Feline Chic

Everyone makes them at some point in their life; be it giving up smoking, going to the gym, or even going vegan. For a specific amount of time at the beginning of each calendar year a vast majority of people in developed, capitalist society will base most if not all their decisions on the one resolution they really mean to keep. “This is the year.” they say, “I never really wanted to do this before but now I’m ready.” And for that specific amount of time we support one another, encourage and truly believe in the resolutions made when we’re three bottles of wine down and the fireworks have just stopped. Gradually, of course, reality kicks in that the gym is just too much of a hassle to get to, that the stop smoking gum doesn't work, and giving up meat turns out to be a lot harder when they just opened that new steak house in town. For most people, and most resolutions, the promises we make for the year ahead get lost in the bad Monday’s and the boozy Saturday’s…followed by many a

Universities are institutions built on diversity, encouraging their students to attend from all around the world, to study a variety of subjects from medicine to history and even further into modern degrees such as brewing, hospitality and floristry. This diversity has bred a new group within society which utilise technology more, pay attention to world affairs more; to build friendships and relationships bursting with personalities so vastly different but with essentially similar ambitions and ideologies. And just because university is associated with learning and intellect or knowledge does not mean that these growing institutions do not also stimulate another form of diversity, one often going unacknowledged: fashion and style.

Now I really want to address a social topic quite close to home. This social construct of the slut…  Yes, a rather strange topic which is becoming more and more of a public debate due to the overuse of the label in everyday instances. But when one considers the complexity of what makes someone a slut, of why women are labelled as such and how society receives such a label it becomes a very interesting analysis. So I’m pretty much going to break it down in my interpretation. 

If university has taught me one thing recently it is that I was terribly naive in my expectations of the people I would meet and become friends with. It is the people I have not shared similar life experiences with which I am now creating new memories. In fact two of my closest friends in Edinburgh didn't grow up in Britain, looked beyond the borders of the UK for education and have lived in ways I had only seen on films. Crazy right?

Some have dubbed it a rather disastrous year, full of surprises and controversy and pain. Me? I can see where those people are coming from, but my 2016 was full of love, and adventure and learning. From every day in college to every summer road trip and the big move that will likely shape my life for good. 2016 brought into my life people I would be heartbroken to lose, it showed me places I will never forget and made me look into myself when I was struggling most to find strength. Come with me through a chronology of the past year: