Going Home at Weekends

I love my degree, especially this semester. I love the work and the modules and the whole experience of being here. That said, I also really enjoy going home at the weekends to see my family.

When I started this blog last summer, I talked about our move from Dublin to Wexford when I was twelve and why it was so hard for me. I talked about my lack of any emotional attachment to Wexford. That's still as true as it ever was, especially with my friends all being away at university themselves. But when I go home on a Friday afternoon and the bus pulls into Enniscorthy, I do feel content for one reason - I can see the family. Okay, and sleep in my own cosy bed for a couple of nights.

This whole 'going home at weekends' lark is an alien concept to many non-Irish people. As I've mentioned before, my best friend is studying in Britain, and she tells me that students there just do not go home very often during term. It seems that American students don't really do it either, unless they actually live nearby, in which case they probably live at home with their parents anyway. But we Irish seem determined to make the trek. I know people from Galway who have a good four-hour journey ahead of them, and they do it every week. Mine is not quite so bad; I can do it in two hours by bus depending on traffic.

Some people would argue that if you go home every weekend you're not completely independent. Well that's true, but I think that being semi-independent is good enough for now. I wouldn't say there are many students who are able to fund their own education - you're either on a grant or your parents can afford to pay your fees - so are any of us truly independent at this stage in our lives? Anyway, if your cooking exploits during the week are relatively successful (as mine have become) then it's nice to have a break at the weekend and enjoy Mammy's dinners. After all, you can't beat them.

I don't know what it's like at other universities, but as far as DCU is concerned, the campus is dead at weekends. The shop is closed, the restaurant is closed, so is the library on Sundays. Everyone living on campus is gone home, so there's no one around. There's only so much wandering around the city centre you can do - if there's no one to talk to, you're going to be lonely. I don't see the appeal in spending my weekends like that, so going home is the logical option.

It's funny what you take for granted, even just being away for a few days. My shower in Larkfield is perfectly adequate - it gets the job done, even if the water has an annoying tendency to heat up and cool down every few seconds - but having a shower at home is luxury. I've never been one of those girls who take ages to get ready in the mornings (at any rate I prefer evening showers) but I have realised that recently I've been taking longer showers at home than I would in Dublin. Also, the bed situation. I think I've mentioned before that my bed here is pretty comfortable, but there's nothing quite like my own bed at home. After a week in a single bed, a double bed is pretty damn amazing.

The only irritating thing about being at home is that my parents and sisters have developed a strange habit of forgetting that I've actually been present for certain events. For example, my sister might say, "X fell over on Dancing on Ice last weekend." And I'll say, "I know - I was here watching it with you, remember?" Sometimes it's like the only one who remembers I was there is the dog.

Back to the positives though. I really am very close to my parents and we get on so well. Some of my friends think that's really odd, because you're supposed to fight with your parents! But I can honestly say that the vast majority of the time, we get on fine. We've always been a close family, and I think that's probably the main reason why I love going home at weekends. It's a nice balance to have.

Normal Service Resumes

After a seemingly never-ending Christmas break, I am back at DCU for my second semester. I arrived back last night after an exhausting weekend which involved my cousin's 21st birthday party. I now have a new flatmate (the old one having moved out a few weeks into semester one) and I have to admit, I was nervous about it. You see, without going into too much detail, the old one and I didn't really get on at all. After that bad experience, I was hopeful but apprehensive. Luckily, my new flatmate is lovely. She's American, which means having a very cool accent around the place! We've really hit it off. I think Americans generally are so friendly and gregarious that it would be difficult not to get on. It's nice to have some good luck in Larkfield at last.

Other than that, there's really not much to report yet, as I only had one lecture this morning. This resulted in me spending a very lazy day killing time in my apartment - something I don't really care for, so I can't wait for clubs and socs to start up again next week. To make matters worse, I forgot to bring my portable DVD player with me, and there's nothing on Netflix that I'm dying to see. I'm going to make sure I bring it with me next week, and there's a One Foot in the Grave box set at home that I still have to get through! I've only made it to Series 2, so that'll be coming up with me too.

The most eventful part of my day was getting this snazzy new hoodie, courtesy of our class rep:

Apologies for the poor quality, but my webcam is not the greatest. There's a slogan on the back which reads: "If found, please return to the Mac labs." Cheesy perhaps, but I like it!

