The tramps team took Warwick by storm on Saturday 8th November in the first of many competitions and if this year goes as well as this weekend, then its good times ahead!

They came away with five medals and one trophy! Charlotte Crowley, first year Sports Education student, competed and won the Inter Advance level. Charlotte also competed with Hannah Sidlow, Elizabeth Rawlinson and Becky Hopton in the Inter Advanced Team event and came second. Gemma Withington, Aled Gibson, Chelsea Phillips and Jane Royles also competed but just missed out on the medals.
More competitions are coming up in the near future and we will keep you updated on our progress throughout the year.

Laura Collins
Press Officer

With wins against Exeter and Southampton, and hoping to notch up another against Bristol tomorrow, they are looking to top their BUCS league.

The women have had problems getting the whole team in the same place at the same time for games, what with category-a lectures and such, but this has not stopped us from playing. The women did particularly well against UWIC a couple of weeks ago winning 8-5 with four men down. Socials have been going well, with pub golf ending in a roaring success and providing the traditional team bonding, and Shirley making sure the fresher’s settle in well. We have had many other amazing dress ups, including gangsta’s and worms for pink and pink.

We have the hunt to look forward to next week and braveheart in honour of St. Andrews day in a couple of week’s time.

The organisation for tour is coming along swiftly, much to the excitement of the whole team. A return to Salou as been long-awaited…

Reunion takes pride of place this weekend and we welcome back many old hands with countless stripes. Blue and Blue, through and through!

Written By Press Office, Lacrosse

We are in the process at the moment of organising the Christmas meal so keep checking the web pages, its going to be one crazy Christmas partaayyy!! Listen out in training this week as we shall mention this then as well.
The past 2 socials were really good, you all looked amazing in your outfits so well done guys!! Hope you had a good birthday lego!!

Written By Rachael Vincent

Ok so there is part of me that says I shouldn’t really be telling you this and should perhaps just not put an article in space this time round, but as Butters from South Park reminds us – you have to experience the bad to really appreciate the good (Not sure he is the originator of those words of wisdom but I heard it there first!). So here I am, now not only will you have to deal with the decline in the economy, you also have to come to terms with the fact that out of the nine games the 1sts have played… we have won only 2 and one of those was vs the 2nd.

On the plus side in BUCS we are still 1-0 and hopes are still high for a strong performance there, we have lot of 1st years in our team so we expect things to start a little slow but I can feel a winning streak coming on!

It’s disappointing but life goes on. Whilst I’m optimistic for a more successful post Christmas experience, It just goes to show winning isn’t everything and Mount. Goodtimes definitely overshadows the meager shallows of Lake 7 losses. (That line perhaps has more of a place in a dairylee factory then a Space article?!)
We are still friends and the year so far has still been great, the good times off the court continue and with preparation for our two tours well underway the futures bright, the futures blue and blue!

Written By Ben Parkyn

On the 5th of November, the Seconds enjoyed a week off, supporting the First team who played at home against Bristol University. Our girls put in a great performance winning 5-2, with Steff Matthews (2), Sarah Haden, Katie Cook and Jo Stafford scoring.
Women of the match was deservedly won by Julia Ladbrooke, whilst Katie Cook  took the nomiee award for her hilarious over-dramatisation of cramp!

The First team had another convincing victory when they played away against Aberystwyth, winning 7-0!  Unfortunately due to the wet weather, the Second’s game against Trinity College Camarthen was postponed, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of both teams as they chavved it up big style with the rest of the sports teams to raise money for children in need!

A reminder again that both teams are playing home matches at the Folley on Wednesday the 3rd of December, the First team against UWIC Seconds, and the Second team are playing Southampton seconds, everyone is welcome to come along to watch and show your support!

Written By Emma Fishleigh

Instead of getting excited and preparing our game on those few days running up to game day, we have been disheartened due to a long list of cancellations. Just as we were getting into our game and forming well as a team, both local league and Uni games have been cancelled back to back. The Tigers see this as a massive hit back due to lack of competitive play over the last few weeks. Nevertheless, this has not and will not stop us doing what we do best on court, and that’s playing the game we all love. We are hoping our run of bad luck will end and our 2 fixtures for this week will go ahead. We are all very ready for another hard, physical game, so bring on the opposition!!!

This lack of play will just bring us out stronger and harder and the adrenaline build up will hopefully explode this week and continue furthermore!!!! Our team is still working great together in training and I have every confidence our success will continue. Our cancelation after cancelation has left our players feeling gutted and let down, purely because we love the game and love playing. I am proud to say that the spirits in the team have not hindered, if anything they are heightened as we are a really close unit on and off the court and we are very much looking forward to playing again!!

My confidence in the team is still strong and we will hopefully bring home a few more wins…..so watch this space for our next report!!!!! Heads up girls……..Our team is what???!!!!!

Jess Addington – Club Captain

Over in the sports department, everyone has been really busy and working hard indeed.  We have been doing very well in our recent fixtures, including Men’s Rugby and Hockey who have not yet lost a game!  This week was the knock out rounds for many teams, so to those of you who won – congratulations and good luck in the next round.  To those of you who lost – commiserations, but there is still the league to be taken!!!

This years Reunion was very successful indeed, with 10 teams holding Reunion matches (I think the Reunion teams won the majority of matches over current student teams).  After the matches everyone headed to Park for what was an amazing night of dancing, laughing and catching up with old friends!  Over 700 tickets were sold for this, which just shows how important sports is at our Uni and how much it means to the people that play it, even after they have left!  I’m glad the majority of you seemed to enjoy it, so I shall look forward to next years Reunion!

