WELCOME TO HOTSEAT!
The article where Matt puts some of your favourite members of the staff team onto the Hotseat! From hobbies to professions and maybe even some hot takes, I hope you'll get to know our staff much better! In this edition of Hotseat, we welcome our one and only Public Relations Manager and Station Mentor, Brett! And without further ado, let's dive right in!

Matt » Hey Brett! How've you been? Anything you've been up to recently?

Brett » Not too much. aside from packing to move house, and the regular radio stuff!

Matt » Woah, what's up with the move? Where are you headed?

Brett » I have moved back in with my Mum after finishing university, right now in the childhood home I've spent my whole life living in! But now she is downsizing to a quieter place about a 30 minute drive from where we live now. So I will be moving with her for at least the next 9 months until find that next step in life 😄

Matt » I'm excited for you! How are you feeling about the move?

Brett » a little strange. I'm not unused to moving in and out, I've done that with a few places during Uni. But nothing ever compared to that feeling of being back in my childhood home and town where I grew up, so it will be weird not having that instinctive familiarity anymore!

Matt » Definitely, it's a lot of change to be honest. How do you expect to adapt? Any changes you expect to see?

Brett » I am guessing it will be a struggle for me to settle in. I will always have that knowledge in my head that it is only a temporary space for me, and I will probably treat it more as my Mums house than the family home as weird as that sounds! There will still be those familiarities like with my dogs being there, but I am worried nowhere will have that feeling of home until I find my own permenant place to settle in a few years time. 

Matt » For sure. And I wish you all the best! Any long term plans for your own permanent place yet? Ideas?

Brett » I'm not entirely sure to be honest! I am always sort of working with the idea that I will have to move wherever my further education or career take me.

Matt » Let’s talk about that a little bit! What were you studying in uni?

Brett » History!

Matt » Tell me more! Why history?

Brett » It has always just been my passion since around the middle of high school. and it is also probably why I am so good at writing annoyingly long and impossible to read messages! I love learning about, and understanding how the world around us developed. especially in regards to the industrialisation of production and consumerism. I hope I can continue to do more with history in my future career. my current plan is to do a postgraduate in History teaching, and become a qualified secondary school teacher! 
sry do you mind if we delay the 2nd half of this. i am all of a sudden recieving emails from a new partner game so i am just sorting loads of stuff out for that lol.

Matt » That's really great! Tell us a little bit more about your favourite part of history, what'd you like about it?

Brett » I always loved socio-economics. especially Britain in the 19th and early 20th century where you saw the development of mass produced goods which utilised globalised chains of supply. Honestly I could ramble on for ages and i have spent way to many parties at uni getting way too engrossed in explaining my studies 😂

Matt » Why this specific portion? Any reason?

Brett » I guess the relevancy it has to today. I grew up in the west midlands of England where there used to be a massive production industry during the industrial revolution, but today it is almost all gone. most of the towns and countryside here are still shaped by that legacy with old abandoned factories still a common site in places like stoke on Trent, and the canals that run all throughout the cities and countryside. So I've always been naturally interested growing up around the remnants of it all.
matt [猫尾巴],  — Yesterday at 7:48 PM
Matt » Could you give us a few more fun facts about it?

Brett » My favourite fun fact which is a pretty mainstream trivia one would be that cleopatra was born closer to the creation of the iPhone than the building of the pyramids!

Matt » Really speaks a lot about our perception of time! Outside of academics, what do you think university has taught you most?

Brett » That you yourself are your best company. I made great friends and lived with the same two people through all 3 years of my uni life. But one thing that I always appreciated was spending time by myself to wind down. I spent lots of time walking alone with some music on just to help myself de-stress, and having my own space and schedule is just something I value so much more now that I am back with family!

Matt » On the topic of life in university, what was your favourite part about it?

Brett » just all the different kind of people you meet! My uni has loads of international students so most of the people you saw around campus, especially living on it, were often from abroad which created a really cool atmosphere. There were lots of international societies I attended like Thai, French and Indian because I had friends who were foreign students from those countries. So I got to meet loads of people from all over the world, and try a whole bunch of cuisine! (My favourite I tried while at uni being Korean BBQ)

Matt » Tell me more! Could you maybe describe how that affected your daily life in uni?

Brett » Well I lived with an Iraqi refugee who was studying computer science, had a housemate from India who was studying economics, and a Thai-French friend who's family was (respectfully saying) mega rich. So it was a strange experience spending so much time with people who weren't from the UK, and we themselves adjusting to a whole new culture and way of life when coming over here to study.  Often I ended up being the person describing how certain cultural or societal things worked in the UK, which I had initially understood as being just default knowledge! It also gave me the excuse to travel to a few different cities in the UK with them which I honestly wouldn't have bothered doing if just by myself.

Matt » I'm really glad you had such a positive experience. What was one of your favourite cities you went to with your friends?

