Catch up on Cornwall Campus: A Christmas Trip to Truro City of Lights

In Annabel Soper’s latest column from Exeter’s Cornwall Campus, she explains how they do Christmas in the Cornish capital, Truro…

One thing that we students love to do is both not work and spend our time worrying aloud about how much work we have to do, or complain that the term lengths are too short and that we don’t have enough time off at Christmas. The latter is particularly amusing as at Exeter we seem to break up relatively early, and return a few days into January. This seems fair enough, and gives us the great excuse of having two Christmas celebrations – one at university and then one with the family.

Image Credit: BBC

The start of the student Christmas season in Falmouth is marked every year by the turning on of Truro’s Christmas lights – Truro being Cornwall’s capital city. This night is one of the highlights of the year down here. It comprises of a parade that marches through town made up of brass bands, samba groups, pagan dances and many lanterns covered in different sculptures made of tissue paper and willow.

Second year Students at Falmouth University take part in this, and wow the crowd with dinosaur lanterns and other such arty creations. The theme of this year’s parade was expect the unexpected, which certainly suited the night I experienced when I went with my housemates.

We took the opportunity to have a half day as we had to catch the train to Truro at 6.30 and there was no way we could get any work done between then and lunch…right? So off we trotted into town, and returned half an hour later with fairy lights, ribbons and enough shatterproof baubles to make our own Santa’s grotto.

The time passed quickly threading the baubles onto string, holding them up across the room and dropping one end; it made great games of round up the dropped baubles and all too soon we were marching out into the rain to see the parade – though as the lanterns were made of tissue paper and it was positively hailing, we were not quite sure how much there would be to see, but that is all part of the fun.

Once we arrived, the parade had already started its route through the city, and we were well placed to watch it go through our patch; that is, we would have been if there were not countless teenagers walking to and fro in front of us, determined to find the best spot and consequently stepping on our feet. This would have been annoying, though I felt they made up for it as one apologised for tripping up on my outstretched leg on his fourth time passing. Being English is always amusing.

So the parade happened, kids walked passed looking like mini sumo wrestlers in high-vis jackets, the samba band woke everyone up half way through and the rain stopped just in time for the lanterns to pass, wowing everyone and a couple of lanterns caught fire – no big deal, leave it and walk on – it’s Cornwall.

Image Credit: Sharon (via Flickr)

Once the excitement passed, and the stalls selling amazing Cornish art and Christmassy presents packed up, it was time to hop back on the train. One of the great parts about living in Cornwall is that everything is relaxed, so relaxed in fact that people don’t tend to plan very far in advance. This is great most of the time, though not when the only way home is to take the single train running to Falmouth, made up of two carriages and running just once an hour.

It was great, we could see the look of the men working at the station as all the students walked up the hill towards the train. Something between blind horror and slight amusement. Sure enough the train came and went taking less than a quarter of the crowd with it, and coaches were called in to pick up the rest. Once they arrived half an hour later, in good English form people with young children were called to board first, prompting a few witty men in the crowd to shout helpful comments like “I am with child!”

It all ended well with us arriving back home happy and tired; two hours later than expected though, with some new friends made at the platform. It just goes to show one shouldn’t really ever plan activities in Cornwall because they never go how you expect!

Truro City of Lights is a great event. If you are in Cornwall at the end of November I definitely recommend you go see it! Though wrap up warm – and take a book to read at the platform!

Annabel Soper

You can read Annabel’s previous columns about life on Cornwall Campus here and here.  

Like Exeposé Lifestyle on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to ensure you don’t miss the next instalment of Catch up on Cornwall Campus. 

Catch up on Cornwall Campus: Coastal Storms and Troublesome Turkeys

Annabel Soper’s latest ‘Catch up on Cornwall Campus’ tells a tale of cold coastal storms and an improvised Thanksgiving meal…

So batten down the hatches, crawl into your shelters, the famous winter storm is coming in! This is currently the latest excitement in Cornwall. The weather. Winter is really here, and with it woolly jumpers, log fires and a whole load of hot chocolate.

Image Credit: Keith Richards (via thisiscornwall.co.uk)

The best part of our cosy, quirky student house in Falmouth is its large kitchen and living room, making it a great place for people to come over. Being typical students, we will take any excuse for a party – if by party you mean a wood burner, cheese and ice cream tasting, and the odd fort made up in the lounge. In Falmouth, as I mentioned last time, due to the lack of typical student night-life you have to get creative.

Last year around this time, after Halloween decorations came down, we gave it a few days before the winter twitches started – the wrong person went out on X-Factor, and we were twiddling our thumbs when it came to me – “Thanksgiving night!”

