S2 EP 9: Monetising Creativity & is Uni a Scam?

with honey hands and yes yes and you're back at it again with another quintessentially Somali episode this on the world on this episode we have a special guest I'm screaming Do you want to introduce yourself, Hannah? Hi. You just introduced me. Your last name, anything. Hi, my name is Hannah Ado. And I'm so happy to be on here. Aw. Guys, it was so crazy. Like, um...

You know how on our last episode we were talking about Cambridge and everything that we did? I don't know if we mentioned that girl, the one that shall not be named. What was her name? She had the same name as me.

um wait what she had the same name as me oh you're not so yeah because of that and she like because she didn't get back to us we thought like um our chances of like talking to somebody that went to Cambridge was you know dead but yeah like Hannah pulled through and then alhamdulillah like she got back to us quickly and then we scheduled it just like that like it was so

effortless yeah so um as always like we always start off with you know what we've been up to this month I don't even know. December just went by in a blink of an eye. I don't even remember what was going on. It just started out so soon. So I think for me, the most memorable thing would be... um what's it boxing day like a lot of stuff happened on boxing day because partly because i was organized

I basically copped a lot of things. I broke the bank, guys. I love that. I broke the bank. If you guys want a haul, I'll do it. Because I'm not going out January. You will not see me. I'm not spending nothing. So what about you, Sis? You know what has been my highlight for December? You're right, it actually flew by. I can't believe we're on the 27th. I'm scared. I'm scared for my life, I am. No, you know the highlight, two things was the highlight. Watching Spider-Man.

Oh my god. Guys, I'm a Tom Deyer fan. Period. I'm in their relationship too. I'm the child. No, I'm joking. I'm obsessed. Like, I just loved it. And honestly, I'm an Avenger fan. I'm not going to lie to you. Like, I've been an Avenger fan. So, like, watching that, it was just amazing. I'm not going to lie to you. Have you guys watched it? Yeah. I actually have. You have? I have.

I can't get into Marvel, guys. What do you mean? I don't know what's going on. You know what? Start with Iron Man. Start with Iron Man. He's a really good one to start with. I just go for the CGI. Oh, no. it's just so fun to watch I don't even know what's going on okay the last Marvel film I watched was Shang-Chi oh that's a good one quite recent

10 out of 10. I loved that film so much. It was really good. It was one of the best films. But yeah, going back to it, just Spider-Man, it was really good watching it. I've been obsessed as a kid, but I think it was just...

The atmosphere in the, like, I don't want to say movie theater, but in the cinema, like, I've never in my life seen people, like, clap, scream, you know, nearly cry. And I know everyone's crying because there was a moment where everyone was just dead silent. And a few people sniffled. I'm pretty sure a man must have cried because... It was emotional. It was a rollercoaster. It was like a really good one. One of the best cinema experiences I've had thus far.

yeah so i think that was probably my favorite and also going ice skating um it just felt like the epitome of christmas like it was really nice the christmas lights yeah i mean well yeah i can but i only felt once and guys my jeans was wet

it was but it was a really good experience it's good to get over your fear because i'm not fair i'm not scared of heights but i'm scared of falling and like i'm scared of like being hurt like like you know being vulnerable and breaking bones but alhamdulillah like i had a fun time

So that was probably my highlight. What about you, Emma? When you're speaking of ice skating, I literally remember that I went ice skating at the Natural History Museum. Yeah. Today I was at ice skating, yeah. Yeah. Because I was watching, do you know that...

Tonya movie I Tonya she's like a bigger skater yeah I don't know when you watch something can you think it becomes a new obsession so I literally went ice skating there and then I went to the Ali Pali ice skating yeah and like I was so tempted to like pay for lessons and I just

really good ice skater but yeah i agree with you just felt so christmasy like ice skating outside and all the central and the christmas lights oh my gosh i love it so that was a highlight i love that you know like going back

Marvel I'm still confused because I remember watching you know the old spider-man so yeah the OG ones and there must have been like two spider-man but I feel like they don't get that claim that the most recent guy has. 100%. Oh, right. Yeah. I think they all serve their purpose, though, because you know when we were kids, when the first one came out...

I was three. It came out in 2002. What, Toby won? Yeah, Toby's won. His came out in 2002. That's so crazy. I rewatched it recently and I was looking at the... They didn't even have CGI. I think they were doing stunts in real time. And it was giving me like...

I don't know obviously the camera they used was like like advanced then but looking back now i was like oh my gosh this is awful because we're used to like hd quality and cgi but i think my favorite spider-man was andrew garfield no i haven't that was on my list and you know what

Because Spider-Man came out, it overshadowed Tick-Tick-Boom. Yeah, I felt bad for him. In all of his Tick-Tick-Boom interviews, they're also about the Spider-Man movie. Yeah, yeah. That's so sad. That is really sad. Like, did you not expect it still? Like, if you release a film...

And they're like, you're linked to it in one way or another. Yeah. He's a typecast, essentially. I'm not going to lie to you, which is quite sad. He is. No, because when you say Andrew Garfield, I think of the social network. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And you know that monologue where he was like, I'm sorry. in the um in the laundromat and i'm wearing my fucking flip-flops that part iconic

I only watched it for him, I'm not going to lie to you. I didn't watch it for the Jesse guy. I watched it for, do you know what I mean? Andrew. Yeah, but what that Jesse guy ate, like, come on. Give me the play. No crumbs. Like, he, um... He's acting of Mark Zuckerberg to a T. It was.

Big shout out to Andrew Garfield. He's literally like white girl of the year now. Is he though? Yeah, he is. Yes, he is. He's so popular. Really? So popular. But not back then though. I hate how he's getting his accolades now. And it's like, where were you when you... when he needed you. Yeah. What other white boy of the month can you guys think of? Tom Holland.

