September: 1 Freshers Week, 2 Freshers Weeks, 3 Freshers Weeks, 4

September has been an absolute mammoth ride for us sabbs. I worked every single day from September 9th to September 27th which I have to say was really tiring. This year we had the delight of having two different Freshers weeks - one for Newport, one for Ponty and Cardiff along with two International Welcome Weeks. At times it felt like a blur but this is the best from what I can remember from this month:

• Supported a few students at Academic Infringement meetings - at times that day resembled an episode of "The X Factor" there was such a range of emotions. 
• Met with Dean of Creative Industries Gill Sanford. Discussed why the back doors of the ATRiuM have to be locked. She explained strangers can wonder into the building and there have been reports of equipment thefts. I suggested perhaps we trial opening the doors during daytime hours and she is going to look into this for me.
• Appeared at Newport International Welcome Week for their Quiz night where we had Dominos. Team Sabb (and Magda, our Bar Manager in Newport) were tied for the lead with another team but we lost the tie-break question. The answer definitely wasn't "pillow case" (you had to be there).
• Brought the University Students Want Academic Manifesto to LTEC (Learning and Teaching Enhancement Committee). It was very well received by all. The only issue seemed to be around how we were going to tackle the problem of Timetabling.
• I also offered to help with trying to help with courses which received low National Student Survey scores.
• Was in Newport for move-in weekend for two "Meet the Officers" sessions. Helped a few people move in (whilst banging my head on a car boot!) Also helped with the SU talk at the accommodation induction (even if our video did screw up the first time!)
• Sat on the panel for a Student Complaint at Newport's Caerleon campus.
• Attended some Post Grad and Mature, Local and Community Meet and Greets at the Treforest Campus.
• Attended the Welsh Twmpath at the Union and did some Welsh dancing (it's a lot like line dancing!)
• Manned the SU stall at Newport Freshers Fair to get some interest in Course Reps, Student Council and SVRs.
• Had our first Trustee Board Meeting. We discussed having an 'away day' at some point in the near future to come up with a Strategic Plan for the next couple of years.
• Did Induction talks for new students staying at Liberty Bridge and Liberty Park. We had to keep it short so I used this poem.
• Did some more meet and greets in Cardiff.
• Did Induction talks with Performance and Media, Film and Video, Media Technology, Theatre and Drama and Journalism students.
• Help co-ordinate the Film and Curry Night at the ATRiuM.
• Co-ordinated the bus tour to Treforest Freshers Fair from Cardiff. Unfortunately I forgot to check my watch and accidentally let the bus go early! Luckily not too many people were affected by this.
• Popped in to the Tequila Radio talk in the ATRiuM cinema to talk to some Radio, Music Tech and Sound Tech students.
• Helped with the Cardiff Scavenger Hunt and actually ended up going on it because we were lower on number than we expected!
• Went to the Music Tech showcase at Clwb Ifor Bach and the Pulp! Fashion show at ATRiuM. The Fashion show was really well attended (probably because it was in everyone's induction timetable!)
• Went to the first meeting of the Learning Environment Review Steering Group which is looking into how to improve Moodle/Blackboard at USW for the 2014/15 year.

So pretty busy. At one point in the middle of Freshers week I was so shattered I actually went home at 7pm and went straight to bed! But it'll still be pretty full on from here on in.

Feel free to get in touch with your views about what I've been up to and get involved yourself at our Student Council elections!

A poem about USWSU

Today I was at the ATRiuM to deliver some induction talks to students living at Liberty Bridge and Liberty Park. We didn't have a lot of time to give a presentation so it was very useful that I wrote this poem which condenses down what we do at the Students' Union into a few short lines. Here is the poem in full:

What, oh what does USWSU do?

If you haven't heard of us before, you might not have a clue.

We help you with your education

And welfare issues too.

The bottom line is

We're here to represent you.

From sports and societies

Club and activities

Pop into the office to find out more

And you can grab a McVities

You can also get involved

In our student council elections

Or visit our ideas factory

And make business out of your inventions.