After a brief description to my non-American housemates of the story of Thanksgiving – harvests and all that – we decide to have a Thanksgiving evening, inviting all the American friends we know (two) and some others who never miss out on free food.

Shopping was interesting. We decided Iceland (the store) was our best bet, seeing as neither of us are particularly known for our cooking – my housemate still holds the cooking medal for burning rice for a meal that rendered the pan unusable.

It wasn’t long after we had picked up the frozen peas, parsnips, sprouts, beans, sweet corn and carrots that we found the turkey.

Neither of us had even seen the roasting of a turkey before, let alone roast one ourselves, and we were particularly pleased to read that it only took 40 minutes to roast! Amazing! Why our parents made such a fuss at Christmas time we didn’t know. So off we trotted back home.

Falmouth High Street in December 2012 – Image Credit: Fae (via Wikimedia Commons)

We started cooking/microwaving our Thanksgiving dinner an hour before our guests arrived. Plenty of time to roast a turkey…

It was only after half an hour and it still being rock solid that we looked closer at the cooking instructions: 40 minutes per kilo. Oops.

Oh well, live and learn. Not long after that useful revelation, our guests started to arrive. Luckily our third housemate was around to entertain them in the living room and keep them out of the kitchen. If they were to peek through however, they would have witnessed me hacking at the frozen turkey and tearing parts off, while my housemate ran back and forth between the microwave and oven, swapping bits of meat between them.

Fast forward twenty minutes, and we were all calmly seated around our kitchen table, tucking into a delicious, home cooked Thanksgiving dinner. Not really the kind you read about, but we have years to practice! After all, it was free food so they couldn’t complain.

As far as we know, there were no ill effects from our creative cooking methods, and it was a great evening. As fun as it was though, I’m not sure we could handle another one this year, though as least if we do, we know not to only leave 40 minutes to roast an entire turkey.

It was probably one of the few – if not the only – Thanksgiving meals in Falmouth that year, given it is much less publicised than other holidays. I would recommend it though – it’s great fun preparing it, and a good excuse to get people over for a meal. In Cornwall Novembers especially, any excuse to be inside and eating is a good one! Good luck in the storms everyone, and love from Cornwall!

Annabel Soper

Read Annabel’s introduction to life on Cornwall Campus here. 

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Catch up on Cornwall Campus: Life in Cornwall so far

Annabel Soper introduces her new regular column which helps students based in Exeter ‘Catch-up on Cornwall Campus’…

Accommodation at Cornwall is modern and shared with Falmouth…Image Credit: University of Exeter

Isn’t it strange how so many of the favourite small talk questions people choose to ask are the very ones that make so many of us groan a little inside when we hear them? One of my worst is “where are you from?” After a while during Freshers’ Week when this role-play of small talk became too tedious to bare I would respond by giving ever more outrageous answers to see what I could get away with. To be fair though, given the fact that I actually do live in Delhi they were never too far off.

My new favourite inner groan or ‘here we go again’ question over the last two years has been “so what university do you go to?”

I go to the University of Exeter – but at the Cornwall campus and study BSc Zoology. It isn’t a copy of the University of Exeter – it is the University of Exeter, yes I am studying animals, no I don’t want to be a zoo keeper, and no I have never actually been to Exeter before!

Deciding where to go to university was interesting. Naturally South Africa came up pretty early on, closely followed by Costa Rica, after which the parents put their foot down – something about best interests at heart and “you know there are animals in England…”– and the matter was settled, I was to study Zoology in Cornwall.

Reading through the prospectus with the family peering over my shoulder was great fun too – “oh look, you can join the sea swimming society… what fun! Oh golly…. no wetsuits allowed…”

Packing for the first term in a new place is always going to be a challenge. I think I concerned my mother that I was actually going to Costa Rica – board shorts, surf wax, sun cream…..

Image Credit: QuarrySafe.com

I’m sure you remember moving in on your first day at university. I had looked through the Freshers’ booklet and diligently circled all the societies, events and free trials I wanted to go check out. Of course, now being Cornish I was going to become a surfer, grow a few dreadlocks and take up an obscure pagan ritual, dancing along the shore at dusk while playing a ukulele.

Freshers’ Week passed quickly. We had all the usual painful ‘getting to know each other’ events all universities have, as well as learning all that they don’t tell you before you arrive. A big one for Exeter students in Cornwall is that we actually share a campus with Falmouth University – an arts university here.

By sharing a campus, we actually share halls of residents (in my flat there were 4 Exeter and 4 Falmouth students), a student union and all facilities. A lovely surprise, though quite unexpected! It seems also that Falmouth University students did not know beforehand either, judging by remarks such as “oh, I didn’t realise Geography was an art course at this uni….”

