My Stag Do & University | British English Podcast

[00:00:00]Hello everybody and welcome back to another episode of British English Pod with me Lewis and my croaky voice, my horse voice. Because last weekend I went on my stag do which is a British English way of saying my bachelor party. So as a result I have a croaky voice. But in this podcast, I'm going to tell you all about my stag due and then we're going to have a chat about university and review some relevant and difficult words and phrases related to the topic. So without further ado, let's get started.

[00:00:45][music] Yes, as I said, I have a croaky voice, a horse voice, so I might be stopping and rehydrating, having some water throughout this podcast. And just before I started recording, I had a little bit of honey. just literally a spoonful of honey because apparently honey is one of these home remedies to be able to make you feel better when you have a sore throat or a croaky voice.

[00:01:19]But it's a pleasure to be here. Of course, I'm wearing my England top and I'm recording this just before the semifinals of the World Cup. I'm recording it on Tuesday the 14th.

[00:01:35]Tonight it is Spain against France. I will be rooting for Spain, of course, because my fiance is Spanish and I used to live in Spain. So, come on, Spain.

[00:01:49]And then tomorrow it is England against Argentina.

[00:01:55]Interesting. And this is the first time that Lenol Messi, the best player of all time, is playing against the English national side. So like most English people when it comes to football, we are very pessimistic.

[00:02:12]We always think that we are going to lose. Of course, we're always chanting, "It's coming home. It's coming.

[00:02:20]Football's coming home." But this is quite sarcastic. It's quite ironic and it's just a catchy song. Nobody in England actually thinks that we're going to win the World Cup. I think against Argentina, it's 50/50.

[00:02:39]It's like tossing a coin. So, we might get lucky and our best players will make the difference, but Argentina might get lucky and their best players will make the difference. So, fingers crossed for both Spain and England. But if, and it's a big if, Spain played against England in the final of the World Cup, just like the final of the Euros two years ago, for me and my fiance, this could be make or break. I don't know if there would be a wedding if Spain beat England in the final. But hey, let's not get ahead of ourselves because in order for that to even become a discussion, both of our countries need to get there. So, let's see what happens. By the time this is released, we will already know what the final is. So, we'll see. Anything could happen. But let me know, who are you rooting for in the final? Who would you like to win? depending on who qualifies. Is it Spain, England, France, or Argentina? Let me know in the comments. And now, let me tell you a little bit about my stagd because on the podcast I've mentioned a few times the word stagd. And remember, stagd is bachelor party. For women, it is hend and bachelorette party.

[00:04:15]One year ago, I went on a friend's stagdo.

[00:04:20]One month ago, I went on another friend's stagdo. And this last weekend, it was my time. My moment had arrived for my own stag do.

[00:04:32]And usually the way that you organize this in I think a lot of countries, but I'll tell you about my experience in the UK is I selected some of my best friends from different periods of time in my life living in different places and some family members.

[00:04:52]I added all of them to a WhatsApp group.

[00:04:55]And then I sent a message and I did this maybe three months ago and simply said, "Guys, this is my stagd do group. I've selected you to join me in celebrating my final days of being legally single."

[00:05:15]So it was a group of about 20 people, the vast majority of which come from my primary school, my secondary school, because to be honest, from university, I haven't really kept touch with that many of my close friends, which is a shame, but it is what it is. And I have kept in touch with all of my friends from my hometown.

[00:05:42]So that was the majority of the group with a couple of friends from Seville, a couple of friends from Brussels, my cousin and my brother-in-law.

[00:05:53]A few of them unfortunately dropped out.

[00:05:56]And to drop out is when well you leave a group essentially. It could also be dropping out of university if you stop studying something at uni. But in this case, they dropped out of the plan. They dropped out of the stag for financial reasons, previous commitments. They had various different explanations.

[00:06:24]And uh well, I didn't know where we were going to go. I didn't know the location.

[00:06:31]And I didn't really mind if it was a surprise or not. But usually for stagdos and hendus the person who is going to get married doesn't really know anything. Most things are a surprise.

