Jess Connolly – Her Campus Durham
Name: Jess Connolly
Age: 21
Position: Editor-in-Chief and Campus Correspondent
Year at University: Final Year
Degree Subject: History
HCAU: What made you join Her Campus Durham to begin with?
Jess: I happened to pick up a very purple leaflet at the Freshers Fair in my first year at Durham. I’d done some writing and book reviewing at school so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to continue writing. It’s also just really nice to write about something other than History sometimes!
HCAU: How have you found being CC? What is the best and worst thing?
Jess: It’s been pretty fantastic so far – Charlie and I are lucky enough to be heading up a fantastic team of writers. The girls we’ve met up with so far have just been the loveliest people. It’s hard to think of a bad thing about being CC but I’d probably say I spend too much time thinking about exciting things to do with HC Durham when I should be working on my dissertation!
HCAU: What is your favourite season and why?
Jess: 100% Autumn. This time of year (when it’s not raining) is just so beautiful. Charlie has some awesome pictures of Durham looking very autumnal on the Her Campus Instagram – definitely worth a look! There are so many fun things this time of year too – Halloween, Bonfire Night, Christmas and it helps that I’m an October baby too! Lots of celebrating.
HCAU: What did you get up to for Halloween?
Jess: My housemates and I decided to be ‘very original’ and dress up as Spice Girl zombies for a friend’s party. I was Ginger Spice and secretly loved wearing her iconic Union Jack dress!
HCAU: What do you like to do in your spare time?
Jess: Other than doing lots of Her Campus stuff and writing articles, I work in a gorgeous tearoom in Durham. I’m a big fan of shows like The Great British Menu and Great British Bake Off and I look to cook and bake myself! When I’m at uni I like to go to Zumba classes at the Student Union – you can never listen to too much Enrique or Shakira!
HCAU: What type of articles do you write about the most?
Jess: I like to write about a wide variety of articles but I have to say that I do enjoy the food related articles the best! For our upcoming Female Health week, I’ve been inspired by my Mum who is a Health Visitor to write an article about the benefits of breastfeeding. This article will be very different to anything I’ve written before but I’m looking forward to learning more about the subject!
HCAU: Where is your favourite place to travel to?
Jess: I have been lucky enough to travel to some fabulous places including Australia, India and Cuba. However, my absolute favourite place in the whole world is an island off the West Coast of Scotland, famous for its whisky, called Islay! It’s the most beautiful island and if you’re lucky you often get one of the gorgeous beaches to yourself! My family even named our dog, Lottie after a village on Islay called Port Charlotte.
HCAU: That’s so funny, Jess. I also love Islay – what a coincidence! Where is somewhere you’d love to go but never have been?
Jess: A lot of my friends have been travelling to South-East Asia. I know it’s a cliché but I need to see for myself what the hype is about!
HCAU: What is Durham University like? Do students ever go to Newcastle for a night out?
Jess: Durham students talk about the ‘Durham bubble’. Because Durham is such a small place there is that tendency to get so caught up in it you forget places like Newcastle exist! We are very lucky to go to a university in a city with such fantastic buildings like Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle. The nightlife isn’t as bad as it’s made out to be either! Most people tend to stick to the clubs in Durham rather than paying for trains and taxis to Newcastle, but a lot of people head to the toon for events like Cirque.
HCAU: Is there anything Christmas related that you love we should include in our care package for HC Durham?
Jess: This is so exciting! Well, Her Campus Durham are having a big Christmas party at my house in December so it would be absolutely fantastic if you could include a few Christmas decorations or Christmassy food items in our care package! We’ll be sure to send you lots of photographs when it arrives.
Thank you for your time, Jess! We can’t wait for all our collaborations this year
HCXO!!