Leicester Freshers A-Z 2013, Part 2

So you’ve heard about Leicester’s BNOC’s, where Food Factory source their products and about the local rivals DMU. Now we’ll take you through the hugely important topics of the library, Richard III and one of Leicester’s more quirky features.

It’s posh and it’s expensive, but it’s nice. When it comes to university accommodation, you pay for what you get. For all those who live in other accommodation, you’ll quickly discover that they have power showers, you’ll hear them chanting on the bus to the union on a night out. At the end of the day, it’s just somewhere to live. Although I’d choose to live somewhere cheaper…it means you have more money for beer.

Power showers … apparently they define first year life

The crowning glory of the university. It’s probably all you heard about on your visit days and unfortunately it won’t be the last time you hear about it. It helped the university win an award and as a result it will be used in promotional material until the end of time. All we think about every time we hear about it is how similar King Dicky and Lord Farquaad look..

Filled with more than one million print books and costing more than £32 million the David Wilson Library becomes an accommodation block during exam periods. People cram into the 1500 study spaces from the early hours of the morning to ensure they have a prime position. Aside from the books and study spaces the library has many other uses, it can be turned into a three-storey centre for hide and seek studies – one of the more popular library games. If you’re not sure about library etiquette then you can find out what not to do here.

Maryland Chicken is a chain of premier fried chicken outlets in Leicester. When we say ‘premier’ what we really mean is dangerously close to being a health hazard. However, it is a popular spot for sports clubs and societies who travel around town every Wednesday. It’s cheap, a strip burger costs just £1.50…at that price it’s hard to resist, especially when you’ve had a few drinks.

Nourish is the convenience shop in the Students’ Union. You can buy sandwiches, drinks, snacks, magazines and just about everything else under the sun in Nourish and almost all of it will be overpriced. You’ll get a better deal going to 1923 across the Square and the chances are you’ll leave without thinking you’ve been robbed in broad daylight.

O is for Open Days

Most people at Leicester, if not everyone, will have visited the university on an open day to make up their mind about where to go. Those that did probably walked away and thought Leicester was the place for them, I’ll tell you now that you won’t enjoy being on the other side of the fence. Having loads of potential Leicester students wandering the campus is a tad annoying, they hold you up when you’re busy and mean it takes far longer to buy anything on campus. As good as they are, we’re sure you’ll feel the same.

The Attenborough Tower is home to this quirky feature. The paternoster is a lift that doesn’t stop … it is in perpetual motion, ferrying students up and down to the many offices in the building. There aren’t many paternoster lifts in the country so it’s a bit of a unique feature and worth checking out.

It begins on the first day of term, you queue for your freshers wrsitband, you queue for your bus pass and you queue for just about everything else. Then you get to the club for the first night of freshers and whether you have a wristband or not – guess what – you queue. It becomes part of your life, unfortunately you won’t get it back!

Don’t forget to look out for part 3, you’ll be able to read it very soon!