No doubt someone around you will be interested in, and talking about, the Super Bowl, and tonight marks the taking place of Super Bowl 50 – but for those of us less educated in all things NFL, just what is it and more so how can we get involved this side of the pond?!

To an untrained eye, NFL (or American Football) can be a confusing sport. Filled with technical jargon, massive men in even bigger pads and over the top “Americana”, it can be a bit of a slog for first-time viewers.

Super Bowl 50, between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers, is set to take place at Levi’s Stadium, California, the home of the San Francisco 49ers. It’s a somewhat antisocial 11.30pm start for anyone watching in the famous old timezone of GMT – best hope you’ve not got any early morning lectures on Monday!

But the Super Bowl is about so much more than just the game itself – Super Bowl adverts rose to massive mainstream popularity and became talking points in the 1970s. They are massively expensive to put on and are often clever, with no cost spared and some celebrity appearances. And alongside these come the half time shows – this year featuring the likes of Coldplay, Beyonce and Bruno Mars.

Now, it’s understood that the Levi’s Stadium will be selling a one-of-a-kind item during Super Bowl 50 – sausage topped with real flakes of gold, tapping in on the NFL’s gold theme for the SB50. Now that’s how you turn an ordinary concession stand item into a classy dish for the biggest sporting event in the US!

But how can you whip up some more student-loan-friendly super-bowl-appropriate snacks for tonight’s game? Personally I’m going to be giving some of the recipes here a go – http://www.buzzfeed.com/melissaharrison/super-bowl-snacks-to-try#.ygJ3grQKK

Now, better get my nap in before the game begins!