Its deadlines month, however I managed to catch this week’s Campus Cutie, Tom, during a period of intense procrastination to ask him a couple of questions and find out more about him.
Tom is a second year History student, and although the course is great, his favourite part of university at the moment is doing things outside of his course. “That sounds awful, I know!” he explained, “but at the moment I’m an Ambassador which is brilliant and it just makes me realise why I wanted to come here, you know, through doing open days and really having to sell the university, I guess.” Not only is this week’s cutie an enthusiastic Ambassador but he is also a member of the History Society Committee. “I’m really excited about that because we’re going to Budapest soon, which I helped organise.” The trip is heading off over Easter when all-nighters have been done and deadlines have been submitted. “I think it’ll be really fun and a great way to get away at the end of the term, and just do something that isn’t work, to be honest!”
Continuing on with his life at university, I asked him what his most rewarding experience at university has been this far. He paused, thinking, (“What have I even done that’s rewarding?!” he laughed). “As cringy as it may sound,” he started, “I think just coming to university was definitely rewarding, you know?” he explained. “Just taking the opportunity by the scruff of it’s neck and going with it, I think. I was pretty worried that I wasn’t going to like it here, what with it being so small, and especially as most of my friends were going off to massive, 20,000 plus people institutions while I was coming down here. But now I can definitely say that I am so, so glad that I did come here and that hasn’t been the case.” He said.
Given his excitement about the upcoming trip to Budapest, I asked him where his favourite place he has travelled to is, and why? “ This is going to sound super pretentious,” he laughs, “but the summer between lower sixth and upper sixth I went on a expedition and charity work trip to Nepal. We trekked the Annapurna Circuit and it was absolutely amazing. The views were incredible – snow topped mountains, sunshine – it was just the most amazing place I’ve ever been.” He explained. “And the people were so lovely too, it just made it such a great experience. Although,” he continued, laughing,” it was made all the more memorable by the fact that I nearly fell off a cliff. The near death experience has sort of burned the trip into my memory.” It seems that, despite the possibility of falling off cliffs, Nepal is a highly recommended 10/10 from this week’s campus cutie if you’re looking for your next adventurous trip.
Despite all the evidence to show his get up and go attitude, does our campus cutie have a guilty pleasure at the moment? “Definitely ‘The Office’,” he answered, “just because it is the best thing to have ever happened.” Has he been a fan for long? “I’ve literally watched every single episode at least five times over.” He admitted, “I’m pretty sure I have a bit of a problem.” He laughed. If you were ever curious, you’ve probably now figured out how he spends his time when procrastinating.
As the penultimate question for Tom, I asked him to tell me something that people don’t really know about him. He thought for a while, before remembering this childhood nugget. “Oh, I almost got expelled from Primary School” he laughed. How did he manage this? “Well, I was only ten,” he explained “but there was this kid who was in my class who was a piece of work, basically, and we were playing football, as you did when you were ten” he recalled “And this little kid decided it would be a great idea to take our football and throw it over the fence” he explained, “So, obviously, my friends and I had no choice but to throw said boy over the fence too, and said boy then promptly started crying and went running to the head teacher. So yeah,” he continued, laughing, “that was my defining experience, aged ten.”
For my last clichéd question, I ask him to describe himself in three words. In what can only be described as possibly too immediate a response, Tom decided upon “absolutely bloody brilliant”. If this interview hasn’t persuaded you to get to know this week’s Campus Cutie, who happens to be single, it is to be noted, I don’t know what will.