I was in born in London in 1986 and have lived in the suburb of Harrow my whole life. I began my studies in Lampeter in 2004 and graduated in 2007 with an Archaeological and Ancient History degree.

I have to admit that Lampeter was not my first choice of University, but I soon found myself feeling at home in this quaint little town.

The first thing I noticed is that my first choice of academic institution (which shall remain nameless) kept asking me for my "Student ID code" and everything felt very formal. It was after I was told I was not accepted that I called Lampeter who politely asked for "my name" rather than anything else, a good start, or so I thought.

When I began University life I was eagerly flicking through the Handbook excited at all the societies on offer and imagining a bustling busy life. My head dropped when at first arrival I hadn't had a room sorted for me, and then I was stuck in temporary accommodation without a fridge, leaving me to throw away most of the food my family had helped pack for me.

No kitchen meant no social place to meet so all my attempts to meet people on my corridor where doomed to failure, added to that it started raining.

So all in all it was turning out to be a miserable day, but I decided not to stand on ceremony and get out there and meet people. I went back to the registration area and ask all said the best place to go was the Bar in the Union.

So that evening I went down there and ended up meeting my flat mates for the year and eventually friends for rest of my time here in University.

It was odd to look back on this now as the Union bar was a glowing light in the dark welsh countryside and really made me feel welcome and at home. It was from there that I felt a sort of fraternity to the place, I owe it a lot.

So election time came around and in my final year I decided to run for President and beat off the competition to be the head of my Students Union, a very proud day indeed, but also an eye opener.

There's so much the SU offers its students and local residence in terms of its services and activities. We have a huge range of Societies here from American football to tea drinking as well as a whole host of sports teams, and the beauty part is that it is so simple to set up a new society if there is not one that suits your interests!

We also have loads of different positions that people can get involved in, from councillors on committees to volunteers on liberation positions, we try to be as inclusive for everybody and leave no one out. One day you may even wish to run for one of the three Sabbatical positions we have here!

My job as President is an interesting one, it can involve me doing loads of paperwork and finance reports, right up to getting out to the student community and engaging people on a one to one level, something I really enjoy doing.

I also spend a lot of time representing student interests to various University committees - such as sporting facilities or even course representatives.

There is no point in lying, Lampeter is a small place, but we try to be as welcoming and encouraging as we can, much like when I saw the building as a soaking wet first year, I want us to be that same place, for future students."

Article written by Matt Davies.