Now that I’m increasingly donning the winter jacket to work I’d thought I’d reflect on the summers fun and games.

August involved a frantic array of meetings with external organisations and sounding out campaigns that members want to work on, as we get busy determining what campaign actions the Society and Citizenship Zone will roll out to campuses as the new term starts.

Meetings aside, there’s been the joy of summer training. In my adopted hometown of Leeds I had the pleasure of presenting at ‘Leadership and Governance’, and I was pleased with the really challenging discussions that took place. The level of motivation was inspiring throughout all of the summer training events I have attended, and I can’t wait to meet officers again over the coming months to help put into actions the plans that were formed over the training period.

In my life outside of NUS (what life outside of NUS you ask?!) I decided to travel to Italy, opting for the environmentally friendlier train. Overall, it was an interesting and, for the most part, enjoyable journey, even if it did last 28 hours. However, I did find it really disappointing that choosing to reduce your carbon footprint and travel by train costs more than flying. I am now even more geared up about the work on ethical consumerism that the Society and Citizenship Zone is planning, and recognise the need for action to convert those who care more about cost and comfort than the long term implications of environmentally damaging actions. I was also pleased to see that I am not the only one grumbling about the high cost of travelling by train.

September has also been a hectic month as I joined fellow NEC members in publicising Broke and Broken at the student media reception, TUC conference and Labour Party conference.

Within my Society and Citizenship work I have been meeting with Baroness Morgan, Minister for Students, to discuss how students can contribute to the climate change agenda, and also welcomed our partners from ZINASU who are here to share their experiences of student life in Zimbabwe. More about this and freshers will follow in my next blog.

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