Episode 74: Class Of 2023 - Peter, MA Accounting and Finance

In the first episode of our revamped season 5, Andrew speaks to Peter Sawkins, winner of the Great British Bake Off 2020, about the attraction of London, getting involved with sports and having wholesome flatmates.

On Instagram, you can follow Peter’s baking journey @peterbakes and follow the Sports Union @uoesportsunion.

Season 5 is titled All Roads Lead to Edinburgh. Here, we take our 2023 graduates 5 years into an ideal future and ask them where they would like to be, and how they would return to Edinburgh if presented the chance to give a speech to the new student cohort.

All opinions expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Edinburgh.

 
Multi Story Edinburgh has been created and produced by the Alumni Relations team at the University of Edinburgh. If you are interested in telling your story, please get in touch and let’s talk!

Artwork: 

Person Vector created by freepik: https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/podcast-landing-page-template_11599076.htm 

On Air Sign created by freepik : https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/podcast-concept-illustration_11684809.htm

Music: 

“Since When” by Mise Darling (modified). Sourced from Free Music Archive under license CC BY-SA. Available at: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Mise/Rebel_1433/Mise_Darling_-_Rebel_-_11_Since_When_1357/ 

“Shake It!” by Jahzzar (modified). Sourced from Free Music Archive under license CC BY-SA. Available at: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jahzzar/Super_1222/01_Shake_It/ 

“Avientu” by Jahzzar (modified). Sourced from Free Music Archive under license CC BY-SA. Available at: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jahzzar/Sele/Avientu/ 

Multi Story Edinburgh is distributed and licensed CC BY-SA

Transcript

Andrew: 0:09

Hello everybody, it's Andrew here. You student host for Multi Story Edinburgh, Season Five: All Roads Lead to Edinburgh. Each episode is a snapshot inside our graduates minds, a memento of their time at Edinburgh University and this time a look inside the baking cupboard of this week's guest, Peter Sawkins. Now, Peter is most well known for his much deserved win on the Great British Bake Off 2020 but for this episode, he's coming to Multi Story Edinburgh as an accountancy and finance student and the incoming 2023/24 Sports union president. We do speak a little about how his bakeoff experience changed him as a student so please do listen out for that. Today, Peter will be traveling five years into the future where the economy is booming, maybe Greggs has become a patisserie and Peter has been invited back to Edinburgh on an all expenses trip to give a welcome week talk to the new first years. I will be your host guiding you through Peter's journey, delving into his Edinburgh experiences and finding another example of how all roads lead to Edinburgh. But before we do that, I will remind you first that Multi Story Edinburgh is not the only way you can engage with us. In our online meeting place, Platform One, you can connect with members of our Edinburgh community, including students, alumni and staff. If you are a recent graduate, watch out for a regular digital newsletter, and head to www.ed.ac.uk forward slash alumni forward slash new graduates where you can catch up on resources, opportunities and careers advice or discover alumni networks and clubs that you can join. I like to point out that in that website, there is a hyphen between new and graduates. Oh, sounds like my cake is ready, which means it's time to start the podcast. This is Multi Story Edinburgh, Season

Five: 1:55

class of 2023 This is Peter Sawkins. Welcome, Peter, welcome to Multi Story Edinburgh. How are you doing?

Peter: 2:16

I'm good. Thanks. Thanks for having me.

Andrew: 2:18

Yeah, absolutely, no bother. What're you up to today?

Peter: 2:21

I have been... I've been in the office. I'm... Although I've graduated from the University, I'm still clinging on to it for dear life and staying here. I'm the sports union president this year so I've been in the sports union office, working away, doing lots of emails getting planned for Welcome Week. So it's a really good time.

Andrew: 2:41

Yes, you're doing sports union president which is an elected role. How did you feel when you decided to run for it?

Peter: 2:49

I was never actually expecting that I wanted to run for the job. I've always been involved in sports organization at the university; sports has been my real link into feeling like I was part of the community and that was my real link into feeling a sense of belonging at the university. And I've engaged with the badminton club being on Badminton club committee. Loads of my flatmates, including the host of this podcast, came from the badminton club so I've been really engaged with sports throughout my time at university, and I absolutely love uni sport with such... to such a ridiculous degree. So it was an opportunity that I couldn't turn down, and I was lucky enough to get it. I'm five weeks into starting this role, which I've got for the year, and I'm just really excited for the rest of the year to come.

