Aberystwyth University's Student Guide. - The Aberystwyth Users ...

Welcome to Aberystwyth University’s Student Guide.
This guide will be unlike all the other
leaflets and things you will receive. Why?
Well the answer is simple, this guide was
written for students by second year students
on a written communications module as part
of their degree.
So what are you
waiting for?
Make yourself
comfortable and
turn over the page
to get the real view
of the university
from a student’s
perspective.
This newsletter will be like your survival
guide for the first few weeks here. Inside this
newsletter you will be able to find out
important information about Accommodation,
Sports, what the student life here is really like
and the ways of travelling here.

Hello, My name is Gemma. I am a
second year student here at Aberystwyth
University. I am from England and I am
studying Business and Management.
Hello, My name is Lenny, I come
from China and I m a second year
student, studying Business and
Management
View from the cliff railway on
Constitution Hill.
A picture of the starlings which
nest under the Pier.
Hello my name is Michal, I am
a second year student. I am
currently studying Business
Economics at Aberystwyth.
Hello, My name is Yifang, I am also
from China and am studying
Accounting and Finance at
Aberystwyth University.

There are different types of accommodation you can apply for here at
Aberystwyth, catered and self-catered. The catered halls of
residence are Penbryn and Pantycelyn, which is the welsh speaking
hall of residence. The self-catered halls are Cwrt Mawr, Trefloyne,
Rosser, Pentre Jane Morgan (PJM), Seafront, Alexandra Hall,
Claredon House and Brynderw.
Pantycelyn - 230 Cwrt Mawr - 592 Rosser - 332
Trefloyne - 146 PJM - 996
Penbryn - 313
These halls are located on the main campus except Pentre Jane Morgan
which is opposite the main Campus. The Numbers that follow the names
of the Halls is how many students can live in there. PJM, also known
as the student village, can hold 996 students whilst Cwrt Mawr
accommodates 592. Rosser halls have en-suite rooms with a shared
laundrette situated near the Cwrt Mawr bar in the communal area.

Seafront - 356
Claredon House - 109
Alexandra Hall - 254
Hall Accommodation is only guaranteed for First Year students. In 2nd year you have to
move off campus or apply for any spare rooms in halls, if there are any spaces left after
the first year students have been prioritised. In your 3rd year, you can choose to go back
on campus - if there is space - or stay in Private Sector accommodation. Presently there
are not enough residences either in the university accommodation or within the private
sector for all Aberystwyth’s students and many students are “homeless”. What we mean
by this is they were not successful in getting into Halls and didn't find anything in the
limited Private Sector. The University had part of Penbryn closed off for modernisation,
such as installing Internet connections, to make it more suitable to the current student
lifestyles. The university decided to delay this work to help house the “homeless”,
offering them a rolling monthly contract. The Accommodation Office provided this
“temporary accommodation” as they were hoping that they would be able to re-home
students staying here and continue with the planned renovation.
Brynderw - 146

The sports centre on campus offers a
wide range of sports as well as many
indoor and outdoor activities. Here
are just some of the indoor activities
you can do. The University also has a
Climbing Wall called “Box Rox.”
Indoor
� Aikido
The sports centre offers the
following indoor activities:
� Archery
� Badminton
� Basketball
� Boxercise
� Dance Sport
� Dodgeball
� Fencing
� Handball
� Judo
� Juggling
� Karate
� Netball
� Show Dance
� Snooker & Pool
� Squash
� Swimming
� Table Tennis
� Taekwondo
� Trampoline
� Urban Dance
� Volleyball
� Water Polo
� Yoga

Outdoor
The sports centre offers the
following outdoor activities:
� American Football
� Bobsled
� Bodyboarding
� Canoeing
� Caving
� Cheerleading
� Clay-pigeon
shooting
� Cricket
� Expeditions
� Football
� Freerunning/
Parkour
� Gaelic Football
� Gliding
� Golf
� Harriers
� Hockey
� Horse Riding
� Kitesurfing
� Lacrosse
� Mountain biking
� Mountaineering
� Rowing
� Rugby
� Sailing
� Skiing
� Skateboarding
� Snowboarding
� Sub Aqua
� Surfing
� Tennis
� Triathlon
� Ultimate Frisbee
� Walking
� Windsurfing
If you still cant find a sport
here that you would like to do
you can always try the
Plascrug leisure centre.
(Point A on map)

Being a student at Aberystwyth
University means that you will have
access to the National Library of Wales
which is home to many books.
You cannot take books out of this
library but you can take it to a reading
room if you would like to look at it.
There is also a university library on
campus in the Hugh Owen Building.
This library is set over
several floors and the
building is pretty big.
There is also student
support and the guild of
students which can help
you and offer you advice
from a wide range of things
from being home sick to
more serious of problems
such as plagiarism.
Student life at Aberystwyth can
be broken down into three parts:
Academic, Social and Sports.
Academic Life
Aberystwyth University has been
recognised as possibly the best place to
be a student. The University has an
onsite bookshop where you can
purchase all your course books from, the
university has many modern lecture
rooms (although most of them are old
especially in the physics building), it
offers brand new laboratories for
students studying science, it has
several 24 hour computer rooms which
come in very handy when trying to
complete all your coursework especially
if you have left it until the last minute.
Job Link which is located in
the union building helps
students to look for work and
can help them to compose a
good CV and getting a
national insurance
number if you are an
international student.

