The BEST student summer on a budget!

Posted on by Chloe Ward

Everyone knows January and February are the worst months… ever… Christmas has been and gone. You still haven’t joined the gym like you said you would, exams and the dreaded results have consumed your lives! Not to mention the grim weather! Don’t fret, all isn’t as bad as it seems. As winter draws to a painful end you are a month closer to lighter evenings and a fabulously long student summer!

Being a student is all fun and games in Summer: exams are over and if you are lucky enough, so is doing your own food shopping (and washing!). Whilst 3 months off sounds like an absolute dream, after the stress of exams and ordering endless takeaways, having enough money to do anything fun over summer can be a stretch! But worry no more, we have come up with 4 ideas for you to make 2018 the BEST summer AND on a budget!

PS. If you want to go to a festival for FREE, check out our competition to win 2 Leeds Weekend Festival tickets on our website. Headliners for this year include: Fall Out Boy, Kendrick Lamar, and Kings Of Leon!

http://www.campbellproperty.co.uk/index.php

1 – Festivals!

Everyone knows festivals can cost an arm and a leg, especially those fancy American festivals like Coachella BUT if you are desperate to go to a festival without damaging your bank balance, check out our pick of the best budget festivals.

Common People 26th May – 27th May

Common People is located in both Oxford and Southampton over the May bank holiday weekend! Day Tickets start from just £24 and the line up from 2017 varied from My Nu Leng to Tom Odell and Sean Paul!

http://www.commonpeople.net/

Love Saves The Day – 26th May – 27th May

Love Saves The Day is located in Bristol and 2018 will see LSTD expand with even more stages! Offering a diverse range of music, last years line up included: Shy FX, Stormzy, and MNEK. With day tickets at just £38.50, this one seems too good to miss!

https://lovesavestheday.org/line-up/

BESTIVAL – 2,3,4,5th August

Bestival has not only moved to Dorset but also moved the festival to a month earlier (September is too cold for a festival anyway!) Bestival, compared to most weekend camping festivals actually works out quite cheap! Early bird tickets start from just £149 or you can pay weekly for just £5. With a carnival theme this year, it is the place to be! The lineup from last year consisted of acts such as The XX, Dizzee Rascal, and Rag n Bone man! 4 days of festival fun!

http://www.bestival.net/

2 – The Luna Cinema:

A touring outdoor cinema! Sounds perfect for a light summer’s evening! The Luna Cinema tours the UK displaying old classics like Jaws, and Back To The Future but also new releases such as Dunkirk! Tickets start from £17.50 so pack your picnic and popcorn and go enjoy your favorite movie outside!

http://www.thelunacinema.com/

3 – Cocktail Masterclass!

Why not invite all your friends over and drink cocktails all evening? Cheap and civilized! Here is one of our favourite iced cocktails; Prosecco slushies! Just blend together and enjoy!

  • 2 c. Prosecco
  • 1 1/2 c. chopped strawberries
  • 1/4 c. lime juice
  • 1/2 c. vodka
  • Mint for garnish
  • Ice

Get more recipes from http://www.delish.com/entertaining/g2163/summer-cocktails/?slide=6

4 – Enjoy a beach break!

Even if you don’t live near the beach, a group convoy to your nearest sandy haven is always a fun day out! Our favorite UK beaches for a day trip are:

  • Brighton – great shopping too!
  • Bournemouth – perfect for anyone who loves a penny slot machine!
  • Blackpool – seaside and rollercoasters!
  • Three Cliffs Bay – Swansea!

We hope you love some of CP’s ideas for the best summer on a budget! The countdown beings…

Skills To Learn Online Now

Posted on by Jessica Cullimore

Although you’ll be absorbing a lot of new information during your time at University and at this time of year I’m sure your head feels like its going to explode with revision, but when you do have some free time why not expand your skill set further. This is great for both padding out your CV, as well as making you a more rounded and interesting individual and to stop yourself going out all the time?! You can learn to do pretty much anything online for free these days, but here’s a pick of some of our favourites.

