Toby Prior's Student Guide2 Bristol

Description:

Toby Prior makes sure Bristol students see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil...


As students in Bristol, our social outings can be, with the exception of university lectures, pretty varied. We're living in Bristol, a city with some of the best clubs and venues in the UK, there's a pub or bar on every street corner and to top it all off, they all love students. So variety is the spice of life for Bristol students, and this week is no exception. Over the next few days you could find yourself downing a well-earned pint with the four horsemen of the apocalypse or Frankenstein in the pub, before hitting the dance floor in a club with more bats and spider webs than your dad's garden shed. That's right guys! It's Halloween!

 

See this Week
As its Halloween, my chosen place to see for all you students is Bristol Zoo Gardens. Normally it would be a little hard to get to for me to be able to justify mentioning it to most Bristol students, but I've been hearing such good reviews of their Halloween experience. ‘Winifred's Witch Hunt' at Bristol Zoo Gardens runs until the 1st of November. It's essentially a puzzle trail. You're given a set of clues and have to follow a route around the zoo to solve the puzzles. Those brainy and observant enough to spot all the relevant clues (which probably rules me out) can claim an edible prize at the end of the tour.

 

The zoo itself is huge, worth a look around at some point even if you're not sure you want to go for the Halloween walk. It's well set out and contains huge amounts of information which will stuff your head full of so many animal facts that you'll be talking like David Attenborough for days. It's a really good experience for those of you who are interested in conservation or if you love animals.

 

I can't say I've always been a fan of zoos. No matter how complicated, scientifically and geographically accurate the enclosures are, I always end up feeling a little bit sorry for the animals. I didn't get that feeling when I last visited Bristol Zoo. The place has a really good vibe to it, the animals are treated incredibly well, the keepers are very alert to animal welfare and the enclosures are designed to minimise stress to the animals from the viewing public. I really enjoyed the educational experience I had there. I'd imagine many other students would too!

 

The zoo is also holding a pumpkin carving competition on the 30th of this month. If you think you can scare the judges with your creative carving of a face then I suggest you go and have bash!

 

Entry to Bristol Zoo is £11.00 for students all year round which is about a third off the adult concession price. Not a bad deal, especially when you consider what an awesome day out a trip to Bristol Zoo is!

 

If you're looking for something a little more traditionally scary to do this weekend, there's always the ghost walk at the Bristol Old Vic. The legendary Bristol theatre is hosting its annual tour around the dark and ‘haunted' passages hidden away in the parts not usually open to the public. Not only is this an interesting tour, it is also actually quite genuinely scary. More information about the tour can be found on the Bristol Old Vic's website www.bristololdvic.org.uk .

 

Hear this Week
It's Halloween, you could go to any venue this weekend and you'd probably have a good night out. Most places will be doing a special night for students in Bristol. I suggest you concentrate more on what you're wearing than where you're going as there will be so much going on you'll be spoilt for choice!

 

If I were to suggest one night this Halloween, I'd say check out ‘Bouche' at Basement45 on Frogmore Street. Why is this going to be better than anywhere else? Well you may be witnessing the rise of one of the best new acts in recent times. Critics say they could be huge by Christmas - it is of course the Young Punx. But quite apart from this, Basement45 is a fantastic little venue and packs in a huge amount of floor-fizzing music and new night ‘Bouche' is no exception to the rule. With electro, bassline house and dubstep from the likes of Black5mith, Slater and Defect you'll be jumping all night.

 

Tickets are £7 on the door and £5 in advance which is far less than the bigger clubs will be charging for what will be a fantastic night. The Young Punx are certainly worth checking out, they are fast becoming the new Basement Jaxx. So make sure you're there in your zombie costume nodding along to their set on Sunday.

 

Alternatively, there's a huge Tribe of Frog Halloween night going on at Lakota this weekend. A mecca for ravers, the Tribe of Frog nights at Lakota are the stuff of legend. There's no other night like it in Bristol. Even if you don't like rave music you can't help but appreciate the mad decoration inside on Tribe nights. Well worth a look.

 

Speak of the Week

Many Bristol students have mentioned to me how bad the Student Loan Company, ‘Student Finance England' as they now like to be called, have been this year. As many as 146,000 students from all over the country have ended up getting their tuition fees late or not at all.

 

The SLC have apologised in a statement to the BBC when interviewed on why they seemingly failed to deal with the 9.2% increase in loan applications this year. They have assured their customers that they are dealing with the problems as quickly as possible. By the sounds of it one in ten of you who applied may have been caught up in what they are describing as ‘system congestion'.

 

Fortunately they are promising that the majority of the application problems will be solved by Christmas. That's sure to be a big boost to Christmas present funds for those affected. Let's hope it all goes smoothly!

 

Finally I leave you with some random Halloween trivia about how the tradition of dressing up began. Apparently the ancient Celts thought that spirits and ghosts roamed the countryside on Halloween night. They began wearing masks and costumes to avoid being recognized as human.

 

Not too dissimilar from a Friday night in the town centre then...anyway, have a good week!


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