Welcome Week Diary - Bryan McCann

Saturday 20th September

Bryan's flatmates I get up mid-morning and start loading up the car. I have so much stuff to take that we only just manage to fit it all in to the car for the long journey from Glasgow to Bangor. My parents and I arrive at my accommodation in Menai Bridge at around 7pm, where we are met by some of my new housemates. Everyone is cooking dinner and have already had a few drinks, so what better way to get acquainted than have a night of eating, drinking and board games!? After a while we all head to the pub next door (whilst location played a big part of accommodation decision, I have certainly hit the jackpot with one pub through the wall, and at least half-a-dozen in the very local area!) where we commence introducing ourselves to the locals through our newly developed visual communication system (had to be seen to be understood and to find it funny). We head home after the (strangely) late closing time of 2am, none of us looking forward to the inevitable hangover in the morning…

Sunday 21st September

As predicted, a few of us are a little worse for wear come the morning time, but that does not stop us getting up a little earlier than the midday lie in I would have liked. We all have breakfast, and then my parents take me to the Tesco to get all the supplies I need. We all have dinner together, then set out for a pub quiz at the Antelope on the Bangor side of the bridge, only to find the pub almost deserted and the quiz no longer being held there! We don’t panic, and instead head back to the house for an entertaining night of DVD watching and getting to know one another.

Monday 22nd September

I set off for the first part of my uni course – an introduction to the department followed by a 7 and a half hour statistics class! It was as bad as it sounds, but thankfully ended early and we did not have to go back for part 2 the following day. I headed back to the house and had dinner with the gang before heading next door for a pub quiz (we checked it was on in advance this time!). We had a large team with high hopes of winning. Whilst we started strong, things became more difficult and our young years began to show as the ‘easy if you are over 50’ questions were being asked. We finished credibly, and can hopefully build on things and beat the teams comprising of Ocean Science lecturers!

Tuesday 23rd September

Bryan and his friends on the beach My housemate Lisa and I attend the introductory meeting at the SSHES where we pick our modules for the coming year. We are treated to a buffet lunch and meet our personal tutors. We pass on the school’s beach trip in favour for our own, and head off down the coast with the rest of our housemates. We find a great beach at Rhosneiger and spend a few hours swimming, playing Frisbee, burying feet in the sand and flying a kite! On the way home we stop for ice-cream and joke about how our new start to uni seems more like a holiday! We have dinner and spend the evening watching DVDs.

Wednesday 24th September

Another early start as Lisa and I have to attend a compulsory health and safety lecture at the Normal site. We meet everyone else and head up to the time-consumer that is registration. Eventually we get everything sorted and get our student cards. We head to Serendipity and witness organised chaos! It is as though they are trying to sell you a car - everyone is fighting for your attention, enticing you with sweets, props and stickers. Sometimes you are urged to sign up for taster sessions or mailing lists. Whilst it seemed distinctly overwhelming at times, I did find out a great deal of information. It was also very refreshing to see the commitment and energy of everyone involved in the different clubs and societies compared to some of the institutions I have attended in the past. We head for lunch (it seems we have formed a gang and cannot do anything without one another) before doing a little shopping. We are flabbergasted in Poundland – the staff must have been getting annoyed with the constant questioning “Is this really only a pound?” – and we head home chuffed with the amount of bargains we got. Later that evening I go to a local Karate club in Menai Bridge hoping to find a place to keep up my training whilst studying here. We again have dinner together (something we will try to do as often as possible, but very unlikely to happen after welcome week) and head to the Bridge for some late night drinks. We play Pictionary into the early hours of the morning, enjoying our bargain wine.

Thursday 25th September

Most of the house leaves to go on an Ocean Sciences day out, so the three of us that are left had a leisurely morning. We clean the house (not very ‘studenty’ I know, but we are post-grads after all – we have standards you know!) before heading shopping for lots of things we have realised that we need in the house. We grab some lunch and set about a day of serious chilling out.

Image of rowing We have a relaxed dinner whilst the rest of the house are living it up at the Ocean Sciences party at the pub next door to our accommodation. We decide to crash the party, and end up having a great time. Entertainment is provided in the form of 4 Ocean Sciences lecturers who play in a band, and are surprisingly good!

Friday 26th Septmeber

My housemate and I decide to give rowing a go, and take part in one of the rowing clubs taster sessions on the Menai Strait. Neither of us have any prior rowing experience, so we find the session more frustrating than enjoyable as we have no idea what we are doing. We decide to go back and try again, but the 6.45am starts might make us change our mind! A group of us head to the cinema in Llandudno to see Tropic Thunder, and then have a take-away and chill out watching films when we get home. The week is starting to take its toll!

Saturday 27th September

Image of Bryan's flatmate on the piano Wake up a lot earlier than I would like (i.e. 10.30am) to head to the beach again. This time we head to Newborough beach, and brave the cold waters to play a little Frisbee and generally risk hypothermia. We are more prepared this time with food and drinks, though sand manages to find its way into everything adding a little extra unwanted texture! We head home for dinner before going out for a Menai Bridge pub crawl to celebrate one of the housemate’s birthdays. We don’t get very far – the 3rd pub to be precise – where we stumble upon a half empty pub due to be ‘entertained’ by a guy in a newspaper-design suit! We are not sure about staying for more than a (very) quick drink, but have a rethink upon the revelation that’s shots are only 50p! Student friendly pub indeed! We then proceed on what can only be described as a group effort to ourselves entertain the pub through a series of unique dance moves, agony-inducing sing-along and drinking exploits! We succeed in entertaining, to the extent that we are genuinely asked to host the weekly pub quiz for the new owner, as he was impressed by our out-entertaining the paid entertainer! We manage to ain access into the lock-in at the pub next door to our house (having adjacent gardens comes in handy at times), and we continue to entice hangovers in there until the early hours of the morning.

Sunday 28th September

The final day of welcome week inevitably ends up being the chilling out that the rest of the week has forced upon me. Nursing what threatens to be a hangover, the only remedy is to relax in front of a couple of films for the day and generally do very little. Thoughts start turning toward the start of classes the following afternoon, and it is clear that whilst welcome week has been immensely fun it is now time to start work for real…

Postgraduate tips for welcome week:

Just because you have already done the ‘freshers’ thing before doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy yourself during welcome week – get to know your new housemates and surroundings. You should just be better at having a good time by this stage!
50p shots sound like a great idea, until the following morning.