Andrew: 3:38

I'm glad you have already said we were flatmates, because that means I can stop pretending not to actually know you. But you see when the elections were going on? Was there any point where you thought I've definitely got this? Or were you quite nervous the whole way through?

Peter: 3:55

Oh, I had absolutely no idea. And I think you probably you could probably tell at the time, I'm guessing I was probably a little bit stressed around the flat.

Andrew: 4:04

Just a little bit. Yeah.

Peter: 4:05

It was quite lucky because we had four people running for it, which is quite a good number to run. And everyone's really, really good, really committed dedicated people to sport, who all had great ideas about where they wanted to take the role and what they wanted to do that year. But that did mean that I had absolutely no idea if I was going to be able to get it.

Andrew: 4:24

And I guess it means you get to stick around in Edinburgh for another year. Is that kind of what you'd hoped to happen?

Peter: 4:30

I don't think so. I think that was part of the reason why I wasn't planning on running for the role was that I was expecting to move away from Edinburgh. I was born here. I've grown up here. I've never been anywhere other than Edinburgh and I do think I kind of need to get away at some point. I need to live somewhere else. I think that's quite important. But I've been sort of dragged back into to Edinburgh for one more year. But then still the plan is next year to leave, maybe that's not going to happen. Probably I'm going to be sat here next year

going: 5:03

No, I'm in Edinburgh for just one more year, and then it'll just be a cycle that rinse and repeat for the rest of my life maybe.

Andrew: 5:09

Well, the good news is that on Multi Story Edinburgh, we're going into the future, which means you can choose where you want to be. But first I'm going to set the scene for you. So here comes the little bit of reading. Five years on from now, the economy has boomed. And so the university has surprised you with an all expenses trip back to Edinburgh to give the new first years an induction talk. Let's say inflation is down, bake off is reaching its 19th season and who knows, maybe all Edinburgh sports team are in their versions of Premier League and undefeated after your amazing year as sports union president. Welcome to the future.

Peter: 5:55

What a future. That sounds great.

Andrew: 6:02

You've done a lot, apparently already. But what I want to know is five years on, where are you? Where do you want to be?

Peter: 6:09

So we just talked about how I can't get myself away from Edinburgh. There's this yearning that I've got, which I think a lot of certainly a lot of accounting and finance graduates have, there's this draw that London has, there's so much excitement there, there's so much opportunity, you know, it's... it's the big city, in the job that I have, which is the baking side of my life. And London is the place where things are happening, you're always invited to talks or events or, you know, launches in London, which sometimes you try and get down to. But a lot of the time, it's expensive to get down from Edinburgh on that train there and back. Accommodation is hugely expensive down there. So the opportunity to be where things are happening - that's something that I'd love to... I'd love to try.

Andrew: 6:56

I agree because coming from a music degree, it's similar in that there's not much scene around here for, like, jobs. So I'm in sound design; there's startups here and there that you can get involved with but to actually get something a bit more secure, it's still London. While we were living together, though, for the last year, you did... you popped away a few times, to some different events. Were they mostly London, because I seem to remember there was a couple further north.

Peter: 7:28

Yeah, there's a few a few things further north and dotted about the place. And it's always nice when something's happening, you know, in Glasgow and Edinburgh or something like that. But I think there's also a lot of opportunities that, at least I've felt in the last three years since I was on bake off, since I was on the show, there's been a lot of things that I've just had to say no to, and, and a lot of them have been location based, and that sort of timing of it. But if you're actually living where that is, and where that's happening, you just say yes to so many more things. And I'd love to put myself into the position to say yes, as much as I possibly can.

Andrew: 8:05

Yeah, cuz you'll get to kind of have a bit more choice and what you can can do in that line of work, rather than have to say no, purely just because of distance, which is probably a good thing for you. When you'd come off of bake off, it was still lockdown. So what were these kinds of opportunities? Were there still chances to go to like TV studios, or were they mainly online?

