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Durham General Chat Thread

We all do

Wow... I wish I had seen the great flood. If I went to any, I might have seen it on the way to lectures... That'll teach me!!

Reply 5522

sophiefluff

pikaboo

It's only the idiots who look down on the locals. As a rule they're lovely, and the teenagers are just the same as teenagers in any city. I had one middle aged guy come up to me the other day in the train station apologising for all the swearing that his drunk friends were doing :smile:

Talk more about the flood - I want to know!

Feel like I haven't been clear here. I AM a local.. I've lived in Durham all my life. What I meant was how many students do you actually get who are from Durham and do you think they find the social life and experience less valuable as its such a small place?

Reply 5523

Teehar

10

sophiefluff

Feel like I haven't been clear here. I AM a local.. I've lived in Durham all my life. What I meant was how many students do you actually get who are from Durham and do you think they find the social life and experience less valuable as its such a small place?

I know a local at my college, top geezer, and he has as much fun as the rest of us.

Reply 5524

Jelkin

17

I know it's actually too late now but happy birthday Kathryn!

Reply 5525

arkbar

12

Feel like I haven't been clear here. I AM a local.. I've lived in Durham all my life.

Were you going to live at home?

Reply 5526

sophiefluff

arkbar

Were you going to live at home?

Not a chance. I'm going to have to look into this a lot more if I do get an offer... theres no way I'm living at home.

I started Uni in Manchester this year and just hated the course and the general thing. I realise that going to uni in my home city (especc. one as small as durham) has its downfalls, but its so good for English so if I do get an offer it needs as much chance as the others.

Sort of starting to lose hope on the offer front though. Applied to Van Mildert btw.

Reply 5527

durhamdosser

4

Thanks for the birthday wishes!

How did you do, Jess?

Reply 5528

Jelkin

17

Badly. And I took it really badly as well, which made it worse and everyone probably now thinks I'm a loser.

Jess Clempner got 142 votes. Chris Smith got 138. I got ... 81. Some people tried to tell me that was still really good but it's really not. My college parents tried to tell me they were sorry but, given that I'm pretty sure they voted for her, it felt patronising and meaningless. They also told me it was "a really great experience", and I know everyone will agree, but it really wasn't. I learnt about SRC finances, sure, but I don't need that now. I am also really, REALLY behind on my work after spending all my time on my hust and campaign, and about £30-£40 more into my overdraft than I should be. Everyone said I could always stand again next year, but I probably won't because i don't think I would have enough time for Treasuring as finalist.

At formal I didn't like the dessert (catastrophic). The winners were announced and everyone cheered. The bursar told me he had wanted me to win, which was both good and bad. To make matters worse, though, Jess Clempner came up to me afterwards to tell me that as a fresher I did really well (which was fine), and then, repeatedly, that she thought I'd be better suited to Senior DSU Rep anyway "the more she got to know me". (Which was not fine.) Then I cried and a lot of people saw.

Reply 5529

Teehar

10

having facebooked both you and her (yes I know I'm a creepy stalker) I just dont get it. Hild Bede SRC have defied the laws of student voting, I always thought the fit one won. :confused:

Reply 5530

Piggsil

16

Jelkin

Badly. And I took it really badly as well, which made it worse and everyone probably now thinks I'm a loser.

Jess Clempner got 142 votes. Chris Smith got 138. I got ... 81. Some people tried to tell me that was still really good but it's really not. My college parents tried to tell me they were sorry but, given that I'm pretty sure they voted for her, it felt patronising and meaningless. They also told me it was "a really great experience", and I know everyone will agree, but it really wasn't. I learnt about SRC finances, sure, but I don't need that now. I am also really, REALLY behind on my work after spending all my time on my hust and campaign, and about £30-£40 more into my overdraft than I should be. Everyone said I could always stand again next year, but I probably won't because i don't think I would have enough time for Treasuring as finalist.

At formal I didn't like the dessert (catastrophic). The winners were announced and everyone cheered. The bursar told me he had wanted me to win, which was both good and bad. To make matters worse, though, Jess Clempner came up to me afterwards to tell me that as a fresher I did really well (which was fine), and then, repeatedly, that she thought I'd be better suited to Senior DSU Rep anyway "the more she got to know me". (Which was not fine.) Then I cried and a lot of people saw.

