I came to Lampeter in 1996 from Cheshire, moving to Wales was not a shock. In fact I prefer it because in Wales you can really see the sky and you can really see the stars. I have never been anywhere else where the sky was so open. I remember one evening watching a meteorite bounce across the Earths atmosphere like a skipping stone. Whilst choosing my university I was enchanted by what I heard about Lampeter. I was so enchanted I decided to go to an open weekend. I fell in love with the campus and the town over that couple of days. During that weekend I remember most clearly waking up with a most terrible hangover and hearing the sheep barring and the crows calling. I chose Lampeter because Lampeter chose me. This was very important to me, I received an offer from Lampeter and I was so touched that they wanted me I wanted nothing else after that. I profoundly enjoyed my studies at Lampeter and even now as a writer I return to topics I was introduced to as a student. I learnt breadth of historical topics and English subjects so now I can teach on almost any humanity. The thing I enjoyed the most was the countryside and before Lampeter I had never seen a buzzard. One Easter I lay watching two pairs of buzzards playing together in the thermals. The males diving through each others wings to impress their mates. The river ran besides me and in the blissful sun I thought, and still believe, life does not get better than this. If I had my life again I would certainly do Lampeter again. I would not swap Lampeter for anything. The only thing I would change is that I would do Lampeter better.
I wrote this for the Lampeter Voices Project. If you have a connection to Lampeter why not contribute to the project? Do you have Lampeter memories? Comment below! I would love to hear your memories.
Jack Russell 