March 11, 2014, by Ollie

Having a ball

Freshers year and termly Hall Balls are sadly far behind me, so when the Science Ball came swinging around, an event I missed in first year, I cleared my schedule and began to get very excited.

It’s nice to climb out of your usual clothes, the jeans, the chinos, the hoodies and jumpers and don something just a little bit more glam. To remind the world that you are capable of looking presentable, functional and thus act as a valued member of society.

For a most reasonable price of £35, considering travel, a champagne reception, a photo booth, food, entertainment and club entry were included, I can say I probably experienced one of my most memorable nights at University.

Sticking with our deep rooted student values we started the night with the cheapest bottle of bubbly to be found in Lidl, which was such good value. A sign of things to come perhaps. There were no dramas as we all, on time, left and walked the short walk to get the bus. As we joined those already waiting for the buses, the numbers of smart looking student swelled in truly amazing fashion, people were drifting in from the left, the right, over the road and round the corner and everyone came looking splendid. It was certainly a bit of an oxymoron, the very students that could be said to terrorise the streets of Lenton normally now looked very out of place against the backdrop of Sainsbury’s and the Lenton Tower blocks.

I was surrounded by nearly all of my nearest and dearest course friends, people who I hadn’t had a chance to dress up with before, which is what made it that extra bit special.

The venue, Colwick Hall, was lovely (as far as I can tell, it was quite dark). A man with a wheel of fire directed me to the entrance, always a nice touch, and we found our table (44), nestled in the back corner with the Henna stand, clearly prime location. The night had the perfect balance between time waiting on food and time that could be spent wandering amongst the tables and talking with friends, popping over to hog the photo booth or refreshing yourself at the bar.

The food was classic ball food, simple, elegant and a damn sight better than anything I could ever dream of making. Sticking with the nights theme ‘Arabian Nights’ Belly Dance Society wow’d us after the meal with some amazing routines before a raffle, where a bit of tomfoolery from ‘the boys’ had me in tears. They convinced poor Campbell that his ticket had been called whilst he was out the room resulting in him dashing to the dance floor to loudly claim a prize, to be told his ticket had actually never been called out. After that there was nothing left but the thank yous.

What sort of makes the Science Ball so good is it’s organised by our very own representatives, any society covered by the olive branch of the name Science; Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Biochemistry, Natural Sciences and so forth, the people who made this event happen were all Scientists. They knew what to deliver and boy they delivered. They bathed in a wild round of applause before announcing that we had half an hour to cram in some more photos before the evening would continue elsewhere.

The buses escorted us to Oceana, with the bottom floor, affectionately known as the Cheese room, being hired out as ours for the evening, jackets were placed in the cloak room and the Sciences took to the dance floor to show their best dance moves, together, well into the morning.

I’ve spent the weekend buzzing about telling everyone who didn’t go that they simply can’t miss it next year and still feeling the buzz I can’t wait for Societies ball in two weeks time. A chance to dress to impress again and hopefully have another amazing night.

For this week that’s all folks, just make sure you always make the most of the opportunities open to you!

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