As the second week of Hilary Term begins, it’s easy to get stressed and overwhelmed. Fortunately, there are plenty of events this week in college to help you relax and forget about your troubles for a few hours. This week is also body and soul week, an initiative ran by Trinity College Student’s Union. The aim of the week is “feeling good about ourselves, celebrating our bodies, and acknowledging our anxieties”, to help students reach this goal are a variety of sports classes and public speaking workshops that have been organised.
Monday
For anyone who has ever been interested in a career in foreign affairs, SOFIA will be hosting a talk on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade at 7pm tonight in the Synge Theatre. The political director, Barrie Robinson, will be explaining their role and how they work. At 7.30pm, DU Pharmaceutical Students Association are hosting a wine reception in celebration of their recent protests against the removal of pay from their internships. There’ll be free drinks in the atrium before they move on to the Pav later in the evening.
Tuesday
On Tuesday at 3pm, Trinity Free Legal Aid Clinic and DU Gender Equality Society have organised a workshop on how to recognise domestic violence and the services available to women who experience it. The workshop will be delivered in the Eliz room by Ruth Dunne, a Trainer with Women’s Aid, which has been working for over 40 years to try to end violence against women and children. The workshop is free but the two societies will also be accepting donations in aid of the very important cause.
Later, at 5pm, Trinity Visual Arts Society and DU Classical Society are joining forces for their Classical Paint and Sip in the Phil Conversation room. There you’ll be given the opportunity to drink wine and display your artistic abilities by painting your vision of the past. At 6pm, Trinity’s Fashion Society and Environmental Society are bringing both the desire to shop and save the environment together by holding a swap shop in the Atrium for anyone who wants to get rid of the clothes they no longer wear. You can exchange one item of clothing for someone else’s, so you can try new styles and protect the environment by ensuring no clothes go to waste. Afterwards, at 6.30pm, Qsoc are screening Colette, a film about the Nobel Prize winning author in the Joly Theatre. The film, starring Keira Knightley, details Colette’s frustration at the lack of credit for her books at the beginning of the 20th century and her struggle to gain credit for them.
Politics Society, in conjunction with Trinity Labour, will be hosting a talk on the future of Northern Ireland after Brexit. Speaking at the event will be the leader of the Labour Party, Brendan Howlin, at 7.15pm in the MacNeil theatre. Howlin, who has served as Chief Whip, Minister for Health, and Leas-Cheann Comhairle, will be awarded honorary membership of the politics society and will give his thoughts on what Britain’s exit from the European Union means for both the Good Friday Agreement and the possibility of Irish reunification.
Wednesday
On Wednesday the Phil will be presenting the Bram Stoker Award to Irish authors Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen at 1pm in the GMB. Former roommates, they have gone on to publish two novels together, Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling and The Importance of Being Aisling. If that doesn’t satisfy your desire for literature, at 3pm Trinity Literary Society are visiting the Yeats Exhibition in the National Library of Ireland. The exhibition displays the life and work of the esteemed poet and is set to be intriguing. At 6pm, TCDSU are meeting in an open forum in 2039 in the Arts block to provide students the opportunity to ask questions about Trinity’s Education Programme. Trinity’s Vice Provost, Professor Chris Morash, will be there along with other members of staff to help answer queries.
Later that evening, Trinity Global Development Society and Engineering Society are hosting a talk from Martijn Schildkamp, of Smart Shelter Research, at 6.30pm in the Global Room. Schildkamp has developed dozens of projects across Asia and is currently a visiting professor at the University of Kyoto. At 7pm, Trinity Law Society are hosting The Jigsaw Jive in Workman’s with all earnings from the event going to Jigsaw, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health in Ireland. Tickets are only €10 and a talented line up will be performing throughout the night. Meanwhile, in the GMB the Hist are meeting at 7.30pm to decide if This House Regrets Monogamy.
Thursday
At 4pm, the Hist will welcome Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, the creators of Welcome to the Night Vale. This popular podcast follows the fictional town of Night Vale in the form of community updates, Fink and Cranor will be awarded the Burke Medal for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts. On Thursday, the Mature Students Society are having drinks in the Gingerman Pub at 5.30p to ease the stress of the new term. At 7pm, DU Archaeological Society will be holding a lecture from Dr Karen Radner on Running An Empire: The Assyrian Way in room 2041B. The lecture will explain the structure and organisation of the Assyrian Empire with refreshments provided as well.
That evening, at 7.30pm, the Phil and the Hist will be holding the Trinity Women’s Open Final, the biggest all-female debating competition in the country. The motion will be revealed 15 minutes before the debate begins, featuring some of debating’s best speakers it is set to be a competitive night. To round off the night, Trinity Ents along with DU Snow Sports Society, Cumann Gaelach, renowned DJs and social media page Humans of the Sesh, are hosting a night out in Opium at 10pm.
Friday
On Friday, at 11am, the Phil in association with DU PhySoc, will award the Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage to Emily Levesque, a professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Washington. Levesque is renowned for her work on massive stars and has received the Annie Jump Cannon award for her work on gamma ray bursts. Later on, at 6pm, Trinity Barbell are hosting a nutrition seminar in room 3501 of the Arts Block. Rachel Brown, a nutritionist and personal trainer, will be examining the importance of nutrition for performance and recovery and providing tips to all those who attend.