Coding

An invaluable skill for the digital world that we now live in. Even if you’re not a computer geek, you can easily pick up some basics.

Codecademy https://www.codecademy.com/ is one of the most popular free online courses. Or if you still feel a little nervous try some coding games designed for kids, although nothing beats the good old days of gaming on Miniclip.

https://educators.brainpop.com/2014/09/26/6-free-games-teaching-computer-programming-kids/ How can it be scary when there’s a puppy involved?

Learn a Language

If you didn’t pick to study a language at school or university, but you are now regretting it, do not fear here is your chance!

Duolingo https://www.duolingo.com/ is a free website and app that will make learning super fun. Just think how useful some Spanish could be when you’re interrailing or travelling around South America! Businesses also love it if you have a second language, gives you that edge.

Dapple in Philosophy

For fancy dinner table chat to make yourself sound a bit more intelligent, even if you don’t know what you’re on about.. check out Academic Earth where you can take a General Philosophy module from Oxford University for free. No lengthy UCAS applications necessary or all the hours of studying to even get into Oxford University.  http://academicearth.org/universities/university-of-oxford/

Product Design/UX

Google offer a great online course with contributions from some industry leaders. Definitely worth taking the time out to have a go at, you may end up building something incredible…you could become the next Steve Jobs

https://www.open2study.com/courses/writing-for-the-web

Also check out ‘How to Start a Start Up’ if you want to hone your entrepreneurial flair and make your millions http://startupclass.samaltman.com/

Stand Up Comedy

If you want to develop your comedic skills, John Roy offers a free course through his Tumblr blog, which includes YouTube videos and homework assignments. Comedy homework sounds a lot more enticing than additional reading!

http://johnroycomic.tumblr.com/post/42952190250/my-entirely-free-comedy-class-week-one

Social Media

Buffer offer a super neat free course that packs just 2 minutes of Social Media knowledge into a simple video directly to you every day for a week. An easy way to become educated in the basics of Social Media. Great for budding marketers or entrepreneurs as if you aren’t in the know about Social Media then you need to catch up!  https://buffer.com/email-courses/social-media-101

Write copy for the web

If you love to write and want to learn more about it, Open 2 Study have a course that is really great for refining your online writing skills, covering everything from SEO (search engine optimisation for those of you in the dark ages) to web design. https://www.open2study.com/courses/writing-for-the-web

If you’re still stuck for ideas have a browse through Coursera https://www.coursera.org/ who offer free online courses from leading Uni’s for everything from Photography to Data Science. Happy Learning!

 

 

Make Your Own Energy Bars

Posted on by Jessica Cullimore

Energy bars
Perfect as a snack between lectures!

We all know how difficult it is to strike a good balance between tasty and nutritious when it comes to our diets, especially when it comes to snack food (looking at you 3am cheesy chips…). These energy bars are super quick and easy to make, and the best thing about them is that you can keep them in the freezer for weeks and whip one out when you’re feeling peckish.

Ingredients:

  • 100g nuts – any combination you fancy out of hazelnuts, cashews, walnuts or almonds
  • 100g desiccated coconut
  • 100g fresh dates – Medjool dates work particularly well
  • 50g coco powder – you can use raw cacao if you’re feeling super healthy
  • 3 tbsp. coconut oil
  • Pinch of salt

Technique:

1. Melt the coconut oil in the microwave for about 10 seconds until it turns

to liquid

2. Wizz all the ingredients in a food processor for about 3-4 minutes,

starting off pulsing, until the mixture comes together in a large clump

3. Line a tray with cling film and pop the mixture inside

4. Put another layer of cling film on top and flatten it using your hands

5. Leave in the freezer for at least 2 hours

6. Remove from tray and cut into bite size portions

7. Enjoy!