Tom Holland, I do feel like he has big D energy. I feel like he's been the white boy for like a year now. And Timothee Chalamet. 100%. I watched... don't look up or look up last night and he was in it but he was in it for like 20 minutes but his name was like on bold like writing when it came to the credits and I'm thinking like that is his

That's his work. That's how famous he is. And also, within one year, he must have done three films. Yeah, he did. Well, three films were released. June, French Dispatch, this one. Don't know how I feel about him. Do I like him? I feel like his personality in real life is 10-10. But his acting is just like... He's mediocre. He's so mediocre.

okay um okay so let's get back to like a real you know back to the podcast so yeah other than like talking about like our monthly favorites because we have a guest like we need to be asking questions you know what i mean so yeah like let's start off like with icebreakers so one of the first questions that i had was

what is your last meal you know I already know katsu curry 100% katsu curry I'm addicted like it's so good Okay. Anything else? No. Katsu curry. Katsu curry. Okay. Is there from like a specific place? My sister's katsu curry. Oh, she made her? Yeah. It's not her maid. Like, curry cubes. Oh, okay. Yeah, but what about the chicken? It's four. It's okay. We don't judge. We don't judge. We don't judge.

if you taste it it's so good yeah yeah but my comfort meal all the time okay i've associated it with happiness because i only have it My would you rather question is, you know, we're so mighty. It was actually toast. yeah sometimes sometimes when you're hungry as well um i feel like it's a poverty meal but it's the epitome of being british like jamming a bit of tea and toast but yeah that was my last meal i'm not gonna lie to you what was yours

I don't know. Like, I really don't know. If you ask me that, I'll be like, I'll starve. Really? Because I won't make up my mind. I won't make up my mind. Are you indecisive? I'm so indecisive. It's an illness. It's like that guy from Good Place. Yeah, Chidi. That's his name. I used to love The Good Place so much. But I guess if I had to decide, it would be Shinramyan. Really? Yeah. Shinramyan. You can't go wrong.

It's just hot. Like, it would take all the pain away. 100%. My last meal. Yeah. Do you just make it like the packet says on Be You Who free mix it? I literally make it into my own. I love that. Gourmet. I love that.

Okay, the next question. My would you rather is, you know, we're Somali. I mean, this is the quintessential Somali podcast. So, briso basto. I feel like I already know, but it's okay. I'm always laughing. I'm getting the vibe too. I'm going to say Basta. That's my girl. That's my girl. What do you love about Basta? No, but...

Okay, so like I went vegetarian for a couple years, so I didn't even have bleeds in hilly, because of course you use hilly broth, but like spaghetti bonnets or like pasta, I used to use like protein soya, which is like fake meat, so I just used to have it like all the time at home with me.

it or like I would make it there's no hillip substitute for make a piece of hillips and she didn't eat it but like yeah that's literally the reason the reason but back in the days it would produce a hillip 100% yeah Good. Do I give off Basta Vibes? Yeah. I'm a Basta Vibes, okay. I mean, she's Basta Vibes and she's one of my, like, closest friends. How could you tell? I just have a feeling. Like, I've never been wrong. If I see someone with her, I'm like, I know.

How do you like your bastard? Al dente or not? Not soggy but like... I'll go too I like it crunchy I love that I'm not too crunchy but like you know my mom when I make it that's the thing is she makes the suga I make the pasta we make it separately because she hates it I make the suga she makes the pasta because she's always saying like it's hard and I say Hoya Italian

made it like this and it's not hard to the point where it's painful it's just like it's not like too like soggy it's just the perfect texture when it's soggy it sticks together i don't like that that's the thing i hate it has that residue yeah the starch starch baby yeah it gives me the egg when I see like the little residue also like if you overcook your pasta that's actually like the scariest thing because the surga is wet yeah and your pasta is

basically mush. It shouldn't be like that. But I don't like Vapiano ones. Oh no, my texture issues couldn't. That's what I'm saying. It has to be the perfect. But I don't like, you know, Vapiano ones? I don't like the pasta in Vapianos because it's too al dente. But I like the linguine in the...

pasta because they make it just right so i'm very picky when i taste it i'm like no this might be a bit of me so i'm very picky to the point where i time it and then i quickly like taste it i time it and i also taste it because i'm i'm very yeah that's probably my pick you know when it is like i've cooked 30 since i was 14 now i just know when it's like i know when to turn off the hub i know like when to let it steam i basically know what's going on even when like the lid is

like um closing the pot yeah what do you call it when like you put the lid on and you're letting it like simmer yeah brushing up on my somali learning new words every day i love that honey what was your owner what's your with you rather um okay so my other would you rather was um

Would you rather live in a city for the rest of your life and not travel? Or would you rather live in a remote countryside but only travel when it's possible? I think one thing that I've learned from being in a rural place the past few months, I'm a city girl. 100%. I need the transport links. Shops open past 6pm. I need it.

So definitely. We'd love to see that. I'm a city girl at heart. That's so easy. Okay, good. What about you? Yeah, 100% city girl. City girl through and through. But I feel like... It's a bit of a sticky one still because in my mind, I really aim to live that cottagecore life. Oh my gosh, yeah. I really just like...

But I know it's a fantasy. Like, at least I'm self-aware. It's definitely a fantasy. And the way, like, people have hyped up, you know, like, those... nightgowns like this floral dresses what's it ducks oh my god i went through a duck phase guys like baby chicks yeah i mean i won't get onto it because that's a conversation from my therapist but yeah like I really want to have like that remote country house and just like live by not by myself but like

with my in my own company but i'm realizing that's not possible because like i need to constantly socialize and i need to like experience new ideas and stuff like that so you the only place you can do that is in the city no you're right I think I would agree with both of you guys you know with being the city it has everything you need you're able to socialize and I think being like secluded especially in the countryside I just think of it as um

First of all, everything's far away. You don't have access to halal meat. Your neighbors are predominantly elderly, you know, white, middle class. So it's hard for you to assimilate. i'm visibly muslim so i can never really assimilate like that so i always worry in that sense but um i think that's my dream as well just to get away when it comes to summer like going get in a cottage with your friends or like

doing like a getaway, a country getaway, essentially. But I think, yeah, I'm a city girl through and through. Yeah, I remember that time in, what's it, in Berlin, when we had... No access to halal meat. We were basically vegetarian. By choice. I was basically a vegetarian for like a whole year. And then that's when I realized that. You were in Berlin for a year. Yeah. And that's when I realized like, meat ain't shit.

i could easily cut that off and i did i haven't had meat in well i haven't had chicken and red meat in like four months now yeah so yeah I developed a new habit without even trying Because that's what happens when you're taking yourself out of your comfort zone, etc. But yeah, it was so weird. I remember having meat withdrawals in the first few months. I'm like, I need meat. I need meat. It was so bad.

