Episode 95: Multi Story Memories

About this special episode 

One thing all Multi Story Edinburgh guests have in common is their love for their alma mater. This is no exception for all our mentors on Season 7. Join Nilufer as she walks down memory lane with Robin, Maria, Tim, Safoora, Juan, Jimmy, Hana, Giselle and Hammed, listening to stories spanning 30 years of studies, friends, trips and laughter.

About Multi Story Edinburgh

Multi Story Edinburgh is a student-produced podcast that brings you the stories, experiences and wisdom of University of Edinburgh alumni. We hope they will inspire you, reassure you and remind you that you are part of the global University community that is here to support you as you make your own way in life.

The podcast is run by the Alumni Relations team at the University of Edinburgh. 

All opinions expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Edinburgh.
 
Music
Detective Begining Adventures by KonovalovMusic. Sourced from Tribe of Noise.

Transcript

[Theme music] 

Nilufer 00:05 
Hello and welcome to this special episode of Multi Story Edinburgh. During my conversations with our fantastic alumni, I asked them all the same question: do you have a fond memory of your time in Edinburgh? As any Edinburgh graduate will know, the memories we make here last a lifetime. So join us as we take a walk down memory lane with Robin, Maria, Tim, Safoora, Juan, Jimmy, Hannah, Gisselle and Hammed. This is Multi Story Memories. 

Robin 00:36 
So, in my first term in third year, I turned up to my friend’s flat—I’m still in touch with him—and I said, “Can I borrow your lecture notes?” I’d missed a few nine o’clock lectures—the Wednesday ones. I think that might’ve been the issue: it was the only thing on Wednesday, so maybe I’d gone out on Tuesday night, and that encouraged me not to go in on Wednesday. 

Anyway, I said, “Just give me them all.” I bought the photocopy card, copied the lot, handed them back… and when we got our exam results after the first term, I got a higher mark than him. He was like, “Right, I’m never lending you notes again.” In fact, he bet me I couldn’t make all the nine o’clock lectures for a term—because I’m not a morning person, still. And I did. I managed it if there was, you know, a bit of a bet involved—but not of my own accord. But yeah. 

Maria 01:45 
I think one of my favourite memories from first year—I was in halls, first time away from home, loving the freedom of being in my own space and not the family space. Part of becoming more self-aware, learning who I am. 

We initiated, with my friends, a toga party, and it ended up being… more than half the halls! Of course, we needed to create togas, so everyone used their bedsheets. So you’ve got this evening in the dark, all these students wrapped in bedsheets in random ways, careering around the halls. It was the sheer pleasure of having fun for fun’s sake and also the huge diversity—not only of how the togas looked, but of the student community. 

Tim 03:01 
I mean, any student would say, “Where do you begin?” I can’t say it’s a favourite—I’ve got so many. But a couple I particularly enjoyed were trips. I love, love, love Edinburgh—who doesn’t?—it’s the most incredible city. But I had a great field trip to Iceland with my degree—what a cool place to go. 

And then with student radio: I went to Pitlochry recently and thought, “What a lovely place,” and it reminded me—I was quite impressed with myself, if I put modesty aside—at one point I traded some advertising with a local hostel company for a free hosting trip, and we took the whole station for a weekend away in Pitlochry. We had a great time and did little team-building things. People were like, “Oh, why do organised fun, Tim?” and I was like, “It will be fun.” And it was. We made little parachutes for eggs and dropped them out the window to try and save them from cracking, went to the pub, went for a walk—just a great time. It summed up Scotland, being in Edinburgh, and the fun social community we had in student radio. 

Safoora 04:18 
End of first year. I had two of my three exams under my belt; the third one I was feeling great about. Once I was done, summer began. 

So, I wake up the morning of my exam—there’s a knocking at my door, it’s really bright. I look at my phone… my alarm hadn’t gone off, and my exam starts in less than 20 minutes. I look down: I’m in my pyjamas. Someone’s knocking, “Hello, is everything okay?” I’m like, “Yeah—I’m late!” Panic sets in; I can feel the heat rising. 
I open the door and it’s one of the lovely men who works at Pollock Halls. He says, “Your friends were worried; they didn’t see you at breakfast.” I say, “Yes, but I need to run.” He says, “Don’t worry, I’ll drive you.” 

We walk to the lift—he’s taking his sweet time—and I’m there like, “Oh gosh, I need to run.” We get in the car; he drives me there. I walk in—everyone’s sat, the exam has begun—and I have to cross the hall in front of a couple hundred students, catching the eyes of my friends shaking their heads like, “No… what have you done?” 

Perfectly harmless mistake—but wow, it could have had serious consequences. I sat down, completed my exam before the time was up, and left with this feeling of euphoria. I guess I perform quite well under pressure. But I would highly not recommend ending up in that situation. 

Juan 06:37 
I was about to leave Edinburgh—my PhD was finishing. It was September, Freshers’ Week. I was looking through the brochure and saw “Harry Potter Society Sorting Ceremony.” I thought, that sounds amazing; I love Harry Potter. Embrace the geeky things—they’re wonderful. 

I tried to get a ticket; it was sold out. But I thought, you know what, I’ll just go. I knew the room. I told them, “Hey, I know it’s sold out. If there’s any cancellation or last-minute opening, I’m here—no pressure.” I waited maybe 45 minutes. 

