First year down.

So for the past 6 months, I’ve been completely neglecting my poor little blog. When I was leaving for college last year I thought I would be blogging 24/7, because I didn’t have a whole lot of hours in comparison to some courses…(understatement of the century :P), but I never actually got down to it. The reason why I neglected it was, simply, I was just having too much fun living the college dream! So listen up folks, I’m gonna give you a little run down of my past year, and those of you who are about to enter this new chapter in your lives and start college this September, prepare yourselves for one of the greatest years of your life. (That’s all the cheesiness finished, I promise.)

What they don’t tell you about college: 

• You actually have to do work..?!

I know, I know! You’re just after finishing the Leaving Cert, ready to chill for the Summer and breeze into college come September. Life is easy sailing for here on out. Ehhhhhh….not so much. Surprisingly enough, we actually have to do work in college. It’s not all about drinking cans in the park on a sunny afternoon, skipping lectures to creep on the Freshers Footballers training and pulling in Coppers while absolutely hammered. (Now don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of time for that too!) But I’ll never forget in Week 2, when we were told we had to have an assignment about Irish left-wing politics completed by the following week, a little bit of me died inside. Don’t forget that we’re here to get an education, not just to go on this piss three times a week! Everything in moderation….two nights a week works just as well 😉

• Your lecturers didn’t come down the last rain shower

As smart as we may think we are, managing to get to college and even get the points to do as course, we can never out-smart our lecturers. They are strange creatures, all-knowing beings that lurk around corridors and actually notice when we don’t turn up for class. An email or note saying that we were ‘unable to attend class due to family problems’ is translated as ‘I just did the walk-of-shame and I was ridiculously hungover at 9am, there was no way I was getting up for that class.’ Don’t try fool them, it never works and you’re a cert to be in the bad books for the rest of semester!

• Your roommates are not always gonna be what you expected

Take it from someone who has had two different roommates this year, you definitely don’t know what you’re in for until your sharing half your home with them. Prepare yourself for them using your stuff, eating your food, leaving the bathroom untidy, staying up ridiculously late and getting up at the crack of dawn. Sometimes you can be lucky and get put in with the soundest lad/lass in Ireland, but chances are that’s pretty unlikely. Go in with an open mind and try not to kill them in their sleep!

• Just learn to cook

Don’t go to college only knowing how to cook pasta and noodles. You will die of carb-overload and no one wants to see you spitting chunks of pesto pasta at 3am after a hard night out! Just learn. Simple as.

What to be ridiculously, incredibly, supercalifragilisticexpialidociously excited for:

• Meeting a completely different crowd

One of the great things about college is meeting tons of new people. In first year, everyone is in the same boat, we all want to make friends, meet as many new people as possible and create a good group of people to be around. You’ll meet people from every walk of life, whether it is the absolutely minted ,Foxrock-native or the biggest bogger from the ‘Whest.’ (who includes a ‘h’ in every word they say!?) It really is a great opportunity to talk to people you would never even have considered speaking to before, and who knows, they could end up your best friend.

• General college banter

Between organised events, like balls, sports days, shows, gigs, trips and having the banter on campus, it’s one of the greatest times in college. Fresher’s and Rag week in particular were the highlights for me. Events on during the day, skipping lectures, heading into the clubs at night, there is such a good buzz around campus and it really rubs off on everyone around.

• On the beer!

Sure, I could hardly skip one of the most important aspects of college now could I?! Of course heading into nightclubs is a key aspect of every college student’s life. Possibly the greatest way to bond with your class or new friends! Not only will you find out all about their lives in a game of ‘Never have I ever,’ but nothing brings people closer together than belting out the chorus to C’est la vie in the back of a taxi!

Definitely one of the greatest years of my life, so for all you heading to college for the first time this year, get ready for a serious experience! 

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And so it begins….

Hey guys, I know I’ve been AWOL the past few weeks, between getting my results, CAO offers and grad chaos, my life has been thrown into overdrive! Not to mention, I’m working nearly every waking moment of the day! So anywaaaaaaay, let me fill you in! I’m happy to inform all of yee, that I am now a JOURNALISM student in DCU! I actually couldn’t be more happier with my offer, that I received yesterday morning! I was so anxious to find out if all my complaining and whining had actually paid off, and well it did! 😀 I was thrilled with my leaving cert results as well, so much higher than I had ever even imagined, but oh dear god, it was possibly the most nerve wrecking experience of my life!

Let’s back track to last week. The 15th of August to be precise. The day students all across the country dreaded, anticipated and waited for. LC results. I woke up at 8am, I’m a little surprised myself really, I thought I would have been up since 5! Hopped into the shower and blared Beat, to drown out the nerves in the pit of my stomach. Although once I came downstairs and tucked into my usual bowl of Cornflakes, I felt somewhat calmer. A moment of realisation. I thought to myself, there is no point being worried. It’s done now, nothing more I can do. However, this feeling was short lived once I got into the car and heard past students telling their stories about how they were so upset with the points they received and missed out on their courses. (Like seriously? Why in God’s name would you interview these people right before results were issued?!?!) I arrived at the school around 8.30, thinking that results were out at half 9. Nuh uh, the minute I set foot into that school, my principal handed me that envelope!

Well thats when it all became real. I ran into one of the nearest classrooms, and ripped the results open, (well not literally, I gently pealed it open if I’m gonna tell the truth! I was too scared I’d rip the results in half ) I started shaking like crazy once I had seen the results before me. I was over the moon. I knew I had more than enough points for my course and that was it.

So after a long night of bending the elbow and having a few sociable drinks, I was all set for CAO offers. (well once I recovered from the 3 day hangover that is!) Fast-forwarding to yesterday i.e Offers, I was so excited to see what was in store for me! Once again, I woke at a respectable 8am, although once I saw the text messages on my phone asking me what I had got, I sprang out of bed and lept for the laptop. Waiting patiently I waited for CAO to load, fingers sprawling across the keyboard to get my details in as quick as possible. And there it was. DC132 – Journalism. I stared at the screen in awe for a solid 5 minutes I’d say. I couldn’t believe it. I actually got my course. On the way to being a Journalist.

As if that wasn’t enough, then the excitement truly chimed in when Facers was mobbed by everyone posting their new colleges on their pages. Some disappointed, some ecstatic, but overall, the general buzz was incredible! But, the reality slapped me in the face once the whole accommodation aspect came into view. Shit. I had applied for campus but heard nothing back. I spent all last night prowling the internet for places to live that hadn’t been booked out…looking for roommates, a place near the college, a place that was affordable…sheesh. I never knew it was so much work. At 12 I gave up and hit the sack, a 9-6 work day was ahead of me and I could barely stay awake.

So the next day in work, I tried forgetting about it, hoping that’d somewhere would get back to me and I could secure a place. At around 3 I saw an email from DCU campus residences, praying to god this would be good news. Eventually I opened it, and it read:

Dear Ms. Orlaith Farrell we are delighted to inform you that you have been successful in securing a room on campus for the Academic year 2012/13.

I think I may have experienced a slight heart-attack once I saw the first 6 words of that email. I was sure I wasn’t going to get campus as all the students with 500+ points are guaranteed a place and after that it is a lottery system…and considering I didnt get 500+ or have ever won the lottery, I didnt think my chances were too high! Well there ya go, I must have been a saint in the past life, cos this Karma is incredible!

And now we’re up to today. The day before my grad, and I actually couldn’t wish for anything more. 🙂 I hope you guys are all happy with the points and course you got. Come on, we’re going to College! Roll on 17th of September! Hell yes!

-Orlaith 🙂

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