[00:06:46]But having said that, when I went to Poland on another stagu one month ago, one of my friends after a few too many beers told me, "Louis, I'm really sorry, but I can't make it to your stag, but I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time in Dublin."

[00:07:09]And I remember being like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought it was a surprise. I didn't know anything. I didn't know where we were going to go.

[00:07:20]So, I kind of, you know, didn't really listen. I turned a blind eye to it as if it went in one ear and out the other.

[00:07:32]And I didn't want to get confirmation that my Stag 2 was going to be in Dublin. So, I ignored it.

[00:07:42]But then when I went back home and spent time with my family, my younger cousin said, "Oh, it's going to be great because I've never been to Dublin."

[00:07:55]So he realized as he was saying it, but clearly he was going to say Dublin. He said, "I've never been to Dublin." So he almost corrected himself, but not quite.

[00:08:10]So then I had the confirmation that I knew 100% I was going to go to Dublin, which I was very happy about.

[00:08:22]One, because it's a very short flight from Brussels to Dublin. It's 1 hour and 15 minutes.

[00:08:29]Two, I have never been to Ireland. I had been to Belfast before for a day, but I'd never been to the Republic of Ireland. I'd never been to its capital, Dublin. So, I was excited. And well, Dublin is famous for a few things.

[00:08:49]Most of these things are, well, very low company taxes at the moment, but other than that, live music, pubs, Guinness, and good crack.

[00:09:05]And when I say crack, it is the equivalent of banter in British English.

[00:09:11]So an Irish person may say, "Ah, he's good crack." And it means that that person is a friendly, joking, happy person.

[00:09:24]And another typical Irish phrase is what's the crack? Which is another way of saying what's going on? What's happening? And this is crack as C R A I C.

[00:09:39]Good crack and what's the crack? So good crack is good vibes. What's the crack is what's happening. So I knew that Dublin was going to be a very very fun place to go because it is good crack, good music, lots of Guinness and yeah, good vibes.

[00:10:02]So anyway, Friday morning, last Friday, I woke up at 6:00 in the morning, so it was an early start. And I knew I was going to be traveling with my two friends here in Brussels.

[00:10:21]and being quite ambitious and brave and wanting to feel good before starting to drink a lot and eat a lot. I went for a run as soon as I woke up. So, I did 5 km Friday morning at about 6:00 a.m. just before getting an Uber to go to the airport and then fly to Dublin.

[00:10:47]And I didn't manage to sleep on the flight, which was a bit annoying, but I was excited. I was buzzing. I couldn't wait because it's one of the few moments when you know you're going to have all of your friends in the same place at the same time. That doesn't happen very often except for weddings and stagdos.

[00:11:10]So that might explain why I couldn't fall asleep.

[00:11:16]And we arrived. We have a heat wave at the moment all across Europe. An island strangely is no different. And it was 23 24 25° very sunny. So of course it's a bit cooler than it is in London or Brussels, but still lovely weather.

[00:11:39]And you might be able to tell that I think I've caught the sun. I think I've got a little bit of a tan.

[00:11:48]And well, uh, when I saw my friends, of course, I went up to them, gave them a hug. I was like, "Oh, nice to see you.

[00:11:56]Long time no see. Thanks for making it."

[00:12:00]And then whilst waiting for different groups to arrive, we were outside in beer gardens having some drinks, catching up and you know having a good time. And we did that until everybody arrived and then we went to the hostel.

[00:12:22]So I was staying in a hostel with a dorm room of 10 different beds.

[00:12:30]So, there were 10 relatively young but almost middle-aged men in the same room. So, you can imagine it was smelly and [laughter] it was a little bit dirty as well, but no complaints. We had a great time. And one thing that happens quite a lot when it is your stag do is that your friends will buy you some kind of costume, some kind of fancy dress to make you look a little bit stupid and ridiculous. And well, after I got changed and got a shower, ready to go out and go on a pub crawl, visiting various different pubs and seeing lots of live music.