What's it? I remember Yasmin put a chicken in a container in the fridge. And I boiled it because I didn't want it to go bad. And it looked so sad. But that's when I realised the meat was... Bad there. Since the quality of meat there was poor. When I bought red meat, I had to cook it that day. I had to buy small munch. Since they really made a struggle. I'm not even going to lie to you. They made a struggle. We just had a fridge. Yeah.

it was poor honestly um but i remember like i i think for about four or five months i didn't have me and then what's her name no software was like from september to about november or december and then nor put me on and said oh there's a meat shop that i found so like whenever like she would let me use hers and then i'd go and buy some for us but yeah it just wasn't sustainable because like we didn't have a freezer so i remember

I think I only went to the meat shop twice actually and I started eating a lot more fish and just like vegetarian so I was like yeah I was basically a pescatarian but I was also like a vegetarian as well and also maybe a bit of vegan but in and out because I only drank plant-based milk but I was eating cheese

like a regular person everyone does that why is that everybody's life you know what is i feel like i can become vegan but the only thing that's stopping me isn't milk but natural yogurt yogurt my obsession with natural yogurt Yeah, I can't. And what's it, the one from, what's that brand? What? Muller. Not Muller, but that Soya brand. But yeah, basically... Alpro. Exactly. Alpro. The yogurt doesn't bang. It doesn't. Only the vanilla one bangs. Yeah. The plain one isn't awesome. Yeah, but...

The thing is, it's like, I don't, when I have natural yogurt, I don't really have it with, like, fruits or, like, sweet things. I eat it with savoury food. That's why. Wait, like what? So, savoury food. So, like, dip it in with bread. Toast. What's it? Rice on the side. Rice with it is really nice. It balances it out. Rice and yogurt. It's such an Arab thing, you know that. Because it's like, it balances out the pH thing in your stomach. Yeah.

It makes it more digestible. I didn't know that. Yeah. Okay. I mean, food for thought, innit? So, the next thing that I wanted to talk about was... Okay, so now that we're done with the... questions the question yeah cool cool yeah so the next thing we wanted to talk about was like finding a creative outlet and yeah we're gonna get on to that in the next segment so stay tuned Bye.

welcome back to the next segment guys so on this part we're going to be talking about you know creativity and finding a creative outlet and i feel like yasmine and i like we're we're creative in our own way but not in the same way if that makes sense and recently i've been going through i don't know like a quarter life crisis because

feel like when you have one side of your life together the other side seems to fall apart and I feel like my creative side is dying basically and yeah like I'm trying to revive it but the stuff that i used to do isn't having that same impact so um i guess like i've been struggling and yeah like yasmin i just wanted to know like how have you dealt with that like what is your creative outlet for you

sis i'm not even gonna lie to you you know my creative outlet as a kid i would always dabble so i think i already spoke to like well honey spoke to hannah sorry he said she dabbled in different things and she always struggled to like continue with it and i was always not envious in a bad way but i was always like made dua for them but people that like had a talent or like had a skill or their creative outlet and like

they nurtured it but not only like themselves but their parents would you know like they'll say okay let's enroll you in classes okay let's do this let's you know they'll push you so i feel like as a kid like i always liked um i always liked writing and i always liked um i was like public speaking but like i feel like i didn't really like no i can't really blame my parents and say like why didn't you do this one because it's like they come from a different generation so i feel like

I had to reach a point where I was like, okay, I'm going to do it myself. So I would always do blog entries and stuff. And even one of our classes that we took in, or actually for me, sorry, in Berlin, was creative writing. So I think that kind of opened my eyes up to different types of writing and stuff. It's not really like... the general you know book writing publishing it's more blog entries it's more um

post just different type of writing I guess poems spoken word But I really just wish if I can go back in time that I pushed myself to do debating because I started I stopped I started I stopped and then where I really thought that I picked it up was when I did an EPQ project 12 and i was like yeah public speaking's for me so when i go uni i'm gonna join a debating class okay i'm gonna join model united nation i'm gonna i had a plan but then when i say once i got there

I feel like I just felt jaded and I felt out of place. I was like, I don't have time for that. So I feel like I really just want to pick that up, like probably public speaking. But I feel like I've kind of honed it with the podcast because that is speaking and also radio. So yeah, like I think speaking and writing.

And I think I'm kind of like honing in on that when it comes to the podcast. So yeah, it's something that I really want to continue with. I really just hope this means like you better pull through by the age of 30. You're going to have a TED talk, period. You're going to give people these gems because this, I mean, you've seen a lot.

in life but yeah i think that's my dream inshallah one of my dreams what about you sis um let me throw it to hannah what do you think sis um i think I try my hardest to have the creative side because honestly if you don't have a creative side I just feel like you're not really living.

I feel like humans are such creative creatures when you're not doing things that kind of nurture your creative side. You just feel so bored with life. I don't know, I feel like that's just me personally. So I can try my hardest to do things that kind of make me feel... excited or like made me feel happy and like

it's hard to dabble in them when you're older because I feel like there's an expectation that you should be good at it or like it's hard to start things you're not immediately good at so like I've tried roller skating I've tried ice skating I've tried boxing like

anything like you name it i've tried it i feel like now one of the creative hobbies that i'm kind of interested in is like filming like i love cinematography like i love the idea that you can film something and make someone feel like feel something as a result i love movies like speaking about spider-man earlier i love is it like when you talk about reactions or like people crying a lot of people being happy i think it's so cool that like a film can do that or like yeah even the cinema

everyone's clapping everyone's kind of connected just by watching a two-hour film that's so weird yeah yeah it's really weird it's like just painting just like ah just making things that make you and the audience like feel a way like conveying something so that's like what I'm kind of trying to do yeah that's amazing because like you know when you're watching a film everybody in that space is feeling the same thing more or less and

i don't know because like with cinematography it's like it uses every aspect of the film whether that be color costume and acting to invoke some sort of feeling I love it. I feel like when you said cinematography, for some reason, Grand Budapest Hotel came to mind. And then you started talking about emotion. And then I watched that film Coco, the Disney one. Yeah. oh my god i love that new comfort film unlocked because for some reason like i was crying in that film and then

When I was watching that film, it was one tear. It was one tear. When I say it's crying, it's one tear. Because for some reason, I can't cry normally. Can you not? No, I have one tear coming. I'm going to find it straight. It's so shame. So, yeah, like, a single tear. And, yeah, I feel like that film was so amazing. I was looking into it, and apparently it's based on a real story, which made it even more sad.

it even teaches things about like their culture too like the day of the dead it's just so educational but yeah crying at movies sometimes you stop and think like i'm actually crying yeah on a screen it's kind of weird but yeah like literally media is just like realizing how powerful media is especially today insane like it teaches like every single thing like every single movement has been based in media which is so wild to think about like how easy it is now to

make and show off media. They go to so many different sites and platforms. Would you ever make your own film? No day.

