Before starting at King’s, I was exactly the same. I had barely ventured away from my hometown and didn’t know much about London other than what I had seen on TV or read online.
Your application is in, your exams and assignments are coming to an end, you have even chosen which King’s Residence you’d like to live in; all that’s left to do now is start imagining your life as an official King’s College London student!
That’s why you need the help of a Londoner (or at least someone that’s lived here a while) to share some of the best spots for you to go to when you have free time. That’s where I come in!
Moving away from home is a completely new experience and something that most people find quite daunting, and that’s ok, but remember that you have SO much to look forward to living in London. Let’s start focusing on the positives by picturing your life in your new home because in London, you have pretty much everything on your doorstep and as a student, there isn’t much else that you could want or ask for!
When I first moved here, I didn’t quite know what to expect and thought that I would feel like a little fish in a big pond but as soon as I arrived, I couldn’t believe how amazing it was and how quickly I settled in! Here are just some of the best things you can expect to experience whilst living in London:
Feeling nervous about starting university and moving away from home? Trust me, you’re not alone. Before I started my first year at King’s College London, I was exactly the same. But living in King’s Residences meant I had one of the BEST experiences I could possibly have as a student living in London.
Living with King’s provided me with lots of unique opportunities to get involved in events and activities that I’d never thought of getting involved in before. It pushed me way out of my comfort zone, but in the best possible way! No matter which residence you live in, you can expect to meet a diverse group of people, learn some really useful skills, and most importantly, have fun!
Sounds good? That (and so much more) is exactly what YOU will be a part of in King’s Residences. Here are the things you can look forward to:
Post contributed by CF Jacky
Hi everyon
e,
I live in Julian Markham House and I want to take you through the best places and my favorites around the area. First of all I want to say that I love JM because of its location, situated in a very dynamic area of London where you can travel anywhere with the bus, metro or train. But you don’t really need to travel for necessities like food or shopping, because Elephant and castle has it all!
There are many restaurants in Walworth road, which is the road the accommodation is situated in, and there are as many around elephant and castle including Sayer Street which is around 30 seconds from JM! My favorite restaurants are “chatkara” and “Lebanese grill” both within a 10 minutes walk distance.
For shopping there is an extensive choice of shops in Walworth road and many Sainsbury’s and Tesco like groceries where you can get great deals and food for the week
The area also has a lot of gyms each unique in its type so you can choose the one that fits your needs the most. I used to go to The Castle gym because it had a very good weights room and was only a few minutes walk from JM.
I would totally recommend choosing JM as your next residence 😊
Post contributed by Senior CF Grace
Hello and welcome to another Grace’s Good News. It may be a month since the last good news article, but England’s weather has decided to stay stuck in March. I’m currently writing this from my garden in a break from the rain.
England fans were revelling in the men’s team making it to the Euros final for the first time since 1996. It’s worth noting the women’s team last made it in 2009… After the match, Mason Mount gave a young fan his t-shirt. She claims she won’t ‘wash or sell’ her t-shirt given to her by Mount himself – much like how I treat my ‘blanky’ (yes I’m 23 and still sleep with a blanky…).
(https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57774591)
Turns out Wally is a walrus causing havoc in the Isles of Scilly. This may sound cute at first to have a resident walrus, but actually Wally is causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to his environment, so the residents aren’t too pleased with him. Poor Wally…
(https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-57688212.amp)
Joe Bentley is a student at Loughborough university who has invented a life-saving stab wound device. To me it’s kind of like a tampon gun… But much more scientific obviously.
(https://www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/news/2021/july/react-stab-wound-device-joe-bentley/)
Sam Schmidt was paralysed from the shoulders down in a racing accident in 2000 and has made his debut in Goodwood festival as a quadriplegic.
(https://www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/news/2021/july/react-stab-wound-device-joe-bentley/)
Hello, my name is Grace and I am the Senior Community Facilitator within the ResiLife team.
