Features / Bristol24/7 Student Guide 2020
Bristol24/7 Student Guide 2020: Welcome to the University of Bristol
How do you write a “welcome” when you aren’t completely sure what you’re welcoming people into? The onset of Covid-19 and the implementation of lockdown restrictions in spring has inevitably resulted in changes to plans for university freshers’ events and the structure for learning for the entire year.
I’ve been trying to put myself in your shoes, as a fresher in a new city, experimenting with independence and familiarising yourself with new people – all during a global pandemic.
However, I just can’t imagine how you’re feeling. I am so aware that your arrival will be very different to mine two years ago.
Yet, just because it will look different does not mean to say it should be any less spectacular, nor need it be anything to worry about. In some ways, you are lucky – you have a chance to really explore and get to grips with a new place with fresh eyes. After weeks in lockdown and months of other restrictions, coming to Bristol will be one big adventure.
Make the unexpected circumstances a chance to explore all of the city. Photo: Joab Smith
Without the traditional herding of freshers to student union organised nights out, you’ll have the exciting opportunity to really explore the city for yourselves.
While it is so important that you delve into and naturalise yourselves within your university “bubbles,” I encourage you to break traditional boundaries and really dig into all corners of what Bristol has to offer – wander to Wapping Wharf, amble across the bridge to Ashton Court and Abbots Pool, hike the full length of Gloucester Road.
It is all too easy, especially as a University of Bristol student, to get to Christmas and realise that you’ve never actually left the Triangle. I don’t want to criticise – the Triangle itself has a lot going on, I just want to gently nudge you outside of conventional University of Bristol territory and into the rest of the city.
Go cycling at Ashton Court and more. Photo: Minnie Leaver
Your year group will quickly come to know bittersweet taste of delayed gratification. With some Covid restrictions still in place, it is likely that larger venues and locations won’t be open, or will be, but at a reduced capacity, when you arrive.
Take this as it comes and enjoy watching the city’s layers being peeled away one at a time – like a game of pass-the-parcel, the fun doesn’t necessarily need to be in the prize at the end, but can be in the process of watching it all unfold.
Main photo: Ellie Pipe
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