Peter: 8:29

Yeah, to be fair, there was there's quite a lot of stuff. After the show, you're... you're kind of in demand a bit for a bit of time. And you know, the show gets huge recognition and so there's bit of interest around you. And you're invited on to radio shows and TV shows and for interviews and... and things. Because it was COVID, a lot of it was online for me. So I got quite used to doing these sorts of interviews over Zoom. Actually, for me, because I was still running with university at the same time, I was doing my full third year at the time the show was being aired, and then.. and then afterwards, so actually, to be able to just be with my flatmates with my support network, be in Edinburgh with all my friends around me, instead of having to jump on a train to go here, go there go into these live events, it was probably actually quite beneficial for me rather than being out there on my own, and possibly getting a bit lonely or getting a bit stressed out by myself. So there was... that was definitely a real positive of the experience. But I think now I'm at the point where I've got used to that side of it enough. I've got a bit more experience

there: 9:37

chatting in person, being there in that physical space with other people. If you're doing an event talking to 100 people on a blank screen on Zoom, that's terrifying for me but doing something in person. I love it because I pick up so much energy and excitement. So now I'm at a point where I want to be in the room. I want to be in the place where it's happening.

Andrew: 9:58

Yeah, I mean it does sound like is the natural next step for you as well. But five years on, you've got... you've done your year of sports union president. In London, is the plan accountancy or is that baking? Or is it both?

Peter: 10:14

I think, I think the plan is... the plan is baking. I, I've got this opportunity where my one of my absolute favorite hobbies in the world, I can turn that into my job. And I can explore my creativity and explore the topic that I spent so many hours of my free time as a kid delving into learning about and something that fills me with so much joy when I do it. And I've got the opportunity to make that my job. I absolutely love doing accountancy at university, I really really enjoyed it. It's a weird one, it's a good way to end a conversation at a party, someone asks you what you study, you say accountancy... you don't really chat much more after that point, it goes a bit dry. But I really enjoyed it as a topic, I was really enthused by it. And I've always been enthused about my studies at university. So my plan is to try that thing, which is a bit more bold, try this baking, this media stuff. But with a view that it might not work out for me, it's worked for me doing it part time alongside my studies the last three years, it might not work out for me doing that full time. And if that's the case, then I'm sure accounting or the sports, which I'm now working in... I'm sure that it'll be there and I can explore those options as well. But whilst I've got the shot, I'm going to see if I can make some silly, silly cake videos and make some money from that somehow enough to support myself

Andrew: 11:48

in the future, then you are going to be in London, and you're going to be trying to get this baking stuff to work but you have been asked to come back to Edinburgh. Now, it's been five years and you've not been back. And the university is covering your travel back to Edinburgh. This future, we've got the economy booming, you've got all the money, you can choose whatever way you want. How do you choose to travel back to Edinburgh?

Peter: 12:13

So my, my answer for this is completely not practical. It's terrible for the environment. It's something that no one should ever do. I don't even think it's a possibility. To be honest, but it's one of those... it's one of those things in life that I just love to do once. I'd just really love to try business class flight as one of my goals in life, I really want to fly business class. I love on YouTube, I love the the airplane review videos, where they go into the really fancy seats. And I love watching that. So I really want to experience that I want to like have a three course meal on a plane in the sky. It's a terrible idea. Because, you know, I should have said that I want to be somewhere like New York or you know, San Francisco or something like that, where I'd actually have to fly, to come back here because, of course I'm gonna go by train. If the uni is paying for it, then I'll ask to see if they can upgrade me to first class and I'll get a nice bacon roll or something in the morning. But, you know, the dream would be a business class flight. So I might have to like, I don't know, fly to, I don't know, connect, connect through like Doha or something and then come back to... come back to Edinburgh, I don't know, to actually be able to get business class flight so it's never gonna happen. It's not practical. It would kill the planet. Unless we have electric planes by then or something that's, you know, really fuel efficient.

Andrew: 13:45

Well, let's hope the that is exactly what's happened. I'll be honest, I don't think many people when I say how are you coming back to Edinburgh, they decide to reroute through Qatar. But...

Peter: 13:54

It's problematic, isn't it? It's problematic. I'd like to say to the listeners, I wouldn't do this. This is a hypothetical world where you know, the environment would not be impacted by this... by this flight whatsoever.

Andrew: 14:07

Oh, absolutely. This, this, this universe, I've said in other episodes that climate change has disappeared

Peter: 14:13

Aw perfect. That would be exciting.

Andrew: 14:15

You're completely free to get a business class flight to Qatar and then - from London- and then another one from Qatar to Edinburgh.

Peter: 14:22

What a ridiculous thing to do. I also hate travel. So why am I getting myself, what could be a four hour train? Or like a one hour flight? Why am I giving myself like a, I don't know. 14 - 18 hour round journey. That that seems like a really stupid thing to do.

Andrew: 14:38

If it's on your bucket list to go business class, why not make the most of it and make it nice long haul?