I don't know I don't know I just feel like honestly if I if we were in a world where like money didn't matter that would definitely be like i would try to create a movie or i'd try to do something like in film but like it's so risky and it's like based on like links and stuff like i'm so sad about it I just have to go down the conventional route of just like getting a job but I don't know maybe if like I'm older and like I'm feeling a bit you know yeah risky like I might do that yeah yeah

honestly i was thinking about nepotism and how oh i wanted to say that you know it is at one point not even at one point my dream is still to be a nepo baby oh my gosh every time i see what's it a nepo baby doing something like my current nepo favorite before it was willow smith what's it in her um transparency era but now it's iris law

Oh, Jude Law's daughter. Jude Law's daughter. And Jude Law and his... She's very beautiful. She is very gorgeous. She's serving looks after looks. She's not resting. I'm so jealous. Yeah. I know, and she's in Jamaica right now, living her best life. Islandia.

going back to the whole creative outlet thingy i'm gonna try and like pick up more thing i'll try creative writing because i feel like that was one of the things that i used to love but also oil painting I used to have I still have a lot of canvases so I have like a storage space in my in my bedroom and it's like

different size canvases that I used to work on like during my A-level days and yeah I'm gonna see if I like I can paint over those canvases like and then start over like just upcycling my old work yeah okay so the other thing that we wanted to talk about was consistency within um like

when you're pursuing like a creative outlet yeah mine has definitely died my consistency has died also like starting at nine to five i feel like it's gonna die even more so there's no hope But honestly, I feel like our world isn't made up for you to be consistent. Even if you're 9 to 5. 9 to 5s are not 9 to 5s, like I don't care. You don't wake up at 9 and you don't finish at 5. They're more like 7 to 7. It's true. It's like how can you have a creative outlet in a world structured in that way?

It's so difficult. It's not possible. Yeah, that's what I mean. I wouldn't blame you for not being consistent if you have a job. It's so tiring. People who are consistent with the creative side and the academic side are like... their career i don't know how they do it we don't have the same 20 hours in a day but you know what i'm realizing like in order well success is very um subjective but for me when what i see as success is like having um

multiple side projects and like other streams of income alongside like your main income source so yeah like I feel like because of that, I'm also pushing myself to find new creative outlets because I know that I'm more likely to be successful in those.

in those things and then if i adopt new new outlets i'm creating more wealth and like more success streams of income as well you know what i love though you know when people they say they have like a regular 95 and then maybe they maybe that writing was like a hobby that they really like or painting or i don't know like um photography or whatever it was and then they

they kind of crossed that bridge and they made that their hobby and that's you know they've invested time and energy and i love seeing success stories particularly during the pandemic as well people said i was in corporate i was a lawyer i was doing this I love that. Allahumma barik. Honestly, I think it's just amazing. And it's testament that like, still have that on the side. Don't let that go. Don't let that creative outlet go.

I mean, I'm going to manifest it now, guys. My dream, like, my retirement dream is to open a bakery. Yes. That is my dream. Because, like, baking is... And also, like, just... Food in general is such a big thing. I'm not trying to be a food blogger, but I literally want to make people coffee every morning. What's that guy from Love I Loose? Who's going to be there to make everybody tea? I've got his name.

Curtis. Oh! Wait, who's Hugo? Hugo is the... Oh, it's, yeah, Curtis. Curtis. Curtis, yeah. So, yeah, I just want to be that person that makes coffee for people every morning and also, like... in my mind i already planned out my menu like the menu will change every week so like the staple pieces are croissant

um a cookie of choice and like three different types of cake but we're also gonna have like um a brunch meal and that will change every day so like and every friday i plan to make somali food breakfast or whether that be lunch or whatever

I really, I see you, like, dabbling in different cuisines, particularly, like, Turkish. Like, Jeremy says the Shakshuka. Jeremy, that's you. When I think of Shakshuka, I think of honey. I mean, yeah. I love Shakshuka. Period. I think of the above too. That's fine. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, honestly, that...

is my like life goal like right now even though what's it i'm doing this and this and i'm doing podcasting it doesn't mean anything to me just know my what's it my what's it what's that um crown thingy my loyalty is live with camilla yeah that one i don't bring the kids into this

even like going back to a creative outlet but like it's so hard to a creative outlet because there's that need to monetize it yeah you're right so it's like oh my god you can't just like paint for being good at painting it's like oh to be good so i can sell painting or like i'm not gonna bake for fun i'm gonna like record this and get you know my tiktok creator money so the idea of like creative outlets being monetized like monetized things that are there for wealth

forming is like it loses yeah it's a loss of value it's just our capitalist mindset like we've honestly been trained like this because it's true i think we think that time is money so we're thinking i'm spending x amount of hours on this i should get this you know so it's hard especially when you've got bills to pay and and like you've got a family like yeah it's kind of hard you know yeah that's what i mean it's always like just been a privilege that they create the outlet outlet sorry

but it's kind of like what you realise is you get older because when you're young you paint and no one's like telling you why you're painting when you're older it's like why are you wasting your time doing this like what's it gonna do for you so just like much more difficult to like be in tune with that kind of side obvious help yeah no i definitely get what you mean okay so we're quickly moving on to our next segment which is um we're going to be talking about education so stay tuned for that

okay so we're gonna be wrapping it up soon but before that we definitely wanted to talk about Hannah's you know education journey and like what she's doing now so do you just wanna pass it on and like talk about where you're going right now and what do you study as well so i study history and politics at cambridge um Honestly, when I was applying, so I took a gap year then I applied afterwards, I spent my gap year kind of working in a school, helping children of immigrant families kind of.

hold on to their English whilst only speaking about the time because schools are closed at this time, helping them with their literature and their numeracy type of thing. And whilst I was working in school is when the political debate and fiscal mills were happening.

so i was kind of in the middle of it because of course like the proportion of immigrant kids being a physical model is very high so the kids i were helping they were the kids that the debate was about so i was just thinking like i'm seeing firsthand how this is affecting the kids and i was like i want to change this that's when i started to study or apply to study history and politics so i applied always with the goal in mind that i was going to go into politics or do something about it

and it is still in the back of my head now but politics is so iffy like it's not guaranteed like you need to have votes and Especially when your political beliefs aren't the mainstream beliefs, it's even that much harder to go into it. So I think now, honestly, I'm still gonna try to do it. Right now I'm trying to get work experience with my local MP. It's always a goal of mine to try and do something about it.

