Freshers guide 62 18 09 1996

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everyone from your parents' friends to the Independent on Sunday Student Guide lecturing you about what the following weeks hold in store for you and it would be understandable if you physically assaulted the next person who told you that "student years are the best years of your life."

However, despite the tokenism of that statement, it is probably true .

Just think: freed from the constraints of family life, and prior to the constraints of a

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Where to go, what to do and who to do it with ... your student life starts here with a vengeance.

career, you get to spend three or four years in an environment where entertainments and activities are easily accessible, surrounded by people your own age, all out to have just as good a time as you.

Basically, you're now your own boss and independence is yours!

Forget what everyone else had told you (even forget what I'm about to tell you if you want),

yourself, and at whatever pace you wish .

The Concrete Fresher's Guide is merely here to

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2 CONCRETE FRESHERS' GUIDE 1996

insu rance companies set up stalls in The Hive in an attempt to persuade you to give them your money.

Luckily, your friendly student media will also be there.

Soc Mart (Friday September 20) is the time when all UEA's assorted and unsorted clubs, societies and sports groups get together in Union House, and you can decide which to involve yourself in.

There are always people who go round joining everything, including the Nude Archaeologists Society, but this is a foolish , as well as expensive pursuit - your pigeonhole will be full of rubbish for the whole year.

Soc Mart is an opportunity to get involved with potentially interesting people and experiences, but equally, you risk giving your name to irritating beardie-weirdies who will hassle you for months about going to their stupid meeting. Be warned.

Since your arrival you may well have ~hoewti~e noticed that the campus is constructed to entirely from unappealing concrete blocks explore • things for thus resembling an open-plan prison

TRADS PIZZA Small £2.50 40p

suggest ideas and point you more quickly in the direction you want to go.

UEA is famous for about two things, these .being Malcolm Bradbury's highly acclaimed Creative Writing MA course (although the man himself left two years ago), and for having those bizarre pyramidshaped residences called ziggu rats.

Since your arrival you may well have noticed a few other

things too: the campus is constructed entirely from unappealing concrete blocks thus resembling an open-plan prison ; there's a big lake confusingly called 'The Broad' ; and the vending machine in Union House doesn't accept pound coins (damn).

Thankfully, all roads lead to the pub (interestingly titled 'The Pub') and drinks are cheap, so you can go and make friends in a lively and welcoming atmosphere.

When you finally recover from the biggest hangover of your life, there's Soc Mart and Fresher's Fayre to consider.

Fresher's Fayre (taking place on Thursday September 19) is where the banks and

After that, it's a headfirst tumble into the confusing world of seminars, reading lists and restricted loan books. While A-levels may have prepared you intellectually for a degree course, you almost certainly won't be prepared for the seemingly ridiculous conventions and incomprehensible jargon surrounding it.

Really, an understanding of these things can only be acquired with experience, but if you 're totally stumped, ask someone who knows - don't expect anyone to tell you unprompted!

And don't go paralysing yourself with worry, there's a couple of thousand of you in the same boat.

Anyway, let's face it, a far more pressing issue is whether you've copped off with anyone yet or not.

Of course, you may choose to disregard everything I've said, avoid the bar, and spend all your free time dressed as a Warlock fighting role-playing battles down by the broad.

But whatever you end up doing, enjoy it!

For those used to home comforts, living on campus can be a confusing .experience. Conquering the environment may take a bit of practise. roned T-shirts. Roast dinners. Curfews. Free room and board.

Nagging. If this is your first week living away from home, you'll probably realise what a range of things you have left behind. Some you'll miss, some you'll be glad to be rid of.

Whatever the case, if you're living on campus, you're going to have to cope without them.

Life in student residences is unlike anything else you will ever encounter.

Your corridor or flat becomes your immediate family. The only catch is, they have been chosen for you at random.

Luckily, they're all going to be roughly your age and therefore pretty tolerant and understanding of youthful excesses or slovenliness.

