Rebekah Bell - My Freshers Week Diary
Day 1 - Arrival
I arrived on Saturday 20th September, with my parents and brother. As we drove through the streets of Bangor I began to get apprehensive, ‘what would my flat mates be like?’ ‘Had I chosen the right course?’ ‘Was this the right university?’...the list of questions increased as we neared the entrance to the Ffriddoedd site. I think my parents were almost as nervous as I was.
The first mission of the day was to collect my key, this was in a building called Reichel , however the location of this building was a mystery to me! Within a few minutes of parking, getting out the car and getting the paper work together a peer guide in a bright purple top enthusiastically walked up to us and directed us where to go. So off we set, all four of us to collect one key!
Once the key was retrieved I, well actually, my brother and dad, then had to begin the tedious task of unpacking the car. Finding the room wasn’t hard with the help of another purple t-shirted friend! As I opened the door to my room I was stunned-it was beautiful! The flat was brand new and I had been allocated a large room which was bigger than my room at home. Now came the fun task of deciding where everything should go and which bed covers to put on the bed first. My mum and I enjoyed this part! Within minutes of undoing the first of many suitcases, my peer guide came along with a cheery smile and lots of leaflets about what was happening that night. His first bit of advice to me was to meet at the security office on the Ffriddoedd site where the other Geography students would be meeting, we arranged a time and I told him I would be there! The nerves were already easing, everyone who I had met so far was really friendly and genuinely wanted to be of use.
During the unpacking my mum tried to introduce me to the whole of my halls, every person we met soon learned that I was Rebekah Bell doing BSc Geography living on the third floor. Luckily my flat mates didn’t mind and their parents had a similar strategy to embarrass them!
Later that evening we all got ready to go out, the other girls had also met their peer guides during the unpacking process and agreed to meet at security. Although we were a bit late arriving at the meeting place, my peer guide was still there waiting with a few other late students. I swapped numbers with my flatmates before we all separated, and suggested to meet up with them during the night. After that the geography students left the Ffriddoedd Site and walked down towards the Robinson building, apparently this was the prime location to get free food and wine, which had been supplied by SENRGY (Note: this is not available every day of the week-although we can wish!). It was here that over a concoction of orange juice, white wine and lemonade I met my first group of friends on my course. They were also staying on the Ffriddoedd site; two of them lived within an hour of my home town! The friends I made that night are still very close friends, and we often joke about our awkward conversations that night.
After the food had gone and the wine was slowly running dry, the peer guides suggested we went further into town and try out a few of the pubs. The peer guides were awesome, and were willing to talk more in detail about the courses and modules available. Around 10:30pm we decided, as a group, to try out one of the student union clubs called Academi. We all spent the rest of the night partying and dancing quite crazily around the club; I also managed to meet up with a few of my flatmates. My first day as a student in Bangor had been awesome. No longer did I have concerns about the course or the university. I had been fully assured by my experience that this was definitely the right university for me.
Day 2 - Late Start
Day two began quite late, I would love to say that my reason for staying in bed so long was justified, but it wasn’t! I just made the most of not being woken up by an alarm clock (I had ‘accidentally’ forgotten it whilst packing for university). I think my flat mates were on a similar line of thinking to me. When we finally did stir, we decided to go for a walk, it was a beautiful day and we were surrounded by a phenomenal landscape. Our walk was unplanned; some how we managed to find the pier and the cafe on the pier, an overall success! Later that night my flatmates and I decided to dare the clubs of Bangor alone without our peer guides. We had heard of a club called ‘OCCY’ (officially named Octagon). On our way to the club we decided to spend some time getting to know the pubs a little better, in each of the pubs we went to, we met people we knew from our course, and introduced them to the rest of the girls. Slowly but surely we made our way to ‘OCCY’ where we sang and danced all night. Whilst we were there I met up with a few of the peer guides I had met the night before. They told me of a take-away in Upper Bangor called Pizza House. On the way back to our flat some of us decided to try this out-I can honestly say I have never tasted a pizza so nice nor so cheap! It was amazing, I believe there is even a Facebook group for this awesome take-away!