[00:13:20]One of my mates gave me a skirt and a very female floral top and I had to put it on because you only get married once in theory and you only have a stag do once. So I couldn't really say no. So, I had to get changed and I put on a skirt and a very feminine top and I had to walk with my mates all around the city center wearing this outfit all night long.

[00:13:56]Luckily, there are very few photos and I have decided not to share them online.

[00:14:03]So, that will stay uh with me and nobody will ever see me in a skirt.

[00:14:10]But yeah, continuing, we saw live music.

[00:14:14]I had to drink lots of shots. I was singing. I was dancing. There was a moment in the night when I got on one of my friends shoulders watching a live band play. And I weigh quite a lot. So my friend, he took one for the team. and his shoulders must have been hurting after lifting me up on his shoulders and dancing with me for a few minutes.

[00:14:43]And on the Friday, we also saw Spain beat Belgium in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. So that was good news as well. And uh yeah, the rest is history.

[00:14:56]We continued partying, having fun with my mates until about 2 or 3:00 in the morning when we headed back to the hostel and went to sleep.

[00:15:11]And we probably slept for about 6 hours, give or take.

[00:15:16]And when we woke up, we had some breakfast at the hostel, which was the typical English breakfast, in this case, an Irish breakfast with beans, eggs, sausages, bacon, toast, and so on. So, that was good to fill ourselves up and line our stomachs before going out and partying again.

[00:15:42]But we had an activity first thing in the morning. And that activity was to go kayaking. So again, I got changed, ready to go out like a normal guy. And then my friends gave me a female swimming suit.

[00:16:01]So it wasn't a bikini, thank God, but it was a swimsuit. And it it it would didn't feel good, [laughter] but I put it on. It was embarrassing, but I put it on and I walked to the river from the hostel about 20 minutes with lots of people staring at me and looking at me whilst I was wearing a swimsuit.

[00:16:29]It was embarrassing, but I think I was still on a high. I was still slightly drunk from the night before, so I wasn't as embarrassed. I wasn't as ashamed. And I was wearing sunglasses, so at least I didn't need to stare at anybody in the eyes. And Irish people can be quite funny. So there were a lot of funny comments that people made laughing at me. And it was clear that I was the stag on a stag do. So, [snorts] it happens.

[00:17:07]Luckily, that was the last time I had to dress up. Thank God.

[00:17:12]But no, we went kayaking along the river up the uh coast as well, and it was a good way to see Dublin in a different way, from a different angle and a different perspective. And that way, we did some exercise and we were able to cool down. So, it was a good way to kick off the second day. And the second day was very similar to the first day. We went on a pub crawl, going from bar to bar, pub to pub, getting some rounds in, and seeing as much live music as possible until the nighttime, which was when England were going to play against Norway.

[00:17:58]and my friends had found probably the biggest and coolest sports bar that I have ever seen. Genuinely, it was jawdroppingly beautiful from a football fan's point of view because we walked in at about 9:00, maybe half 8, and kickoff was at 10:00 and there were screens everywhere with one huge screen, bigger than a cinema screen, and lots of smaller screens in every direction.

[00:18:39]There was an underground, there was ground floor, there was a first floor, they had live music there as well. It was incredible and it was a good vibe as well because you had some other groups of English people who were there like us and then obviously all Irish people were supporting Norway and I think any other foreigners were also supporting Norway which is to be expected because Norway were the underdogs, the team that is less of a favorite and Um, I have lost my voice a little bit partly because I was singing, screaming, shouting, celebrating, complaining.

[00:19:28]It was literally a roller coaster of emotions.

[00:19:35]At the beginning of the match, we were all disappointed and frustrated and angry, and then we suddenly got really happy. and then unhappy and then happy.

[00:19:47]And honestly, it was pretty perfect in the end because it was a match that had everything.

[00:19:56]Disallowed goals, contentious decisions, beautiful goals, extra time. So, it was the cherry on top. It was the icing on top of the cake because if England had lost, it would maybe maybe have been a little bit disappointing. We would have been a little bit angry, but we would have had fun anyway. But knowing now that England won, of course, it made the day. It meant that Saturday was so much better than it would have been had Norway beaten us.

