Here are two big numbers for you... 

This is my 40th blog post!  

And there’s 45 days left in our officer term! 

In terms of the first number, I think all that proves is that I’ve remained committed to this blog through all the hardship that it comes with – aka, few readers but also, a highly hectic calendar all year around. I’m not expecting any congratulations or anything of the sort, but rather just to – for whatever reason – justify why other officers have not been as consistent with their updates.  

In terms of the 45 days left in office, the number scares me more than it does you, for sure. I’m lucky enough to already know my next step: I’ll be doing a master's in public policy at UCL starting in September. That said, I still think I’ll have an existential crisis when I don’t call myself an SU officer anymore, and much more when I don’t live in my beloved Bath any longer. I’m sure all you final year students know the feeling.  

It any case, there’s a lot going on in the Union this fortnight. We’ve officially survived awards season. So that’s Education Awards, SU Awards, and Blues Awards all in the spare of like four weeks. They were all lovely evenings; I loved being able to share the evening with all attendees and especially see the winners get their so deserved recognition. I can safely say that I’ve run out of smart outfits. So, when you see me at Summer Ball with a dress you recognise from the SU social media, don’t comment on it, there’s only so many outfits a small Quads wardrobe can hold... 

Last Friday, I was also honoured to be invited to a Gold Scholars’ dinner in the Apex Hotel. The evening was wonderful, and I got to meet a lot of first year scholars that I hadn’t had a chance to meet yet. I tried to convince them all to run for SU officer. We’ll see if I did a good job in about two- or three-years' time, when those freshers must make life choices! The only slight downside from the evening was having to leave Weekend Warmup by the lake earlier than I would’ve wanted. But it’s never easy to leave the Waddling Duck bar behind, since that bar has been my dream since my first day as an officer. It's literally a dream come true to finally have it!

Finally, there is the much waited for officer trip to the North! Tomorrow, all six officers will aboard a train to the North, where we will spend three full days of meeting with other SUs and getting to know all about their way of doing things. You see, there is always a lot of useful collaboration between SUs in the Southwest, and we have benefitted greatly from the successes and learning opportunities of other unions around us. We never, however, get the chance to share knowledge and best practice with unions that are a bit further away. So, we decided to change that. We’re visiting Sheffield, York, Manchester, Manchester Met, and Salford SUs this week. More on this and the lessons of this trip later. For now, all say a non-denominational prayer for Amber, who’ll have to share a room with me and my snores... 

I’ll bring you more updates on that as soon as I have them. In the meantime, stay tanned and be kind to one another.  

Much love,  

Jiji x