What Sophie Said

It’s the fourth Sunday of Lent today, and that makes it Mothering Sunday. A staple event in any yearly calendar, it gives us a chance to celebrate our fantastic mums. I’ve heard a few grumbles around mother’s and father’s days in previous years, with some arguing that ‘every day should be Mother’s/Father’s Day’. Great, let’s all love each other and be thankful for the great people around us every day. But we all know that’s not the case. People live apart, people have their own lives, and life is busy. All too often, we forget to take that time to show families and friends that we love them.  I’m lucky enough to have two fantastic parents, who are still very much in love, and who would do anything for my sister and me, but that doesn’t mean we always tell them how much they mean to us! Lots of us (thankfully) have our families ever-present, and it becomes easy to take them for granted, and assume they are doing what any parent would do. However, it’s far from fact that all pa...

Last week, whilst ill, I was watching This Morning , and an old issue was reignited. The debate was titled ‘Is it wrong to pay for your child’s education?’ Immediately, that title blurs what is, in fact, a logical argument: what are the differences/benefits of private vs state schools? Instead, it turns the act of sending your child to private school into something malicious, and a calculated way to ensure your child tricks society into letting it achieve greatness in life. There are, of course, huge gaps between certain private and certain state schools, in terms of employment figures, grades achieved, and class sizes. Let’s not forget, though, that there are also huge differences between the schools within each category. Some state schools sit happily at the top of league tables, and plenty of people whose parents pay for their education slip through the net, drop out at 16, and spend their lives working in dead end jobs, or not working at all. The state/private debate is certainly...

On Monday 18 th February, the Metro headline ‘Red Signal from Train Passengers’ (article by John Higginson) was hardly a surprising one. Let’s face it, trains are pretty rubbish. I know it’s wonderful that they’re available, they travel so quickly, the seats are usually comfortable and it’s possible to get a good deal. But just under two years ago I became ‘A COMMUTER’, and my view on trains changed for the worse. Metro, 18.02.2013, article by John Higginson I travel between Darlington (where my flat is) and York (where I go to university) between two and five days a week. It’s a 24 minute journey. I travel at a mixture of peak and off-peak times. And I have a 16-25 railcard. I book my trains the night before I travel, and I’m a standard class train passenger. One issue is, of course, price. Some train tickets have faced price increases of around 4.2%, despite the fact that we travellers have seen very little visible change in the service we receive. Journeys of compar...

At university, I am student manager for the English department, which involves organisation of the visit days for prospective students who have received offers to come here. Again and again, even more so now as I’m coming towards the end of my degree, parents ask me what I feel I have gained from studying English Literature at university. So here goes, I’m going to try and write a blog post about it! Me at the beginning of second year, ready to work at an open day Organisation – Many may say my obsessive organisational skills didn’t really need working on, but studying English can test even the most diligent to-do-list-writers. As the contact hours are few, the spare time can seem daunting, even though, realistically, we need all of that time to actually do the work in. Without a timetable telling you that you must be present in a certain room from 9am until 5pm, it can be hard at first knowing how to schedule your time. Speed-reading – We read. A LOT. I have always b...

Jen Symes (left) as Nickie, Vicky Geary (centre) as Charity and me (right) as Helene in Sweet Charity Some of the cast of BYT's Footloose in 2009 I love going to the theatre. Big budget musicals, tiny touring productions and amateur shows are, for me, a treat to watch. Even if I don’t enjoy the show, I still always take something away from it, and quickly book my next theatre trip. Since I was 13, I’ve performed in youth musicals. I did a summer course with Youth Music Theatre, where we wrote a musical and performed it at the end of the week. I’ve been to Stagecoach. I’ve done terms and summer schools with Upstage. Playing Mary Poppins at an Upstage summer school was my first time singing on stage, and definitely one of the best experiences! I then did a few shows at Brookdale Youth Theatre, in Bramhall, where I got to understudy and play Cosette in Les Miserables , play Mrs Molloy in Hello Dolly , Ariel in Footloose and Helene in Sweet Charity . This doesn’t even in...

I’m 20 years old and I don’t drink alcohol. Not a drop. Ever. And I never have. I find it so interesting to see how people react to that. Usually, they laugh as if I’m joking, or look at me as though I’m an alien. Being a non-drinker just doesn’t seem to be socially acceptable, especially when you’re a student. I feel like admitting I don’t drink causes people to instantly jump to conclusions, like I never go out, I’m unsociable and I can’t have fun. At times, I’ve found myself avoiding a drink altogether in certain bars or clubs, so as to avoid the awkward questions. In the last three years, since leaving home and going to university, I’ve had to think a lot more about the fact I don’t drink. Whatever people say, there is a drinking culture based around universities today. I saw a friend at Christmas who admitted he had never tried out for university sports teams because he didn’t like the thought of being forced to drink so much at socials. Those who do go out and do drink will ins...

I'm Sophie, I'm 20, and I'm in my final year of an English Literature degree. For the last year, I've been writing a blog of arts and events reviews, and discovered a bit of a love for using writing to get my opinions out. So. Time for a new blog. This will be my space for discussing current events, trending twitter topics, and the annoying people on the bus you love to hate. My family might say I get a bit too wound up about certain things. I like to think I'm 'passionate about what I believe in'. I don't pretend to be an expert on all I write about, but I definitely have ideas to share. Because I'm just an ordinary girl in her twenties. I love time with friends, I'm reluctant to write essays. I'll judge what people wear when they walk past in the street (don't pretend you don't too), and I have to force myself to go to the gym. I read heavy university books of literary theory, and I love a glossy magazine. What's most important ...