Social Life
Being a student means that you will get a lot
of free time when your not in lectures. What
is there to do with free time when your not
busy doing work for tutorials or lectures?
Well this can be split into three parts :Nights
Out, Lazy Days and Entertainment.
Lazy Days
If you don't feel like doing much you can
either relax on one of Aberystwyth’s
Beaches or visit one of the local tourist
attractions such as The Castle, The Cliff
Railway, Constitution Hill (beware though
it’s a killer), The Museum, The Royal Pier,
The National Library or if you fancied a
short bus ride you could go to The
Butterfly House (situated on the outskirts
of Aberystwyth) or a trip to Borth which
has a sandy beach, or Newquay which
also has a nice sandy beach. You could
also go to Aberaeron which is a nice little
town on the coast which sells honey ice
cream and has the best chippy ever! If you
are into walking and rambling you could
also visit Devil’s Bridge which has a
stunning waterfall and is situated just
outside Aberystwyth in the mountains.
Nights Out
Aberystwyth has
around 40 pubs and
clubs (yes that’s right
I did say 40!). The
reason for this is
because that almost
50% of the population in Aberystwyth are
students! Many students are in a club or society
which have regular socials and it is a good way
to meet other students and have fun. You have
two options for nights out On campus of off
campus. On campus you can go to one of the 3
bars, Cwrt Mawr Bar, The Union & Penglais
bar. The Cwrt Mawr bar is host to the ever
popular Pound Party on a Thursday evening!
All standard draught pints, best selling bottles
and all spirits are just £1 all night - plus unlike
other venues our pound parties don’t sting you
on the mixers - they’re included free!...
Entertainment
If you don't fancy any of this then you could
always find out what’s going on at the Arts
Centre or the Cinema located in the town which
will show the latest releases. If you find
shopping entertaining then you might be
disappointed to find out we only have one street
of shops. As we say what you cant find
here isn’t worth having! The main supermarket
here is Morissons but we also have a Lidl,
Iceland, Co-op, CK’s and Spar.

Train
Most students choose the train as the best
way to get to the university (and to go home
for weekends and holidays). You can get a
train to Aberystwyth from Birmingham New
Street, Birmingham International, Smethwick
Galton Bridge and Wolverhampton. You can
also get a virgin train from London Euston and
change at Birmingham New Street or
Wolverhampton for connecting Arriva Trains
Wales services to Aberystwyth. These tend to
be the most popular routes but there are also
trains from Manchester to Shrewsbury where
you can change for a connecting train to
Aberystwyth as well as
North and South Wales.
Airports
Birmingham International
is most convenient for Aberystwyth, if you're
relying on public transport. London's airports
are also fairly accessible and benefit from a
wider choice of flights and prices. Cardiff's
airport is reasonably convenient if travelling
onward by car.
Airports include Birmingham International,
Cardiff International, London Gatwick, London
Luton, London Heathrow, London Stanstead.
For more information please use this link
http://www.aberystwyth.org.uk/transport/
airport.shtml
How to get to Aberystwyth
Cars
Aberystwyth is served by the main A487 and
A44 trunk roads. While Aberystwyth is readily
accessible, it's worth bearing in mind that an
'A road' in Mid Wales is not really comparable
to an 'A road' in more urban parts of the UK.
When driving to Aberystwyth, you travel
through some very attractive scenery - but
bear in mind you'll be doing so on winding
single carriageway roads for the last couple of
hours of your trip. Just be sure not to over-rely
on the journey time predictions given by
route-planning software!
Ferry
If arriving from
Ireland, Fishguard
and Holyhead are
within a few hours' drive.
Public transport links are also available
during the daytime, though not if arriving
very early in the morning or late at night.
Fishguard - The arrival port for ferries from
Rosslare. Take a bus from the town centre
to Cardigan (service 412) then change onto
the X50 bus to complete the journey to
Aberystwyth. Traveline Cymru will give you
a full journey plan from the port to
Aberystwyth.
Holyhead - The arrival point for ferries from
Dublin and Dun Laoghaire. A train or bus
can be taken from Holyhead to Bangor, from
where the X32 bus runs directly to
Aberystwyth. Traveline will give you a full
journey plan from the port to Aberystwyth.
http://www.traveline-cymru.info