However, nature dictates that there's going to be at least one person with whom you don't get on, in a big way. Don't worry if thingsget out of hand, though - your resident tutor can be consulted to help solve disputes.

The initial advice is to be pretty liberal with everyone. Try not to rile your neighbours by stealing their milk or playing Sepultura very loudly. You're going to be living in close proximity to these people for a year and life will be very hard if you start setting up war zones.

Of course, you will undoubtedly make friends almost immediately and the realisation that your mates only live a few yards away is

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a satisfying one.

Bonds forged, you're going to need to eat. If this is the first time you've cooked for yourself on a regular basis, you'll curse the campus facilities. Kitchens are inevitably cramped and primitively equipped. However, they're well suited for the faves of student cuisine - stir fries

business (vacuum cleaners and ironing boards can be borrowed from the cleaners).

Establishing a good relationship with your cleaner will make life in residences run a lot more smoothly - for instance, they won't come knocking on your door at 8 am to empty your bil).

5) and mixing with a nonstudent population is often refreshing.

The cheapest way to get in and out of the City is by bike, but if you don't own such a vehicle, buses run regularly from University Drive. Eastern Counties buses will take you into the centre, numbers 4, 5, Sa and 5b via Unthank Road and numbers 26 and 27 via Earlham Road.

With these services combined, there should be one bus every five minutes. A single ticket is 95p and a day return costs £1.55.

Sanders Coaches also operate a service into the City. The number 104 runs every 30 minutes and costs SOp (single) or £1.40 (return) .

If there are four of you together, a taxi may prove to be even cheaper. Beeline or Bettacar taxis will take you into town for £3.00, Five Star or Goldstar cost £3.50.

Kitchens are inevitably cramped and primitively equipped. However, they're well suited for the faves of student cuisine - stir fries and pasta dishes and pasta dishes. These meals are great because they're cheap, don't take long to cook and provide a minimum of washing up.

The Union Food Outlet fulfils basic culinary needs, but for a more varied and cheaper diet, you may need to plan trips to Sainsbury's or Tesco's.

Your food cupboards can be locked, but it's

hard to prevent stuff being nicked from your fridge. C'est la vie.

The kitchens and corridors are cleaned regularly, although the cleaners may take action if the area becomes too disgusting.

Beware! This could result in a fine. Tidying and hoovering your room is your own

Clothes washing can be done at the campus launderette in The Street (the Village has its own launderette), but watch out - this is an experience fraught with tension. Two tips: get there early, and don't leave your clothes in the machine then disappear to the pub for hours because angry people will dump them on the floor.

If. you should fall ill, the Health Centre is only a short walk away, and it would be a good idea to register with a doctor there.

Nurses can be seen without having to make an appointment.

For students with personal problems of whatever nature, there is Nightline. This is a student-run listening service, where you can speak to a friendly, understanding voice for help, information, or just a chat.

Their number is 503504 or you can visit them in person at Norfolk Terrace C.03.12.

In theory, most shops and services you need are located on campus. Don't let ine~ia set in, though. Norwich has lots to offer (see pages 4 and

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CONCRETE FRESHERS' GUIDE 1996

3

From beers to burgers and char.ity shops to cultural experiences, the Freshers' Guide gives you the lowdown on Norwich

elieve it or not, there is plenty of evidence to dispute the popular maxim that Norwich is a small, insignificant city situated just to the east of UEA. You have

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probably been told by your Manchester-bound friends that you are heading for the deepest, darkest depths of tractorland where the word 'nightlife' is more likely to conjure up thoughts of owls, than thumping dancefloors.

But fear not, for contrary to popular (i.e. outside of Norfolk) belief, Norwich is not the cultural backwater it is commonly held to be.

In fact, you will soon discover that far from being a

disadvantage, Norwich's comparative smallness means that the hotbed of activity that does exist is closer to your door. You will find that UEA is an exceptionally large feature of Norwich's life, and the local shops, clubs and restaurants are very accommodating when it comes to giving student discounts. For this reason, one of the first things to acquire is an NUS card (available in your first few days on campus) which will be your key to pleasures-aplenty.