I would briefly like to mention the lovely memorial game and service for Chris Ball, a former rugby member and current PGCE student.  On the Saturday of Reunion, the current rugby boys played against a squad of old boys, where a friendly but competitive game took place, which resulted in a victory for the old boys!!!  Then Sunday 16th, a memorial service was held in FCH chapel where some lovely speeches were said about Chris from friends and lecturers.  Over 100 people showed up and I’m sure Chris would have appreciated everyone trying to sing Smokey Robinson, Tracks of My Tears and Wild Rover!  Not to mention Poor Boy!

We still have lots to do before Christmas and many more matches to play, so let’s not take our foot off the gas until then and work hard, but don’t forget to play hard and especially win those matches!!!

Blue and Blue.

Charley

The idea is to bring a common brand into all the unions up and down the country whilst providing a fun and energetic night out for students nationwide.

Flirt! are running a competition. The Union with the most number of fans by midday on Monday 15th of December will win a pair of Pioneer CDJ-800 Mk11’s - worth more than £1500.

This would be a massive prize for our Union and mean that we are able to provide our student DJs with top of the range music equipment to use in all the bars.

To help your students’ union in the race to the top please log into Facebook and type GLOUCESTERSHIRE FLIRT and become a fan.

As a reward we will be running special competitions and exclusive offers to all the fans on the page.

PLEASE HELP YOUR STUDENTS’ UNION - IT ONLY TAKES A FEW MINUTES.

Well its been a busy semester with non stop SU madness. We’ve had band nights, open mic nights, school disco’s, bingo, bbqs and more quizzes than you can shake a stick at. Above all this, the best thing for me is to see so many students actually wanting to get involved and make a difference…I won’t thank you because in the long run you’ll see how much you will get out of this, but I will say a massive well done to every single volunteer and hope you will all come back refreshed after Christmas to tackle the second semester.

So short and sweet from me this time but hope you all have a very Merry Christmas xx

Leanne Davies

Last time I reported that the snow had arrived, it has since been a rather nasty cycle of snow, ice and rain. The ice has been particularly awful as Lillehammer is full of hills and travelling by foot now takes twice as long, either struggling up a hill or sliding down! The nights now begin at three PM and I am told soon it will be two PM, this is a bit of a shock to the system, it feels like the middle of the night yet it is only early afternoon!

Unfortunately I had to cancel a trip to Fredrickstad and to Sweden due to the driver having to urgently rewrite a failed assignment! I am hoping to re-arrange this before Christmas and have also been researching a visit North to view the Northern Lights.

We also have now had our final international dinner night, during the semester we have had several evenings where we all cook foods from our country of origins. It has been a great way to get to know everyone better and learn more about the different cultures also enjoying an evening of company. This time the Norwegian’s cooked a traditional dish called Fårikål, literally translating to sheep in cabbage, which is what it essentially is! Seasoned lamb is cooked with cabbage for a couple of hours to form a stew and served with potatoes and other vegatables. We also had waffles which appears to be a Norwegian favourite amongst the students!

All of us international students live together in student halls and have been eating often together on the weekends. We all share and help cook a meal which is really enjoyable as it feels like a surrogate family whilst we are all away from our home comforts. Some meals have included fish caught by the German boys cooked with a traditional German sauce, French Crepes, Cheesey Croc Monsieur and the Dutch Speculaas cookies, traditionally eaten on December the 5th to celerbrate St Nicholas’ Eve. We have a party planned to celebrate this and a Christmas Party: Julebord to look forward to. This is based in the mountains and is a huge event in Lillehammer, we are all excited about the prospect of a traditional Norwegian Christmas dinner and ball to follow over looking the snowy landscape. The majority of international students are returning to their home universities for semester two so it is also one of our last chances to have a big event together.

Currently my brother Andy and his friend Lee are in mid visit. As this is my last article before Christmas I will write all about our trip together and Christmas in the New Year. I have an exam on the 18th December so break up a lot later then everyone back home; I am looking forward to spending Christmas with my family and visiting Cheltenham in the New Year. Have a brilliant Christmas!!

Written By Linda Page

You should have received your confirmation and wait for your first set of learning materials. To all the international students who volunteered teaching their respective languages, thank you very much and I seriously can’t make all of this happen without your help! Thanks to Cathy Green of International Office too!
The University of Gloucestershire International Students Facebook Group is growing and growing everyday! Thanks to all who have joined and invited their friends to be a member as well. Most of all, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Home Students who joined the group, your presence in it and your warm acceptance of all the international students is something that is very important. Thanks for allowing us to be part of your university experience.
Let’s talk about current events this time, what can I say about Obama’s victory in the US Presidential race? Most of you may know that I am a “John McCain” supporter (through my Facebook), and therefore I adhere by his tagline of spreading opportunity instead of spreading wealth around. But since the elections is over and even if I’m not living in America, the least I can do, and we can do, is to perfect our own lives and help one another to achieve what’s the best for all of us.

They say that the US Elections has a big impact in every country in the world considering America as one of the super-powers at the moment. Indeed, it is very important, and now that the people has spoken and chose Barack Obama, the advocate of change, as their new president, we all have to move on and continue whatever good has been started. After all, we are ONE COUNTRY and ONE WORLD, regardless of the race, nationality and language differences; we have to dream as ONE, believe as ONE and survive as ONE.
Dates for your Diaries!

December 1, 2008 – One World Christmas Party at Fullwood House, Park Campus, 6.00 pm;

December 6, 2008 – Deadline of submission of entries for the Christmas Challenge, 5.00 pm;

December 7, 2008 – Carols Service at FCH Chapel, 7.30 pm.

Written By Rowdy, International Exec