relationships – The Orbital

A Reflection of Love in the Purest Forms

16Nov

By Beth McCowenNo Comments

Lifestyle

A Reflection of Love in the Purest Forms

By Tia Martello As the year draws to a close in these final months, I find myself contemplating the relationships that have left a profound impact on me and how they resonate universally. These connections, be they romantic, platonic, or familial, have shaped my academic pursuits, life choices, and overall worldview. In this article, I aim to delve into my personal experiences of love in its purest manifestations, with the hope that these narratives may strike a chord within you. In a world that often races forward, perhaps we could all benefit from taking a moment to reflect on how our relationships mould our day-to-day existence. Captivating Romance: Ah, romantic love - a sensation I trust we've all encountered in the course of this tumultuous year. Yet, I'm not just alluding to ...

The Worst Person In The World: the Nordic highs and lows of human connection

24Jun

By Olivia TaylorNo Comments

Features, Film & TV

The Worst Person In The World: the Nordic highs and lows of human connection

Joachim Trier’s Oslo trilogy may not follow stories that are directly linked, but there is a connection between them that even Anders Danielsen Lie, who stars in each film, noticed ‘feels just like a continuation’. That continuation may be loss, love, or loneliness, three themes that follow the central characters through each story. But whilst they aren’t always resolved, they haunt audiences with a sense of realism, often hitting close to home. ‘The Worst Person in the World’ or ‘Verdens verste menneske’ is Trier’s final installment, and a cinematic masterpiece in its own right. It captures the fragility of life through the lens of Julie, a 20-something woman who gets stuck in the indecisiveness of her ambition, a cultivated indication of what it means to be young and conflicted. “I f...

9 of the Best Relationships in Television

24Jun

By Victoria BurdenNo Comments

Features, Film & TV

9 of the Best Relationships in Television

Romantic Relationships Phil and Claire Dunphy – Modern Family Across 11 seasons of iconic television, Phil and Claire continuously proved they have one of the best onscreen relationships. From Phil’s optimistic nature and cheerleader mentality to Claire’s determined and competitive streak, these two balance each other out to form the perfect married couple. Mel and Jack – Virgin River While the show keeps throwing obstacles at these two, they always find their way back to one another. Their pasts constantly make it difficult for them to focus on creating a future. Despite this, Jack’s uncanny ability to get himself in harm's way and Mel’s speciality in helping those in need make for a dynamic that leaves viewers wanting more. Friendships Otis and Eric – S...

Connectivity through understanding: Emetophobia and relationships

21Jun

By Millie DraperNo Comments

Lifestyle

Connectivity through understanding: Emetophobia and relationships

Trigger Warning: Discussions of vomiting and anxiety. Note: the purpose of this piece is to bring awareness to Emetophobia and the effects it has on making connections and forming relationships. It is from my experience, and I do not aim to speak for everybody. Emetophobia is a debilitating phobia of vomiting which affects my everyday life and leaves me completely panicked whenever I feel sick. My experience with Emetophobia has not been easy; even the thought of sickness sends shivers down my spine. No one likes being sick, but for me, this fear is next level. Emetophobia isn’t easy to deal with, and it is certainly not easy to explain. It can put massive strain on relationships and friendships because, naturally, it isn’t easy to empathise with a phobia you haven’t personal...

31Jan

By Cecilia Munoz FernandezNo Comments

News, Opinion

The Journey to Self Love

Surely we have all heard the myth about how you can’t love somebody else if you don’t love yourself. As much as self-love is something everyone needs to work on, healthy relationships can actually become a solid foundation for your journey towards self-love. When in a romantic relationship where there is good communication, genuine friendship and companionship, intimacy, sex and affection can become a source of confidence and reassurance. When it comes to sex or intimacy a majority of people find it hard to be naked in front of their partners, it is very common to feel uncomfortable with nakedness for a variety of reasons (like traumatic experiences, purity culture, beauty standards and body dysmorphia) that usually come in hand in hand. Healing your relationship with your body a...

5Dec

By Michele TheilNo Comments

Lifestyle

Not a Friendly Ghost

Ghosting has been a popular topic with every infamous dating columnist in the last few months. From Sunday Times journalist Dolly Alderton to Cosmopolitan sex writer Carina Hsieh, it’s really all anyone’s been talking about. Ghosting is when a person ends a platonic or romantic relationship, or in the vernacular of university dating - a “thing”, by not replying to messages or calls and just ignoring you until you ‘get the message’. If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of ghosting, you can attest that it is The Worst. It’s horrible when someone you liked, care about or even love decides one day that they don’t want to talk to you again, wihtout any explanation. But, while we all condemn the ghoster and sympathise with the ghosted, can we all honestly say that we haven’t ghosted anyone?...

Making Your Relationship Survive the University Test

21Sep

By Shannon GrayNo Comments

Lifestyle

Making Your Relationship Survive the University Test

I was 17 years old and had just started my final year of sixth form when I began my first real relationship. We were an inseparable, strong and loving couple. Despite our devoted appearance, the one question that seemed to keep cropping up from friends and family was “Do you think you’ll break up when you go to University?”. It felt insulting. Shocking, even. And yet it wasn’t until I arrived at University, miles away from my partner, that I began to understand that it wasn’t actually an insult at all. I began to see relationships triple the length of mine fall to pieces within weeks, and relationships half the length of mine strengthen at full force. This was the milestone that separated the dedicated from the convenient. And one year after successfully passing the University test, I’d...

4Jul

By Beth CarrNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV

Losing It: Reshaping Sex Education

CONTENT WARNING: Rape. Beth Carr shines a spotlight on alumna Nina Lemon and her play ‘Losing It’. Watching a musical about sex education isn’t the most usual Friday activity for students, but that is exactly the theme of the latest play by Peer Productions, written and directed by Royal Holloway alumni Nina Lemon. ‘Losing It’ follows a group of school friends as they look back on their seven years at secondary school and the questions they had about sex and relationships, as well as examining what went well and what went wrong in their love lives. The play fits with Peer Productions’ vision “to use theatre to genuinely change young people’s lives” and is being toured around 30 local schools to tell pupils what they really want to know about sex and relationships. It was develop...

19Jan

By Joanne ArcherNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV

A Mainstream Love Affair

Joanne Archer discusses the inevitability of cheating in mainstream film. I’m pretty lucky really. Unlike a lot of lonely souls out there, I have been in a very happy relationship for the last four years. You would think this can only mean Happily Ever After. My life is a Disney film and my days are filled with birdsong and baking apple pies. Reality check. We live in the 21st century and as much the above is fairly accurate, I am very aware that the course of true love never did run smooth. What exactly, I hear you ask, is it that fills me with a perpetual dread for the future? The normalisation and romanticising of cheating in mainstream film. You only have to look as far as Alan Rickman in Love Actually to see what I mean. Evidently we are supposed to feel bad for Em...

17Feb

By No Comments

Lifestyle

“Grab a coat”… you’re hitting the SU!

So will you be at the SU on Wednesday night? After all, where else will you find sticky floors and artificially blue VK’s? It is likely our Thursday lectures would thank us for a night in, yet for a single guy what better opportunity is it to flex the muscle memory of high school flirting techniques... So, what I ask is, how are the guys here at Royal Holloway pulling girls at the SU? With a higher percentage of girls to guys, it is easy to presume that the task will be an easy one and guys at the SU are definitely not lacking in confidence. Through witnessing the awkwardness of them attempting to make their move, their tactics are interesting, to say the least... Many get drunk and grope and grind on the dance floor, whilst others attempt to make ‘bedroom eyes’ across the bar. A fai...