My timetable this semester seems shorter than last. I'm in ten hours a week, and I think last semester it was eleven. This is what it looks like now:

Monday 10am-11am: Designing Websites (Lecture)

Tuesday 11am-12pm: Writing for Media (Lecture)

Wednesday 9am-11am: Designing Websites (Practical)

11am-12pm: Psychology, Media & Creativity (Seminar)

Thursday 12pm-2pm: Psychology, Media & Creativity (Lecture)

4pm-6pm: Digital Storytelling (Practical)

Friday 9am-11am: Writing for Media (Seminar)

As you can see, I'm in five days a week this time. I no longer have the luxury of a free Friday! Though I can't complain as it's an early finish, which means I can still get home for the weekend at the same time I did last semester.

My grades for last semester's modules will be published next week, but I'm trying not to think about that too much right now. I worry enough as it is! More than anything, I'm anxious about that sociology essay I did. I just have a bad feeling about it.

I'm close to falling asleep at the keyboard, so I think it's time I headed off to bed. I'm still tired after the weekend!

Being a Teetotal Student

Although there are many ways for students to unwind from lectures and have fun, there's no doubt that the social side of university is dominated by alcohol. It's an undeniable fact. So here's my confession - I am one of that rare breed of student who doesn't drink alcohol. At all.

I've tried alcohol before on several occasions, but I didn't like the taste of it. There were other drawbacks too. I didn't like the way it made me feel, even though I never went overboard, and also the fact that my family seems to have a genetic predisposition to alcoholism convinced me that it wasn't really worth the risk. In any case, I've always been able to have a good time without it, and the things I love to do in my free time are completely unrelated to alcohol. It's just not something that features in my everyday life, and I'm happy with that decision.

Of course, other people often don't see it that way, and I'm not just talking about people from my own age group. Even people who are much older than me sometimes have a hard time accepting the fact that I don't drink. On my 18th birthday, for example, everyone quite naturally wanted to buy me a drink, and I had to politely say, "That's very kind of you, thanks... but I actually don't drink." This kind of admission usually results in an incredulous stare, followed by a bombardment of questions such as: "What's wrong with you? Do you have a medical condition? Are you religious?" To which my answer is no - it's simply a personal choice. Others take "I don't drink" to mean "I don't want a drink", which is a completely different thing. In that case the response is, "Oh, go on, have a drink" - but I stick to my guns and eventually they let it go, though it does result in me being labelled a lightweight or boring.

I've never been able to understand why it's such a big deal for other people, particularly when I go out of my way to make it not a big deal. I have never looked down on anyone for drinking, so it's not like I'm sitting on my high horse silently judging everyone around me. These days if someone offers me a drink, I've taken to saying, "I'll have an orange juice, thanks." This is what happened at a family party last summer, and a relative of mine said, "No... I mean a real drink." Cue explanation and subsequent pressure, finally culminating in, "Oh, you're boring!"

Funnily enough, even though there is a big drinking culture at university as I've mentioned, I have found that so far there has been less pressure from people at uni than I've encountered in other walks of life. Most people haven't questioned it at all, and if anyone does, they simply shrug it off. One evening a couple of weeks into semester one I was sitting in the bar with a group of people on my course. Naturally people were drinking, and naturally I wasn't, but no one questioned this. I noticed that one of the lads wasn't drinking either; in fact I hadn't seen him drink since we'd first met. Then in conversation he casually mentioned that he was a non-drinker. I said, "Oh, really? Me too." I think we both felt more than a little relieved that neither of us was the only one, and he has since become one of my closest friends at uni. I also have a couple of other close friends there who don't really drink either.

I know that the important thing is not to limit yourself socially, and I hang out with drinkers and non-drinkers alike. That said, I've never been interested in clubbing, so I tend to stay away from that. Apart from anything else, the music is terrible! One advantage of being a non-drinker is that I tend to save money, and another is that I don't have to deal with hangovers. For me, it's a win-win situation.

I suppose the purpose of this post is to point out that not only is it okay to be a teetotal student, but it's also possible to live your life to the full without alcohol. And if anyone does call you boring along the way, just enjoy the fact that you'll always be the one who remembers exactly what happened the night before!

Another Year Begins

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! I certainly did, but then this is always a lovely time of year for me. I love spending quality time at home with my family. I probably overdosed on turkey and ham, but don't we all?