And then I got in. There were all these tests, both written and physical, and people evaluating you to assess your house—the heads of house doing it. It was great. They asked me which house I’d like to be in and I said Ravenclaw—because, for those who haven’t read Harry Potter, it’s the place for the intelligent people. Everyone wants to be in Ravenclaw. 

But they saw me doing the tasks—protecting people at some points, or being first—and they were like, “No, man.” They put the hat on me: “Gryffindor. You’re such a Gryffindor.” 

It was a great night. I talked to a lot of people. We had butterbeer they’d made from, you know, an “official” recipe—because of course people have thought of that. And the next day they said, “Do you want to play Quidditch with us tomorrow?” I thought, well yeah—of course. 

There’s a real-life version where people run around the Meadows with a broomstick between their legs. It’s unlike any other sport: you play with five balls, it’s intense, chaotic; you don’t understand what’s going on half the time. When you make a good play you feel amazing because you’ve navigated all this. 

The snitch—in the books a magical ball—is actually a person who has it tied in a sock, running around the Meadows. And just when you think you’re the geekiest person in the park, there’s a medieval re-enactment society with swords and shields. The snitch ran to hide in a circle of them and no one could get through! I mean—what’s not to love? 

Nilufer 09:27 
It feels like the start of a joke: a snitch walks into a medieval re-enactment society… 

Jimmy 09:36 
I was with my friend Big Dan—we were on a TV program called Pointless when we were at university. Incredible. We didn’t win; we got to the head-to-head. Great experience. 

Another light-hearted one: my good friend Tom—I signed him up to Embarrassing Bodies, the Channel 4 program. It’s people with, you know, slightly unfortunate issues they take to TV to get sorted. I lied and said my friend Tom had an issue that needed sorting, and he got hounded by the Embarrassing Bodies directors for about a year because they really wanted him on the show. 

But the one I want to focus on a bit more: I played so much football at uni and I loved it—twice a week. My Wednesday team was Lee Legends and my Sunday team was Aston Vicar. We won lots of leagues. So much fun. 

There was one game we really needed to win, against our big rivals—rivalry built over a couple years. I was never the best player, but I’d already scored two: a right-footed and a left-footed goal. There’s a thing in football called a “perfect hat-trick”: right foot, left foot, and a header. 

We had a corner and I said to myself, I’m going to score this—and it’s going to be a header. The ball came in; it looked perfect for my head… then it started to swerve outwards. I turned my body away and did an overhead bicycle kick—and it slammed into the goal. A goal that, you know, Mo Salah or Messi would’ve been proud of. 

We had the wildest celebrations. I had to sub myself off afterwards because I couldn’t believe what just happened. Really special: playing together, winning together, that teamwork, camaraderie. I really miss that, actually—sport is a bit different when you’re not very good or you don’t play professionally after uni. But those lessons—turning up on time, relying on each other—taught great life skills. I’m in touch with so many of my old football friends. 

Hannah 12:02 
The first two weeks at the University of Edinburgh were the best part—I was getting to know a lot of people, the environment around the university, the residence I was in. And the weather was excellent—that helped! I was there in April and it was still snowing so hard, and I really enjoyed that. 

One memory I really, really like: I fell very ill during that time and got hospitalized. The university people were so concerned—they were there with me in the hospital, helping me out, while I was there with my husband and my kids. That’s a memory I could never forget. 

Gisselle 13:01 
One moment that really stood out: during my programme, a lot of the Master’s students in the Business School had the chance to do this thing called Dragon’s Glen—an equivalent of Dragon’s Den—and everything we raised while building a business in five months was donated to a charity, Children 1st. 

We built a scratch-off map of Edinburgh—like those big world maps you can get, but instead of “I travelled to India,” you scratch off places in Edinburgh you’ve been. We went out and sold it all over the city. 

It culminated in an email: Her Royal Highness Princess Anne was coming to the Business School, and they wanted us to present a scratch map to her. That was not on my bingo card for the year! Within a week we were prepping and welcoming Princess Anne, giving her a little talk about what we’d built, handing her the map—and her lady-in-waiting (a total homie) just stood in the background holding our product behind Princess Anne for the press moment. Unexpected! 

Hammed 14:30 
One particular moment I really loved: ten of us—from the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program and from my course, Africa and International Development—ten of us from different African countries, we all came together and went to Loch—Loch Tay—for three days. That was my best moment. 

We just kind of went out—no phones, no laptops. We were there with mountains and trees and everything. We rested, we paused, we had conversations. 

The last night, before we left, we did this thing: the person you’re sitting next to, you have to talk about them, and then the next person talks about the next person, and so on. The person next to me—one of my flatmates—spoke about me. She said, “Hammed, listening to your story and your journey, where you’re coming from—it’s powerful. The way you show up for others—even when you’re taking our pictures, you take your time. You always show up for others.” 

I didn’t know she was paying attention to those things. It brought a lot of emotion. I thought about my journey—there was a time I couldn’t even afford a vacation like this, three days to have these moments. I could not hold it anymore. I cried.

Everyone came to me, hugged me. That’s the moment, right? This is humanity. This is beyond the academic work we do. 

We promised each other that night that every three years we would keep meeting. And we have—we’ve stuck together up to now. We’re each other’s support system. 
There’s something about university—masters or bachelor’s—that sometimes the community you need to get through life are the people you find here. So whenever you find moments like that, where you get to connect, cherish it—because when it’s tough, those are the people you need to get through the hard periods as well. 

[Theme music]