If you haven’t heard of BU’s annual Summer Ball then where have you been?? Bournemouth’s Ball is officially the biggest in the UK and actually broke the record this year with 7,500 students having the time of their lives in some hilarious fancy dress. Those 7,500 students included me and my three best friends who all went for the first time this year; and I have to say I don’t think there was a better way of ending exam season!

We started the day with a cooked breakfast in our garden with a celebratory Bucks Fizz to accompany; some may say alcohol at 8am is a big no but Summer Ball makes it socially acceptable – honest! After breakfast it was time to get ready into our costumes. We opted for an Egyptian theme as we didn’t want to just jump on the typical unicorn or mermaid bandwagon and I feel like we did a pretty good job…

All Egyptian-ed up, we headed to our friends’ house for a chilled pre’s. As we rode in the taxi, every street was filled with groups of fancy dress students laughing and singing – the happiness was infectious.

After pre’s, we went to the Old Fire Station to catch the bus to the site. The queuing up didn’t even feel like a queue as everyone was still singing, still laughing and making friends with whoever they were stood next to. It was here you could really appreciate the costumes people had put together. For a look at some of the best The Tab did a shortlist of some of the stand-out ones.

Before we knew it we were on the bus. Cue chanting, singing, laughing and lots of feet stomping. The bus journey was probably one of my favourite parts due to the incredible atmosphere.

After months of waiting, we were finally at Summer Ball. However, first thing first, we needed food. The food stalls offered a wide selection of food with us opting for the noodle bar and oh my days were they good. Stomachs lined, we headed to the bars for some drinks and then to the circus-esque tents to listen to some live music. Each tent had a different genre so there was something for everyone.

By evening time the fair-ground rides were open which were so much fun and the headlining acts such as My Nu Leng, Digital Farm Animals and a Chase and Status DJ set performance which were also amazing.

Once the acts had finished, we got the bus back to Fire Station for the afterparty. We were determined to keep going at the afterparty to make sure we could make the all-important ‘survivors photo’ on Bournemouth beach at a hideous 5am. I like to think I faired pretty well, even if I did have a 5 minute nap…

But we are proud to say we did make the survivors photo!

Not going to lie, this was one of my best achievements this year.