Peter: 14:44

Watch a few movies. Get a nice couple of drinks. Sounds like a good time.

Andrew: 14:48

You're in business class so it doesn't even feel like you're on a plane.

Peter: 14:51

That's it. Yeah, I want to try sleeping on a plane. I want to have a wide flat bed. I want to have a duvet on a plane- that sounds epic.

Andrew: 14:59

Have you been to Doha?

Peter: 15:01

No, and I don't know why I said that. It just, it's a big airport, isn't it? You're probably going to get a connecting flight.

Andrew: 15:07

That's true. Since we're making this business class, and we're making it a long haul, you can choose the re-routing destination. Are we sticking Qatar or are we going somewhere else?

Peter: 15:16

Oh, no. Okay, I'm gonna go... I'm gonna go Singapore.

Andrew: 15:20

Okay. Oh, even longer.

Peter: 15:22

Yeah. I have made a lot longer have.

Andrew: 15:25

Yeah, you've made it about a day,

Peter: 15:27

But, but I think it'd be quite cool to see Singapore, I think it's a place that would be cool to, to explore. Or maybe, or maybe have a wee layover. Get out, see it for a day. Then get back on the plane and fly... and fly back. I'm gonna be so tired when I come back. Yeah. Am I doing this to myself?

Andrew: 15:47

I mean the whole idea of this is that you were doing it over the weekend but I think you've made this trip into a week long thing.

Peter: 15:54

I'm getting... getting a bit of extra leave. It, it's my it's my only time back in Edinburgh, I might as well. Yeah, I take... I might as well take some extra time to go to Singapore. That doesn't make any sense

Andrew: 16:05

As you do.

Peter: 16:07

It makes no sense.

Andrew: 16:09

I mean, you might as well just, at this point, just go traveling to every single place you want to go to before you come back. The good, the good thing is this next question that we do is that you're meant to be sitting in the transportation that you've chosen and thinking about graduation - I think you've got plenty time to think about it. So you give... you have a real good think about graduation, you have just graduated as we're recording this. So how are you feeling at the moment?

Peter: 16:36

I think it's a bit it's a bit of a weird one for me, because I kind of feel like I haven't quite graduated, in a sense, because of the job that I'm doing this year working in the sports union. As I said, a huge amount of my time at university was spent in playing my sport - playing badminton, or, you know, working on supporting the organization of the club. And that was the strong connection that I had to the place. And I'm just doing a lot more of that this year really, in, in my job so, so I'm still in that space of being a student and being connected to the university community, I need to stay as connected to the student community as it possibly can this year, I think in my head, I'm almost feeling like, I'm going to feel like I've graduated next year. Certainly, graduation was a fantastic celebration. And it was lovely to mark that especially with the family who supported me hugely. And to see my dissertation supervisor after it. She gave me so much support last year. It was, it was really, really lovely. But I'm wondering if that graduation feeling of being onto the next step will actually come next year when I'm no longer around the university every day, and I'm no longer focused on that as part of my life.

Andrew: 17:55

It sounds like the sport kind of helped you grow a community while you were at uni? Would you say?

Peter: 18:01

Definitely, I think that's the biggest positive about university sport is the community aspect of it. On a personal level, you know, being fit and active and healthy. It's really important to stay physically active in any way that you can to support your physical health and your your mental health. But I think it makes it makes just talking to people a lot easier. If we're playing game of badminton. It's a nice, easy icebreaker, you can come and chat to someone, you can chat to them where you're going along to the session or waiting along the side. There's always a social component after lots of the sports clubs still go out for some food after or you know, go for a coffee or drink or something. And they're just these hubs of amazing communities, with people from every different year group as well. So you come in as a first year, you meet other first years who are also in that same position as you might be a bit nervous about socializing, getting out there learning about university life. But then you also find some mentors straightaway. And some people that can help guide you, people that have been there, they might be second years who are really excited to welcome in the new first years, and it might be third, fourth, fifth sixth years who you can go to you need a bit of support or a bit of advice. And that was instrumental to help me settle down nice and quickly with the university.

Andrew: 19:26

I mean, I can't agree more, especially the badminton club because we're both part of it, that it very much helps you find just a lot of friends really and also people that you can go to with help for studies and just life at uni in general. It may be a bit of a plug to the badminton club to say that club sessions are... they're more social than competitive, because there's so many people in the hall that you do just have that chance to chat to people. And when you're when you're a first year and you come in there's so many people like you, that you're always going to find someone to talk to.

