University is one of the most significant transitions many will ever embark on. It is a chance to study what you love and an opportunity to meet a lifelong community of like-minded people. Finally, you’re living independently and looking after your own physical and mental health.
One student believes that the key to a positive university experience is having the opportunity to continue to grow your social network throughout your degree. Sophie Warren, a fourth-year St Andrews student and part-time content creator, is changing the course of traditional student societies.
Warren’s creation: ‘Bubble Run Club’ – the newest addition to the St Andrews social scene – is giving some of the most well-known running clubs, in cities such as London and Edinburgh, quite literally, a run for their money. At the end of last semester, over coffee, Warren’s friend mentioned, ‘I wish there was a busy run club in St Andrews’. So, Warren started it the next day. The two chose a route and uploaded the first Instagram video of them running along West Sands beach.
For the first run club, which began and ended at Taste Coffee, 15 people showed up. For the following one, 30 people came. What started as friends showing their support quickly turned into a budding community. Now, runs take place to and from Spoiled Life, a coffee and lifestyle shop that provides a 50% discount for all runners. Although naturally circulated through word of mouth, Warren believes that the club’s popularity is spread 90% through social media due to her content output.
What surprised me was what came next. Warren said, ‘I didn’t purposely start the run club for exercise; I started it for people to meet others.’ She continued, ‘Obviously, some people run faster, some run slower, and if you go back, you meet a whole other group.’ The run club facilitates new connections, notably for first-year students who have been active in the club since the beginning of this semester. Many have ‘had coffee, walked home together and made new friends.’ For Warren, she said, ‘it’s the most fulfilling feeling ever’.
Since beginning the run club, Warren hopes to change certain aspects of university life. She often feels like ‘people in St Andrews can be quite intimidating.’ ‘It can seem daunting as a prestigious university where many establish friendships quickly’, especially as a first year. But people are often never as scary as they seem. For freshers, this is the message Warren wishes to spread. Sometimes, the easiest option is to spark up a conversation, approach people, and you never know the outcome. How often have you wanted to go up to someone but felt like you couldn’t? Warren hopes ‘Bubble Run’ is the perfect place to make friends through activity and an active lifestyle.
More recently, Warren is also the creator of the newest girls’ platform, ‘Bubble Uni Life’, which promises to be a space to improve uni life and help you connect with other girls. The group features weekly activities such as bonfire nights, coffee dates, and of course, ‘Bubble Run Club.’ Warren maintained that the run club provides an activity for ‘Bubble Uni Life’, not the other way round. Personally, she began the community after returning to St Andrews once a lot of her friends had graduated. She considered joining new societies, but nothing really piqued her interest. Following a summer job working as a content creator, she wanted something to be passionate about that others might be too. She said, ‘Changing people’s university experience has become a passion. Fulfilling not just myself but others too.’
The inspiration for ‘Bubble Uni Life’ came from girly activities, which can often be seen on Pinterest, a place to mood board and romanticize the little things in life. Warren wanted to start a community for girls to get to know each other in a ‘safe space’. She said, ‘No one has family in St Andrews. No one comes to university with a group of friends. We are all in the same boat’. In this regard, ‘Bubble Uni Life’ is ‘not a society; it’s more like a lifestyle’. ‘This is something you can attend whenever you want and always have someone to talk to’.
When asked about her main aims for the community, Warren responded that her values are productivity and an active lifestyle. She wants girls to feel appreciated and understood by others in St Andrews whilst trying new things and living a healthy lifestyle. She endeavors to make ‘just one girl’s university experience better.’
‘Bubble Uni Life’ offers many events to look out for, including a drinks party at a local art gallery and even a potential ball. For her, looking forward to something is an essential aspect of happiness, a feature she hopes to bring to the community. In response to others interested in starting something similar, Warren advises to ‘have faith in your idea’ and lead confidently. We often forget that ‘people want you to do well’.
Throughout this lovely conversation with Sophie, the innovation of what she has created stuck out. It is a refreshing idea that is likely to grow for years to come, being taken over by fellow students who are just as passionate as her. ‘Bubble Uni Life’ is not a society to sign up to; it’s a lifestyle to join.