[00:20:40]But they didn't. We got slightly lucky.

[00:20:43]We probably deserved it just. And now we are in the semi-final.

[00:20:50]And then the final day on Sunday, half of the people left in the morning. The rest of us went for a walk. We went for some food. We went to a park. We did the Guinness factory tour as well. And then we checked in at a hotel because on Monday morning we had to wake up at 4:00 in the morning to go to the airport and uh get the flight back.

[00:21:18]So suffice to say yesterday, Monday was painful. [gasps] It was a long day. I taught my classes in the evening but luckily I blocked my morning so I could come and go straight to bed. And uh the classes were fun because it was with students I have been teaching for a long time who are basically like friends. So they understood that my voice was very croaky and horsearse and they accepted it. And by the way this hardly ever happens.

[00:21:55]Normally when I'm teaching I'm always with plenty of energy full of beans but a stagd do is a stagd do. So I think people can understand why I was a little bit low on energy. And this is a reminder if you'd like to join any of my classes or download my application there is a link in the video description as always. And that's it. That is all you need to know about my stag. I had a ball. I had a blast. I had an amazing time. And now I'm looking forward to the wedding in October. But we will cross that bridge when we get to it. And now let's move on and do a little bit of this week's topic in my classes which is all about university.

[00:22:49]And we'll start with some vocabulary.

[00:22:51]So, what you have to do is guess the word. So, I'm going to read the short definition and you have to try to guess the word. I'll only give you a few seconds.

[00:23:05]Money borrowed to pay for university.

[00:23:09]What is the term of money borrowed to pay for university?

[00:23:14]It is a student loan. You get a student loan to study at uni. Next, a long piece of academic research. Hm.

[00:23:30]What's it called? What word is it describing?

[00:23:35]A long piece of academic research is a dissertation.

[00:23:42]Some people also call it a thesis.

[00:23:45]a dissertation or a thesis.

[00:23:50]Next, copying someone else's work and pretending it's yours.

[00:23:58]What could this word be in academic terms when you are using other people's work and saying that you did it yourself?

[00:24:09]It is plagiarism and the verb is to plagiarize.

[00:24:18]A student studying for their first degree.

[00:24:23]If you are doing your first degree, it is an undergraduate degree. Then if it is your second degree like a master's it is a postgraduate.

[00:24:39]Next the final date for submitting work.

[00:24:44]It is a deadline just like it is in a work scenario as well.

[00:24:54]The first week for new university students.

[00:24:59]what's it called? If you're in your first year at university, you are a fresher. So, the first week is freshers week, which is usually when you have lots of activities, lots of parties, and you're getting to know all of your new friends.

[00:25:19]Now, phrasal verb to leave university before finishing. It is drop out.

[00:25:30]Now, former universities, sorry, former students of a university, they're known as alumni, a Latin word, alumni. If you go to Cambridge or Oxford, you will see all of the famous alumni and financial support for students.

[00:25:58]If you cannot afford to go to university, you might be able to get a scholarship. And this is if you are good at sports or your family aren't able to pay for you, but you're quite academic, you may be able to get a scholarship or a grant and universityowned student accommodation.

[00:26:27]This is halls, student halls or halls of residence.

[00:26:36]Good. Now, that's a little bit of an introduction to some relatively advanced words and phrases related to the topic.

[00:26:45]We're going to look at some other ones, but now just tell me, let me know. Did you go to uni? Did you go to university?

[00:26:57]Let me know in the comments. I went to university and I went to the University of Liverpool and maybe I've said this on the podcast before but I had two options to study languages which is what I chose in the end or to do physiootherapy because my dream at the time was to live abroad and work for I don't know football club Barcelona. owner and be their physiootherapist.

[00:27:33]But when I started to look into it, I realized that hm most physiootherapists actually it's not as glamorous. The majority help people who are struggling with limited mobility and they're not actually sports physiootherapists.

[00:27:53]And that's why I chose to do languages just because it opened up more doors and allowed me to continue figuring out what I wanted to do with my life without specifically going down one concrete path.