Before your first month is out, your parents will no doubt be fondly enquiring after the delights of the Cathedral, which you probably won't get around to visiting until near your graduation - much more important in your first few weeks is the location of Norwich's shopping paradise.

The city centre tends to reveal delights in the most unexpected places. St. Stephen's Street is the main

swimming (although the latter is rather rarefied - Norwich is officially a sports-deprived area!).

tho_rou~hfare

wh1ch ~nc~udes the ub1qu1tous Poundland.

Magdalen Street and St. Benedict's Street, however, are where to find the treasure troves of charity shops and second-hand bargains.

Timber Hill is a whole boutique bonanza, as is the Royal Arcade, though on a cheaper scale. Castle Mall is Norwich going mainline: a rapidly expanding collection of chain stores.

For the sporty among you, the Passport To Leisure provides discounts on all sports from pitch and putt to

BLACKWELL'S III'YOUNGPERSONS

mBOOKSHOPS

One thing which will happen to everyone sooner or later is getting sick of seeing baked beans every night. Should you decide that your best bet is to splash out and eat out, here are a few perennial student favourites that won't break the bank:

RAILCARD

Have you got your Young ·Persons Railcard?

Then make your first journey to Blackwell's Bookshop ....

Buy your Young Persons Railcard during September or October and you'll receive a set of vouchers fo r a series of exclusive offers from Blackwell's Bookshops.

Use each voucher at the relevant time of year to g et these free and discounted books from Blackwell's:

Offer 1 - Sep I Oct '96

Free copy of 'Trix of the Grade'

RRP £8.95 r 2 - Nov I Dec '96

3 - Jan I

'97

Free copy Free copy

r 4 - Mar I Apr '97

any 'Roug

Guide' RRP £8.99

For mail order or details of your nearest Blackwell's branch contact: Blackwell's Extra -The International M ail Order Book Service 50 Broad Street, Oxford, OXl 3 BQ

Tel 01865 792792

Fax 01865 261355

Email blackwells.extra@blackwell.co.uk

For just £ 16, a Young Persons Rai lcard gives you 1/3 off most leisure rail travel for a whole year, as well as great deals on these essential books! For more details on the benefits and discounts provided by the Young Perso ns Railcard, please refer to the leaflet, which is available from staffed rai l stations a nd rail appointed travel agents.

For the full Terms and Conditions of this oHer, please see the reverse of the offer vouchers.

4 CONCRETE FRESHERS' GUIDE 1996

Pizza One Pancakes Two has the be'st deals (Monday nights) and their Banana Dogs (they taste better than they sound) are bliss.

Bobby Chef is a Chinese takeaway that is cheap and functional, but characterless - use for convenience only.

Bagleys (small and intimate), Pedro's (huge portions, great atmosphere) and Zaks (American-style burgers) are slightly more expensive and are good for special occasions or when your parents are treating you, and The Canadian Muffin Company and Waffle House are irresistible for snacks.

While nightclubs are covered opposite, theatres in Norwich deserve a special mention.

The Theatre Royal is the main venue, featuring comedy and ballet companies as well as main West End plays.

The Maddermarket Theatre, a veritable delight, is home to the Norwich Players and is a small voluntary theatre that produces monthly plays at decent prices. The Norwich Arts Centre is even more varied, with dance nights as well as comedy and plays.

For silver screen thrills, Cinema City is your best bet, showcasing foreign arthouse films, old classics and more intelligent current stuff.

Cheap matinees make the place even more exciting. · Of course, the Cannon and the Odeon will fulfil all your blockbuster needs.

Hopefully, this should be enough to keep you entertained for the duration of your residence in this fine city. For fortnightly listings and reviews of what's on, check out Concrete and you should never be at a loss for something to do.

