Facilities On The Carmarthen Campus

In this blog post I'm going to talk about some of the non academic facilities offered at UWTSD on the Carmarthen Campus. I'm going to talk about the main facilities that I know a lot of students use and the super useful ones that we do have right on our campus!

The Students Union

The Students Union is the hub of the campus not only for nights out but for food as well. The union boasts a bar called The Attic upstairs where you can enjoy a quiet drink after lectures are over  as well as a main club area downstairs open for nights out on Wednesday and Friday. This is also where the student staff running the SU are based and if you have any questions or queries about the SU and how you can get involved you can get into contact with them. They're all super friendly and always available to help new students if you need it. I'll link their Twitter handles at the end of the blog and any other accounts I mention will be linked and labelled at the end if you want to message them directly or get any information.

The Carmarthen Sports Centre

We are so lucky to have our own gym and sports centre right on campus filled with tons of machines ready for your use. The gym membership is very affordable compared to others offered in town and is super convenient as it's on campus for those living there. Students in the Sports, Health and Outdoor Education faculty are lucky enough to get their membership free, but for other students it is super affordable and there is always an offer on for a reduced yearly membership during Freshers. For a yearly membership it's £190 and for a monthly membership it's £20, these rates do go down during the first few weeks at university as I mentioned before. So if you're all about the gains and not in the Sports, Health and Outdoor Education faculty I would strongly recommend getting a gym membership at the beginning of the year when that first student loan comes in.

The Swimming Pool

We're also really lucky to have our own heated swimming pool on campus which is open to students and lecturers for free! Swimming lessons are often held here for the general public so just have a look on the pools schedule and see when you can take a dip for free. Swimming is a great way to exercise and if you can't afford a gym membership this is an amazing alternative.

The Cwad

The Cwad is a multi-purpose learning space which quite a lot of students spend their time in. This is because we have our very own Starbucks in the Cwad with student discounts which is amazing. They also serve food there as well so a lot of students tend to get their lunch or a snack there. Other than the Starbucks, that I go to sometimes too regularly, there are tons of computers there, a stationary shop, comfy sofas and some of the study rooms that you can book online to have group space to work. Very useful for Acting I must say. This is where quite a lot of students hang out and do work or where they go during their breaks between lectures. The vibe there is very awesome and they've also started a book swapping scheme there.

So those are some of the main facilities that are non academic on the Carmarthen Campus. I'll most likely do another blog about some of the other facilities that are related to studying such as the library and the Halliwell Theatre, but I hope you all have enjoyed this blog post. If you have any questions regarding the non-academic facilities offered on the Carmarthen Campus or have any questions in general about UWTSD and studying there, you can send me a Tweet on Twitter or private message me on it. I'm hoping to get my UWTSD Facebook account up and running soon so I will also be available to answer questions on that soon. I've left links like I said I would down below and they are all clearly labelled. Enjoy!

SU Twitter
SU Website
Sports Centre Website
Cwad Website

Having Anxiety and Studying

In case you guys didn't know I suffer from really bad anxiety. I have social anxiety and what's called Generalised Anxiety Disorder or GAD, now having these sorts of issues can really affect my university experience so in this blog I'm going to talk about the help available to those with mental health issues, specifically anxiety as well as some advice on overcoming obstacles that may come your way during your time at university. 

The first hurdle I ever had to deal with came with the first day I moved in - meeting new people and making friends. The good thing about this is that almost everyone in first year is in the same situation as you so are very friendly and welcoming. The same with second and third years, in my first day of university a load of second years came into one of the first year accommodation and introduced themselves and took us out for our first night out. And now, as a third year student, I intend to make the first years feel as welcome as possible. I know how scary and daunting it can be as soon as your parents leave and you're just on your own trying to work everything out and make friends, but everyone is in the same position. It's so important to get out of your room and talk to people. Hopefully you will have already met some people online on your course and in your halls so that will help break the ice with everyone. That's one thing I was so glad about when coming to this university, it was so easy to find other people who were studying Acting as well, and before we even came to UWTSD we had group Skype calls and got to know each other. There are loads of pages on Facebook where you can find other students on the course and my friend Gee was instrumental in finding all of us and creating a community before we even got to UWTSD. The night before I even moved in a few of us went for a drink at the local Spoons and then went to the Union and I'm still really good friends with those guys even now.