Day 3 - Hogwarts
On the third day we were called to the Main Arts building for a welcome talk by the Vice Chancellor. Main Arts is the stunning building that is often nicknamed Hogwarts! Following this we made our way down to the SENRGY building (Thoday) to have another welcome talk from the SENRGY lecturers. Each of these talks provided the opportunity to make new friends: remembering that the people surrounding me were also new to the university made it easier for me to talk to the people sitting next to me, behind me, or even three rows behind. That night my flatmates and I decided to stay in and get to know each other better over a meal and a film, or two, or maybe three!
Day 4 - Quiz Night
Tuesday was the fourth day of the Bangor experience! We had been told that we had to be at Thoday at 9am. Foolishly, I had arranged to meet some of the people from my course at 8:15am (at the time of arranging we were eager! However, at 8 in the morning, this enthusiasm had died down!) It was on this day that we were to pick our modules for the year, this was quite daunting, however, there was plenty of help provided, and time was given to each individual to help them make the right decision for them. The whole morning was set aside to help us ‘freshers’ choose our modules. In the afternoon a trip had been organised to Anglesey for a BBQ on the beach. This was awesome! It was not only a chance to have fun and meet new people within SENRGY but also showed us some of the local scenery outside of Bangor. In the evening a quiz night had been arranged by the SENRGY peer guides, however, my flatmates and I decided to meet up with a few of our course friends. Later when we had made our way to ‘OCCY’ we met up with a group of the peer guides which was great. This night was also spent dancing and singing! By this time alot of people were loosing their voice, I think the DJs were relieved!!
Day 5 - Health and Safety
Day five was pretty busy; it began with a talk and tour of the library and ended with a health and safety talk in Main Arts i.e Hogwarts! Although this was not the most exciting talk it was definitely the most useful, especially now my parents were not around to make sure I didn’t do anything silly. This was also the day for Serendipity. This is a big event held in the Student’s Union; there are hundreds of stalls displaying the wide variety of clubs available at Bangor. Looking around the stalls, my friends and I couldn’t quite decide which clubs to join. Eventually, I chose to join the Hockey and kayaking club, as well as the Geography Society. These are all great clubs, and by joining, I have met some amazing friends. After Serendipity we all came back to our flat, put on some popcorn and watched a film! In the evening, my flatmates and I got ready to go out again, tonight was a themed night-schoolgirls! We tried out a few of the pubs in Upper Bangor, which we had not yet experienced. We then moved onto OCCY: everyone had had such a good night previously, so we chose to return to the same club, we were not disappointed! We partied away until the early hours of the morning. On a way back we made our usual stop at Pizza House and spent the rest of the night giggling, eating pizza and chocolate.
Day 6 - Registration
The next day we all had to register, because my surname began with a ‘B’, I had an early slot in which I was to register. However, this meant that once I was registered, my fellow flatmate who also had a surname beginning with ‘B’ and I could go and explore the Bangor shops, which so far we had managed to resist. Later that evening, I met up with a few of my course friends in one of the pubs; we sat and chatted about our hometowns, and the modules we had chosen. I found that they had picked the same modules as me, which was great to know. After a couple of hours of chatting we decided to go onto OCCY.
Day 7 - Field Visits
Friday, the last official day of Freshers week!
On this day, SENRGY had arranged a field trip to Electric Mountain and a mining museum. Both of these trips were interactive and very fun, well worth a visit! In the afternoon, we got the bus to Caernarfon to look around the town and the castle. This was fascinating and another great opportunity to meet new people. The trip was a success, it had not only been slightly educational but I had met many new friends on my course. I now felt confident about beginning my lectures on the following week. In the night, a group of us got together from our course, and brought our flatmates along. We had a great night...guess where we went?!?
The end of Freshers Week...
Looking back at Freshers week, I can’t believe I managed to stay awake for the whole of it. The people at the university, especially within SENRGY made me feel at home the minute I arrived, and because there were so many activities planned, I forgot about being homesick, and concentrated more on having fun! One of the most important things I learned within freshers week is that everyone is in the same boat as you, or has been. So you’re never on own if you do feel homesick, or if you want to party until 6 in the morning.
I think I’ll leave it there for now; you’ll have your own fresher experience to look forward to.
Good luck in any exams, and I hope you have an amazing time at university.
Rebekah Bell