Dissertation. Done. Coursework. Done. Uni life..... Not quite.

I have six days until my final exam of my degree; a three year course that seems to have passed in a heartbeat, yet a journey that has been incredible.

When I first started at the University of Lincoln in September 2006, I was fairly sure of what I wanted to achieve from my time here; a good degree and a job in journalism, an amazing time at university with some compulsory drinking here and there, and I hoped to make some decent friends. Although how any of them would compare to my lifelong friends at home, I really wasn't sure.

After a few months, I nearly left. I had a friend from home in his third year who absolutely loved his time in Lincoln and always raved about how good it was, but I just didn't get it. I liked the people I lived with, and had made some friends off my course, but I wasn't really enjoying life in Lincoln.

I even applied for a job at the local newspaper. I felt I was spending (well, borrowing) approximately £6000 a year to attend a few lectures and seminars a week. Thankfully I didn't get the job back home in Boston, and stuck it out at university. And I'm so pleased I did.

The past three years at Lincoln have been incredible. I truly believe that you get out of life what you put into it, so I'm so pleased I made the most of my course and took up the offer of getting more involved than just going to a few lectures and seminars. Working for The Linc (www.thelinc.co.uk) has been fantastic, and seeing it go from strength to strength in the two years that I worked on the newspaper has been wonderful. Daniel should be proud of his progress in the past year, and I hope Dave is proud that The Linc has flourished so much.

Undoubtedly, the advice from my course and tutors encouraged me to set up my own magazine, Lincolnshire Golfer (www.lincolnshiregolfer.co.uk) which endured a six-month life span in my second year. Despite deciding to put the magazine on hold due to coursework, and dissertation etc, I am still very passionate about Lincolnshire Golfer and will no doubt, pick it up again when I finish university.

Being involved in the Student Elections this year is most definitely a highlight of my final year at university. Looking back through my posts from the two weeks of elections reminds me of how great it was to campaign, speak to students, and try and get them to vote. I'm still very proud to have run in the elections and I truly wish Emma, and the rest of the team, the best of luck next year.

But what has really made my time so special at the University of Lincoln is the people. I've lived with Lauren now for three years, and I'm still not sick of her surprisingly. I met Helen and Sam in the first year, and as a four, we are a very close group. Living with them this year has been fantastic, and I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do when everyone goes back home to Grimsby, Devon and Gibraltar!

Everyone else knows exactly who they are, and I'm not going to list everyone off. But my time at university wouldn't be the same without any of them; whether its living with them here, sharing a tent in the Peak District and a cottage in Norfolk, or just randomly walking me home when I'm drunk and having a great night out in the Engine Shed (most Wednesday's and Saturday's). And Scream. And Sakura.

It seems strange that this part of my life is over, and hard to believe that I have to start a new stage of my life that involves a real 9 - 5 job and a house with bills and council tax! In a way, I'm really looking forward to working though, and actually earning some money. Being a student is so taxing on your wallet!

They think its all over.....

So, I lost. But it's all good!!

Emma Devine is officially the Media and Communications Officer, and I truly am happy for her. Emma has been working so hard throughout the year in preperation for this role in the SU, and I'm happy to have been able to contest her.

The last two weeks have been stressful, tiring, nerveracking - but absolutely fantastic!

My campaign team have worked so hard in promoting the elections from helping me poster the uni to getting drunk on our 118 themed night out during Campaign Week, and I couldn't have done it without them! So thank you......Lauren, Helen, Sam, Katie, Luke, Richard, Nick, Matt, Tom F, Jamie, Gareth, Kelly, Phillippa, Pippa, Emma, Lizzie, Jason, Mike, Ben, Dave, Dean (and everyone else!)

I've made so many good friends the past few weeks as well. Everyone campaigning has made such an effort to chat to each other and help each other out as much as possible. I really think I've made some good mates and I truly wish the new team the best of luck for next year! So thank you......Emma and David for putting up such a good fight, Tom H for flyering and spreading the word with me, Chris C for giving me support and advice for about the past month! Steve and Chris F for always chatting away, and everyone else: Stacie, James, Daniel H, Tony, Daniel H, Nic, Kayleigh, Ben L, Steve, Ben A, Dan D, Steve, Emily. And of course everyone else at the SU: Dan W, Chris R, Maria, Vicky, Marianne, Amanda (and anyone else I've missed!)

Last night was such a great night for election results, followed by an awesome night in Scream with my friends: it couldn't have been a better end to the campaign (except winning obviously lol). But, thank you to everyone for your support, it really has meant a lot. Thank you to everyone who voted...337 first votes and 380 in total is something I'm very proud of!

Now I guess I'm actually gonna have to get a job in the real world! Although this might still keep me in Lincoln as I'm not entirely sure I'm ready to leave just yet....!

Riseholme, TPH & only 17 hours to go!!

So today, I followed the roaming ballot box to Riseholme and Thomas Parker with a few other candidates - and it was nice to sit with everyone and chat to a few students. I think I realised more importantly however, how much I really do want this job.

And, after a minor meltdown due to tiredness from the past few weeks, the stress of dissertation and everything else, I realised that I really am nervous about tomorrow's results.

Every candidate has put in so much effort in their campaigns this year, and it's sad to think that only five of us will actually get full-time positions. So good luck to everyone, and I hope we have a fantastic night tomorrow night, whatever the results.

Until then, there's still 17 hours left to get voting for all of you who still haven't, or know someone who hasn't, go online. Every vote means so much.

