Work and Play

I can't believe we're almost halfway through the semester already! Where has the time gone?

Things are getting more and more hectic with each passing week. Assignments, group project meetings, planning and presenting a radio show, football training... it's all piling up! I must admit, it can get quite tiring - let's just say I appreciate my bed more than I ever did before! But overall I'm enjoying it.

I mentioned presenting a radio show. Yes, I know I said I was going to produce, but I'm pretty happy that it's turned out this way! The show (which is yet to be named) airs on DCUfm every Wednesday from 1-2pm and is hosted by myself and three other people. It's basically a talk show, where we discuss all sorts of things, and also play a few tunes as well. You can listen in online at http://www.dcufm.com, so if you have nothing else to do, tune in!

Getting involved with student radio was one of the things I was most looking forward to about starting university, and although it's early days, this could well be the best thing about my time here. I've always had a huge excitement and passion for radio, so I absolutely love being in the studio and going through the whole process.

I have football training every Tuesday evening, and I'm having great fun with that too. It's brilliant to be able to play again. Of the three clubs and socs I joined, Music Soc is the one that I've had the least to do with so far, but I'm starting Music Production lessons on Thursday evenings, so that's something I'm really excited about.

I've got so much work to do this week, but I'll be taking a nice break this weekend. On Sunday, I'm off to London to see Alice Cooper at Wembley Arena. I can't wait! This will be my fourth time seeing Alice live (it's becoming an annual Halloween thing) and I'm really looking forward to seeing the friends I've made from seeing him the past few times, as well as meeting others for the first time. It's going to be great!

And now to take advantage of my lie-in tomorrow morning! I'll update again next week, when I've recovered from the gig!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Three weeks in and life is beginning to get busier! I like it that way, though - it's what I signed up for after all!

My first assignment of the year is due just before Halloween. It's a photography assignment and the brief is 'Faces and Places of Ireland'. There are basically two parts to it. I have to take ten pictures that represent Ireland to me, and present them in class. However, I also have to submit three of these pictures to a competition run by the Dublin Photography School in aid of Brainwave, the Irish Epilepsy Association. It just so happens that's an organisation close to my heart, as my dad has epilepsy. The deadline for the competition is next week and there are €2000 worth of prizes to be won - not that I'm expecting any of my photos to be chosen! I have almost half of my assignment done. I'm renting the camera for this weekend to take more shots. It's a Nikon, very fancy... unfortunately that doesn't make the slightest bit of difference to my photography skills! On Friday I'm heading over to my aunt's place because it's a great setting for photographs, plus it'll be nice to see her and my uncle and cousin for a few hours. I haven't seen them since that family party back in July, and now that I'm living in Dublin it's nice to be near them again.

I'm not going to post any of the photos here until after the presentation - it's top secret information until then! You never know who could claim them as their own, and then I'd be up shit creek!

Apart from lectures and assignments, clubs and socs are also keeping me occupied. Tonight I've got football training and studio training for DCUfm, tomorrow I've got my first Music Soc meeting of the year - with free pizza! Speaking of which, here are some of the most important things I've learned about university generally over the past couple of weeks:

1. When you have as few hours as I do, getting involved in society life is absolutely vital.
2. Lecturers are not like teachers. They won't tell you what to do - only you can take responsibility for your own learning.
3. There is no right or wrong answer. It's all about being able to think for yourself and trust your own instincts.
4. When it comes to the ovens in Larkfield, forget about the cooking times you read on the packaging of whatever food it is you're making. When you hear sizzling, take the food out! The ovens tend to burn everything that touches them.
5. There is always a way to get free pizza.

Finally, today marks the birthdays of two of my favourite musicians, John Lennon and John Entwistle, both sadly departed. Happy Birthday to them!

You Can Run, But You Can't Hide

As I sit here at my computer screen, I'm slowly but surely working my way through a box of Kleenex tissues. Yep, you guessed it, I've got Fresher's Flu. Despite the fact that I was given plenty of advance warning, and despite the fact that my best friend made a point of giving me a packet of Lemsip before I left, I foolishly believed I could avoid illness at all costs. So for anyone reading this who has yet to start university, take heed - you are not indestructible. Keep that Lemsip on standby!