Especially, I feel like once you've seen it first hand, then you'll know how much you want to do it, regardless of how iffy it is, regardless of how not guaranteed the success is. just at least wanting to have a go whilst you're still young I thought that's just always been my end goal and that's like the one thing that kind of gets me through when terms are quite difficult yeah I definitely understand what you're saying because

I remember being thirsty and like having an idea well having this idea of the world where like it's so you know messed up and so dark and grim And, you know, the new generation is going to be the group that changes it, like does something about it. And then I left my degree feeling even more confused than I got in. At least like when I was going in, I had... um like some idea about what politics is from my own perspective like from my own analysis on what i've gathered observing society

But when you, at the end of your degree, you realise there's so much bureaucracy, there's so much agents, there's so much internal disputes and conflict within, just at the domestic... level let alone we did international politics so a lot of the time was looking at other states and how they communicated with with Britain for example But even watching the news right now, I'm realising that not only is this country really polarised, but also...

very individualistic and then me and my friends were talking about when she does psychology sorry sociology and she's writing a paper on

What's her title again? Something about happiness and individualism and then I was trying to like educate her on like Thatcher and like how um she created like this housing bubble that we're in but also like what she did to the miners as well and like she had this like mentality where it's like pull yourselves up from the bootstrap and basically dismantled like the whole community thingy that we was talking about earlier

you know a child needs more people than just their family so because of um you know post thatcher like we've become so internalized with like us looking out for number one and that's what I realized uh with politics it's basically looking out for number one like even though with politics it's I always associate politics with people like politics equals people so whenever you talk about politics you're talking about every aspect of life and I'm realizing that like

end of my degree it's it's more how you can benefit from politics not what you can contribute to it so

I really like, if you're thinking about doing politics, I really recommend you pair it up with something. So I really wish I did politics and sociology. I feel like that would have enhanced my knowledge even more. Or even like politics and history. But because I did international politics, like... kind of messed me up because I'm realizing that this is really hard to change our political system.

at the domestic level at the national level but also like what how we can help other countries you know develop and how we can you know improve um international ties as well because you know what i'm realizing post brexit is that we've become more isolationist, so we're keeping to ourselves even more. And that's affected us travelling, us applying for jobs. So, yeah, I feel like Britain definitely doesn't know where it stands at the moment. Yeah.

just rumbling no no it makes sense but i get what you're saying about the study of politics teaches you about what it does for you not how you can then go and change your structures honestly I have so many problems with education in itself so like even my Cambridge curriculum is very much Tory centered it is very very like it is so heavy like heavily conservative like

Sometimes my sister makes jokes about me being radicalised in my curriculum. Because I'm out here writing essays when I accept it's better for the working class. Really? Yeah. Even the reading lists are very centred to a certain idea. So if you want to read something, you have to go out. of your way to get that perspective. Well, like, I remember I was having a lecture on beverage. So like, beverage, the report, that is what the NHS is on.

in not one of the lectures did they mention Beveridge was a hard eugenicist and like he did not care for the working class but that is his character profile so you don't even learn a lot about these people so like if I didn't know that I'd leave a lecture thinking wow like Beveridge was a great person when he literally wasn't like he wasn't in the sighters so i feel like

literally it's so hard to leave education and think that you can change things yeah because number one you're not taught how to and number two if you don't get out of your way you just see things at face value or like you leave with a heavy burden of like oh

I can't change things so I spoke to people older than me who went into politics at Cambridge and they thought you know what I'm at a place where I have these links like you know I can do it if I try my hardest I can work experience like most Tory MPs or just most MPs in general went to Oxford

bridge and then they always talk about how they went in that they went in with the idea of like I'm gonna change things and then by the time they left they were just like oh you know what I actually can't yeah because if you like literally if you don't do your own reading especially institutions where they're of course teaching you certain old ideas then you're gonna leave very different to how you started or like even just gonna leave a bit more like deluded yeah like not even deluded just

just like things are okay as they are which is kind of what yeah they just teach you to kind of be complacent especially at top junies and honestly that's why I think that Oxbridge produced like Tory MPs like every single Ausbridge MP is Tory and when you think about the politics curriculum there or the history curriculum you kind of see why so like i'm on like jcr and i'm trying to like change the curriculum to be a bit more not even inclusive other political ideologies but just not be so

like narrow just teaching you one thing and like that's the be all end all like just diversifying it is what i'm trying to do but yeah no i definitely understand what you mean i was talking to um

I don't know if he works for the civil service now but basically this person that was head of the education department yeah so definitely civil service yeah so he worked in the education side of the government and we were talking about the education system and then when he was there versus now so i just asked him like what are your thoughts on like um the curriculum changing and he he realized that like it's really messed up because back then

the curriculum was a little bit more diversified in terms of like what children were reading I'm talking about like the humanities side of it but now it's like they're pushing children to only read British literature. Because back then when we were doing poetry and anthology, a lot of the poets that we were analysing, the texts that we were reading were, you know, of black people, of Asian people.

and I remember like this one poem I think it's called like half-caste where this biracial person was talking about his experience of like not being accepted by either race

And then now, like, I'm realising a lot of this has been, like, taken away and purposely so. And with Cambridge, it's even more apparent because, like, it's a private institution. Like, it's not nationalised. So they control what... like students are reading and yeah like in terms of uni as a whole I'm realizing it's like you're supposed to you're not supposed to critically think they mold you like they they accept you based on like

your ability to be molded into the the person that they want to be they call it teachability teachability whatever they they had this like in corporate as well it's like they're looking for somebody with a certain set of skills but what but people that don't have everything so they can teach you so they can fill in the gaps. And that's what uni basically does. But in terms of like my experience with uni and like the literature reading, I'm happy with it.