Aw Jess, that's crap. I'm really sorry you didn't win. I know how dispiriting it can be when you put time and effort into something and you don't get the result you wanted, so I can only offer you my comiserations and annoy you by telling you that it IS a really great experience even if it doesn't seem like it now. :hugs:

Reply 5531

Teehar

10

losing is a **** experience, when I got RONned, I got pissed and lost a good few mates and made a good few enemies by what followed. You can tell a persons character not in victory, but in defeat. Pick yourself up and carry on

Reply 5532

dobbs

17

Becca

I can only offer you my comiserations and annoy you by telling you that it IS a really great experience even if it doesn't seem like it now. :hugs:

I agree with the above comment completely....for some random reason last year I went for Services Officer and lost (even though my hust was widely accepted as better than the competition - many people told me - even people who didn't know me!....though the guy I was against was a friend of mine anyway so it wasn't a big deal)...at the time I was absolutely gutted! :frown:

But now I look back and realise that Services Officer is actually a pretty crap position and I've had far more input into college essentially through running the Shop instead!

Seriously - don't feel too bad about it, it is true that you did well for a fresher - but that is the thing, it would take A LOT for a fresher to get a position like Treasurer (it's a big responsibility!!) on the Exec - so it was very brave of you to go for the position from the start! :smile:

Anyway, don't look at that too much, just look forwards to what you can do now - pick up with your work and make sure you catch up. Don't let it get to you too much, just think about the future now - there are plenty of other positions to have a look at, and although maybe not on the Exec, you can find some very rewarding and enjoying positions in other places :smile:

Reply 5533

Jelkin

17

Why IS it so hard for a fresher to get Treasurer? I was the oldest contender for the position. How far I am through my degree is hardly relevant. I don't get it!

Also, I wish someone had told me quite how unlikely it was for me to get it, as a fresher - before I stood people were all, "yeah, they'll obviously know more people, but just go for it anyway, you could well get it," and now they say, "yeah, freshers never get Treasurer, it was never going to happen." I could have stood for something else!

I don't really see what other positions I could go for outside of the exec - I wouldn't get squash captain, and I'm already going to be Women's Pool Captain (though that was only because no one else wanted it). Besides, if I lost ANOTHER election, I'd be crushed. I'm one of those people who always has to listen to, "it's the participation that counts", etc etc. Gets tired after a while.

Reply 5534

RobbieC

15

I think exec positions are perceieved as something you maneuver into. Like I started on commitees, then head the commitees and then become someone who oversees them and moves between different commitees, like an exec member would. It is seen as someone who knows the system, not just that can do a competent job.

Though I was beaten to my exec position by someone who emailed the entire JCR one by one asking for their vote, put a piece of paper under every single door in college, and is generally very greasy.

I was crushed, but I reacted badly only in the sense that I started ripping this kid to my mates, but I then laughed it off and am ready to hust again.

Reply 5535

Itchynscratchy

10

Jelkin

Why IS it so hard for a fresher to get Treasurer? I was the oldest contender for the position. How far I am through my degree is hardly relevant. I don't get it!

It's not an age thing, more not having enough time for everyone in college to know who you are.

Freshers can win though, at Mildert we have definately had one fresher treasurer and might have had two since I have been here

Reply 5536

dobbs

17

Not only time to "get to know people" but also just general experience of college and college politics! The ability to know the events of the past is an ideal skill for any position on the Exec because you're going into something where you can expect various things, whereas if you've been here less than a year you haven't seen much happen.

And as Robbie says - the best way to get anywhere is take it one step at a time; I went Buttery Worker - Buttery Staffing Officer - then got elected into Buttery Chair. If I was on a 4 year course I would have gone for an Exec position this year no doubt and essentially should have had a good chance at getting it because I've had the experience behind me (plus the things like people know me, I've been a freshers rep so the freshers know me, etc.)...but I'm not on a 4 year course (good and bad lol) so I'm happy to where I got. Plus I'm on the Exec for the Boat Club so I feel good that I've held 2 positions in two different areas of college - so rather than going for one BIG position maybe try to go for a few smaller ones, then you can have a bit of variety :smile:

(and more options for going UP next year!)

Reply 5537

Piggsil

16

Right everyone, tomorrow I am off to Italy to do the second part of my year abroad. I have absolutely no clue when I'll next be online, so I'll just say goodbye for now. How will you all survive without me? :p:

Also, I am very scared so wish me luck.

Reply 5538

Itchynscratchy

10

Good luck Becca. Have fun :smile:

Reply 5539

Agbonlaheto

Jelkin, the fact that you cried shows that you cared about winning. And anybody who enjoys losing will be nothing other than a loser for the rest of their life. In a round-a-bout way its a positive then.

Next time you run for a position just remember how gutted you were to lose this time. Go out and just screw your opponents over.

Victory will be yours - one day

Durham General Chat Thread

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