Cook 4 Comms.

Vote NOW at www.lincolnsu.com/elections

Well, voting has officially started and if you haven't already voted, please do so at www.lincolsu.com/elections. Everyone has been so great so far in my campaign, but now I really need people to vote, so please tell your friends if they haven't voted either.

Myself and Tom (who's running for President: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=56983785377&ref=ts) saw some of you guys this afternoon as we walked around the Student Village, Hayes Wharf and Brayford Quays, but for those of you who we missed, feel free to ask us any questions you have about anything!

I want to re-iterate that in my manifesto I pledged to get the SU more involved with the students and ensure everyone knows who we are, so what better way than to come and see you personally and tell you about elections?

I hope you can see that I'm actually practising what I preach!

Thank you to everyone who has voted so far - it is greatly appreciated. But please encourage your friends to vote, as every vote counts.

Cook 4 Comms!

Scream!

I had such a fantastic night at Fat Poppadaddys last night with my trusted campaign team (Lauren and Helen!) and just wanted to thank everyone for their positive comments.

From people who said they had voted, to those who said they loved our 118 t-shirts (which I've lived in permanently for the past ten days so far.....), I was encouraged so much by the amount of response I had from everyone. So thank you so much!

What I also really enjoyed about last night - and I hope it was appreciated by everyone in Scream - was that I didn't bombard everyone with stickers. You may have all seen my 'Cook 4 Comms' stickers around, and I do think stickers are a good idea to get peoples attention.

But last night, in my t-shirt, all I wanted to do was have a good night out with my friends and have a good old dance. So apologies for the mental dancing to Phat Lip, but I truly had a good night, and hope you guys did too!

Thank you again - vote now at www.lincolnsu.com/elections, Cook 4 Comms!

A quiet drink?

So after a few days off from campaigning and some serious work taking place in my house, Lauren and I sported our 118 t-shirts for a quiet drink and a few games of pool in The Shed last night.

A quiet drink that led to the Engine Shed and MacDonalds!

And despite there only being two of us in our t-shirts, we were still rallying support for the campaign and managed to sticker almost everyone in the Engine Shed so can't have been too bad an effort!

Cook 4 Comms.

FEVER PITCH!

For those of you lucky enough to see me in the Engine Shed last night, you will have seen my entire campaign army dressed in 118 gear with photographs of my face on their back! For those of you who didn't, the photo above explains all the carnage that ensued.

From stickering people to shouting Cook 4 Comms in the middle of the Engine Shed, I think we did a good job at promoting the campaign and getting my face out there.

So, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my friends for being so great last night and putting in so much effort throughout the entire campaign. I couldn't have done it without you all!

Hustings at Hull

After a successful evening last night in the Tower Bars, todays hustings at our Hull campus was extremely useful in gaining an insight into how it is isolated from the rest of the University of Lincoln.

Communication is such a big factor in developing the relationship between the Brayford Campus and Hull, and this is something that was definitely highlighted by todays trip.

Returning from Hull, I continued campaigning round campus and will hopefully get chance to visit Halls of Residence tonight before continuing tomorrow.

Until then, vote Cook 4 Comms!

Campaign Week BEGINS!

You may have seen me walking around campus today, or at least seen my photo sprawled across the university, and it's been a hectic day so far with Lincoln's campaign week starting at 9am this morning.

After collecting posters and unravelling banners at either end of the Main Building, my wonderful campaign team (who I forced out of bed at 7.30am this morning!) helped me plaster myself around the university.

Our first hustings took place at Riseholme at Midday which gave all candidates a chance to explain the key points of their manifesto and why they're running for the position. Hustings are also tonight at 5pm in The Tower Bar.

Tonight will see more campaigning and then hopefully a bit of sleep before another gruelling day tomorrow. This week is going to be so tiring! But all good fun, so will hopefully see you guys around too.

And remember, vote 'Cook 4 Comms'!

VOTE 'Cook 4 Comms'!

Hey everyone,

I'm currently running for Media and Communications Officer in the Lincoln Student Union elections and wanted to take this time to briefly outline my manifesto and hopefully gain your support in my campaign. If you support my ideas for our SU, tell your friends and vote, 'Cook 4 Comms'!

What do I want to achieve?

• Freshers Week is an important part of any student's life and I want to make sure new students at our university get the right experience. After speaking to students it's clear that people were unsure who our officers were and where to find them, so I want to make sure our officers are easily accessible throughout the week, and the rest of the year.
  


• I want to get students informed and involved in Lincoln's Student Union. I think it's necessary to involve all students, at all campuses (Riseholme, Holbeach and Hull as well as Lincoln's Brayford campus) and if elected, will include all sites in Lincoln's SU.
  


• Our student website needs a drastic revamp so I intend to keep it regularly updated with SU and Athletic Union results and news. I also want to make the website a multi-media platform for the students with podcasts/videocasts of our officers, to let everyone know what our SU are doing.
  


• Finally, I want to launch SUTV; a student television channel to communicate with the student body.

I want to make Lincoln an up-to-date Union that students feel proud to be part of.

I've had extensive experience in communications having been Sports Editor of student newspaper The Linc, contributed to Bullet magazine and studied a degree in journalism.

So what now?

Look for the people dressed in ridiculous 118 118 costumes thoughout campaign week, log on to www.lincolnsu.com/elections and vote, 'Cook 4 Comms'!