Once you've settled in and made new friends the next thing to look forward to is your lectures. Luckily for us they eased us into the process and there was a lot of new things to try as well as attempting to find all of the rooms your lectures will be in. With the Performing Arts department you do a workshop run by the second years before you even start lectures and they give you a tour of the university which is so helpful when finding rooms. They actually show you where they are and give you little tips and tricks to help you in your actual lectures. One thing I found really daunting was meeting my lecturers but I was so pleased to find they were so warm and welcoming, they were firm in the rules they laid out for us but ensured that we knew we could come to them if we ever needed help with anything. I could drop an email to one of my lecturers and ask for a meeting to chat about stuff and they would make time for me. They really care about their students which is so reassuring and lovely to know.

The Student Services department at the University is also awesome with helping students along the way, especially if they have difficulties. They have several different type of people that you can go see if you're struggling a little and the people who work there are so friendly and helpful. Going to university can be so overwhelming and all the staff there understand that and want to help you so you can succeed which is really amazing. They understand how much change goes on in the first few weeks of university and how stressful it can be as a whole and they make sure they have the resources to deal with your issues. They have mental health advisers, counsellors and study skills support for students if you need it. They also don't judge or make you feel bad, they just attempt to make you feel comfortable and help you to sort out your problems. Do not be afraid to go see them if you are struggling a little.

Going to UWTSD has been one of the best experiences of my life and I'm so thankful of all the support given to me by my lecturers and by Student Services. This university really cares about your well being and are so supportive in every single aspect of student life. They want you to do well and succeed and I think that's what makes them stand out from other places. I hope you enjoyed this blog and it set your mind at ease about moving away for the first time. You can do it! If you have any questions of want a chat I'm always on this Twitter account so send me a DM or just Tweet me. Hopefully I'll have a professional Facebook up and running soon as well.

(Also enjoy this little throwback from when we finished our module: Performing Shakespeare, before Summer. Love these guys so much.)

Why I Chose Tower

In first year on the Carmarthen Campus you usually get a choice of three halls of residents: Tower, Myddin or Non. Some students have the option of living in the second and third year hall of residents, Archbishop Noakes, but this is mostly reserved for mature students or people with certain circumstances. The flats in Tower and Myrddin are also separated by gender, so you will only be living in a flat with your gender which I think is better. I've lived with men, I know how frustrated us girls can get when they accidentally leave a bit of a mess. 

When I picked my accommodation I had never actually been to an open day, I'd been to my audition and had a brief look around the university, but I couldn't really remember much of it, so I just had to make my decision based  on the few sentences description given on the UWTSD website:

• Myrddin is a two storey residence on the edge of the campus split into 17 different units of 8 bedrooms. Each unit contains bathroom facilities and a small refreshment area. 
• Tower is a high rise building with stunning views of Carmarthenshire from the higher floors. Each of the 10 floors contains 5 bedrooms, with shared bathroom facilities. All floors have a small refreshment area. 
• Non is a four storey building situated in the centre of campus and is split into units. Less separated than the other halls, it is ideal for the more sociable student. Available for female students only.

I thought that for my first time living with people that it would be easier for me to pick Tower as I would only have to share a room with 4 other people. I also thought that there would be less people so it wouldn't be so hard to fit in and make friends. I have quite bad social anxiety when I first meet people so Tower as ideal for me in this respect.

I was definitely very glad that I did choose Tower for many different reasons, I found it so much easier for me to fit in with my flat mates, three of them were on the same course as me and the other girl was so friendly and lovely, I feel like I may have been overwhelmed with seven other people or the amount of people in Non. For me, I also liked the fact I only had to share a kitchen and a shower with four other people. But in Myrddin they do have two toliets, a bath and a shower, so although I missed out on having a bath I didn't mind so much.

The rooms in Tower are also slightly bigger than Myrddin and Non, the seemed to have a little bit more floor space which I liked. All the furniture is exactly the same in all three accommodations, you'd get a bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers, sink, desk, chair and then a bookcase so it just meant that I would have more space when having friends over which was critical when playing Cards Against Humanity.

The only downside of Tower was that it was right next to the Students' Union, so if you weren't going out on a Wednesday or a Friday you would hear the music and sometimes it would keep you up if you don't fall asleep before the music started. It wasn't so bad that it would constantly wake you up but there was a lot of noise from there. The upside of this though is that you wouldn't have to go too far to get back home, one thing that does suck about living off campus is that it's a long walk home after a night out.

The one really good thing about the UWTSD on the Carmarthen Campus is that the three main first year accommodation is catered for, so you get breakfast and dinner Monday-Friday, which was always so helpful. Sometimes I wake up in my Uni house and wish I could just go to the canteen to get my full English breakfast before lectures!

I hope that gives you a little insight into why I chose Tower for my first year accommodation. It seems like ages ago I was on Floor Five with my flatmates. I loved my accommodation for first year and I wouldn't change anything about my experience.