Salutations!
Welcome to the first of
(hopefully) many blogs which will contain my musings on all things RUSU, some
wonderful welfare-y tips and advice and updates on what I have been doing for
students studying in Reading.
I’m writing this sat in
my office after a very long day of Freshers’ Fayre Take Two: Attack of the
Sporto’s. And my goodness I am fried! Over this past week the other four officers
and I have been out and about meeting and greeting as many of the charming new
students as we can get our hands on, while saying a cheery “Welcome back!” to
all of our returning students. I cannot stress enough how glad I am to have you
all back on campus (despite the fact that I feel like I am about to die – the
dreaded Freshers’ Flu has struck)! It was mighty lonely when you were away!
I spent a good deal of
my summer (when not having a great time playing at festivals on my weekends
off) planning a lot of very exciting things for the coming year. Now when I say
exciting things, normally I would mean exciting as in the type of thing that
RUSU/welfare keenos like myself would find exciting, but genuinely I think
there are some things coming up that will excite (or at least help) the masses.
Let’s kick off with my
fave - the Student Safety Net smartphone application. Now hold on to your socks
because what you are about to read is pretty special!
We at RUSU care about your safety, so we have signed up to trial a new smartphone app
launched by the NUS which allows students to interact with each other, the
Students’ Union and the NUS about all things safety (this includes personal
safety when out and about and securing your home). If being able to sleep
soundly in your bed at night, safe in the knowledge that you will be alerted to
any nasty business going down in your area isn’t enough we have added a cheeky
little incentive for Reading students to get them downloading and using this
app. On the 30th November we will select one lucky person from those
that have downloaded the app to win…
*drum roll*
A FREE WEEKEND IN PARIS
including travel, accommodation and breakfast!!!!
While we are on an
international theme, I think I’ll bring up another shiny new project that has
been launched this term. Together with members of staff from both the
University and the Union I have been working
on a fabulous new three-pronged project which aims to aid the exchanging of
cultures on our campus.
Connect Project
From the University’s side of things comes the ‘Connect
Project.’ One aspect of this project will be a number of social events at
which UK and international students get together to learn about and experience
different cultures and meet new friends from across the globe (for more
information visit the Reading University website).
The Buddy Project
From the Union comes ‘The Buddy
Project’ which aims to partner up new international students with current home and international students in order to provide the ‘student experience’ side of
advice – things like where to go for a budget shopping trip, the best places to
go/eat out, things to do and places to visit in and around Reading.
Day trips
Finally –
day trips. We want to show off the area, what there is to do here and what
Brits enjoy. So – Thorpe Park, Kew Gardens, Reading FC and London Irish rugby
will play host to a huge group of visiting students. If you are interested in any
of these – either taking part or volunteering – do get in touch!
Well, I think that is
just about enough excitement for one blog. Make sure you check out my ‘Welfare
Wednesdays’ blogs every Wednesday straight from my laptop to your screen for
more news on what I have been kicking about doing! (Yes I realise this has not
been released on a Wednesday, but hey – give me a break! We've just had Freshers’ Week
for goodness’ sake!).
With oodles and
oodles of Welfare love (the safest kind don’t you know!),
Steph x
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