Peter: 20:05

Yeah. Couldn't agree more. Yeah, come on down to sports. Try it out.

Andrew: 20:08

Come to sports, everybody. So, you've gotten off the plane from Singapore, and you are arriving in Edinburgh to give your speech to the new first years. You've spoken already about the importance of joining sports but what do you tell the new crowd? What advice do you give to them in regards to making the most out of uni?

Peter: 20:35

Well, this is quite good prep for me, because I think I actually get to do that this year.

Andrew: 20:41

Oh, okay.

Peter: 20:42

A really exciting part of the of the role is that there's typically a principals welcome to new students in the McEwan hall, and as sports president, you get to come along and give a wee welcome to the new students in that space. So this is really good prep for me. So I've, you know, I've done my first... this is going to be my first draft of my, of my speech, I suppose. I've had a wee think about some of the sort of headline things that I would that I would say, when thinking about academics, I would tell people, don't worry about your grades too much. So long as you stay focused, you put in the work, you put in the effort, you don't need to be worried about the exact grade that you're getting, you just need to be more worried about about learning. And uni is... it's less about the content, I think, and it's more about learning what your process is. And also on the academic side, don't worry about what other people are doing around you and how they're working. Find your own rhythm, find your own pace, and trust yourself on that don't get too tied up in what everyone else does. Because I think if you try and act like everyone else, you're just gonna get stressed, tired, overworked. So figure out what works best for

Andrew: 22:01

I think you've touched on two very important parts you. there. And something that I can relate to as well, because figuring out how you study best is extremely important to kind of making the most of your time. And you do have that freedom at university to choose. If you are somebody that doesn't work well in the morning, but does work well in the evenings, then do that. Don't force yourself to work in the morning. I work best with with a timetable, and making sure that I kind of do the same thing every week. The other thing that you mentioned there was not comparing yourself to other people, which is what I immediately did in first year, I came off of kind of being at school as someone who is pretty good at maths, I was more towards the top of the class and coming into uni, I was absolutely not that. But you've got to kind of be open and understand that what you're doing is good enough. And just because you're not getting that 100% that some people might be getting, it doesn't mean that you're doing bad because for a lot of degrees 70% is still that great line to have.

Peter: 23:13

Yeah. And also noting that everyone comes into uni at a different point. And everyone comes from a different level experience or their school taught in a different way. Or, you know, and it doesn't, it doesn't matter where you start at uni. And you're you're going to be given the resources that you need to get to the point where you need to be, you have what you need to be here. And when you're here, you'll be given what you need to succeed. And you've got to kind of trust that.

Andrew: 23:42

It's quite a big thing to trust, because you go from a teacher guiding you through school and every single subject, to a lecturer who will see you for those two hours but unless he's on open hours, he's probably not as free to help you when. You've just finished your final year, what would you say to people going into their final year of studies, going on to dissertations, and probably bigger modules that are more real world?

Peter: 24:14

Goodness, I don't know, I think it's all too easy to think, okay, it's my last year, it's my biggest piece of work, this is what's gonna give me my degree classification. And yeah, it's really important that you put your best work in so that you get the degree out which you really want and that you deserve. And you need to make sure that you're putting that effort in, but it's all about balance. And I think university from the start of, of your university career is all about balance. It's probably easier to find that in your first two, three years than it is in your last year. Because, you know, you maybe drop a couple grades in your first year, it's not going to matter in the long run. Whereas there's a bit more high stakes in your final year but I still think finding that balance is actually going to improve your outcome at the end anyway. So you know, become obsessed with a sport or society, and in your final year, stay obsessed with that and stay connected and looped into that community that you've got. Because when you're busy and stressed and worried, that community within that sport or that society, that's going to be the biggest support that you could possibly have. As a general guide, treat yourself every once in a while, going for food with friends, or a drink or a coffee or taking the morning off, to go for a walk or something. You've got to do that every once a while, because I think too easily a student's like... weekends don't exist is quite common for students. Know that doing nothing for a bit of time, is actually going to help you a huge amount the next day.

Andrew: 25:49

Yeah, I mean, resting is such an important part of studying, it's quite easy to fall into that trap of just being on it all the time. Something that's helped me a lot in my third year was making sure that I do set out that time to go and not study and having, as you say, a sports club is very good for that because they give you those set times that you know you you have to stop then cause, otherwise, it's not going to be happening. Yeah. Well, I think you've given quite a good speech there.

