Laura Alvarez Hidalgo first came to the University of Plymouth in 2017 to study her degree in Robotics and is now working on her PhD in the Electrical and Communication Engineering department, continuing her focus on robotics. Laura shares her experience as an international student living and studying in Plymouth, how she formed friendships through her love of sports, and built confidence through her involvement with the Students’ Union (SU) over the last seven years.

Back in Spain, Laura played volleyball for fun as part of a small club but had never had the chance to take it further and compete. Before applying for the University of Plymouth, Laura admits she did some research to make sure the university she was going to would provide her with the opportunities she wanted outside of her academic work, including the chance to play volleyball and be on a team. 

When I came here I knew I wanted to do a sport, but I didn’t have the English level to communicate, and so I threw myself into volleyball and I found people that I was able to talk to and a way to make friends.

Photo: Laura (number 6). 

Since joining the Volleyball Club in her first year, Laura has consistently trained and become a valued member within her team, including being a committee member last year as the Health and Safety Officer. Laura’s dedication to the sport and her skills has also led her to compete in Varsity—an annual sporting competition between the University of Plymouth and Marjon University—seeing her team go undefeated each year she has played: “I played Varsity for the last three years; Varsity is always a really fun event. I really like how everyone supports each other.”

As well as Varsity, Laura has also competed in BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) and been the BUCS Captain 2023/2024. “I think one of my favourite memories was a few years ago my volleyball team went to the finals, and we went all the way to Wales, and I had never been to Wales, so it was a lifetime experience. We played, and we won, and I remember being so happy. After we came to the SU and celebrated: it was really fun.”

The SU creates a bond for students, and I think that is really important.

Reflecting on her time in various committee and leadership roles within volleyball, Laura shares that she feels these experiences have helped build her confidence and provided her with a set of skills that she can take forward after graduating: “All the involvement I’ve had with the SU, like with committee roles, it has helped me to learn how to manage big groups of people and be really organised. It teaches you things that you can use later on in jobs.” 

Overall, Laura is grateful for the self-development, memories, and connections she has formed outside of her studies thanks to her involvement with volleyball. Laura shares that although she has loved her degree and has been able to make friends on her course, she appreciated being able to find a social aspect at university outside of academic work: “finding a group of girls that I could talk to was really great.” 

Beyond sports, Laura has also utilised the SU by getting in touch with the SU Advice team, particularly when it came to questions or concerns she had as an international student, often with understanding any documentation requests: “Just to be able to talk with them and make sure everything was perfectly fine and I wasn’t in any trouble, that was great.” Laura describes the SU Advice service as a “friend that you can go to and talk to, and always ask for help.”

Outside of her busy academic schedule and volleyball commitments, Laura has enjoyed partaking in many SU activities and recommends that students should keep an eye on the SU events page to discover a diversity of opportunities and events available. “The SU provides so many activities; if you don’t know what to do, you can always do something with the SU,” Laura explains. By getting involved in some of the activities herself, Laura shares that she has been able to not only get to know new people, but also get to know the city she moved to. “I think Plymouth is not a small city, but it gives you the vibe that it is a smaller city where you have everything in the City Centre, and you can always get a car or a bus and go to really beautiful places.”

Laura’s advice for any students who are yet to engage with the SU…

“My honest recommendation to everyone is join whatever you like. There are clubs for everyone, societies for everyone: it is a great way of getting to know people, because you already know you share something in common and then you can see if you can find other things in common too.

I think it is important to get involved as soon as you get to university because it opens doors and once you get to know one person, that person introduces you to someone else and you start creating your own group of friends.

Engaging with the SU has been a great experience overall.”