Yeah, I don't remember having an issue. Basically, we had this, I think for third year, I don't know if you did it, was it the Arab and Israeli conflict? And I was really hesitant to pick that because this was the height of the Palestine issue.

not at the height because it's been ongoing but like recently like it's been getting much worse so I didn't want to take that class specifically for that but also just like the hate as well like i couldn't bring myself to do it but did you do it no that was going to be one of my choices i think one of my friends did it but i looked at the reading before i applied and um one of the reading was the holy quran

So, and he specifically picked out, you know, scriptures and texts and also one for the Torah as well. So, and then that's when I realized, like, you know.

the reading doesn't really reflect like my ideas my ideas were a bit more negative and I realized that like you know this person isn't talking about it from a biased standpoint like he definitely wants to consider both sides so I really do it depends on like the uni that's what I'm saying like not all unis are you know trying to brainwash students because one time I did a terrorism class did I tell you the story literally on my first day in that module we were talking about the

we'll say the right-wing people storming White House, DC. And this guy was like, yeah, but it's worse. I mean, it's better because you remember the whole Black Lives Matter movement and they were breaking private... Like, where are you making these connections from?

completely two different events and then that's when I realized like you know sometimes it's not the curriculum it's the individual itself it depends like on the person really but it's just you know I'm not gonna like it depends on the uni as well but I feel like you know for Bruno because there's a module that I took as um

Theories of IR. And like, you know, when you think of like international relations, you know, we were always taught about the mainstream like theory, which was like realism and liberalism. And then my module leader, he was just talking and said, oh, back in my day, basically just 20 plus years ago, we only just...

We just learnt about the mainstream, we didn't learn about feminism, we didn't learn about post-colonialism. And for one week we had to learn about post-colonialism. And then, this was in the seminars, everyone was sitting down and we just discussed, and I think this one Adhan guy, he said...

I didn't understand it. I read it. He legit said verbatim. It was wishy-washy. It was hard to understand. They made it about race and inequality. I looked back and I said, did you actually read it? So we had an actual discussion on it. And like one thing that I noticed is like...

you're saying that because of course like with post-colonialism they do look at like um like they look at history post-colonialism and just how like um key events in history has contributed to the ir like the discipline and they always say that With the mainstream IR theory...

they look at their international skill but they fail to like include marginalized groups so women um working class and also like colored people black people essentially and i think we're reading like orientalism i think his name was edward saeed and like that was like a key

really good book i'm not gonna lie to you and i think him the teacher basically said no you're right like um i'm glad that bruno like basically they did a whole module on feminism but also post colonialism and he was just talking about like how that relates to today but it's just so interesting how people don't take feminism and also post-colonialism as actual

are your theories because they're not the mainstream they're not the realism and constructivism and um liberalism so it's just like damn like it just felt like i don't even when i was reading something it didn't make sense because i i was reading it and then i asked them a few questions about it but it's like When I look at Aya,

There's nothing about colour. There's always just about, there's power, there's nation-states and we're all in the pursuit of power. It's about who has the bigger gun. It's about who can pursue this, you know? And they never look at the smaller people, like women, how they've contributed to it.

And like a lot of the theories, they're Adam. They're Adam, middle-aged men. You don't see colored people. And I think a lot of the reading there were like feminists and also like Edward Said as well. Like I think he's Palestinian. Yeah. So it's like, it was nice getting like a different feel for it. So I feel like with academia, one thing.

i've realized is they always teach you the mainstream the the as you said maybe the conservative the the traditional school of thoughts so you do have to dabble in it and like learn for yourself so i think with academia it's

I think one thing I've realised is you have to read extensively outside of the subject because you're not going to pick up on it. And I always told myself, when I go to uni, I'm going to be in a liberal setting. I'm going to be basically exposed to all these ideologies, these thoughts. And it's like, no, like, sometimes they're brainwashed. But even..

When you talk about the academic writers, they themselves are white people. And they have preferences, biases, natural biases. Honestly, I have a very big problem with reading literature.

an event that people weren't part of or they don't have so like for instance like even in the Arab is really conflict and you're reading something about a white woman from America I'm just like this doesn't have value to me like i'm so sorry but this doesn't have value to me i'd much rather read something from somebody of that origin who has like not even like experienced it but somebody who knows like you know the religious ties the cultural ties like

why that situation is as important as it is, especially the Arab-Israeli conflict, or just things like, on a religious scale, it's so sad that academic writers who have such prominent voices on some topics, they just don't deserve to have that type of voice, I feel like.

so I feel like sometimes in academia it's the fault of like both university but even the fact that at university or like just in academia they're just those voices aren't publicized like they don't exist well they do exist but they're so pushed back and it's was like the white person at the forefront But honestly to some degree I do feel like universities have a role to play in things like reading lists. They do.

like i honestly think they need to be updated yeah even the curriculum like i feel like they have a responsibility to search for voices that matter voices that have been pushed back voices that kind of like deserve to have a say or like even just teaching you basic principles

like just like basic theories like post-colonial theory like feminist theory and then having those critical theories in the back of your mind as you're reading a text like that is so crucial to becoming like a well-run individual I feel like or a critical thinking individual and like

thank god like i had those in my head already before i even started studying especially subject like politics where it's so central because what you're studying is good influence or beliefs whether like you like it or not which is like

some people literally I feel like some people to enter Cambridge I think they're going to change the world or change politics they don't end up doing it because they see because they literally end the degree not seeing something wrong with our political system because of the reason

because of like what they've been taught and the fact that they've not critically thought about the society which they live in like they leave genuinely thinking yeah this is fine like literally some people genuinely look at political stuff and think this is okay this is right this is normal yeah like capitalism is okay like the size we're living in doesn't need to be changed unless like it's just so

crazy that's what yeah education is very important but it's more important to engage in your education and like just be able to navigate it yourself and not just readings and write essays but just read things think about it and write an essay that you know is well-rounded has the voices of many you know yeah and take something from it as well yeah definitely yeah but you know how um

like they provide you like the reading list and like they'll tell you like about certain events they need to also like help you write it if that makes sense because the difference between academic writing and normal writing and communicating verbally the difference is is that with academic writing is that you have to phrase it in a way that's like more

