 |
| Picture: Constance Malleret |
Bristol is a wonderful city. Whiteladies road offers a
plethora of bars, coffee shops and lunch options, Stoke Bishop is a fantastic
rowdy mixture of freshers awkwardly finding their feet and returners promoting
their ‘organised fun’, while Cabot Circus is a hot spot for clothes shops and
chain restaurants. However, putting irony aside, do Bristol University students
know anything other than the straight line from Halls to town? Do we really
know our city like the locals do?
As a 4th year languages student, I have spent the
last 12 months exploring the French city of Bordeaux and the Spanish city of
Malaga. With only 6 months in each place to lap up the rich culture around me,
spare Sunday afternoons were spent in art galleries, days off work involved
whistle-stop tours of local landmarks and hangovers provided little barrier to
my desire for exploration. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the 2
years I had spent in Bristol previously. I imagine the most exotic voyage I
ever made was to watch a French film at Watershed or perhaps the one time I
climbed Cabot Tower.
Aware of my generalisation, I feel strongly that a large
majority of Bristol students have their blinkers fixed firmly to their faces
when it comes to exploring the city. The well-heard complaints that, ‘the
Student’s Union is just too far away’ or the stereotypes that 2nd
years live in Redland, while 3rd years opt for Clifton seem
restrictive and unnecessary. With a host of sights to see and things to do, why
do we all seem so apathetic about our surroundings? There is more to Bristol
than the University and a really nice bridge.
Inspired by my year abroad, I have made a plan. With only
one year to go in the pearl of the South West, my 4th year is to be
a second attempt at my 1st year (with maybe a little bit more
studying thrown in). Back to being an inquisitive fresher, back to square one.
Day trips to Weston-Super-Mare, Bath, Stonehenge and Salisbury are all on the
list. Lecture-free afternoons will be spent at M Shed, St Nicholas Market,
Ashton Court and SS Great Britain. Fewer Friday nights spent in Lounge, and
instead exploring the variety of cocktail bars and the occasional speak-easy
for which Bristol is actually quite famous.
In the future, if I am ever asked by a Bristolian where I
went to university, I would feel a sense of shame if I was unable to engage in
a conversation about our city other than the well-trodden roads around the
university. If, as seems likely, I am to move away after graduation, I want to
feel that I have made the most out of my time in this beautiful, arty, yet very
rainy city that seems hooked on much more than just hot air balloons and
valuable graffiti.