Peter: 26:24

Well, I think I'm gonna have to cut down because like I rambled for about 10-15 minutes there. So I think I'm only gonna get two or three. So I have to cut it down.

Andrew: 26:32

You'll be fine. I think you've you've covered the main points and you just, you cut it down to that it'd be okay. Whatever happens I think the university is going to be impressed with your your speech, and they are in the future in the five years time world. And because of that, they're giving you a free dinner - anywhere in the city you can go for free. Where are you choosing to go?

Peter: 27:01

I do love an African wrap. But they are, they're only a fiver. So maybe I'll get the uni to give me something a bit more expensive. No, I was gonna go for... still it's still an affordable place, but actually a friend from badminton... yeah, you know where I'm going?

Andrew: 27:19

I absolutely do. And I'm really glad you are because I've been wanting to mention this under this question for every recording I've done so far.

Peter: 27:27

But no, a friend who I actually originally knew from when I was like 12, playing badminton because he grew up in Edinburgh, but since moved away, and then he came back and he now plays casually in the badminton club. But he has a restaurant called Cafe Pomelo. And it's... the food is epic. It's just such a nice place to go to because we know Jun who, who owns it, and he always gives like the most warm welcome it kind of and we were very fortunate to receive lots of lots of leftovers, and everything. It's awesome. That's awesome when you wake up on a Sunday morning for leftovers from the restaurant the night before. Yeah, not bad. But no, I just think the food's epic. And it kind of feels a bit like a home away from home as well. So a really lovely place to go to if I hadn't been in Edinburgh for a while. I'd head back there to Cafe Pomelo.

Andrew: 28:24

I'm honestly so glad that you've chosen Cafe Pomelo because if I was being asked this question that is also where I'd say. It's just it's so unique at Cafe Pomelo, I don't find that stuff anywhere else. Jun's that great of a chef, every time you go in, it's such high quality. I normally ask whoever's on what dish they're getting. What are you getting? And is it going to be the same as what I would get?

Peter: 28:53

Oh, okay. Okay. Well, there is a classic.

Andrew: 28:57

There is

Peter: 28:58

which I, which I normally get. I mean, if I'm going there, I'm getting everything. Yeah. I think I'll try and get everything. But yeah, do I go for the...?

Andrew: 29:12

I think you have to.

Peter: 29:13

I'll go for the classic. Yeah, it's this the hand ripped pork noodles with the garlic chili sauce. It's, it's good. It's good. Really, really tasty. That's like my absolute favorite like, Oh, I'm gonna have a side of the ban-chan , radish and smacked cucumber sides as well because I just love them. But that's, that's a classic lunch for me. So good.

Andrew: 29:37

Ah. Handripped noodles is the choice to have when you go to Cafe Pomelo in my opinion, and I normally, when I go I will get them and I'll share them with, with other people. Is that what you do or do you take a bowl to yourself?

Peter: 29:53

Oh a bowl by myself. I'm quite happy to share like other things. It's like we can, we can have a few sides and stuff. But there's something about... it's not, it's not the easiest sharing food, you've got to get scissors to cut them up these massive long noodles, which are- there's only like two noodles in this giant bowl and you're so full by the end of it. So it's just absolutely huge. No, I'm kind of, I'm kind of greedy. I like to have a bowl by myself and just get absolutely mucked in. And yeah, get stuck into it.

Andrew: 30:24

Fair, I think I go for the handripped noodles, and I get the scallion noodles and I share them as the mains between- I'm normally with one other person, so I share them with, with them. But you are so right and that you have to get the whole menu if you can. It's not the biggest menu because you know, it's quite a small place, which means that you absolutely can eat the whole thing if you're getting this for free.

Peter: 30:48

Yeah, I shall look forward to that. It'll be a good night.

Andrew: 30:51

Well, you're getting to go to Cafe Pomelo with one other person that the uni is also covering for. So who are you going to choose to take with you?

Peter: 31:02

Well, by one other person? Can I get like seven? Or eight? Is it allowed?

Andrew: 31:13

I have a feeling I know where you're going with this. I'm gonna allow it. Who are you bringing with you?

