Friday, March 29Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

Tag: Summer

Your Guide to Barcelona
Lifestyle

Your Guide to Barcelona

One of the things that really drew us to Barcelona when we spontaneously decided to book a summer break was that it really does have a bit of everything. From the sunnier climate and the beaches to the rich history and culture, the city will certainly spoil you for choice when you’re trying to plan your trip. 3 Top Tips – Wear comfortable shoes – Take your student card everywhere – Be vigilant – Barcelona has an extremely high rate of street theft. Where to Stay: As I visited with three of my best friends, we all really wanted to relax after the blood, sweat and tears of second year – literally. So we decided to stay in a small, beachy resort called Santa Susanna, which is located towards the north end of the city’s coast. We stayed in a cute apartment in Odissea Park Aparthotel, whi...
Disconnect To Reconnect
Lifestyle

Disconnect To Reconnect

No one can deny that we, on the whole, are a social media obsessed generation. The average person has five social media accounts and spends an average of 1 hour and 40 minutes browsing these networks every day, according to the latest quarterly report from Global Web Index (GWI). After finding out about these staggering statistics, I decided to take a break from social media and delete all my apps for a month. These are some things that I learnt. My levels of procrastination decreased wonderfully and it was incredible. I was doing double the work in half the time. I felt amazing. Mostly because this all meant that I had more time to do what I loved with the extra minutes that I had left over. I was painting more, writing more and feeling much more satisfied and content knowing that I...
The bucket list- generic, cringe, cliche?
Lifestyle

The bucket list- generic, cringe, cliche?

Christmas is over and summer feels like forever away; this in-between period is the WORST!! Especially when exams and deadlines are looming, your life can seem to disappear and you find yourself daydreaming rather than experiencing. But recently, I've seen quite a few people on social media promoting the benefits of making a 'bucket list' and how it can help those long, repetitive days of doing nothing. Some may comment that creating your own bucket list is cliche, cringe or just a list of attainable dreams; yet from both my own experience and that of my peers, it is clear that writing down all your wishes and targets for the future can bring a more positive and meaningful outlook to your life. Which is what everyone wants to have, right? A bucket list is something that can be kept pers...
Russia is more than its politics
News, Opinion

Russia is more than its politics

Russia is a country that Westerners almost inevitably view in a negative light. Thanks to a selective representation of its social and political backwardness, and its destabalising foreign policy, this vast and diverse nation has been condensed into a single, villainous entity. It is there to be lambasted, mocked, and feared. I went to Russia and spoke to some of its citizens. This is what I learnt. The Russian population is suffering. Gripped by the constricting vice of an economic slump, their infrastructure is failing; even in the major city of Samara, a quick detour from the centre reveals unmade roads and dilapidated housing. Speaking to residents, it’s clear that this deficit extends beyond the aesthetic. Soviet-era apartment blocks experience regular shortages of cold water – a ...
Embrace your inner Buddha
Lifestyle

Embrace your inner Buddha

Embrace your inner Buddha   Many people carry the misconception that religious life is somewhere up there in the clouds and that our everyday life is too dull. Often people think that to be a spiritual being, we must ignore or neglect our everyday lives, and go into some spiritual realm in order to be accepted. Others perhaps ignore religion completely and see it as a pile of mumbo jumbo. I personally have never been one to abide by a religion or believe that there is one ‘maker’ and that is because I wanted to choose what I believed. It took me 19 years and a whole lot of ‘soul searching’ but finally the locals of Siem Reap (a Cambodian province) taught me to embrace my inner Buddha. Now I don’t mean I became a Buddhist on my travels and experienced a cliché ‘Gap Year’ ch...
No Idea What To Do This Summer? Orbital’s Got Your Back!
Lifestyle

No Idea What To Do This Summer? Orbital’s Got Your Back!

With exams over and the summer months upon us almost one thing is on everybody’s mind – holidays. HOLIDAYS. Unfortunately for students, we are dirt poor. After a year of heavy drinking in order to preserve our sanity from annoying housemates/deadlines/lecturers that only know how to read off a PowerPoint presentation, we have no money to go abroad. So if you have no idea what to do this summer here are some ideas of fun things that you can do, in Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s country, to create the perfect 'staycation'. Festivals: I’m yet to really meet anyone who doesn’t like a good festival, albeit in Britain they are somewhat muddy. Reading and Leeds are two usual go-to festivals in the UK but honestly, they are so expensive and if you have the money for that you may as well pay an...
Backpacking for Less
Features

Backpacking for Less

It’s that time of year again – the end of the year has got us all dreaming about our summer holidays, prowling the low cost sites for a cheap deal. You might be looking into backpacking, that stalwart of student travel since time immemorial. People frequently backpack for months at a time, and whilst you may be thinking “that sounds much more expensive than an all-inclusive week in Kavos”, you’ll be surprised how much money it’s possible to save. Firstly, it depends on the area you want to explore. If you want to backpack around the US or in Scandinavia, your leftover student loan definitely won’t cover it. But if you’re a little imaginative, you can find much better value elsewhere. Think about exploring Eastern Europe, the Balkans, or even South East Asia – you’ll be surprised just how ...
Keep CALM
Opinion

Keep CALM

I’m walking through Waterloo Station and around me are posters and screens showing me the new summer fashion line and the blockbuster movies. With summer here, we are more than ever exposed to what the consumer market says we should look like, eat like, act like, be like. While the pressure on women is intense, the less focused and damaging stress is on men. With chiselled abs on store fronts and male heroes blowing things up and punching it out rather than talking it out on the silver screen and sport season reaching its peak, men are more than ever told that overcompensation is a key trait of their gender and this is dangerous, especially for our generation of young men. Defined as the ‘exaggeration of male stereotypical behavior, such as physical strength, aggression, and sexuality’, ...
That Deus Ex Machina Life
Opinion

That Deus Ex Machina Life

It’s a tragedy that I can’t recall a time without my phone in my hand, my laptop by my side and the answers to any question a simple googling away, and it’s a sense shared. While technology and knowledge has been the cause for human advancement through the ages, it seems now it’s a way to decelerate and hold us still. As a 90s baby I still recall VCRs, 248mb CDs, AOL dial up is drilled into my subconscious, when it was rare to even have a Nokia phone because they were expensive. Yet now it seems that every broke student has the latest smartphone (not to mention the indignity of eight year olds carting around an iPhone like they actually use it) and if it’s not our phone, we’re watching videos on someone else’s, wondering if getting a tablet is even worth it, face planting ourselves in fro...
How to pack like a pro!
Lifestyle

How to pack like a pro!

The orbitals guide to packing for your summer!   So most of you, who can afford it, are likely to have booked an amazing summer 'vacay' with friends or family now that exams are over and the sun is shining. But whether its camping in the relaxing lake district or sunning it up in St Tropez you need to know the essentials to pack. Beach: if you're going to the beach whether it be abroad or in the UK here are the three S's you will need for sure. Sunglasses-these are a must! Of course they are stylish but they can also protect your eyes from a whole bunch of conditions caused by ultraviolet rays as the eyelids are a very sensitive part of the body. Sun cream- obviously wearing sun cream helps keep the harmful UV rays from causing harm but it actually helps to build a ta...