Firstly, I am grateful for the experiences and life-long friends I gained while at Bangor University.
Bangor University’s motto reads ‘the best gift is knowledge’. It is a pass-the-parcel gift that kept on giving, resulting in my graduation from Bangor University in 2017 with an upper 2:1 BA(Hons) degree. The degree equipped me with knowledge of religions ranging from Buddhism and Shinto to Islam, and Philosophy topics ranging from Freud and Nietzsche to Plato. I also developed mentoring skills when I took on the role of Peer Guide during Welcome Week, to help new students in my subject settle in and find their feet. I remember during one Welcome Week, a student came up to me when I was waiting for my group of students to arrive at the meeting point, and they were interested in the book I was reading. We had a small conversation which resulted in them wanting to go away and possibly read the book. It was a quick exchange that introduced me to university life. Although pleasant, that conversation did not lead anywhere, but many other conversations I started did. For example, by taking the initiative to introduce myself to those in my cohort, I gained some lovely friends whom I accompanied to lectures and met for social events. Speaking of friendship, Bangor is where I met some of my, now, life-long friends and my then-boyfriend (who is from France), which led to many adventures abroad.
There were many amazing societies to choose from and although some did not stick, like kayaking (which was fun), I found communities in both the Bangor University Team Time Society (BUTTS) and TableTop Society. The latter consisted of playing many new, and fun, board games and sparked some great friendships. One friendship evolved into several nights of watching old films such as Casablanca and South Pacific! Another friendship, unrelated to that society, led to me watching most of the Tinkerbell films, which was not a terrible thing but rather enjoyable – especially the company. A third friendship had me watching all the Star Wars films for the first time. Ultimately, should I have done a degree in film perhaps, given the amount I watched?!
Having studied Plato’s philosophy and Buddhism, I found myself wanting to dive deeper into both subjects; so I decided to do a Buddhism Masters degree. When I figured out the topic of my dissertation, Plato’s allegory of the cave became part of the dissertation as a representation of transformation. In the end, the dissertation was close to receiving a First and I was proud of the work that had gone into it. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my Masters, it was taught by very experienced lecturers who had been to the countries that were being discussed and had pictures of the objects being analysed.
Living in London, while studying, was also amazing and London is where I met another lifelong friend who lived in the room next to mine in our all-female accommodation. As she now lives in America, I hope to fly out there one day and visit! Outside of that, during my time in London, I worked with an agency doing waitressing and got the chance to work at some prestigious venues across London. Venues such as Madame Tussauds, the Saatchi Gallery, Lords Cricket Ground and, the In and Out (Navy and Military Club) where the Queen and royalty were in attendance!
My Masters re-ignited my love of research, of books, and making connections between topics that end up having quite a few similarities. I did, however, miss the historic Bangor library, which is beautiful both inside and out, and was a great place to study. I remember renting a DVD from the Archives, taking it home, and discovering there was no DVD inside! From then on, I knew to go to the reception desk and ask for the disk.
After my Masters, I knew I wanted to continue living in London. I managed to get a hospitality role at King’s College London, where I worked for a year before moving to France. The friendship group I had in France took me back to my Bangor days because we enjoyed tea together and spent many afternoons or evenings playing board games or card games. In a sense, I got to re-live some of the best aspects of my undergraduate while living in France. Covid made it hard to see those friends, but we made it work through the power of video calling, so we spent some evenings eating and chatting. Since then, I have returned to the UK and I currently work at the University of Central Lancashire helping and supporting students, which is extremely rewarding.
Since graduating from Bangor University, I have taken myself out of my comfort zone many times and had some amazing experiences as a result. My suggestion to anyone who reads this is to try going out of your comfort zone and see what adventure it might take you on.