Peter: 31:19

I would like to go with my flatmates. My university flatmates from second, third, fourth, fifth year, I think like, I had been really truly blessed with the people that I've got to live with. And I don't think I would have had as positive a uni experience by any, I don't think it'd be anywhere near as close having an amazing unit experience, or as positive an experience post bake off for me as well, without having such strong support in my flatmates. Over that time, I'm thinking about living in lockdown and in third year, my three flatmates then they were basically the only people I could see on a consistent basis. And we had the most amazing time still, I think it's I think is wildly impressive that we somehow we never fell out. We never had a flight. And and we just like grew really close. And yeah, I think that's absolutely epic. And I've just been so fortunate to have the most amazing flatmates. So you get a free dinner as well, Andrew, there you go,

Andrew: 32:25

I may have been a bit bias by allowing the seven or eight people to come instead of one because it includes me. But if I'm getting a Pomelo, I'll take a Pomelo. Yeah. Thank you for that, that is very kind that you have chosen, well, I'm saving kind because it's me, but you've chosen all your flatmates. I think that's quite, quite a special relationship that you've had in your time at uni. And because, as you said, lockdown, you were with your flatmates for the entire time, to have people that you get on with must have made it so much easier.

Peter: 33:00

Living with your friends is epic. And I'm living by myself now. And you know, there's, there's like, it's nice to come back to your own space. And there's a bit of a transition. And you know, that's, that's good. But at uni, you get to live with some of your absolute best friends. And that's a really cool thing. When you get that that is a really, really cool thing to do. You know, you wouldn't get that for the rest of your life, you probably wouldn't want that for the rest of your life. There's probably a point where you're like, oh, maybe maybe, maybe we should, maybe we should move on and move elsewhere. But yeah, to just get to chill out and laugh in the kitchen and have, you know, silly movie nights and get to know each other. Over the years that you live with each other or the couple of years that you live for each other. It's a really, really special thing. And it's a great privilege when you get to live with some of your best mates.

Andrew: 33:56

I totally agree. I think there's something really homely about in a smaller restaurant, you have all your flatmates and yourself - is a really, it's a really nice sentiment you've come up with there. And so you've had your dinner at Cafe Pomelo. And, and before you get your flight back to London, which you can go somewhere else on that flight the next time. But before you go, you get to go to your favorite place in Edinburgh. Where are you going to go?

Peter: 34:28

So yeah, my my favorite place is, is just the meadows. I love the meadows if it's day or night and if it's snowy or sunny, if it's absolutely rammed on the hottest day of the year or if it's absolutely dead quiet. I just love that place. I think in general green spaces and the amount of green spaces that we have in Edinburgh is one of the things that makes the city so special. These, these parks these green spaces they're communal, it's open to, you... absolutely everyone, and everyone gets to share in these amazing outdoor places, which I think are amazing for promoting health and promoting community and meeting up with people and connecting with friends. I don't know, I think it's lovely because you can be there with people and, and have that sort of time together. But it's also a place that I really enjoy being alone. Because you can be alone, you can be quite peaceful, you can have that time by yourself. You're alone, but you're, you're with other people, they're just in that space. And I think that's a really special kind of balance to have. So that is my love letter to the meadows. And that's my gushing over. I just think it's an epic space.

Andrew: 35:44

As you said, green spaces, they're so nice to have. And Edinburgh is one of the cities that just has an abundance of them. And I certainly use the meadows quite a bit myself, as you said, even late at night, just, it's somewhere close by that you can kind of get out the city without having to actually leave. I come from a smaller town. So it feels a bit more homely in that sense that it's not just skyscrapers everywhere you can kind of immerse yourself in this.. it's not just this little park surrounded by city. It really is sort of a piece of country within the city. And when you've got Arthur's Seat next year as well it adds to that whole experience.

Peter: 36:28

Yeah, it's pretty cool. Also, when... I think it's quite, it's quite interesting, especially when the festival comes because like I know quite a lot of students aren't around Edinburgh when the festival's here. But around the university, the old town is just absolute madness. I mean, I love it, but it's just absolute madness. But during the festival, as soon as you cross the meadows, Marchmont- Sciennes, it's just kind of normal. And it's it's like this sort of barrier between the craziness that is the festival, and a bit of peace and quiet. Whatever you need, if you need a party, or if you need some peace and quiet, you'll be able to find it on the meadows. And I think that's kind of cool. It serves so many purposes for so many different people all at the same time.

Andrew: 37:14

You know, it serves absolutely everybody in the city who needs it. Well, you have had quite the journey, you've you're going to go from London, where you're still working on your your baking, and using that as a reality. You will be taking business class on a plane via Singapore, to Edinburgh, experiencing that off the bucket list. You've given a pretty good speech about sports and its inclusion and balancing your time. You have a nice dinner at pomelo with all of your flatmates, which includes me, and I'm very thankful for that. And then right at the end, you're gonna go to the meadows before you head back home. I think that is an absolutely lovely and heartwarming journey that you've created there.

