A Fresher in the First Semester

A Fresher in the First Semester.

By Lewis Hudson New Members Officer

Being a fresher in the first semester 

entails great discoveries of the many 

fascinating and delightful surprises that 

Aberystwyth provides. The first namely 

being the spelling of “Aberystwyth”. The 

number of unruly consonants

that can be forced into a signal place name is just

 staggering to the innocent fresher. The second surprise is

 how flexibly the word “nightclub” can be 

applied to include any establishment which plays stupidly loud music, serves 

alcohol in stupidly large quantities at stupidly early times in the morning.

The third surprise being how enthusiastically fellow Freshers of Penbryn 

BlockFour make use of the fire alarm system. I must say I have found myself 

in a state of joy at the prospect of the screaming, wailing shriek summoning

 me to the wetness of the car park in the early hours of the morning. My 

favourite fire alarm occasion occurred in November (I think…there were so 

many.) where some jolly good chap set the alarm off at about 02.00, 

prompting the miserable exodus outside to the waiting wind and cold, with 

only pyjamas for protection. Then a few hours later, just the right amount of 

time for sleep to begin again, the same or possibly a different jolly good chap

 had another go! 

The car park exodus with the wait occurred again. Then a few hours later the

 fire alarm was set off again. This was about 07:30. Again we all went out to

 the car park. To discover that this was a drill, 

started on the whim of our 

lovely accommodation people. Whom I love. They

 are great. Fantastic. They took the time to 

carefully ensure that everyone evacuated, and 

took the time to find those who had not. Then

 one very nice woman took the time to tell us

 with a loud speaker, (which could barely be

 heard due to the wind) to make sure our pots 

and frying pans were cleaned due to the fire risk 

(We are a catered block.) And to evacuate when 

the fire alarm goes off. (We who had evacuated 

were now in danger of freezing to death in the 

car park.) This was a very thoughtfully conducted procedure.

However my best discovery was the Labour Society. The fact it is worth 

walking up and down a massive hill in the pouring rain to go and sit around a

 table in Harely’s to talk about policies, was the last and biggest surprise of 

the year. I've really enjoyed being a part of the society which has allowed to

 be involved in politics while having a great time with some great people.

 Getting elected as New Members Officer was also a high point and I'm really

 looking forward to representing the New Members at committee meetings and

 across the year. If you've got any problems please feel free to get in touch 

via email at leh23@aber.ac.uk or speak to me at a social!