[00:28:11]But yeah, it was a tough choice. I was uming and aing about it for a few months thinking, which one should I do? What should I go for?

[00:28:23]And because of my indecision, that's why I chose to do languages because I thought then I can make my decision in the future. It's a problem for future Lewis.

[00:28:40]But now the second question, if you could go back in time, would you do the same degree? Hm.

[00:28:51]If I could go back in time, I probably wouldn't go to university to be honest.

[00:29:00]But that is only because of my specific situation where I work as my own boss.

[00:29:07]So right now I don't really need any of the qualifications I got. And it was a little bit of a waste of time in some ways, not in every way, but if I had started working sooner when I was 18 or 19, maybe living abroad, I would have improved my language skills and I could have still worked as an English teacher.

[00:29:36]So, for that reason, no. If I could go back in time, I wouldn't do the same degree to be honest. I wouldn't do any degree because then I'd be able to start working and exploring being younger. But nowadays, I think about that. But in the past, I didn't have that kind of mindset and mentality. So, it's difficult to say. But no, I wouldn't go to uni again.

[00:30:06]And one of the reasons is because of how expensive university is in the United Kingdom. I was explaining this to students yesterday that in the UK we have a student loan system where you can go to university and the company will pay for your student tuition, your tuition fees and your accommodation and living expenses.

[00:30:37]So when I went to university, you would get a loan of about seven more or less, yeah, $7,000 per year to pay for 50% tuition fees and 50% accommodation and living costs.

[00:30:57]And I went to university for 4 years. So you can do the maths. And then with any loan there is always interest. So every year that I don't pay off the loan that amount goes up and up and up. So now I am in a lot of debt as you can imagine.

[00:31:22]But the positive thing is that this is a debt and a loan that you only start to pay back when you hit a certain threshold, which in the United Kingdom is when you start earning around £30,000 per year. That's when you start paying it off. And of course, if you earn lots and lots, you have to pay off more than if you earn just above £30,000 per year.

[00:31:56]So, in my scenario, living abroad in a country where salaries were lower in Spain, I didn't need to pay it off until until I moved here to Brussels and I started working for myself to be honest.

[00:32:13]So, I am still in a lot of debt, but every month I pay maybe £50 towards my student loan. So, if that continues, I will never ever pay it off.

[00:32:30]And after, I think, 25 years, that student loan is forgotten about.

[00:32:37]It's eliminated. It's removed.

[00:32:42]And now it has been I think 12 years since I graduated.

[00:32:49]So in 13 years I will no longer have any student loan debt and I doubt I'm going to pay it off. I highly doubt it. So I guess if you think of it like that it makes sense or at least it's not such a bad loan.

[00:33:13]But still in my case, I don't think it's worth going to university unless you want to do dentistry, medicine, law, engineering, and more complicated degrees.

[00:33:32]Moving on to the fifth question. Do people party too much while at uni?

[00:33:40]Well, I think I partied a lot at university, but I don't know if it was too much because I think if you're not going to go out, make friends, and party when you're 18, 19, 20, 21, then when are you going to do it? You need to make the most of your youth, of your late teens and your early 20s. So, I partied quite a lot at university and I made a lot of friends while at university.

[00:34:16]Unfortunately, since leaving uni, I haven't kept in touch with the majority, but I partied a lot. Most people partied a lot, but I don't think it was too much because just like with my stag do, I had a ball. I had a great time.

[00:34:37]Now, forgive my croaky voice, but from this point, we're gonna have a look at a dialogue.

[00:34:47]And this dialogue is between two people speaking about just starting university.

[00:34:53]And it includes a lot of advanced words and phrases. So, if you don't understand any of these words, send me a message on Instagram or type in a comment and I'll explain it to you.

[00:35:08]But we will be reviewing 10 of these words. So, some of them you might not understand, but even if you don't understand them all, don't worry. I'm going to explain and review them after the reading the dialogue.

[00:35:25]And I should probably have some water.