you know less less conversational you can't be conversational and also it has to be more critical but they'll never teach you that like to go we were just talking about like unis and like them molding you and like in terms of teachability but if you're getting more marks for being critical why don't you push that forward like

when you go to uni they'll never tell you nobody tells you be critical unless like they're genuinely giving you feedback on your paper but it's never pushed and I feel like they do it on purpose like they're trying to weed out students if that makes sense from ones that are you know um blind but blindly um absorbing information and the ones that are genuinely trying to like figure out why this is

it is the way it is and i feel like if especially when you're 18 it's it's almost manipulative because they're criticizing your work but not doing anything about it that makes sense that's my problem with uni so you end up like not only finding faults like with the world and if you study politics like the political system but also finding faults within the uni life and academic system as a whole yeah definitely yeah yeah i agree

i think to be honest i write very critically purely because i'm an overthinker so like i've always like had critical thinking skills but like yeah i definitely agree like Honestly, I think critical thinking should be a model in itself because it's just like so... the key to just daily life like even up until you go to university you haven't had a critical thought in your life like you've genuinely not like you've literally just gone to school you've

done your reading and you tack your GCSEs you've never had to form an opinion you've never had to be your own person before you've never had to like have an ideology or like a belief and when you go to uni it's suddenly everyone's like has something they you know

believe in they have something like not even a political ideology they have visions they have like thoughts about you know every single topic under the sun like the culture things like that and like you're just not that at 18 years old and like Luckily, not luckily, but...

other people have the privilege of being you know cultured and being critical and like having different visions and having different ideology to be part of but like not everyone does and then when you go to an institution where you're learning things but you lack critical thinking and you're like just like

in general you just lack so many things it's so hard to fully engage with education like the educational system or like the academic system because you're just not at that level yet which I just feel like you should

be taught like the jump from a levels to flipping uni just it's crazy okay so in terms of like um your experience in cambridge how has it been different to a levels Like in terms of like teaching teaching the shocking I don't know it's so weird the fact that you don't have a timetable at uni we do have a timetable like let's schedule but like at school you have a fuller timetable at uni you don't there's no registers so it's literally up to you if you want to turn up or not

Bear in mind, this Christmas, I have to catch up on about 60 lectures that I didn't attend last time. It's insane, purely because there was no one telling me, oh, do that, do this, no one keeping up on my absences, and I've just been so used to that. or like even living alone, waking up by yourself.

the responsibility like responsibility totally being on you to go out do your classes do your work handling stuff it's so difficult like even like the pastoral side of things like in your a levels if like you would never be allowed get as behind as you're allowed to get at uni like in like during a levels if you miss a class you're being emailed the work you know i mean

or like if you've missed more than like one class you're getting sent to like pastoral team or something that you're gonna let at home at uni i don't know how i was allowed to get as behind as i have got like structures are big big big issues feel like it's so difficult and no one ever speaks about like suddenly you're in your own bubble it genuinely is a bubble because it is your own dorm

And you're supposed to feed yourself, to go out by yourself, to like literally navigate a whole new world by yourself, a new city by yourself, new friendships, new relationships by yourself. You don't know a single person there. It's so... overwhelming like the social side the academic side everything even the financial side knowing how to budget yourself knowing how to spend money like it's so difficult you've not been taught I think everybody says imagine like

A levels you're putting your hand up to get the toilet and a couple months later you're in charge of like what? 5k 9k paying your student a comm paying your rent cooking your own meals never done that in my life before like it's just the jump is crazy you literally become an adult in like a couple months you just become an adult

but you've never ever been treated like an adult before in your life. So it's just, the jump is insane. Like it's so, so difficult and no one ever speaks about it. Like first turn, a mess.

like at least now i'm going back next time having like an idea of what it is i need to do probably because i don't want to be in like easter time catching up on this mini lectures again in my life oh my goodness but yeah just it's just crazy transforming everything you know in an instant and just having so many aspects of your life merge into one and you just even like finding who you are adulting

you know big milestones in your life work experience oh my goodness i can go on for ages it's so different yeah it's crazy okay we're coming to an end soon so i'm just gonna ask you a rapid question okay

What was the funniest thing that happened to you in Cambridge? Funniest? I mean it's subjective, so it doesn't have to be... I'm trying to think. You guys can go first. I mean, we didn't go okay, we just said that. I mean, we went for a day trip. Yeah, when you went for a day trip, it was the funniest thing then. I can think of how you guys are talking. There must have been at least like four. Yeah.

Four? Yeah, like, four weird things that happened. And that was just, like, within, like, seven hours. Yeah. Yeah, God forbid. Okay, maybe the first one I would say was, like, when we tried to go punting. And then... What's it like? This guy was trying to rip her soul. Yeah. Rip us off. How much did you pay? Luckily, I did my research like a few days before and then like these people like, so basically he tried to charge us like 75 each. Each.

And then I was like, no, like we're going to pay 30 or something like that. And then he was like, no, but like this, like they require this. And I was like, no. we need someone else and then like we left and then came back a few hours later and then we spoke to another guy he was a gentleman yeah and then I was like listen your friend tried to mug us off so um like please reduce your price and then he was like okay

do this and i was like 35 and he's like no 40 and i was like no like make it lower okay i kept on hanging yeah and then like i think we decided on like 35 for both yeah No, no, no. We split it. We split it. No, it wasn't 75. It was... The guy said 75 together, so he wanted 35 each, but we ended up getting it down to 35, so 17 each. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so, yeah, we split 35, and, yeah, it was good. And then another one was, um...

what was it i don't know i think it was like these two girls on our boat and then we was talking to i don't know like first of all the impression i got you know where the adam people guys You can never tell their age. I'm just going to tell somebody. I'm going to keep at that. One day I have to get into the workforce and I don't want this to come back to me. I always thought that was her mum and a daughter.

Anyways, homegirl, the mum, she was looking at me like I was a shoe under her feet. And when we get talking, I have to stunt on her and say, babes.

pack it up you don't know me one up us and i was like babes you're a country girl you don't know us you don't know what we're just like they're like they kept asking like invasive invasive country i feel like a town culture you know what they're like though i'm not even gonna ask there's certain things you keep telling us it was definitely like some sort of white complex

thing where it's like they want us to feel inferior but babe they were the ones it's so funny already because by the end of the conversation they were the inferior ones because they get away i have to humble you respectfully you know but i think she kept on looking at me like she kept on looking at me and i was just

Why is this stinky bee looking at me? Anyways, we didn't talk. And then the other girl was the one that sparked up a conversation. And then we just talked a bit. I really liked the one opposite me. Because the other one, I just feel like with me, first impression counts. If I don't like your first impression, I don't.

