Valentine’s Issue
The Break Up Brookes Undercover Val Thorens 2011 Oxford Landmarks Shit Expectation Culture Shock Diaries OR snow, a drunken pilot, and fashion observations Blanche Says ‘Ya Boo Sucks’ to the Hallmark Gods of Romance Amsterdam – The Night a Mushroom Stole my Soul University Challenged Couchsurfing: Australia and back without leaving your living room Read More
Brookes Undercover
Oxford and Brookes, is there really such a vast difference between us? Both are awesome universities (although one may be slightly more prestigious) and both are based in Oxford. We frequent the same clubs, pubs and high street but in general, apart from the dismal (at best) One Love Oxford mixer last February, and the sporadic Brookes vs. Oxford rugby games, there doesn’t seem to be much interaction between the two universities. So when I was lucky enough this weekend to... Read More
Val Thorens 2011
Ultimately, my favourite week of the year. Snow, ski and scandal. This was my second Brookes trip to Val Thorens, and it rivalled last year’s debauchery-filled week. This year, myself and three self-acclaimed ‘snow foxes’, as well as 300 other Brookes-goers, took the trip to the highest of the Three Valleys, Val Thorens. Everyday had the same schedule – get up at 8, ski til 3, après-ski party ‘til 6, debate having a nap and then go out ‘til 4am. The amount of adrenalin... Read More
Oxford Landmarks
Yes, the Radcliffe Camera looks majestic bathed in Autumn sunlight, yes, the clutter of slim bicycles around every corner present the perfect opportunity to pretend you’re in a sodding Evelyn Waugh novel and yes, the Bridge of Sights is quite something to behold in front of just about any seasonal backdrop. Nevertheless, should it not be The Afternoon View’s obligatory duty to pin-point the truly sublime landmarks of Oxford? Not with the intention of seeming hopelessly world-wearied,... Read More
Shit Expectations
When my dear old mother went to Cambridge University in the ‘70’s, there was a ratio of one female to every ten guys. Instead of watching Jeremy Kyle all day, she and her technology-free friends organised fun, charitable events with their college societies. At night they stayed up drinking port and “putting the world to rights”. No wonder my life is such a depressing concept to her… In the marvellously hectic year of 2011, the student reputation is more typically similar... Read More
Culture Shock Diaries
OR snow, a drunken pilot, and fashion observations. Where did I leave off last time…? Right – fashion differences between Germany and England. Well, before I get to those I HAVE to tell you about my disastrous trip back home to Germany before the Christmas holidays. As you might have all witnessed (if you didn’t get lost in the library during those last days of terror) it snowed quite a bit just before everybody had planned on going home. My plan was simple: take a one-hour... Read More
The Break Up
We have all been there; we have done the dumping, and we have been dumped, the latter hurting all the more. No-one knows how to handle it, men particularly- the more callous sex- who, we all know, cannot pump blood to more than one major organ at one time (I use ‘major’ loosely), and therefore usually grunt out ‘you’re dumped’ before trying to have sex with you ‘one last time’. Not to say that girls are any better though. Women have to talk about it for at least... Read More
Blanche Says ‘Ya Boo Sucks’ to the Hallmark Gods of Romance
Greetings my young’uns. The good people at The View seeing as Valentine’s Day is upon us, have asked me to say a few words of wisdom about relationships. And I thought, ‘Lord stitch my possum to an old oak tree’, I have a few things to say. I have quite a good many things to say on this subject, and not because I am some floozy on a honey boat ride to star shine, but simply because I am a well lived woman of a certain age. So hitch up your skirts and gird your loins to... Read More
Amsterdam – The Night a Mushroom Stole My Soul
Right, it’s that time of year again where we all need a break but can’t afford anywhere abroad that doesn’t house the odd cockroach and occasional S.T.I… ‘What to do?’ I hear you cry! There is only one solution for such a dilemma, and it goes by the name of AMSTERDAM. OK, I hear what you’re thinking! Just because you’re a student doesn’t mean you’re into smoking your way into obscene circumstances and dribbling at the sight of beautiful leather bound grannies,... Read More
University Challenged
Brookes’ time on University Challenge may just manage to linger on, despite the teams’ defeat by the University of Sheffield on 7th February. That is if Brookes’ can win another semi-final match and luck is on our side. As Paxman kindly pointed out (straight away, without hesitation), shaking off the stigma of being a ‘new University’ is something many Brookes’ students feel passionately about. For several years, Brookes’ title as Britian’s... Read More
