DMU students to travel abroad this summer as volunteers with DMUglobal

By Lara Alsaid

DMUglobal is organising multiple volunteering trips all over the world for DMU students this summer.

Aidan McLean, a First Year Economics and International Relations student, will join DMUglobal for a month in Antigua, a small town in Guatemala, not far from the capital Guatemala City, located in a valley with a tropical climate surrounded by volcanos.

Aidan said: ”I am trying to go there with an open mind, I am excited to try the local food, speak to the local people and learn a good amount of Spanish before and during the trip.”

Aidan doing what he loves the most: Travelling

Aidan found out about the trip through an email he got from DMUglobal and felt intrigued to send off an application.

In Antigua, volunteering students including Aidan will be teaching Guatemalan children the English language.

Hopefully, during their free time, they will be able to go on walks up to the volcanos and explore the capital city.

Apart from a tan, Aidan believes he will gain qualities like a greater appreciation for his support network at home but also an appreciation for different cultures and different ways of living.

He also hopes that he will gain teaching skills and the ability to speak Spanish on a decent level. 

Aidan explained that he is doing a qualification for teaching English as a foreign language and this trip will help him turn it into practice. 

Aidan added:” I wanted to go on this trip to make use of the opportunity with the left-over funding I had.”

Living in a different environment, culture and language for a month can benefit students like Aidan who want to live abroad after their university studies.

“It will be a good experience and will test my ability to adapt to different cultures and situations,” Aidan concluded.  

DMU Dare To Be Mentoring scheme has been launched

By Holly Hume

The ‘Dare To Be Mentoring’ scheme is getting underway at De Montfort University to help black, Asian and ethnic minority students, run by Baroness Doreen Lawrence, the Chancellor of the university.

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At an event held at the newly-launched campus centre, the Baroness addressed students and staff.

She said: “Mentoring is so important.

“We always need mentoring, no matter what we’re doing in life. I would not have been able to achieve what I have without my tutors.”

The mentoring scheme is aiming to address the academic attainment average gap between black, Asian and ethnic minority students, as there is an unacceptable difference in the marks given to white students and those in an ethnic minority.

The Baroness has been Chancellor of the university since 2016 and was appointed OBE for her “services to community relations” in 2003, before being made a Life Peer in 2013.

Doreen Lawrence is the mother of Steven Lawrence, a black teenager murdered in a racist attack in South London in 1993. She went on to found the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.

Vice-chancellor of DMU Dominic Shellard said at the event: “It is our moral duty to deal with this. This is about the ability to be free to achieve.”

Several students have leapt at the opportunity to receive mentoring throughout their university life.

DMU has also released its new equality and diversity charter, including points on freedom to be, freedom to inspire, and freedom to succeed.

The university is well known for its racial and religious diversity, while applications nationally from EU students to study in the UK have dropped, DMU has seen a 30% increase

Musical busking scene in Prague

 

11.19 on 9/8/16

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Regardless of the buskers forcing snakes around your neck, and asking for money for a bit of rope making bubbles- Prague has a lot of musical hidden gems on it’s streets. The Charles Bridge is just one place where buskers can be spotted, and whether it’s live performers singing the Human League’s ‘Don’t You Want Me Baby’, or someone sitting down and having a fag next to a recording of himself on the violin- you’re bound to be surprised.

A common theme throughout busking seems to comprise of numerous glass musicians – where the busker will fill up an array of glasses with different levels of water, and hit them all in order to make a variety of pitches. Despite being something that probably your Nan could muster up, the harmonic tones created from such a simplistic technique make the overall sound even more beautiful. And more than anything, will make you wonder why you’re not doing it on the streets of your local town.

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The Beatles is another regular hot choice for either buskers’ song choice or life choice. Whether this is down by the infamous Lennon Wall, or in the Old Town Square, the “fabulous-four” will always find a way back into on-lookers hearts. And they seem to enjoy it. It isn’t at all rare to see families or couples, adoringly crowded around the busker of their choice, singing along to the infamous records they’ve heard over and over.

Full-bands were also something that seemed to be very popular running down the Charles Bridge, with set ups of four or five musicians, all performing in unison and seeming to create a bigger, realer experience of a live band, making you forget you’re on the edge of a bridge in Prague.

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Overall it seems that although there are a few key names that some of us would recognise from the music scene in Prague, it’s just as easy to find talent on the streets as well. So keep your eyes, and your ears, peeled, as you might just find the next biggest talent.