I suppose I should start with the obligatory apology regarding my absence. I do unfortunately have the expected shabby excuses of commitment to other projects, and also no longer possess a camera. Or, as of a few months ago, a decent phone. I'm unsure why I got so behind with it as I genuinely loved blogging. I considered starting a completely new blog, but frankly I'm far too attached to this blog and a lot of the posts on here - some of which have been retweeted by the likes of Alexandra Shulman and Ian Rankin, the Vogue editor being a particular anecdote I find myself refraining from embellishing my CV with far too often.
So I am 'bouncing back', yes, in the blogging sense, but this is not the only mild epiphany I've had recently (...or, as I'm re-editing this in December, in the last year... aha). After experiencing my first major bomb out of an essay, I had one of the academic kind which, somehow, resulted in my flinging myself into every opportunity possible instead of actually buckling down and studying. Regardless, this is good, and led to me having one of the busiest (and definitely most media-related) weeks of my life...
Monday:
11am The Journal's News Writing Workshop with Nick Eardley, News Editor of The Scotsman
A very insightful talk that's actually made me further consider news journalism as opposed to features and reviews. The main thing I took away from it, besides stylistic advice, was that ever important N word: networking, a word that influenced not just the rest of my week but my mindset. Nick's main advice was to keep a contacts book (physical, non-iPhone reliant, couldn't possibly be stolen book) and bring it everywhere with you, telling us that the key to a good news story is good sources. Simply write down the email address/number of anyone you meet who you think could be of any possible use in the future, whether it's the head of university security, someone at the police press office or the box office manager at the theatre. Nick also advised, unsurprisingly, to be ballsy and put yourself out there, stating that most newspaper or magazine editors would, after some persistent emailing, give you half an hour of their precious time for you to pick their brains.
Misc: flat viewing, French literature essay submitted, numerous calls to Santander trying to sort out my not having a debit card at the mo... Having to rely on banks to get money out is not ideal, bank opening times are SO inconsiderate.
Tuesday:
12:15pm A lunch with the culture section of the student newspaper. So culture. Wowe. Etc. It was at Bristo Bar and Grill, in George Square as I'm sure any Edinburgh reader is aware, which I cannot recommend enough - only slightly more expensive than Teviot and a far more tasteful menu (not that I don't love the nachos as much as your next 1-3pm library breaker). On the lunch menu you can have one of their sandwich, baguettes and bagels with fries and salad for a fiver - and I'm talking halloumi, smoked salmon, brie, steak. Despite the ket den its exterior resembles, the food is varied and tasty. (edit: wow, this was so long ago that Bristo Bar is no longer and has been taken over by the fabulous Paradise Palms, a verrry cool self-proclaimed 'dive bar' with dimmed lights and jazz-spinning DJs)
Once everyone had finished, the editors announced the articles they had to give out that week, one of which I considered but declined because of a supposed DJ set my flatmate wanted me to go to on the same night... (I promise this is going somewhere).
4pm The third and final meeting for a media award I'm currently completing, run by the university, which will basically go on my extra-curricular scroll when I graduate, as well as allowing me to see some great guest speakers. The speaker of this session was Lara Moloney, the head of sales and marketing at The Skinny, whose job involves going to press nights, networking and promoting The Skinny for financial backing and to widen readership and awareness. Another influential talk, heavily based on the importance of networking. As she was saying how important events like press nights can be, I realised I should definitely take the theatre review as it was a press night (which, besides obviously being great to meet people, would have a free bar). Thus, I immediately snapped open my laptop and emailed to ask if I could still take the piece. (still gradually going somewhere)
6pm RAG Meeting, starting to discuss April's charity hitch hike 'Race 2 Berlin', which I am competing in and which coincidentally starts on the same day as my birthday... Meaning I probably won't be spending my birthday in Berlin, but on a rainy road in Scotland trying to beg for a lift while joyfully holding up a 'Help us get to Berlin, it is my birthday' whiteboard sign.
Misc Cancelled flat viewing, PANCAKES!!! (breakfast and dinner, the only way to do pancake day)
Soooo I got home after RAG, opened my emails to see that the theatre editor had replied to my late request to review the show with a resounding yes. Gleeful in my state of new-found inspiration, I chattered away to my flatmates explaining how the media talk had made me decide to take the show so, alas, I wouldn't be able to make it to this very mysterious DJ set happening a train ride away that there had literally been nothing revealed about, apart from that some older friends had said 'it's going to be good'. Both flatmates' faces absolutely dropped as I was, for some unknown reason, stared at in shock. They then revealed to me a verrry exciting prospect which provoked me to immediately email back and re-reject the theatre show for the following night...
Wednesday:
1-4pm: Creative, Cultural, Careers Festival: Media. This event was set up by the careers department and actually had a great lineup of speakers, with whom there was the opportunity to network.
Tom Churchill, Content Producer, BBC.
Chris Deerin, Partner, Charlotte Street Partners, former Political Editor of the Daily Record, former Executive Editor of Scotland on Sunday and former Head of Comment for The Telegraph.
Neil Dunwoodie, Executive Producer, Sky News.
Gillian McCormack, Managing Director, PR & Events Agency Material_UK.
Peter Murray, Community Outreach Manager Scotland, Media Trust, the UK’s leading communications charity.
8pm: DISCLOSURE @ CORN EXCHANGE.
Who would've thought?!?! Despite my ruining of the surprise element (which they'd kept under wraps for MONTHS!) it was still a brilliant night and a great gift.
Who would've thought?!?! Despite my ruining of the surprise element (which they'd kept under wraps for MONTHS!) it was still a brilliant night and a great gift.
(terrible terrible temp phone camera quality)
Thursday:
The quietest day of the week. Until...
8:30pm Murder mystery dinner party. 10 friends. 10 accents. 3 courses. 1 batch of slutty brownies. 1 cheesy charity shop-bought murder mystery DVD. 6 clues read aloud. Too many bottles of wine to count. Yes it's a seemingly very refined way to fritter away an evening and may sound like hell, but add alcohol to the mix and things get simply hilarious. The drunker we got, the stronger our characters' accents got, and the more ferocious our accusations became. I cannot stress how good a night this is, we've done two and both have been two of the best nights of uni so far - but only if you take it seriously.
For the long awaited 3 course meal, one flat provided our starter: feta and mushroom-stuffed red peppers. Another, the main: a safer option, spag bol. And finally us, who provided the well applauded dessert: slutty brownies, courtesy of The Londoner.
Us as our various stereotyped characters: the bumbling archaeologist, the glamorous film star, the serious business woman and the airy French artist (me)
She doesn't even need glasses
Friday:
10am: Flat viewing. Ran late. Flat wasn't great. Ended up having restorative brunch at the très chic Montpelier's Bar & Brasserie, just off the road we were looking at in Bruntsfield.
Just a note to anyone else currently experiencing the highs and lows of flat hunting (mainly all lows... apart from the one high being the flat you actually get lucky with), is it just me or is it a rather expensive process?! Pre-booked taxis for the ruthless head-to-head race to the estate agents after a group viewing, which can often be likened to drag racing, and then commiseratery brunches and coffees after having failed to obtain the flat. Or having left the house too late to have breakfast and feeling kinda hungry...
2pm: Job interview. No word here yet unfortunately...
4pm: 2nd flat viewing. I'll cut a long story short here: we liked it but decided not to get it 5 mins before the estate agents closed, after having just fully confirmed we were going to pay the deposit and to tell the other group wanting it that it had been taken. Lol.
Friday night: Amazing. Ordered a banging Chinese and all watched A Series of Unfortunate Events, which although it totally ripped off the books, remains one of the most underrated children's comedies OF all time.
Saturday:
2pm: Attended a production day at The Journal, having been invited after putting my name down on Monday's workshop. Basically sub-editing (checking over grammar, style etc) the articles for their next issue. Not exactly riotous fon but good experience all the same.
11pm: Disco themed, 70s flat party, possibly the best I've ever been to. That is all.
Misc: Saturday morning lounging with coffee and blog catching-up.
Sunday:
5am: Walking home from said party, the sky was getting light and birds were atweeting. Summer has to be on the way.
1pm: Oh nope. While literally every other city in the UK Instagrams beer gardens, selfies donning sunglasses and the classic legs-on-sunlounger-possibly-with-beer, Edinburgh is shrouded in fog and occasionally rains.
Misc: Did not get changed. Restorative bacon and egg toastie. Watched old school Gossip Girl episodes. Ate half a box of dry bran flakes in bed.
...sooo that was a general week waaay back in March. It's now December. Despite my best efforts, I just always seem to fall behind with blogging. This semester (I'm now in my second year at uni) I've become more involved in RAG by taking on the events manager position, so have supervised/organised/helped with a LOT of things including going to Paris to track hitch-hikers on our Race2Paris, an annual charity hitch-hike from Edinburgh to Paris. I've also collaborated with a few other charities on various fundraising efforts which has been great, and I also now (finally) have a job. However, one of my main new years resolutions (eek) is to restart the blog... so here goes.
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