We represent all students

Female, male, LGBT

We'll make your student life great

At this South Wales University

The poem seemed pretty popular for those in attendance. If you want to find out the real meaning behind those words or get advice or involved with your SU, just pop into the office around the back of the ATRiuM building Monday to Friday.

10 Things You Should Know About the ATRiuM

Ah, the ATRiuM. A place where many people study here at the University of South Wales. But it can be a confusing building at times. So I thought I'd let you in on 10 useful facts that'll come in handy if you're going to start your course here in just two weeks time.

1. "The Street" is Inside not Outside

The foyer area by the ATRiuM's reception desk is known as "The Street". The street holds a lot of events and is where a lot of the enrolement over induction week is. So you should be glad it's indoors as knowing Wales you'd probably get wet otherwise.

2. It has Funny Named Rooms

Some of the room names aren't the most everyday room names you'll come across. Many of you might hear the name "Gus Dungeon Suite" and get the impression of some underground torturous prison when in fact it's a recording studio. There's also the "Zen Room" on the top floor which has nothing to do with Buddhism. It's instead a room for ATRiuM events and for large lectures. You can actually see the Zen Room from the outside of the building. It's the glass room that sticks out to the side (see image for details).

3. It has an Ideas Factory

In the SU along with the bar/cafe that serves food, the shop and my office, there's the Ideas Factory. It's there to promote enterprise and related activities that go with it. You can pop in there and see an Enterprise Ambassador to talk about any ideas for projects or a business you might have in mind.

4. Make sure you have some storage handy

If you save your work in the Documents area on the computers in the ATRiuM, they'll only appear on that local computer. So when you log on to a different one it won't be there anymore. There is some dedicated space to save your work on the server but it's not always compatible with all the PCs and Macs in the ATRiuM. It's usually best if you bring some storage whether that be a portable hard drive (good for video editing), a USB stick or just use your Google Drive space in your uni Gmail account (you should get 15GBs worth). Then you'll never have to worry about losing your work again.

5. CB rooms are by the spiral staircase, CA rooms are by the other staircase

When I started University, I got extremely confused about how to navigate the building. It's really not that easy at times especially when things are so spread out. Most of the teaching rooms are on the CA side so usually you can get away with just knowing your way around this half of the building. The CB side is mostly for music, sound, radio and TV studios so that's where all the fun happens!

6. The Advice Shop

The Advice Shop is an absolute gem in times of crisis. You can also use it to book out rooms, sign up to the ATRiuM Health Service and get access to the Counselling service. It's just across the way from reception so it's not hard to find.

7. When in doubt, use the phone

On the odd occasions some things just can't be resolved without some contact with those at the University's Treforest campus where a lot of the central resources of the University are based. Luckily instead of having to get the train there every time you have a problem, there's a phone set up in one of the hallways that does the job just as well. You can use this to phone the Student Money Service which always comes in handy at the start of term.

8. Get in the Library early to avoid disappointment

The ATRiuM can be a busy place especially around deadline days (near Christmas, near Easter or in May). So if you need space in the library to study it's best to get in there early. At 9am it's practically dead in there but by midday it will be rammed. 

9. Remember your swipe card

Most of the doors at the ATRiuM are protected by swipe card access. This leads to some very unusual methods used to open doors or an abundance of lanyards used by the Staff. It's especially important to have your swipe card if you're looking to get out of the back of the building. It's amazing how long it takes someone who hasn't got a card to realise the door won't open without one.

10. One of the lifts speaks Welsh

There are two lifts in the ATRiuM building and one of them is bilingual. It speaks Welsh and English though apparently there's a mistake on one of the pronunciations (don't ask me what it is though. My welsh is terrible!)

So I hope those 10 things help you when you're starting out here. You'll soon get used to all the little quirks of the place and maybe even find them charming (maybe). If you've got any more questions about the ATRiuM, feel free to ask away and I shall do my best to help.

We'll be there for you!

A couple of weeks ago us sabbs got together to make a bit of a video so you'd find out who we are. With my media background I took the lead in directing and editing our version of the opening credits from "Friends". I'm particularly proud of the revolving door bit and the "getting stuck in second gear" part as they add a bit of comedic flavour to the whole thing. Have a watch above.