So, I've now officially been in Aberystwyth for a week and a half and it's beginning to feel more like home :) I'm going to split this up into parts as I don't want to bore anyone, and moving away from home is pretty huge!
<< My uni room with some stuff having been brought up!
My uni room with pretty much everything in! >>
Saturday
Last Saturday morning, I arrived with my parents at Alexandra Hall with a car full of stuff to move in to my room. Finding out I was in flat 43 didn't seem too bad until we realised there weren't any lifts and we had to make about 5 trips up 4 flights of stairs! Painful! Luckily I managed to unpack fairly quickly with mum's help (dad went on a wander round Aberystwyth) and when I went into the kitchen to put my bits and bobs away, I was lucky that my flatmates were having breakfast so I got to meet them and talk to them without any hassle. They all seem really nice, which is a good thing as I'm going to have to live with them for the next year! Around lunchtime, Rob had arrived in Aberystwyth and had moved into his room up at the top of the hill, so I went to visit him as no one seemed to be about in his house. My first night at uni was spent curled up in bed, as I had a really bad cold, and as much as like having a good time, I prefer to be with people I know, rather than go out with strangers. Also, I felt like I should continue my watching of Doctor Who, especially as the finale for this part of the series was coming very soon!
Sunday
Sunday morning, my parents came and visited so that they could bring some storage units they'd picked up in Matalan for me, as I didn't have enough room for my clothes (!) before going up the cliff railway which, ideally for them, is only about 500m away from where I'm staying. After they'd done that, we said our final goodbyes, before they headed off home! That afternoon, me and Rob went out with his parents to Devil's Bridge (or Pontarfynach in Welsh) for a slice of cake (nom!) before they headed off home too! That evening, we planned on going to 'The Big Quiz' at the Student's Union - something we didn't realise would be extremely popular - and in the end, we decided to head back to mine as we were told we'd have to sit on the floor, and we were fairly close to the start of the queue!
Monday
Had to be up at the campus (tiring walk up the huge hill!) for 9.30am, so that we could listen to the head of the Science Falculty's welcoming talk! Can't really remember much of what he said, it wasn't very interesting, but after that we had the welcoming talk for the Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences (IGES), which was more interesting! Probably because the Physics and Maths students had gone for their institute's talk! The Fresher's Trade Fair was also on, which basically meant, having access to getting loads of freebies! Some of them were totally pointless, but I managed to gain a few pens (and for some reason, I always think that freebie pens write the nicest!) That afternoon was the 'What I Wish I'd Known Last Year' talk from some IGES students, which was pretty useful, as they told us which lecturers put their notes up on Blackboard (the virtual learning platform), and which ones didn't. They also told us about the societies related to our subject, and at the IGES Fresher's Social that evening, I signed up to GeogSoc, and also got my 'glow in the dark' green wristband! the wristband actually does glow in the dark... if only slightly! That night, I struggled to get to sleep, and then about an hour after I finally did... The fire alarm went off! I panicked, however, as a girl (from what I gathered when were all stood on the seafront at 2am) I had the common sense to wrap up warm, put shoes on and grab my phone! At first, we all thought it was just a fire practice, however, when the fire engine turned up... we were all slightly more worried! However, there wasn't a fire, and I later found out that someone had decided to make toast... by putting bread in the microwave for 8 minutes!
<< Nathan Caton
Tuesday
Tuesday was registration day! The day where, in my opinion, I officially became a student of Aberystwyth University! I had to choose which optional module I wanted to do, I chose Planet Earth because it sounded fairly interesting (plus it gave me the basics of geology - which, although has never really appealed to me, I felt it might be fairly useful later on in life) and also, because apparently the lecturer (who's retired and only teaches this one module) is pretty funny and is also enthusiastic about the subject! After registration, me and Rob went to look for the Sports Fair, to see if there were any clubs we wanted to join, however, due to it having been mentioned that it was being held in the Student's Union due to bad weather, we went there, only to find a few stalls which were all in Welsh. That evening, we went out to the ComedyWorks event, in which Nathan Caton was headlining! The compare guy was Andrew Ryan (Irish - his accent was the best!) and Matt Rees, who is a young comedian from South Wales. It was really good, and although I'd heard some of the jokes before, I was glad I'd gone - although, I was very thankful we weren't seated right at the front!
Anyway, that's all for this post!! More to come very soon!
Tara