I don't like you, period. Me, not so much. Like, I like to give people... A chance. You know, to open up and, like, unravel themselves because I know how hard it is to, like, open up. To open up. Yeah, so...

I just feel like I got that vibe from her but she, Alhamdulillah, she was sweet. Just the other girls were a lot more open. And then they asked a really invasive country. It's like, oh, they're... And then I think they asked what uni to go and then we asked them and then they didn't go uni. But then they kept on just asking us very like weird questions just trying to see where...

you been where have you did this oh we live here and it's like do you go Cambridge often do you go Cambridge often we told them it's just like a day trip a day trip but anyway it's like Honestly, it was a nice experience, but I just didn't like the standoffish vibe and I felt like they were trying to project their superiority. But other than that, I'm sure they're two lovely girls. No, but you actually do get that a lot at Cambridge.

I remember one of my first days there, I was in a group of these girls, and then they were each asking questions, like, oh, what hobby do you do? What sport do you do? And they're like, what hobbies do you do? And I'm like, oh, I don't really have a hobby. And one's like, yeah, I'm a violinist player. One's like, yeah.

yeah, I'm a really professional rock climber. The next is like, yeah, I'm a swimmer. One does lacrosse. And I'm like, you guys asked me this just to say what you do. Come on, you don't care what I do. It's literally a big thing.

expect that if you go there, if you're in Cambridge, you're like talented. That well-bred quote unquote. Yeah, like literally, and if you're not, I expect you to feel bad for it. Like, I don't really care. At the end of the day, we're in the same place. Have you seen the film The Right Club? No, I've not, but I've heard of it. Watch it, because I feel like you will relate to it a lot.

Shall I tell you what it's about? You kept looking at me completely. No, I really don't want to spoil it for you, but basically it's about like, it's the Riot Club. It's like a, you know, old... institution where you know like a society a secret society in Oxford and then it's a boys club and then like one of the guys in the club is dating a girl from like not a scholarship but like

who went to a normal school, a normal background like us, and then his friends would make fun of it. That's just that one aspect of the film. The stuff that they do in the Riot Club is insane. Please watch it, guys. It's a good film. Yeah, I'm definitely going to watch it.

yeah yeah okay uh the next question is um what was like your favorite experience at the university um like most i don't know like warmest I think... My favorite experience is so it kind of goes back so one night I needed makeup wipes and didn't have any and like if you're in Cambridge everything closes at 8 p.m. So if you don't have makeup wipes you don't you don't have makeup wipes period like you just don't have any so like there's like a group chat

everyone in the college and I don't really know anyone at this point so I messaged a group chat and I'm like does anyone have any makeup vibes and some girls like yeah I do I've never had before she's like come to my room I go to her room and she's like do you want to explore Cambridge tomorrow and I was like okay so the next day we went out together If you're in Cambridge, have you been to the Fitzwilliam Museum? No. It is...

stunning. Like, we have a gold room where it looks like an opera house. I saw it on your Instagram. I was talking to you. I love it. I actually liked it. I think I like it. It's stunning. So, like, I went there and we just went to all of the historic sites in Cambridge. Like, we went...

planting we went like having been to Clare Bridge like Clare College like they have like a bridge we definitely passed the bridge yeah we went to like King's Chapel yeah we went there too yeah like we just explored the whole city in like a day and it was such a nice experience like it was just good vibes and like we're friends now and like it was just like my most memorable day because we literally we went everywhere having been bits billies

What was that? It was like a really popular cafe in Cambridge, it was like three, and all the students eat there. I went there, we went to literally all the popular cafes, we got lunch, we got dinner. And it was, like, really, really nice. So that's literally all my best experience. Love that. Shout out to that girl. You might have to do an itinerary for us because... No, I actually will. If you go, I'll be a tall guy. I know, like, I know the good places to trust me. Oh, cool.

Yeah, okay. What would be your advice to someone? I think you talked a bit about your experience being at Cambridge. What would be your advice to someone that wants to apply to Cambridge or Oxford?

Yeah, they're just scared of like that jump, I guess. And also just, as you said, maybe being a fish. Oh, water. Honestly, my advice is like, if I'm there, you can be there. Trust me. Because like, I'm... oh sorry it's okay i'm a really like anxious person i'm really shy and i don't like standing out so the fact that like i'm fine with it just shows that you'll kind of be fine with it as well and like honestly you're always

going like what i was saying like the more i realize i don't want to stand out like the contrast is i want to stand in and i just have to do do you really want to stand in like you know what i mean like do you really just want to be like have a

like just blend in if that kind of makes sense and you realize you don't really want to blend in then it's like okay to stand out it's never really making like much sense but honestly like just go for it and you'll meet your people i'm not saying that everyone's like predominantly white

well they are but there are so many ways you can meet people that you like there's there's some sort there's a society for every single ethnicity there's an African Caribbean society if it's not a society you literally can start it up like the university gives you funding to do it there are so many chances and ways you can meet people that kind of get you and if you're like really really worried about it this is kind of like more technical beach university releases um like they kind of release

the list of students there so like they released a percentage of state school and they released the percentage of ethnicities so something you're really really um

Worried about look we know like look for a college that is predominantly state school. I look for a college that predominantly accepts more like ethnic people because honestly like your how comfortable you have matters like it's crucial in like your performance as well because if you're not happy you're not going to do well so literally look at the technical bit and just realize that the social bit is always going to be there i just kind of have to like make more

effort to do so but there's literally no harm in trying and like if you are there like you're gonna have a good experience regardless honestly like it'll be good I love that. Love that advice. Yeah. I mean, that concludes today's episode. Guys, thanks so much for listening. Thank you, Hannah, for coming on. Thank you. We appreciate it. Thank you. We kept having conversations in and out of the recording, but honestly, it was so nice.

like learning more about Cambridge also like the hotspot so yeah we're definitely gonna pick you up on that offer guys thank you very much for listening as always please subscribe share this if you think that a friend will resonate with this and as always stay blessed