From Beginning to End- My Time in Bournemouth

University can be an intimidating, daunting step to take in a young person’s life to say the least. Once you’ve narrowed down your university choice, accommodation selection and packed your bags, there’s nothing left to do but travel to your home for the next three or four years and grab the experience with both hands.

The best advice I can provide for any new student is to get involved- with everything! No matter whether you’re mildly interested in a club or society or positively nuts about it, each new place you go and new activity you embrace gives you a chance to meet new people and grow, independently as a person.

Moving away from home, getting used to lectures, the uni itself and a new town can be overwhelming- it certainly was for me. But funnily enough, I was so busy during the fresher’s period that I barely gave a second thought to the academic side of my new life. There were so many events in the evenings and during the day that the first few weeks were so hectic, I barely had time to unpack!

Club events included club nights and promotions at the SU club The Old Fire Station; everything from a School Disco theme, to a Pirate theme and a beach party completed with an ice cream van parked in the club’s car park. Although these events were enjoyable, they were not always ideal to really get to know people and start to make friends.  However, events during the hours with sunlight provide an opportunity to learn something new and get to know people properly.

One experience that still stands out for me was joining the dance society, because by collaborating cerographical ideas and rehearsing, members were able to relax around one another and become acquainted. Competitions and performances also added some acceleration into the experience. On fresher’s week itself, there were also tours around the local area lead by volunteers in their second, third and fourth years of study, cooking tutorials and health and safety style lectures.

Over my time at university, the main thing I have picked up, as a person, is to be more selective about the friends and acquaintances I make. I’m sure you can imagine how overly eager and enthused everyone is to meet you during fresher’s week, but as time goes on, you get to know people better and better, and may discover you simply do not gel as people.

Although I am luckily enough to have an incredible set of friends based back home in London, which I have retained for my time in Bournemouth, and hope to for years to come, the friends I did make at uni made my experience unique and maturing. Housemates who were more capable at cooking than myself passed some of their skills and expertise onto me, and those who were better at managing money took charge of the bills.

However, although my three years in Bournemouth have (hopefully) delivered me a BA in English, I have also really matured and grown as a person. I can now manage my own finances better than ever before I know how to budget and, more importantly how to restrain myself when shopping! I am also safe in the knowledge that I can take care of myself overall- from cooking, to cleaning to managing my time.

University is the best and sometimes most difficult time in a young person’s life. Because you’re not just getting to know hundreds of new people and a new hometown, but you’re also getting to know yourself as you develop and progress as an academic and a personality.

Eco-Fashion Week 2013

Cruelty-free clothes are in- it’s official. The very first Russian Eco-Fashion Week was held in Moscow from 17th-22nd May 2013 after first reaching Russian shores way back in 2004 following a similar event in Paris. Edinburgh College of Art leader Marina Kokorina was so inspired by the event in France that she decided to hold a show in Russia. Julia Polonskaya, the sustainable Finance Program Coordinator with WWF Russia, believes Russia may be one of the most promising markets for the development of green clothing brands: “Foreign markets are starting to take an interest in Russian designers.”

Exploring Eco-Fashion

The event was held at Moscow State University’s Botanical Apothecary Garden and blended fashion with green-tea sampling and animal-cruelty free cuisine tasting. There were also practical skills master-classes, ranging from beading and plaiting to sewing and visitors were invited to take a look around the eco-friendly market on their travels.

 According to the Rosecomoda website, the goal of the event is to “create a platform in Russia where the young and accomplished Russian designers can form the concept of eco-clothing…” The various catwalk shows were held on weekday evenings and in the afternoons and early evenings of the weekend. Fifteen designers presented their work and the emphasis far more focused on the quality of the designs rather than the designers themselves.

Before the show took place, its organiser and spokesperson Tatyana Kargina said, “We are seeking to ensure that we always have new designers and collections.” She added, “As of now, we only work with Russian designers, but we are planning to start inviting foreign designers in the future, so we can learn from them. After all, Europe is 5–10 years ahead of us in this area.” During the event, designers are split into five categories; those made from environmentally-friendly materials, ethical clothing; substitutes for designs that harm animals or plants (e.g. fur) and clothing adhering to specific environmental requirements and standards.

Keeping Planet & Public Happy

Brand and designer stars of the mainstream catwalks such as Stella McCartney and Gucci have highlighted the importance of environmentally-friendly fashion given the lack of sustainable resources our planet has available and Eco-Fashion Week highlights this dilemma. It is hoped the event will become an annual occurrence and keep eco-friendly threads in the public eye. In fact, the event organisers hope the event will create a Russian community of eco-friendly designers creating trends that keep both the public and the planet into account. They also hope the show will influence the importance of environmental issues as well as popularize and promote eco-friendly clothing brands.

Stella McCartney

Eco-friendly labels are often stigmatised with an association with huge price tags but the fact is, the deterioration of the Earth cannot be avoided. In a similar way to fair-trade clothing, eco-friendly fashion can help maintain and enhance our environment, so it is worth paying the extra pennies if necessary. These types of clothing tend to be created from sustainable and quality materials and are therefore more likely to last a lot longer than the average high street piece.