I got some great Christmas presents. The best by far was a Zoom H4n Handy recorder, which I'm having so much fun with. It's going to be a huge help when it comes to making audio documentaries and doing interviews, as well as podcasting, which I'm aiming to do when the summer comes around. It looks like this:

I also got so many books and DVDs. I've just finished Pete Townshend's autobiography, Who I Am, which was every bit as brilliant as I'd hoped it would be. I'd waited for that book to be published for at least the last six years, and it really was worth waiting for. I'm now reading The Life and Death of Peter Sellers by Roger Lewis. It's an incredibly in-depth and fascinating biography of one of my favourite comedy actors. That one's going to take me a while to get through - it's well over a thousand pages long.

Unlike a lot of people, I've never really bothered with New Year's resolutions. Each year I just try to make the most of things and have a better time overall than I did the previous year. The same is true of this year, and it shouldn't be too difficult because I'm in full-time education again and am therefore a lot busier and having more interesting experiences all round.

My sisters are both back at school now and I'm still pottering around the house, sleeping in, watching DVDs and reading, but I wouldn't have it any other way! I'm not bored at all, far from it in fact. I'm just planning on enjoying the rest of the month before I have to go back to Dublin for my second semester.

Of course, there are two assignment deadlines coming up in the next couple of weeks, so I do have to go up for the day on Friday to do some work! But it's times like these, when you don't have to sit exams, that it's good to be a Multimedia student!

Reflections on a First Semester

I'm now officially on my Christmas holidays, and I can hardly believe how quickly the past three months have gone. It's one of those weird situations where you feel so settled into your new routine that it's almost like you've been there forever, but on the other hand it's flown by.

I came home on Thursday. I had a presentation that morning and then my dad arrived in the afternoon to help me pack up my stuff. It didn't take that long, so we went for coffee/hot chocolate in the canteen before heading home. I have to say, it's really nice to be home and have the freedom to relax, and we've got the Christmas tree and decorations up so I'm feeling really festive. I absolutely love Christmas and am really excited about it. I'm also looking forward to seeing my best friend again, who as I've mentioned before is studying over in the UK. It will be great to have a catch up!

That said, I've really enjoyed the semester, and I feel one hundred per cent settled now. I've made some good friends and found a subject I love studying. The only module I found pretty intolerable was Social Studies, and in the end most people stopped bothering to attend the lectures, but I'm pretty confident that my work for that module is of a decent standard. My seminar tutor was impressed with our group presentation, so I'm pleased about that. I also got my grade for my first Authoring assignment, and I got a 2.1 which I'm obviously over the moon with.

The last couple of weeks were completely hectic, but I wasn't too stressed because I feel like I managed my time effectively. The vast majority of my deadlines have been met; I just have two assignments due in January, but I'm calm about that. According to the second years, the fun really begins in semester two! The modules certainly seem even more interesting than the first lot have been.

Our last radio show on Wednesday was quite a poignant occasion, for me at least! We played plenty of Christmas music. As I mentioned in my previous post, I've absolutely adored my time on DCUfm these past few weeks. I can't wait to get back to it in February. I've proposed my own music show, so hopefully I'll get it. Fingers crossed! As well as that, I had my last football training session last week, and next semester we'll be playing in an astro tournament.

I've made it this far - it's onwards and upwards from here! To round things up for now, here are some of the most important life lessons I've learned in semester one:

-Larkfield oven and I can be friends after all. My cooking skills are now dramatically improved.
-You really do become a heavy sleeper when you live in Larkfield.
-Multimedia is all about telling stories.
-Society meetings generally result in free pizza.
-Spar is overpriced.
-The Mac labs are a Multimedia student's haven.
-It's good to be OCD when it comes to your access card.
-If you see a wood louse in your kitchen, you have to take matters into your own hands.
-Those free hours are absolutely vital for working on assignments and projects.
-The chocolate brownies in the canteen can be addictive.

Radio Gaga

One of the things I was most looking forward to about coming to DCU was getting involved in the university's radio station, DCUfm. I'm now several weeks into my assigned show and absolutely loving it.

