At a small university town, during the evening you’ll find that most people are either in bed doing some last minute reading, or celebrating having done some last minute reading with a few pints, rendering the streets relatively bare. I caught the flu a couple weeks back, and a friend brought warm soup for us to sip as I cwtched up warm in my big fleece jacket, and we sat on the edge of the pier. Swinging my legs off the side and gazing out towards the ocean, with only distant sounds being audible against the vast ocean silence, is both eery and calming. It’s equally as surreal looking down over the town from a mini mountain as the sun falls down behind streetlights and background-lit windows, and with no one around, there’s hardly any accompanying sound. It’s weird, but awesome.

One night last month someone took me out to the jetty to watch the stars, gazing up at the milkyway and pointing out which constellations were which. The only sound between our voices was that of the Irish Sea lapping against the shore, and the only things we could make out in the darkness were the stars, distant town lights, and each other. It was one of the most charming nights I’ve had in my life, and it would have been completely ruined had it been filtered with sunlight and tourists.

EVERYONE’S MORE COMFORTABLE

I’ve met some of the most chill people at night, as by the time the clock strikes 3am everyone’s too sleep deprived to care about anything. You can have some deep discussions as you wander down to the beach as fireworks go off overheard on Bonfire Night, and people are always hazy with guileless glee in the arcade when all the windows overlook a pitch black town. Time moves slower, people are happier, and it’s a pretty decent atmosphere to experience.

So one day at Aberystwyth, we were all emailed warnings to not leave our flats to go to evening lectures because Storm Ophelia had hit and there were loose roof tiles and the like flying about everywhere. So naturally, one of my friends suggested that we go down to the ocean and watch the storm erupt chaos into the town. You could barely move in one direction due to the sheer force of the wind, and the waves coming up and hitting the streets were mental. As it got darker, everything felt less restricted and more ominous, and whilst I felt safe, there was a prominent question mark hovering over what would happen. It’s exciting and I love it.

 

 

 

From eating candyfloss at a funfair to sipping soup on the edge of a pier, to even going dry slope skiing, some of my best experiences at this uni town so far have been during dark. They’e exciting and personal and honestly, it makes you fall in love with everything twice as quick and I can’t recommend then enough.

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