pretty esssential.

Finally - keep it legal, keep it safe. Most Student Unions (I think) make their committees sign a set of rules and regulations for social conduct. Make sure your social abides by these rules - it's just not worth the hassle otherwise!

Lesson 19 - Getting a job

Northcliffe House - my workplace from September!

So here it is. My blog is 1 year old today, and if you read the very first entry you will see that I aimed to share my student lessons through my final year of university, with the hope that by the time my blog reached 1 year old, I would have found myself a job. Well, I’m pleased to report that I fulfilled my aim of finding employment and was offered a position at The Independent on Thursday 18^th August. HOORAY!

While this blog entry is called “getting a job”, I’m afraid I can’t offer anything but vague advice from lessons I learnt on my job hunt. I’d love to have come up with a magic spell that will make employers instantly want to take you on, but I’m still working on that.

Above all, I would say that making valuable use of your university years is crucial to making your CV stand out from a pile of generic others. If you can show that you have done stuff other than your degree and sitting in the pub then you’re onto a bit of a winner. Being a part of clubs and societies proves you can work well in a team as well as strive for success. Essentially, it demonstrates to a potential employer that you’re not what is sometimes portrayed in the media: a lazy student.

On the actual job hunt, use every resource available to you – university careers advice, job websites, recruitment agencies (that’s what I did) and, in this day and age, having contacts in any sector applicable to your skills can be the key to success. Unfortunately, if you really want a job, you can’t afford to be too picky either. Apply for anything and everything that you think you could turn your hand to. The job market should pick up in a few years, so doing a job that isn’t your dream until that time comes ensures that you are gaining valuable real-world experience as well as earning money.

If you get to that crucial interview stage, make sure you know your CV inside out. If an interviewer asks you about any aspect of your CV, you should be able to talk about it with confidence. After all, if you don’t know this stuff about yourself, how can they ever expect you to pay attention to detail in the workplace? Be confident about your abilities and make sure you can justify everything you say.

Unfortunately, a lot of the current job market comes down to luck. If you are more than qualified for a job, but another candidate has an edge on you, it doesn’t mean you are completely unemployable. It just means that someone else was more suited to that particular job than you were. You’ve just got to trust that a job that you are suited to will come along eventually. Don’t lose faith with job rejections – focus on the positives, not the negatives, as cheesy as that sounds!

Lesson 18 - A guide to university vernacular

Your vocabulary at university will change. Even if you don't notice it, I promise you it will! So you don't get lost in a melee of new words, I've put together this teeny-weeny guide just for you.

Fresher - first year student
Lecture - a session lasting one or two hours in which a tutor talks about/explains a topic

Seminar - a group of 10-15 people in which you discuss the content of a lecture, guided by a tutor

Tutorial - a one-on-one session with you and a tutor, often to discuss essays in the lead up to a deadline

Standard - average, about par for the course

Down it fresher! - drink all of your remaining beverage in one, first year student

Banter - something which is funny, often owing to the fact that it pokes fun at someone

LAD - a person who acts with "laddish behaviour" ie watches sport, downs pints. See the website truelad.com for further information on what constitutes being a LAD

Winner - something that is good, and makes you a champion of life

Living the dream - being on top of the world; at the stage of bliss where you're not sure if life gets better

Doing a TFS - going out on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday night in one weekend

Vegging out - doing nothing apart from sitting on the sofa/in bed and probably watching copious amounts of Come Dine with Me

Battered/trollied/carparked/wasted - drunk

SU - Student Union, sometimes used to refer to the Union bar

Initiations - AVOID. They're often against Union law and are designed, mostly, to make you vomit

Chundering/hurling/vomming - being sick

Rah - daddy owns a couple of boats, aforementioned "rah" is kitted out in Jack Wills and spends money like water. See the characters of Made in Chelsea for more, also check out the Gap Yah video on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKFjWR7X5dU. It's got nearly 4 million views for a reason!

Lesson 17 - Freshers' week small talk

You'll talk to a LOT of people in your first few weeks at uni. To make an impression, you need to perfect the art of small talk. 

In case you're in any doubt as to where to start, here are my stock questions for small talk/introductions.

THE BASICS

What's your name?

Where do you come from?

What course do you do?

THE UNI-RELATED QUESTIONS

What halls are you in?

What have you been to/going to in freshers' week?

What societies have you joined/will you be joining?

How are you finding uni so far?

THE ABJECT DESPERATION QUESTIONS

Have you come straight from school or did you have a gap year?

What's your timetable like?

Obviously, some of these questions are weaker than others. Just relax, go with the flow and if you clearly don't click, make your excuses and leave. There are plenty more people to talk to, why waste your time on someone who will only depress/annoy/anger you? Some of the questions will inevitably lead to you discovering that it is a really small world out there. For instance, a guy on my course who has now become one of my best mates from uni, lives just up the road from me. I'm talking scarily close - but I'd never met him before uni. As well as this, when talk between my new flatmate and I turned to our home county of Kent, it transpired that he had attended the same foam party as I had just the previous week. (Stop judging me for going to a foam party, you cheeky so and so).

If you get to the stage of adding people on that social menace we all love to hate, Facebook, the "mutual friends" feature can also throw up some scary social connections. Who knew that an old friend of mine from school was good friends at university with one of my housemate's best friends from home until the Facebook feature told us so? 

The seven degrees of separation really must exist...

Lesson 16 - choosing the perfect graduation outfit

If you've made it all the way to graduation - congratulations! While graduation day is one of the best in your young life, the lead up to it can be super stressful. You have to sort accommodation, tickets for your parents, whether it's appropriate to invite your nan/auntie/cousin/nephew and, not forgetting, your academic dress!

Graduation is really formal, and if you'reanything like me, knowing you're going to have to look smart is a nightmare of gargantuan proportions. Somehow, I managed to pull it off, and I watched an awful lot of graduation ceremonies with a variety of outfits going on. So ladies and gents, it's time to get your wallet out and start taking notes on what to wear...

No matter what gender you are, make sure you check the colour of your gown and the colour of your sash. No one likes a red/pink colour clash. That's just not cool. The colour of your sash is particularly pertinent when it comes to the finer details of your outfit. For the ladies; this means accessories such as earrings & hair bits. Gents: I'm talking tie colour.

You've also got to check what colour your gown is. If you've got a grey gown, a grey skirt/trousers will leave you looking on the wrong side of "thunderstorn cloud". My advice: no matter what colour your gown - ladies should go for a blouse/black skirt combo, and gents should stick to a classic suit. Do NOT try and wear your suit jacket underneath your gown. You will look like you have massive shoulders but in a "chubby chubster" way, not a "I've been working out" way. 

Some ladies do opt for a dress, but this can either be really right or really wrong. A pattered blue dress under a navy gown: right. A bright red minidress: wrong, wrong, wrong! Vis a vis shoes - make them match your outfit and make sure they aren't ones that you're going to topple over in as you shake the Chancellor's hand. You do not want to be THAT girl.

Being the helpful student blogger I am, I've found three blouses for you, suiting three different budgets. You can thank me later. 

SKINT - Matalan £8.00

STUDENT LOAN - Topshop £18.00

SHOPAHOLIC - Whistles £110.00