Two years later, student life in Cornwall has exceeded my expectations – not that they were strongly placed beforehand! I have still not been surfing – nor do I know of a huge number of people who have, and I could probably count on my hand the number of times I have actually been swimming along the Cornish coast.

I have been asking around – and by far what most people respond to when asked the question “what stands out to you most, about being a student in Cornwall” is how you can leave a lecture on campus, walk through a quaint town that has all the basic shops you need, and within 10 minutes be walking along the most beautiful coast this country has to offer.

Everyone is undoubtedly bias about their own university experiences, and will both understate the trials of the work load their course demands, and dramatically embellish the amazing night-life their city has to offer, and of course mine is no different.

I have loved meeting up with old school friends, swapping university experiences, and being privately glad I can go back to the seaside pubs and beach BBQs, while producing the odd Photoshopped surfing pic to hand out at family gatherings…

From talking to others at Exeter Streatham campus and other universities, it seems that life in Cornwall as a student does not contradict the slower paced, relaxed feel this holiday county is known for. But this by no means diminishes the resources the students have here to keep busy and entertained.

Image Credit: College of Humanities University of Exeter

Most of my days are spent exploring the dozens of independent cafes and coffee shops – all with free Wi-Fi, and ending in walks along the coast, making friends with the dog walkers and if you’re lucky some might invite you around for a meal (true story!)

However, I think people who decide to study in Cornwall (this is assuming nobody applied to study at Exeter University without realising their course was in Cornwall rather than at Streatham campus) most likely are not looking for the alcohol fuelled, hard partying in the big clubs that attract so many people to the cities. Although life in Cornwall in no way matches my preconceived ideas, it by no means disappoints.

There are now two clubs in town (that figure has doubled from last year), so one could assume that the nights are eerily quiet. Though if you do find yourself waking through town on student night you might notice all the otherwise inconspicuous bars and pubs come to life, full of students meeting together and comparing their weeks. A game I often play with my friend from the Art university is “guess the course” of the student who walks past the window we are sitting in, given the wide variety of courses– let alone universities – to choose from.

There is a definite unique vibe about studying somewhere that is so different to the typical university experience. Perhaps because by choosing to live in a quiet Cornish town, there is more of a lifestyle commitment than other university places, sharing a similar mindset with the other students. Or maybe that comes later, and after a couple of months of moaning about the lack of clubs, the distinctly high population of OAPs and the complete lack of Nandos, only then does the appreciation of the outdoors, beach BBQs and – I’ve heard – surfing, begin to take over.

Annabel Soper

Protest on Tremough campus

A recent FX protest march through Falmouth. (photo: Flex)

Students and staff based on the Tremough campus are protesting against Falmouth University’s decision to transfer the contracts of 130 members of Academic and Support staff to a private company owned by Falmouth and the University of Exeter, known as FX Plus. This is the first time that a UK university has transferred its entire Student Support service to an external company.

The employees at the University, which gained full university status in December, work in a variety of student support roles, including Library and IT Services, academic skills assistants and disability support teams. Their new roles within FX Plus will mean that they are no longer entitled to receive pay in line with national standards, since university-owned subsidiaries such as FX Plus are allowed to operate outside these pay scales.

One member of staff at Falmouth, who did not wish to be named, told Times Higher Education that a librarian newly recruited to FX Plus could be paid as much as £5,000 a year less than staff moving over from Falmouth.

“That is a very significant amount when you are on the lower end of the pay scale,” she said.

In a statement on behalf of FXU (Falmouth and Exeter Students’ Union), Falmouth President Scott Pearson said: “We have been assured by both Falmouth University and Falmouth Exeter Plus that there will be no adverse effect on the delivery of services to students”, while FX Plus Chief Executive Niamh Lamond has assured staff that their contracts will not be altered.

Speaking to Flex, Falmouth University’s student newspaper, a member of the FX Protest who wished to remain anonymous said of FX Plus: “It’s not directly accountable to the students in the way a University is. Our concern is that it takes away that accountability.”

The falmouthexeterprotest website has also expressed concerns over the move, as staff will potentially be linked to regional pay scales in Cornwall, one of the poorest counties in England, rather than the national scales to which they were previously associated. They claim that the move will disadvantage students undertaking Higher Education in Cornwall, as they believe that a lower pay scale will reduce institutions’ capacities to attract the best applicants for their job roles.

The protestors have said on their website that “there has been no clear argument or evidence presented to us that demonstrate how [the outsourcing] will improve services. We know that no alternative models have been looked at and staff have not been consulted on the decision making process.”

News of this protest comes amidst a national backdrop of university privatisation controversies, after 400 students at Sussex University protested against the outsourcing of catering and support staff earlier this year, with 200 students occupying a lecture theatre.

Owen Keating, News Editor