| Product: |
Glasgow University Union in general |
| Date: |
18/06/02 (112 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Pool tables, Quiz machines
Disadvantages: Exclusive, Unclean
If you're a student at Glasgow University, you're going to want to join one of the two unions (the other one being the Queen Margaret Union, or QM). Historically, the GU was the men's union; the QM was the union of the all-women Queen Margaret College, but, after it merged with the University, it became co-ed first. The GU held out for as long as was legally possible.
The choice will be pre-ordained in many cases:
Politics:
The GU attracts the more conservative types.
Appearance:
You would look out of place at the GU if you have died hair or a penchant for leather. However, if you stay on the tidy side of scruffy, you'll be fine.
Subject:
Generally (of course this isn't a hard and fast rule) the GU attracts Medics, Dentists, Lawyers, Accountants and Engineers.
Class:
The GU is a firmly middle-to-upper class establishment. It can be a bit snooty in this respect.
Sport:
If you are in GUSA (Glasgow University Sports Association), you will probably find that the team you want to play for is affiliated with the GU.
Drinking:
The GU has a lot more bars than its competitor.
Daft Friday:
On the last Friday of the first term (the eponymous Friday), there is a 12-hour, ticketed party. Tickets can only be bought in pairs, it includes your dinner, and it's meant to be excellent.
If you feel that you fit most of these categories, and you aren't blanked completely at Freshers' Week by the people at the door, then you should think about joining the GU.
Of course, you needn't join the GU to use its facilities. I can't really give an in-depth review of everything in the GU, and the specific opinions would be better suited to that purpose. Nevertheless:
Beer Bar:
Downstairs and to the left as you come in. Straightforward bar, with reasonable fried/fast-food servery. The chips that they serve here are better than tho
se from the dining room, IMHO. Sticky floor though.
Games Machines:
Outside the Beer Bar, with outposts in (I think) Altitude and Deep 6. These pay out the best of all the machines on campus.
Smoke Room (Pool tables):
Three pool tables, some dodgy looking plasticky seats, a projection-screen TV and smoke. In here for any sporting events; the pool tables are quite small and the balls light, but they're not too bad.
Dining Room:
Come here for the sandwich or pizza option. Standard student fare, and reasonably priced.
Shop:
Buy your lab books here (not in The Hub Shop), as they're far cheaper.
The Extension:
Although GU members often claim that they're building is architecturally superior to the QM (being 19th century to the QM's 1960's concrete monstrosity), they tend to forget that most of the bars are found in this horrible bolted-on concrete hovel. It smells permanently of disinfectant, and is accessed in two ways. Either from the doors on Gibson St. (at night when the Hive is open) or from a winding passageway on the first floor of the main-building. The Extension houses The Hive, Deep 6 and Altitude.
The Hive:
See the more detailed opinions in the The Hive section for details, but it's a nightclub, nicknamed "The Dive" and not without good reason.
Deep 6:
Again, there is a separate section for this, but Deep 6's main claim to fame is its "Dirty" night. Not one for the squeamish, sufficed to say it features people (male and female) taking their clothes off for beer tokens.
Altitude:
My personal favourite of the three, laid-back Altitude is upstairs in the Extension. Perhaps its remoteness contributes to this fact. It has about six sofas, arranged around four tables, so on busy days, it fills up quickly. It also has three spiffy-looking, chrome-covered pool tables (with slightly heavier balls than in the Smoke Room)
, although watch out for the slope, with which I have confounded my friends in the past.
There is also a snooker room, debating chamber, library, and other things which I probably haven't come across.
There are cash machines downstairs and to the right as you come in, and in the Extension. There are definitely toilets downstairs and to the right as you come in, on the passageway between the main building and the extension and outside Altitude. There may be more, but I don't seek them out because they are appropriately horrendous.
A final word on the "Which union should I join?" issue:
It looks like the time will come (quite soon), when the two unions will merge. (The QM is all for it, as usual the GU is holding out). By then, it won't matter. I would join the union whose stereotype I fit most closely, then go and use the other one anyway.
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