As a third year now I’ve been a peer guide twice. I believe that peer guiding is one of the extra-curricular activities that has taught me the most during my time at Bangor University. I’ve always thought of myself as quite a loud and extrovert character; no doubt there are people reading this nodding in agreement.
During my own Freshers’ Week my peer guides did such a good job that I felt as though we should all be compelled to take up the cudgels in our second year. And so, as my time arrived, I collected my purple t-shirt.
My first time peer guiding was made easier because of the assistance of third year guides whose experience helped ease us into the role. By no means was it a simple walk in the park but it did mean that the majority of larger tasks were tackled by them. This meant that our time was yet to come.
We decided for our first time peer guiding to implement a buddying system where we’d team a second year and a third year together so that we were aware how things were done in the previous year, this I believed worked rather well.
Thankfully, when third year finally hit us we were super prepared. We donned our vibrant orange (I won’t pretend that I didn’t love them) t-shirts and planned like the best, though we didn’t expect the heavens to open each and every day. Nonetheless, we weren’t down hearted and carried on.
Our third and final Freshers’ Week I believe was in fact a success but it’s important not just to think that, that is the end of peer guiding, we like to be an open department and stress that as peer guides we are most certainly available at any point throughout the year.
Despite ending every day thoroughly exhausted and realising you have to be up and awake in about 4 hours, I’d say it’s one of the most rewarding and worthwhile things someone can do at Bangor, especially considering other universities just let their first years wander about and try learn everything by themselves.