So aside from the fact that my sense of smell is temporarily impaired (some might say that's a good thing) and my head feels several pounds heavier than usual, things are going pretty well. Over the past couple of days I've joined the Media Production Society, Music Society and the Ladies Soccer Club. Should be plenty to keep me busy outside of coursework! MPS are having their first official meeting of the year this evening, so I'm going along to that. As for the soccer club, I was unsure about whether to join, as I didn't know if all levels would be catered for and it's been quite a long time since I've played. Luckily you can just play for fun, so that's exactly what I'm going to do. Time to get back in shape!

Also today I'm meeting up with Aoife, a very good friend of mine from primary school. She's in her second year of studying Horticulture here. We've known each other since we were four or five years old - the very start of our school lives. It'll be great to catch up! Before that, though, I'm going to a study skills workshop with some of my coursemates in about half an hour's time. To be honest it's mainly to give me something to do this afternoon! But it'll hopefully also help me brush up on my presentation skills.

The Mac labs are now working for us, and I had an Authoring session this morning. I now know the very basics of animation using Flash, but I'm having some trouble with the 'walk cycle'. This is where I have to make an animated bug walk across the screen. There are so many sets of legs that it's a little confusing! But I'm sure I'll get there eventually. Practice makes perfect!

And just as I finished typing that last sentence, the weather has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. As if we didn't have enough rain last week! Maybe this is why I'm sick...

Home Away From Home

First week of lectures done! If that statement seems a little premature, it's not - I have Fridays off. Lucky me, eh?

Already I'm beginning to feel at home here. Isn't that great? Don't get me wrong, I'm not Larkfield's number one fan or anything. What I mean is that I'm starting to feel like I belong at DCU. The vast majority of people I have encountered have been really nice and friendly. I've started to make friends with people on my course, not to mention a Journalism student as well. Hopefully this will continue with clubs and societies, though most of the people I've been hanging out with are joining the same ones as me anyway.

So, what's it like being a Multimedia student? Pretty good so far! I'm studying four modules this semester: Multimedia Studies, Photography and Design, Authoring and Introduction to Social Studies. I'll explain a bit about each of them. Multimedia Studies is a weekly lecture which I have on Monday afternoons at 4pm - and that's my one and only lecture that day! It's basically theory which covers loads of different areas relating to graphic and lens based media forms. It seems pretty interesting, though at the moment we've only briefly touched on it. Photography and Design speaks for itself. We're learning how to use professional cameras and software like PhotoShop, and as well as the practical element there's also a lecture covering things like the history and evaluation of photography. I'm not sure how good I'm going to be at that, but we'll see how it goes. I must admit I'm not looking forward to my photography projects and presentations. Social Studies is a lecture that we share with students on two other courses - Communication Studies and Contemporary Culture and Society. As its name suggests, it's to do with sociology and concepts such as Functionalism, Marxism, Feminism and Structuralism. It's pretty interesting stuff and reminds me of some elements of studying history at school, but I'm not sure it's going to be one of my favourite parts of the course. Finally, Authoring is a module in which we learn to combine different media forms (such as sound or video) to create animations, interactive programs and menus.

So far, the most interesting module to me is Authoring, which is ironic considering the second year Multimedia students who spoke to us last week led us to believe it was horrible. It does seem challenging, but that's what you would expect from a course like this. We're currently learning to use Flash, but unfortunately we haven't been able to use the software ourselves yet because in the Mac labs we were unable to log in. Our lecturer has been showing us how everything works, but I'm looking forward to actually being able to try it out myself.

Next week I'll be able to join clubs and socities. Exciting! First on my list is the Media Production Society (known as MPS) which consists of the radio and TV stations, DCUfm and DCUtv. I've always had a huge fascination with radio, especially since I did my work experience in a station in Waterford while I was at school, so I'm dying to get involved in that. In fact, yesterday I made my debut on the air! I went to a meeting with MPS in which we were shown around the radio and TV studios, and a few of us were interviewed about how we'd like to get involved. Pretty much everyone on my course, and indeed the other courses in the School of Communications, seems to be joining MPS. As they point out, if we want careers in the media (and obviously we do, otherwise we wouldn't be on these courses in the first place) getting involved with MPS is essential. I'm also planning on joining the Music Society, as I need an outlet for my guitar playing while at university! As for what else I'm going to join - who knows!

Oh, and the oven seems to be a little bit kinder to me now. Maybe MasterChef isn't such a bad idea after all...*

 So that's it for this week. Now just wait til the projects get going! I'll barely have time to breathe.

*Nah. Still a bad idea.