UEA has ~campus well-equipped to keep you and wallet occuied during those rare moments when your not studying hard EATING OUT When it comes to food, you'll find convenience comes high on the list, and quality tends to vary accordingly. The Hive serves snacks and alcohol and is the busiest area during the day - the charity SASSAF also has a snack bar open at lunchtimes which is situated on the balcony.

The Bowl serves hot drinks and snacks, newly opened 'Trattoria', Piccolo's, does Italian meals and take-aways and The Diner offers a better class of food but has no <>ftrii"\C>r,hArA The ....,,..IIISliiUV

only place you would want to take your parents, but a bit of a trek if you're only after a quick bite.

BARS The conveniently placed Pub is right in the middle of campus, and is where most of the action takes place at night, although in the summer the drinking tends to transfer outside to the square. For non-smokers, the Back Bar (or Carol's) will give you some respite from the coughing masses.

the only decent sized venue for gigs in Norfolk, so you will soon discover that many a famous band will be playing in the LCR near you... and the prices are generally cheaper than average. Every Tuesday night is Live In The Hive with entertainment ranging from the obscure to the ridiculous but as it's free, it's generally worth a laugh.

The Drama studio is very active, with student productions sharing space on the calendar with touring companies.

49 St. Philips .n.uuu,rrNorwich NR2 3BL 01603 621784

One of Norwich's top student pubs welcomes Freshers to:

JOHN SMITHS £1 pint

COURAGE BEST

£1.20 a pint

CONCRETE FRESHERS' GUIDE 1996

STRONG BOW CIDER £1.35 pint

screened around three times a week in Lecture Theatres One and Two. Yes, it's a strange atmosphere and the seating won't have improved in comfort since your last lecture, but a few refreshments are on sale to compensate. Tickets for films can either be bought in advanc:e or in the form of a semester's pass which costs

£15.

CLUB NIGHTS Some excellent club nights feature in the LCR, including on a semi-regular basis, Miss Moneypenny's and Return To The Source. The ubiquitous Thursday night disco, affectionately known as The

LCR, is the disco-diva's staple diet, however, and you must not make the mistake of brushing it off as useless after your first time - it's a rite of passage adulthood. Or something.

EXHIBITIONS The Sainsbury Centre has art exhibitions all year round and entry is free to students. The Centre itself is famed for having been the brainchild of Sir Norman Foster, and houses work by artists such as Picasso, Moore and Degas.

SPORTS Finally, you cannot have failed to notice the playing fields and courts that are available for all

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sorts of activities including athletics, football, badminton, hockey, tennis and rugby with further provision for other sports within the Sports Centre itself. The way to discover exactly what you are iinterested in doing is at Sports Mart - which makes it easier than you think to get involved with any sport you fancy.

UEA's Independent, A11rard Winning, Rudent Nev-rspaper •Concrete enters its fifth year of production during 1996-7. Below, the editorial team chart the progress of UEA's award winning campus media with a look back at what we've achieved and explain why you need to get involved ... ack in January 1992, Concrete hit the newsstands at UEA for the first time, and has since provided hundreds of opportunities for students wishing to try their hand at print media.

During that time, with a print run of 7,000 every fortnight during termtime, it's been widely read too, with a senior BBC official commenting, "Concrete is an excellent student newspaper, one of the best I've seen."

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INFORMING The paper was originally set up by three UEA students and run as a private venture funded solely by advertising with no support from the University or the Student Union.

Since its launch Concrete has published anything of interest to students - news, features, entertainment, sport and leisure. If it's not in Concrete it hasn't happened.

Last year, for example, our news stories exclusively revealed Richard O'Brien's slamming indictment of Union Commercial Bosses last minute cancellation of the annual RAG Rocky Horror Ball; an exclusive scoop on superma!i(et giant Tesco's wishes to open a store on-campus, and extensive coverage of last year's controversial rent strike.

We have also covered the EUR grade fixing scandal, health scares at the University Village, rifts amongst the Union Executive, and have played an instrumental part in ensuring the future of The Waterfront by giving the issue front page publicity.

