
Welcome to the Southern half of my site
Bournemouth
Just over a year ago I made my long and tiring journey down to this Southern place, that is Bournemouth. My first impressions were that it had a great but expensive nightlife and a really crap public transport system. (I am a poor student without a car - boo hiss!). My opinions have changed slightly, the nightlife is still excellent, and can be not too pricey if you go to the right places. And as long as you know bus times public transport aint too bad (1 bus an hour though is a bit of a joke!). Oh yeah, I also thought that the uni builing wasn't so attractive, but that still stands.
Student Living
This year I have moved out of halls into Studentsville (a.k.a.Winton). It's a bit of a change from last year, there's 6 of us and one shower!!! The house is nice though, lots of party space, always important. There are 6 of us as I said, four girls, Ang, Jenny, Sally and me, and two lads, Andy and Alex. I don't think the lads mind too much that we're known as the girls house...
Last year I lived in the Student Village on the Talbot Campus and as far as student accomodation goes it's great. I was in a three person house, I probably had one of the best houses. A reasonably big bedroom, nice kitchen, a shower between two of us and three toilets (of course v important to have a toilet each when your bursting for the loo!)
I think it's the best of the halls, who can complain at rolling out of bed in to lectures?
Pubbing and Clubbing
It's inevitable that we have quite a few nights out. We have had some brilliant one's, The first night we had out was a classic I will never forget and since then it's just got bigger and better.
The Freshers Ball was at the BIC (Bournemouth International Centre). The So Solid Crew and Freestylers were there. It's was a really great night, the place was packed. Here are some photos of the night.
I also did a three-legged pub crawl, yes that's right, tied to someone else's ankle ("Ouch Andy, my leg still hurts!" - tee hee hee). I managed all 12 bars and pubs (and we finished before most other people!). Although Andy tried, I refused to go to the guys loos and stand there while he did a piss - there is only so far a friendship goes!!! This was our route
House parties are an inevitable part of student life, especially christmas ones. My friend Angela had a Nativity Fancy Dress Christmas Party. It was a really good night (so i've been told - I was nearly sober, honest!). Here is the photo evidence of a very funny and drunken night. (can i just say a special thanx to David and Jude for taking care of me!)
Of course there's themed nights at The Old Firestation. I went the Heaven and Hell one in January. It was a good night, quite a few more devils than angels though! See some devilishly good pics here
When a friend turns 19 what can you do but catch the night on camera. Andy's 19th birthday at the Opera House
Danielle and Jude celebrated their birthday together this year, a couple of weeks later it was my turn, on My 19th Birthday
Last year we finished up with the Summer Ball which was loads of fun... i went as a cave woman!
Back at uni this year, with a whole house to ourselves we threw a Housewarming Party which a good laugh, or at least the bit i was sober for was...
Jude had a Halloween Party, the first ever house party I am proud to say, that I survived without throwing up, passing out, or both!!!
- Before a night out you need a pub to warm up in, I usually go to The Inferno (Holdenhurst Road) cos you can get drinks cheaper with a Yellow Card. It's also where we tend to go if we just want to go to the pub. It's right by The Old Firstation, so is good before going there. The Moon in the Square (Weatherspoons) is in The Square in the centre of Bournemouth, it's nice in there but gets really crowded some evenings. If I really can't be bothered walking too far Dylan's is the SU bar on the Talbot Campus, cheap drinks and hilarious karoke on Sundays makes it worth your while.
- The Old Fire Station was the first place I ended up in. It's run by the student union, so it's pretty cheap to get in and get pissed. It's a good size and has various themed nights. There's quite a bit of cheezy pop.
- Jumpin Jaks is one of my favorite places to go. On a Tuesday it's Student Night, it's free to get in with an NUS card and drinks are extreamly cheap. The favorite tipple amongst my friends tends to be snakebite and black cos it gets them very drunk very fast (lightweights!!!). It tends to be cheezy music, but quite a bit of old stuff is played too (Queen etc.), so it's pretty groovy.
- The Opera House is very famous for it's Slinky nights every friday. I have to say I haven't been to one of those yet, being a poor student and all. But I do love it on Thursdays, yet another student night! it's just a quid to get in with NUS and if you pick the right drinks they can be reasonably priced. It's House downstairs, but if you can't hack the real music (lol!) there's the usual cheezy stuff upstairs.
- Elements is pretty popular among student types. i think most people go on wednesdays. i've only been once, and i wasn't too impressed, but i was being grumpy so don't trust my judgement! My friends that go really love it, but beware drinks are expensive!
- Bar Med is a good place to go, especially on fridays. It has good music and you can always find somewhere to sit! We like it there :)
Other Things To Do
Although you may not believe it I've discovered more to do other than pubbing and clubbing in Bournemouth.
- There's shopping of course! Although these days it tends not to happen to much...the overdraft can't take much more! There are two main shopping streets in Bournemouth, both from the Square. They go in completely opposite directions, which is a complete bugger when you forget things, and have to go on a bit of a trek to get to the top of the other street. The shops are okay, just your usual, most of the high street stores are here. I've not been anywhere else shopping since I've been here, I think Poole has a shopping centre and if you manage the 45 min train journey Southampton's not meant to be too bad.
- There's Crazy Golf in The Lower Gardens, which is brilliant for a laugh...which is what everyone did when they saw me play! It's great if you can get a few of you together.
- Also in the Lower Gardens there's that big balloon thing you can go up in and look over Bournemouth. I will do that at some point in the next three years.
- The Beach is gorgeous. It's clean which is a novelty for me coming from near one of the worst beaches in Britain. It's great there when the sunsets. You can also go for a wander along the pier, which usually costs 30p. And there's a really cute arcade by the pier with 2p machines and stuff like that, it's lots of fun and you don't have to spend to much.
- Tower Park is meant to be good. I've been bowling there which was fun. There's also a cinema (UCI) and a water park (Splashdown). There's a few restaurants about too.
- There's two cinemas in town, ABC and Odeon, on Westover Rd, and cos the Odeon owns ABC, practically every film released is at one or the other straight away. The IMAX on the pier approach should be opening in March...apparently they've been waiting for this down here for 3 years!
- Riley's is a really nice pool/snooker place, and at the mo its only a fiver to become a student memeber! It's great if u wanna relax, unwind and in my case get totally humilated as i get thrashed every game!