We talk about Seasonal Affective Disorder often and it is assumed that depression and low mood or other mental health issues hit hardest in the winter. It’s lesser known that seasonal affective disorder can also present with summer depression (see Wehr et al., 1987). This is not to say that summertime sadness is always as severe as a mental illness, but summertime can certainly be a difficult time for some. The added pressure to be ‘living your best life’ and the commonly held belief that summer is for fun and sun can worsen the experience for those individuals who may be suffering from their mental health. It also doesn’t help that English summers are rarely even summer weather…
With this in mind, I think it is important to take care of ourselves during the next few months and the ResiLife team are here to support you; whether you’re an incoming student coming into your first year as a postgraduate or undergraduate, or an existing student who’s (hopefully) busy celebrating the end of the university year. To stay in touch with us, join our team HERE and follow us on social media @kingsresilife.
Physical and mental self-care can be improved in various ways. Physical health is somewhat obvious: sun-cream (maybe not obvious in England this year but still a good habit to get into), water, eating (well, I’m talking 5-a-day and a lot of ice cream) and mindful movement to name a few. There are also BeActive classes will be running for the next few weeks and you can sign up to them HERE. Following this, ‘Move your Mind’ classes will be running throughout the summer and you can join them too by clicking HERE. These classes are designed to improve both your physical and mental wellbeing – two birds one stone. My suggestions to help with your mental health over summer would be to try meditation or mindfulness classes. To see some free meditations and try them out, you can see them on my profile @resilifegrace. Additionally, you could try a new podcast such as the ‘Practise makes progress’ podcast, run by Ellie McGrath – who we had as a guest speaker on our Tea Talks at Resilife, and you can also find an episode I did with her about the process of forgiving yourself. You can try meditating in your bedroom, outside, or on the beach if you can get there safely…
We wish you a lovely summer holidays and if you need anything please don’t hesitate to get in touch! We will be more than happy to help – even if all you want is a friendly chat. If you are new, please come along to our events in September – we can’t wait to meet you and welcome you into our community.
Post contributed by Senior CF Grace
Congratulations you officially made it through exam season in a pandemic! Exam season is rough enough under normal circumstances, so myself and the ResiLife team want to say a humongous well done and we are proud of you for making it through this year. As always, we will remain available for any help you need over the next coming months. Please get in touch by joining the ResiLife team HERE.
Post contributed by CF Rad
Hello readers! It is finally springtime and we can venture out in the open again. Picnics and the great outdoors are calling once again!
Did you know that the haiku, a Japanese short poem, was traditionally written on the theme of nature and its related imagery? So if you’re enjoying the season and feel like calling on your inner poet, a haiku might be a good way to start! Here is how you can write one in 3 easy steps:
On the face of it, a haiku looks like a simple three-line poem. However, its structure is a bit more complicated than that- the lines follow strict syllabic rules. The first and third lines must consist of 5 syllables each, while the second line must have 7 syllables (a syllable is a single unit of sound). This makes a haiku consist of 17 syllables in total. For instance:
An old silent pond (5)
A frog jumps into the pond— (7)
Splash! Silence again. (5)
– “The Old Pond” by Matsuo Bashō
Traditionally, the purpose of a haiku was to describe the seasons and how they changed throughout the year. However, contemporary haikus are not always written about nature. Most haikus do continue to follow a fundamental rule, though- that a haiku must juxtapose two contrasting themes or images in its content. This can be done by using a “kireji“, or a cutting word, which can be helpful but is not necessary. In the haiku above, “Splash!” would be considered the kireji, as it juxtaposes the silence of the pond against the sound of the frog jumping in.
While it is not necessary to write about nature while composing a haiku, most poets use “kigo” which is any word or phrase that relates to nature, placing the haiku in a particular season. Using a kigo allows you to write about any theme you please, while also paying homage to the traditional structure of a haiku. Some of the most classic kigo are sakura (cherry blossoms) for spring; fuji (Wisteria) for summer; tsuki (moon) for fall; and samushi (cold) for winter.
Here is an example of kigo in a haiku not written about nature:
love between us is
speech and breath. loving you is
a long river running.
– Sonia Sanchez “Haiku [for you]”
Here, the poet uses the word “river” as a kigo, referencing nature in a poem about love.
And that makes you all set to write your first haiku! Feel free to share them with us on social media for a chance to get featured. Happy writing folks!
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