Features – Page 16 of 26

23Sep

By Yasmeen FrassoNo Comments

Features

Walking for Survivors UK

Criminology & Psychology students, Rebecca Simmons and Non Frenguelli, recently set themselves a challenge in order to raise money for Survivors UK. So firstly, congratulations on your amazing achievement, you guys should be so proud! Rebecca: Thank you! It’s definitely a great feeling to have completed the West Highland Way and to have done it for such a great cause. I’m already missing waking up to mountains and lochs covered in mist, but I have to admit that returning to showers and dry clothes has its benefits! Could you explain exactly what you did and why you decided to do it? Non: We hiked the West Highland Way, which is Scotland's most popular long-distance route, that runs from Glasgow to Fort William. We wanted to do it because it's a really big phy...

20Sep

By Louise JonesNo Comments

Features

Top Tips for Fresher’s in a tweet

The new academic year is upon us and ROHO is preparing to open its doors again, which can only mean one thing - fresher’s season and more importantly Fresher’s week is upon us. Having asked students from across campus and academic years for their top tips for freshers in a tweet (no more or no less than those precious 140 characters), Orbital has collected some of the most learned, and valuable pieces of wisdom shared, or in other words the best advice on how not to blow your overdraft in the first week for example. We've rounded up some of the best for your reading. Joanne Archer - @joaaane Get involved in at least one sport/soc. Try something completely new and out of your comfort zone. It's a great way to meet new people too! Elizabeth Carr - @escarr15 Get out of your comf...

5Sep

By Yasmeen FrassoNo Comments

Features

Reflecting on The Stanford Rape Trial

The Stanford Rape Trial (People vs. Turner) that came to a head earlier this summer sparked massive controversy when the convicted rapist, Brock Turner, was sentenced to a miniscule six month sentence. It raised many questions about rape culture in sport, as well as both racial and class biases in criminal prosecution. For those who aren’t familiar with the case, Turner, a 20 year old American student, was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind the bins at a Frat party back in January 2015. The victim was saved from any further assault by two men who pulled Turner away from her, and, when he attempted to run away, chased and detained him until the police arrived. Consequently, as one would expect, he has been under trial since, yet has pled ‘not guilty’ on his ...

22Aug

By Yasmeen FrassoNo Comments

Features

The 2016 Student Media Summit

This week saw the ninth annual Student Media Summit return to London. Hosted by the NUS and Amnesty International UK, the two-day Summit aims to educate and develop the skills of students involved in media and those wanting to pursue it in the future. Features editor, Yasmeen Frasso, talks about her experience. Walking down New Inn Yard on the morning of Thursday 18th August was a strange experience; the morning travels were filled with the excitement of actually being able to go to a place that, for the day, was not only a central hub for activism, but journalism as well. Two areas which journalist and keynote speaker, Laurie Penny, later explained to us are often largely intertwined. But, of course, anxiety also latched onto me. “Was I wearing the right clothes?” “Was I prepa...

18Jun

By No Comments

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 ...

17Jun

By Yasmeen FrassoNo Comments

Features

An Interview With Miss Surrey 2016

Our features editor, Yasmeen Frasso, recently spoke to Sophie King to talk about her experiences in the world of beauty pageants. Having recently been crowned as Miss Surrey 2016, 27 year old Sophie is now going to be taking part in the Miss Great Britain finals. What inspired you to run for Miss Surrey 2016? Had you had any prior experiences with beauty pageants or was it completely out of the blue? Last year I had a very close call when I contracted Meningitis B and Septicaemia. After getting out of intensive care and returning home I have felt a new lease of life. I now really appreciate that we are not invincible and we must make the most of each day. I tend to say yes to everything now. I had always been interested in pageants, and I just thought ‘Why not!?’ so I applied and h...

15Jun

By Yasmeen FrassoNo Comments

Features

Life With Poland’s Syndrome

Most people who know me will have, by now, realised that there’s something a bit different about me – I have one and a half hands. As much as I like to joke and attribute this to being the survivor of a shark attack, or having an accident with a washing machine, or even that I resorted to autocannibalism whilst stranded on a desert island, the reality is not quite so dramatic. I was born with a condition called Poland’s Syndrome which is pretty rare, affecting roughly one in 100,000 children (don’t worry I don’t expect anybody to have heard of it). It’s basically when the pectoral muscle in the chest is either underdeveloped or fully absent in a person which consequently causes an underdeveloped arm and hand. The severity varies from case to case and the cause of it is still ambiguous. ...

14Jun

By Yasmeen FrassoNo Comments

Features

Lessons Learnt from First Year

Whilst it seems like only a few weeks ago that we bright-eyed fresher’s moved in to RoHo’s stunning campus, first year is sadly coming to an end. It’s been a busy year and a lot has been learnt so I thought I’d share a few of my thoughts with you. On living the ‘adult life’ You turn 18 and arrive at university with the expectations that living away from the security of home will miraculously transform you into a fully-fledged adult overnight. That is far from true. Life away from home comes with new responsibilities and challenges, like cooking, doing laundry and managing your money. All of these things require a degree of maturity but the expectation of becoming an actual ‘adult’, in anything but age, will not be met. Even some third years finishing their degree say that they don’t ...

8Jun

By No Comments

Features

Meet the Sabbs!

Our editors, Louise and Holly, met up with the new all-female Sabbatical team to talk about their journey so far and talk about what is to come next year. Natasha Barrett What will you be doing? As President my role basically entitles maintaining strong and valuable relations between the SU and the university itself, I will be in contact with them constantly in regards to developing and furthering various campaigns and strategic goals in order to generally maximise student experience. President refers specifically to education and campaigns so they will be my main focuses but I will also interact with the other sabbatical officers to support them in any projects that I can. I will also represent our student body as best I can within the NUS and wider student platforms by ensuri...

Natalie Bennett’s policies, and her visit to Royal Holloway

25May

By No Comments

Features

Natalie Bennett’s policies, and her visit to Royal Holloway

Former journalist Natalie Bennett is the leader of the Green Party. Despite its status as a relative outsider, the party has enjoyed a spike in popularity in recent years, dispelling an alleged stereotype around the party as that of a group of environmental hippies. Bennett covered a wide range of current events in her recent talk at RHUL from the current housing crisis to the question of Britain’s position in the EU, showing that the party has highly sophisticated wide-ranging aims and policies; a shocker for anyone who still believes that all the Green party care about is implementing policies to benefit vegetation and wildlife. Bennett began her talk with what she called a ‘compulsory’ apology from her generation to the younger one, claiming that responsibility must be taken for the ...