YOU KNOW THE WOrST pEOpLE HATE ON SOLENT

markable challenge trying to find some. Before university started, I had joined every Facebook page and group chat. I knew hundreds of names and I knew what a bunch of people were going to be doing at uni, but I was also a bit cringed out by how desperate they sounded to get to know people. Obviously, this is the real irony. It was actually through one of these chats that I found my best friend, but that was just because he came along when I met up with someone else. I am very grateful to you.

I was also very lucky with my flat and, out of the six others, I am still living with two. This is a great feat considering I’ve finished university, and I did spend the previous two years with all but one. Your flat can be your best friends, or just a good group of people to go out with because they can’t really leave without you. I am thankful for their patience and kindness, even though I definitely got more boring as time went on.

There is still a challenge to making friends. You have to be quite democratic. Sometimes, life puts people who you really don’t like in the way of people you do. Sometimes, you have to hang out with people you’d rather not in order to make some actual friends that have the same interests as you. There’s a certain level of ‘fake-it-till-you-make-it’ about everything: fake confidence, fake laughter, fake like her. But that’s just the beauty of being a person and attempting to get along with others for extended periods of time.

The best advice is to put yourself in situations that you would organically enjoy, with the hope that someone else is similar enough to you that you can be friends. Get to know any potentials, because they are potentially going to connect you to other potentials. And definitely try and make a friend on your courses, because life does get easier when you have someone who isn’t a lecturer to share notes with.

This is a personal memoir, a thank you to those I’ve known. While I may have some advice and reassurances, if your life doesn’t follow the same path as mine, then don’t see it as a sign that everything is destined to go wrong.

Article by Byron Lewis

Illustration by Emily ralph (@emilyralphdesigns)

senior management - allegedly. I’ve heard quite a few whispers over the years that the university doesn’t sign off on fixtures with Solent on the off chance that we might lose. The idea of Soton being scared to lose is so vain that I almost can’t believe it.

Disclaimer: The views expressed within this article are entirely the author’s own and are not attributable to Wessex Scene as a whole. There are two universities in Southampton. This one (Soton, or “Uni of”) and Solent. And they’re completely different in every way. Nothing alike. Like apples and oranges, but if oranges were vegetables. After all, one has massive ties to boats and aerospace - whilst the other has huge links to planes and shipping!

The biggest real difference is that Solent has lower entry requirements. And oh, does that go to some people’s heads!

My general reaction to rivalries is usually one of “who’s arsed” – how bad must your own life be going to spend that much time judging others? (I say currently, judging others, of course.)

Being from the glorious Solent metropolis, I see this “friendly rivalry” pop up among students that study at Southampton that aren’t from Hampshire – and not from Solent students. People from these parts, after all, have been taught from conception that the real mortal enemy is in fact Portsmouth - anything east of Whiteley Shopping Centre is believed to be evil beyond reproach.

But hating a part of our own city has such a stranglehold on some people that it reaches university

But then why does this rivalry exist? I believe it’s because of one simple belief: Soton requires higher exam grades, thereby making Soton students smarter and better. Do I have to say that exams aren’t everything? Having A* grades didn’t prepare me at all for freelancing and the people skills you need to go far with it. You can have A* grades in Maths and Physics and still end up with a whopping U in Social Skills – just ask anyone in Engineering!

In my experience, it really does correlate with people who need to feel superior about something over others. Anecdotally, the one person I remember being super anti-Solent was a private-school boy who was desperate for approval from others. Anti-Solentism became his personality because there was nothing else to fill it with, other than the copious amounts of whey protein that he hoarded. He was personally invested because it was his defence mechanism; Southampton was his second choice, so he’s had to slum it at a Global Top 100 university instead.

Studies into intergroup contact almost always show an increase in tolerance and understanding between different groups when you get them to work collaboratively, supported by the authorities in charge. You can see how the findings of this might be relevant. Maybe Soton’s management should push for more cooperation, forcing both sets of students to work together. Or instead, we can continue down this beaten path, a one-sided divide perpetuated by only the pettiest. The ball’s in your court.