Brett » well it wasn't a city, but I took my international student friends hiking in the lake district of England. The lake district being our biggest mountainy place in England and it is honestly beautiful. Our uni was only an hour journey in the car from it, but they had no idea it was even there, or so close! I suppose it is again one of those things I assumed they would have know about after 2 years of living here. but at the same time Uni life and the focus of an international student is no doubt visiting the big cities of the UK that are accessible by public transport (as they dont have a car) so they were completely blindsided by how close our natural spaces are 

Matt » How did the hike go? What was the most memorable part?

Brett » The hike went really well! I do a lot of hiking either solo, or with my Dad so I knew what to expect and chose a somewhat lengthy climb to give them the proper experience haha. My favourite part was the obligatory pub stop at the end of the route. At the end of every hike you have to turn up battered and bruised to the pub to experience the perfect drink of desperation. In that moment you can sit down and have it all feel worth the effort, and doing it as a group makes it just that much better

Matt » Woah, I didn't know you had so much experience hiking! How did you initial get into it?

Brett » During my final year of highschool my mum adopted a rescue dog. he was a border collie so required lots of exercise and multiple walks a day. So I was assigned on dog walking duty at the end of every school day and naturally just began to become more comfortable walking long distances in the countryside across fields and the riverplains around where I live. So just a natural progression of eventually wanting to walk somewhere more interesting I suppose!

Matt » That's a really interesting backstory! What was your favourite part about hiking?

Brett » the views! the walking itself is painful and tiring but the scenery is what makes it worth it for me. A lot of people are there for the thrill or to challenge themselves but I must prefer to just take in the moment.

Matt » The nature must be super beautiful. What's one of your most memorable hikes?

Brett » probably my dad almost flying off the mountain! He is a lanky 6"3 and was wearing a massive baggy windbreaker on an exceptionally windy day. With the windbreaker he is basically turned into a human kite haha

Matt » Yikes, must’ve scared you half to death! How were you feeling?

Brett » I was a few metres further down the trail so i had to catch him, but the image of him flailing down the hill made me burst out laughing before he even got to me!

Matt » At least he's all okay! Were there any horror stories?

Brett » nothing ever too eventful thankfully!

Matt » That’s comforting to hear hahaha. How often do you hike nowadays?

Brett » not too much recently. I am hoping to get back into it more regularly now that I have some more free time, and live closer to the friends and family I usually go with!

Matt » Good to hear! Let's kind of loop back a little, what inspired you to want to become a school teacher?

Brett » My history teachers were some of the nicest people I met when growing up. And I've always felt like I am more oriented to learning and education. Even if I was teacher I would still be learning all sorts, from different curriculum topic areas, to even just the process of teaching itself. It simply sounds a more appealing career path for someone who watches history videos in their spare time!

Matt » For sure! Was this always your goal from the beginning?

Brett » I've always liked the sound of it. I even did a little bit of assistant teaching when doing my A-levels.

Matt » That sounds interesting! Tell us a bit more about that experience!

Brett » It wasn't too extraordinary, it was just for a year 7 class (low high school) doing history. Usually I would sit alongside, and monitor how some of the more troublesome, or struggling kids in the class. But that definitely helped me in understanding how important patience is when working with or teaching people.

Matt » I see. Did you face any challenges while teaching?

Brett » Plenty! it was a crowded atmosphere so lots of people and lots of issues which I found very overwhelming to begin with. Also, and I still think I have this issue: trouble explaining things well!

Matt » Any ideas as to how to resolve that?

Brett » i will hopefully learn that on my teaching course haha

Matt » Hopefully! Let's move onto a few rapid fire questions then!

Matt » Coke or Pepsi?

Brett » Coke

Matt » If you had to use only one app for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Brett » Youtube

Matt » Who's your number one contact?

Brett » my mum

Matt » What are four things you'd bring to an abandoned island?

Brett » solar panel, tv, dvd player, Lord of the rings trilogy box set

Matt » Who inspires you?

Brett » Liam Bloomer

Matt » And finally, let's talk all about UpBeat!

Matt » Tell us more about your role, what do you do?

Brett » I am the PR Manager and organise our partnerships with the games you hear our radio station on! But first and foremost in my own mind I am a station mentor, here to help all of our wide range of presenters with getting on air and providing the most exciting and enjoyable shows they can produce!

Matt » What's your favourite part about UpBeat?

Brett » The people! there are all kinds of personalities here, from all over the world. You might find someone who has the same interests as you, or perhaps someone who shares your music taste, or in my case, find somebody who lives 15 minutes around the corner from you!

Matt » If you were to encourage someone to join UpBeat, what would you tell them?

Brett » Our roles are a lot easier to get into than they look! We have a huge community of staff to support those joining. I Joined back in May, and the friends I've made here, the skills I've learned, and the enjoyment I get with volunteering my time here have made it so rewarding ❤️ Even if you are just slightly interested, you should give it a go!

THAT'S THE HOTSEAT!

That concludes Brett's time on the Hotseat! Thank you so much for reading and I do hope you've managed to learn a little bit more about Brett, once again, our Public Relations Manager and one of our Station Mentor here at UpBeat. Have any suggestions as to who should be put on the Hotseat? Leave a comment down below or let us know in the UpBeat Discord, tagging Matt! Once again, thank you for reading and stay tuned for who'll be in the Hotseat next!