How to get around while in Aberystwyth
Most students tend to walk everywhere as everything you could
possibly need is within easy walking distance. You can in fact walk
to most places of interest within 10 to 20 minutes.
There are buses if you don't feel like walking up hills or if your
having a lazy day and cant be bothered to walk.
Local buses use the Bus Station in Alexandra Road and
operate during the daytime Mondays to Saturdays, but from around
6pm local services stop running. Students can also purchase a Bus
Pass, which costs around £40 for a term, which allows free travel on ANY bus within
Aberystwyth, and discounted travel if you wish to go further to major towns and cities within
wales.
There are NO LOCAL BUSES ON SUNDAYS!
If you need shopping over the weekend you can either walk to Morissons and carry the bags
back, take a taxi which will cost around £5 each way or make sure you do it during the week
when you can use a bus.
If you don't feel like walking or using public transport then you can either drive if u have a car,
hire a car or you can hire a bicycle. Hiring a car
You can hire a car from Europcar which is situated in
the town by Matalan, or you can hire one from Hertz
rent a car which is situated on the Glan Yr Afon
Industrial Estate.
Europcar Prices can range from £94 - £120 for one day.
On a student loan these prices are very
expensive and if you can afford this then you
would be better off buying a bicycle.
To hire a car from Hertz you would need to
contact them to be able to get the best deal
that is suitable for you.
You can purchase a Bicycle from Summit Cycles,
Halfords or Sports Direct. Summit Cycles are quite
expensive with a basic bike starting at around £300.
Halfords Bikes start from around £90 and
go up to around £200. At Sports Direct you could pick a
bike up from as cheap as £49.

Eating Out
The most popular places to Eat out in
Aberystwyth are Ta Med Da Restaurant situated in
Penbryn, which is one of the many food outlets
situated on campus. If you don't fancy any of this
then you can have a walk down the hill into town
where you will find JD Wetherspoons, McDonalds,
KFC, and recently opened Dominoes Pizza. There
are other pubs and places to eat in Aberystwyth not
just fast foods and are all worth a try.
Red Dragon Day
Loyalty Card
The Loyalty Card is a free-to-join pre-pay scheme which offers a
safer way to pay for food and drink. Students who will be in catered
accommodation will have one of these loyalty cards. However,
Students in Self Catered accommodation can also get one of these
cards. Parents, Relatives (or yourself) can put any amount of money
they like onto it ,so if your having a lazy day and cant be bothered to
cook (and trust me there will be many days like that) then you can
just go down to Ta Med Da (in Penbryn) and have a meal or take
away and use this card to pay. It is easier when paying for goods at
the till as you don't have to stand and count out money. Just hand the
card over, they swipe it through a machine and the amount gets deducted
from the amount on the card. You can top up with cash, or a
cheque at any till. You can also top up using you Debit/Credit card in
Ta Med Da, at any Reception, or over the telephone. 01970 62192 or
01970 622778
Red Dragon days are very popular among
students. It offers Loyalty Card Holders to enjoy great food, at
discounted prices, which is great when your Uni loan isn't going
very far. They have set days throughout term time, where
Loyalty Card Holders, can enjoy many different types of food such
as Welsh Breakfasts, and BBQ’s in the summer. Keep your eyes
open for these amazing bargains which will be advertised around
the University and on the internet.

List Of Taxi’s
A1 Taxis - 01970 611119
Aber Cars - 01970 627272
Al’s Taxi - 07866 715228
BJ’s Taxi - 01970 611063
Bobs Taxi - 01970 615537
Cambrian Cabs - 01970 626292
Castle Cabs - 01970 624402
Damon’s Taxi - 01970 627777
Eddie’s Taxi - 01970 828642
Gary’s Cabs - 01970 612233
Gethin’s Taxis - 01970 820301
Jimmy’s Taxis - 01970 615705
MC Abercabs - 01970 880865
Mo’s Taxis - 01970 636663
Padarn Cars - 01970 612319
Simons Cars - 01970 820705
Useful Links
Important Phone Numbers
Drs
Ystwyth Medical Group - 01970 613500
Church Surgery - 01970 624855
Padarn Surgery - 01970 624545
Lloyds Chemist - 01970 612694
Dentist
Aberystwyth University - http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/
Ystwyth Dental Practice - 01970 613520
Portland Street - 01970 612581
Denticare - 01970 612266
Other Useful Numbers
Police Station - 0845 330 2000
Police Non-Emergencies - 101
Bronglais Hospital - 01970 623 131
Sports Centre Contact Details, Email : sports@aber.ac.uk, Reception Telephone : 01970
622 280
Aberystwyth University Students Guild Website - http://www.aberguild.co.uk/