Our features have reported on

newsworthy issues such as the uncertain future of Vietnam, the undergraduate crisis in post-war Bosnia, plus an exclusive interview with ex-Norwich City chairman Robert Chase.

We have also featured less serious matters, such as a taste test between Hooch and Two Dogs, the effect of alcohol on student sex drive, and a James Bond special replete with a 007 DIY guide.

We've also interviewed such celebrities as Pulp, Barry Norman, Tony Blair MP, The Boo Radleys, Keith Chegwin, Whigfield, lan McEwan, Mali( Lamarr, Tony Benn MP, Trainspotting director Danny Boyle, John Peel and, as the saying goes, many more.

UK would be advantageous for both the Union and its members.

Following negotiations with Concrete's three owners, the Union bought the

Concrete, without having a degree to cope with as well.

AWARDS

The beginning of the 1995-6 academic year brought the news that rheQuardian/MUS Concrete had been shortlisted - along ,.••dent Media A.~rafld51 with six other papers - for the 1995 S1" " Guardian I NUS Student Newspaper Of The Year Award, after only three years in print.And as if that news was not praise enough for Concrete's achievements, October of that year saw Concrete go on to be the winner, making UEA's Concrete officially the best Student newspaper in the country.

Peter Preston, Editor-in-Chief of The Guardian & The Observer, praised Concrete for its "brash, tabloid style", saying that, "lt campaigns with verve, it writes headlines that pull you in with a chuckEXPANSION le ... it seems perpetually to get up the nose of authority."

In September 1993, we UEA's Dons were also quick to responded to a cross-campus congratulate Concrete on its achievements. survey at UEA, which suggested Professor Chris Bigsby of the need for an entertainments EAS, commented that guide for Norwich, by launching The Event. ~~ · "Concrete was always the best, Featuring full colour spreads _.___. it's just taken them [the judges] t<t<L "">•~ and including articles on music, 1~!!!!!..:=-~--p.;p;;;--;;;--- a long time to realise it." paper in film, theatre, TV, video, radio and ~ computer games, The Event was, July 1994, which led to the ~ppointINVOLVEMENT alongside Concrete, the most ment of a full-time sabbatical editor, Contributors have found Concrete advanced student newspaper in the and the proviso that editorial would to be invaluable as a means of UK at the time. remain staunchly indepl:mdent.

After three years of successfully 1995-6 saw the appointment of launching - or simply finding out more producing an independent, self-suffi- Concrete's first sabbatical editor. This about - a career in the media.

Some who get involved simply like cient student newspaper, our track year James Curtis assumes the full record convinced the Union that own- time position, meaning that he can writing, others want to put their views ing the biggest student newspaper devote all his time to overseeing the across to a wide audience or get their (per head of student population) in the production and development of photos published, for example.

1995

Student of the Year

Many former writers and photographers have used their experience on the paper in the real world; for example our first editor, Polly Graham, left UEA to study for an MA in journalism at Cardiff University, was then taken on as a trainee on the prestigious Daily Express trainee scheme, and is now wo!i(ing for The Daily Mail.

Rob Hardy, staff photographer during the same year, completed his studies at the London College Of Printing & Publlishing to pursue a career in freelance photojoumalism.

While Peter Hart, who was editor between 1992 and 1994, is now working as a freelance journalist, contributing regularly to teen magazines.

YOU! Said James Curtis, editor for 19967, "We have now produced some 62 issues - that's well over 15 million pages of newsprint - and Concrete still offers UEA students the best chance to get involved in print media "Full training is given in-house for those wishing to get involved in writing, editing or learning desk top publishing - as well as on the loads of other jobs necessary to produce a newspaper every fortnight!"

So, if you're interested in joining Concrete, visit our stall at Soc Mart (September 20), come to our weekly meetings on Mondays at 12.15pm, in Room 1.33, upstairs in Union House, or just pop into our office for a chat.

Don't forget - Concrete is written by UEA students for UEA students, therefore we need you to help produce Concrete over this year, and the next, and the next ...

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