  

Wearable & Durable

Those at the forefront of sustainable fashion include the likes of Vika Gazinskaya, Liudmila Norsoyan and Oleg Biryukov who are paving the way for more mainstream names to follow. Gazinskaya and Biryukov promote cruelty-free, durable designs including faux fur coats. They also emphasise the significance of organic and original materials both in fashion and in everyday life. Norsoyan, however is a biochemist and utilises the Earth’s vast array of natural resources; primarily from coal, copper and steal. Despite the fact that this is a small scale production currently, the difference it could make in the long run is astonishing. It has also already caught the eye of a number of up-and-coming designers and brands such as LowFat.

Although the fashion market suffers from a lack of awareness about its harm on the environment and what can be done to help the situation. Events such as Eco-Fashion Week illustrate the obstacles tarnishing the industry from becoming fair-trade and eco-friendly and display the fashion-friendly minds be.

Safe Haven (PG) - Momentum Pictures (07/05/2013)

‘Safe Haven’ was released in cinemas across the UK on 3^rd March and was released on 7^th May 2013 on DVD and Blu-Ray across the nation. It’s a Romance/Thriller or RomDram film based on the 2010 novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks and truly is a blend of its two primary genres from the off. Although the £28 million, film was widely criticised by critics, particularly in the States, it made over $95 million at the box office.

Filmed in North Carolina and Louisiana, ‘Safe Haven’ was directed by Swedish RomDram master Lasse Hallström, who was also responsible for hits such as ‘Dear John’ (2010) and ‘Chocolat’ (2000). He also directed over 30 of ABBA’s music videos in the 1970s and 80s along with ‘ABBA: The Movie’ (1977).  The film follows protagonist Katie as she flees her home hunted by Police, reaches a small, idyllic town- Southport, North Carolina and meets a hunky widower Alex Wheatley, (Josh Duhamel). He’s a convenience store owner with two young children and, predictably the two begin a slow-burning love fair.

In true keeping with a mystery, the slush-infested movie begins with the hastened escape of Katie played by actress/country singer/ballroom dancer Julianne Hough his opening scene also makes it clear how creative the film is, mainly due to the dark, gloomy shades of the frames. The cuts between scenes make the emotion and content of each one stand out from the next, assisted by the variety of editing speeds, styles and sumptuous settings. Each note of tense soundtrack and bleeping siren builds up the tension and keeps the audience questioning the film’s plot.

The abundance of greenery and seagull-overhaul of the coastal village Katie settles in is the perfect partner to panned-out shots of scenery and thought-provoking moments. However predictable the element of romance is, its almost comforting how inevitable it seems, with retains Oscar front-runner Hallström key component of destiny. Its simplistic structure fails to create the spark necessary for a romance flick; in fact it jumps seemingly randomly from the two leads and the Police’s work throughout.

In terms of acting performances, the best, most profound offering come from cute-as-a-button Mimi Kirkland and Noah Lomax who play Josh’s children Lexi and Josh, along with ‘How I Met Your Mother’s’ Cobi Smulders as Jo. As the opening of ‘Safe Haven’ drags like a heavy suitcase, it’s clear Hallström is not familiar with playing out the tension in his work, because he offers the audience pointless nuggets of information and mis-directions. His use of flashback is so pointless its almost patronising; basically verifying Katie’s past, which the audience are already aware of. It’s also astounding how much she can afford in terms of clothing, housing and general living expenses given she escaped her old home and violent husband with nothing but a plastic bag of clothing. Not to mention how unperturbed she seems by the situation with her husband. Its portrayal of romance is limp and unoriginal, with the most stirring moment being when the two leads’ hands creep ever closer together.

"Fluffy romance"

Fundamentally, this piece of cinematic confection drags in wait of some unavoidable twist that, of course, occurs towards its conclusion. It’s the sickly sweet settings and blossoming relationships combined with twinkly guitar driven soundtracks that drive ‘Safe Haven’ and illustrates the effect moving to Hollywood has had on Hallström’s visions. The 115 minute flick is perfect example of why films centred around the development of human relationships and the tensions and conflicts within them need to include impeccably entwined storylines. ‘Safe Haven’ fails to do this and instead, latches onto scattered flashbacks and mediocre scriptwriting.

Many sickly sweet scenes make you resent the couple’s relationship whether you’re in one yourself or not- the depiction of PDA, however is impeccable. Some scenes also mirror Nick Cassavetes’‘The Notebook’ (2004), including en enchanting canoe ride and the couple even kissing among the rushing backdrop of the debauched ocean. Even the theatrical poster of ‘Safe Haven’ rips of ‘The Notebook’, down to the female protagonist’s selection of t-shirt shade. It’s only the revelation of a supernatural element that not only differs from ‘The Notebook’, but also tarnishes the realism of the film.

Reckless alcoholic Tierney shatters the perfection of his wife’s new life and the illustration of a one-sided, severely violent relationship is mesmerising, especially in terms of realism. The violent based sections of the film are warmly welcomed due to the dull headway of it and really picks up its pace and the pieces left behind by poorly-acted and written lovey-dovey scenes. However, this ending does read somewhat like a poorly built-up episode of ‘Desperate Housewives’, without the well-developed, well-liked characters and settings.

The blend of fluffy romance and theatrical tension in this film and proves you can’t always predict how worthy of your time a DVD purchase will be, despite a renowned director, author or all-star cast. As it shifts between fairy-tale, supernatural thriller and mystery, ‘Safe Haven’ is a lacklustre embraces a shameless twist and fails to gain any substantial momentum.

3/5