Peter: 37:59

Well, I'm excited for it. Can we book it in? When will we be... 20/28?

Andrew: 38:04

That'd be great. Well, let's just see if everything that I said at the start does does actually happen. Let's... let's really hope for that. I have a surprise question from you. Each guest is getting someone relevant to them. And I've not come up with this question. They've certainly come up with this themselves.

Peter: 38:23

Okay.

Andrew: 38:23

so your question is coming from Heather Gault, the former SU president, who is handing over to you this year. Yeah.

Peter: 38:34

Okay.

Andrew: 38:35

We've approached Heather, as she's your predecessor, as you come onto SU President to give you your surprise question. Her question to you is, out of the 70 sports clubs at the university. Are there any you haven't tried yet, but you'd like to?

Peter: 38:52

Oh, there are tons that I haven't tried. And I love most sports, I am bit mad for basically anything, anything sports. And incidentally, what came to head was some of the some of the exciting ones, which I definitely haven't tried. But I also probably wouldn't necessarily want to try the first one that came to my head. I was like, Oh, that would be a great natural answer for this.. was skydiving. But I think I'm gonna have to retract that because they don't think I'd want to try skydiving. I think I think I might. I might leave that one. It's a bit. It's a bit too high octane. For me.

Andrew: 39:36

It's quite dangerous. I'll give you that. I don't think I could manage skydiving.

Peter: 39:40

But what sport would I... would I love, love to try.

Andrew: 39:46

Well, do you want to hear my answer?

Peter: 39:48

Yeah. What's your answer?

Andrew: 39:49

So I when I got this question through, I went to the sports union website and checked out all the 70 clubs, right. And there's one that absolutely stood out for me. That, I think is a... I didn't know existed. And so my choice is underwater hockey.

Peter: 40:08

Oh yeah. The Edinburgh hippos. Underwater... Also known as Octo push. It's great name. Yeah. Great name for a sport.

Andrew: 40:17

I didn't realize underwater hockey existed.

Peter: 40:20

Yeah, it looks really cool. Although I think it looks quite intense for me. I don't, I don't know if I can hold my breath for long enough. It's very, very cool, though. Very, very good. Okay, I'm having a look at them and having a look at them all. I need to find that right level of excitement and interest without being too scary for me because I'm, I'm a bit sort of scared as a general.... Okay, I've come up with my answer. I think I'm going to try the archery club. I've never tried archery, I think it'd be really cool to give it a whirl. I feel it's going to be one of those, it's one of those sports that looks really, it looks really simple. And you're like, oh, it's a single motion but I know it's going to be the most like, challenging thing in the world. So but I think yeah, that'd be a super cool thing to try. And I'm probably not going to injure myself at the same time of doing it because I often do that when I when I go to a different sport. I go a bit too hard. And I'm and I'm not good enough at it. I often injure myself.

Andrew: 41:25

I may be leading this into something but there is one sport that you tried that led to injury isn't there?

Peter: 41:31

Yeah, I had a rather unsuccessful first attempt to ski and I don't know if we're going back there anytime soon. But yeah, snow sports club, great club, go, go and join it. Just you know, I'm a terrible, terrible skier it turns out.

Andrew: 41:48

Wow. Thank you very much for joining me on this episode of Multi Story Edinburgh. It has been an absolute pleasure to have you.

Peter: 41:55

Thank you for having me on. Yeah, it's been a great joy. Really good fun chat.

Andrew: 42:05

I mean, I don't know if you can tell but I quite enjoyed that episode. And not just because I was invited to go to Cafe Pomelo with Peter. You can follow Peter on his baking journey at Peter bakes on instagram and facebook or follow his sports union career at U O E Sports Union on Instagram as well. Additionally, if you're interested in joining a university sports club, there's a list of all the clubs on offer www.eusu.ed.ac.uk Yes, please go join underwater hockey for me. Thank you all for listening to Multi Story Edinburgh, which you can stream online at our website www.ed.ac.uk forward slash alumni for slash new hyphen graduates or you can stream it wherever you usually find your podcasts. You can find the alumni team on Instagram at Ed alumni or on Twitter at Edinburgh alumni. Thank you for listening to this episode. See you next time for another Multi Story Edinburgh, class of 2023.