[00:35:27]So, cheers.

[00:35:34]So, we have two people, Emma and Jack.

[00:35:39]Let's go. Emma, how's uni going then? You settling in all right, Jack?

[00:35:48]Yeah, not too bad now. The first couple of weeks were a bit overwhelming, to be honest. I didn't know anyone and I kept getting lost on campus.

[00:35:59]Emma, that's completely normal. It takes a while to find your feet. Have you made many friends yet, Jack?

[00:36:11]Yeah, I've got a decent group now. We all met during freshers week and just sort of clicked.

[00:36:17]We hang out after lectures and sometimes head to the pub if no one's got loads of work on.

[00:36:24]Emma, nice.

[00:36:27]What are your flatmates like, Jack?

[00:36:32]They're all right, although one of them leaves dirty dishes everywhere. It drives everyone up the wall. We keep telling him to clean up after himself, but it goes in one ear and out the other.

[00:36:48]Emma, sounds about right. That's student life for you. How's your course, Jack?

[00:36:57]It's more challenging than I expected. I thought I'd be able to breeze through it, but there's so much reading to keep up with. I've had to cut back on going out during the week.

[00:37:11]Emma, better to stay on top of things than fall behind. Have you had any exams yet, Jack?

[00:37:22]Just one. I stayed up until 2 in the morning cramming, which wasn't exactly my brightest idea. My brain completely froze when I opened the paper.

[00:37:36]Emma, we've all been there. You can't leave everything until the last minute. Jack, I know. Next time I'll spread the revision out instead of trying to do it all in one go. Emma, are you working as well? Jack? Yeah, I picked up a part-time job in a cafe. The extra money comes in handy, but juggling work and uni can be a nightmare sometimes.

[00:38:05]Emma, I bet. Don't burn yourself out, though. It's easy to take on too much, Jack.

[00:38:14]Exactly. I'm trying to strike a balance.

[00:38:17]I still want to enjoy myself while I'm here. Emma, that's the right attitude.

[00:38:24]University isn't just about getting a degree. It's about meeting people, trying new things, and making memories.

[00:38:32]Jack, definitely. I've even signed up for the climbing society. I nearly talked myself out of it because I didn't know anyone, but I'm glad I went for it. Emma, good on you. That's how you get the most out of uni. Before you know it, you'll be in your final year wondering where all the time's gone. Jack, don't say that. I've only just got the hang of being a fresher.

[00:39:05]Okay, so there we had the dialogue, the conversation, the chat between Jack and Emma speaking about freshers week using lots of colloquial language, phrasal verbs and expressions. And as promised, here you have 10 of these difficult words and phrases. So let me match them.

[00:39:29]The first one is burn yourself out. This means to exhaust yourself.

[00:39:36]After that we have get the hang of which means to start to learn how to do something.

[00:39:44]Then if you find your feet, you are successfully adjusting to an environment.

[00:39:54]If you drive someone up the wall, you annoy them. You make them go crazy, go mad.

[00:40:05]If something goes in one ear and out the other, it means that this person doesn't listen or pay attention.

[00:40:17]If you breeze through something, you do it easily without any difficulty.

[00:40:25]Then if you are cutting back on the amount you go out, you're reducing the amount. It's the same as cutting down on.

[00:40:37]If something comes in handy, it's useful. It's handy.

[00:40:43]Then if you are juggling something, you are multitasking like a juggler.

[00:40:51]And lastly, if you talk yourself out of doing something, you convince yourself not to do it, while the opposite is talking yourself into it, which is convincing yourself to do something. So, there you have a recap of some of these words from the dialogue. If there were any others that you didn't understand, let me know. And we're going to have to stop there. So, I haven't completed this lesson plan with you today because I thought you might enjoy hearing a little bit more about my stagd do and I've got a class in 5 minutes. I should probably rest my voice for a little bit, but I would love to see you in class soon. So, as a reminder, check out the link in the video description and you can become one of my students and uh have a laugh whilst improving your English.

[00:41:49]Thank you everybody and I'll see you next time. Bye-bye.

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