Midweek Mayhem airs on Wednesday afternoons from 1-2pm and is co-hosted by myself and three other people. Two of us are Multimedia students and the other two are Communications students. The format of the show is simple - we chat about anything we like and spin a few tunes in between. Topics range from quirky news stories to what's on TV and everything in between. Last week we managed to string together an entire conversation about chocolate bars. A lot of it is planned, but some of it isn't, hence the chocolate bar discussion. Basically, this first semester is all about helping newcomers to the station to get settled in and get used to the software and the whole idea of being on air. Next semester is when we get to propose new shows and let our ideas flow.

Before I started, I was set on the idea of producing and editing. I didn't feel confident about the idea of presenting at all; in fact, it terrified me. I had done some editing while on work experience at Beat 102-103 in Waterford when I was at school, and that was what first sparked my interest in radio as well as put the idea of production in my head. But when I became involved with DCUfm, I just sort of fell into presenting unintentionally. I felt sick with nerves before the first show, but I gradually eased into it and started to enjoy the experience. Once you get over the novelty of hearing your own voice through your headphones, it becomes easier. Now I'm really glad that I ended up presenting, and I'll definitely aim for that in the future when looking for work in radio. Apart from anything else, it's done wonders for my confidence, and it just goes to show that you can be shy like I am and still host a radio show successfully. In fact, I like being able to both present and produce, and I'm now quite confident at driving the desk during broadcasts.

Okay, so we're not super professional just yet. It's a student radio station, and that means making mistakes from time to time. But thankfully those have been few and far between, and we haven't made any major blunders like accidentally shutting down the entire system (though yours truly came quite close on one occasion). We're learning as we go, and it's fantastic getting to use professional software that you would come across in any of the top radio stations in the country.

I really look forward to our weekly slot, and I can honestly say that joining DCUfm is by far the best thing I've done here. It really is a highlight of university life for me. I love it so much that I'm hoping to propose my own music show for next semester. I've also joined the Documentary Team, and we'll be working on some exciting projects over the coming months. As well as this, myself and two other DCU students are also in line to make a documentary for a separate production company pretty soon, which is really exciting. Good times are ahead! In the meantime, listen in to Midweek Mayhem on Wednesdays from 1-2pm on http://www.dcufm.com.

Reading Week

It's Reading Week for those of us who do humanities courses, which is basically a glorified mid-term break. Of course, as we don't have exams to study for, we are supposed to work on assignments, and I'm doing just that. I've got some of my sociology essay done, a couple of group presentations on the go and my authoring project finished. I also handed in my photography assignment last week. So, overall, my stress levels are really not bad at the moment. Apart from anything else, it's so nice to be home! And to be cooked for again, hehe. With all that's been happening, I felt as though I hadn't been home in months. There was Alice Cooper, which I've already written about, and last weekend I was in Manchester for the football, which I'm going to talk about now.

I went over to Holyhead on the ferry on Friday morning with my cousin, my uncle, his wife and some of her family. We're all huge Manchester United fans except for my cousin, who until last weekend wasn't very knowledgeable on football! Once we got there, we had a two-hour coach trip to Altrincham, just outside Manchester, where our hotel was. Manchester city centre is only a short tram ride away, and we went around the Arndale shopping centre and had dinner in Pizza Hut. On Saturday morning we made the trip to Old Trafford on the coach.

There's nothing quite like the atmosphere around the ground on matchday. It's such an incredible buzz. We were sitting just behind the goal in the East Stand, and when Robin van Persie scored early in the first half, we went absolutely mental! It was a brilliant moment. The Arsenal fans were of course extremely hostile towards their former striker, so for RVP to score and shut them up for a short while was priceless!

People say it wasn't a great game, and certainly it didn't have quite the same intensity as previous matches between the two sides, partly because Arsenal were dire and barely showed up at all, allowing United to completely dictate the game. But it was still hugely exciting for me, especially as Patrice Evra's goal in the second half meant we ran out winners, albeit by a 2-1 scoreline rather than 2-0 - the only time Arsenal really threatened the United goal was towards the end, and Santi Cazorla scored for them in stoppage time. David de Gea wasn't happy about losing his clean sheet, but still, a win is a win, and we're now top of the league. The fact that City, Chelsea and Liverpool all drew their games was the icing on the cake and made for a perfect weekend!

We spent the rest of Saturday back in Manchester city centre, shopping at the Arndale again and eating at Nando's. We got the ferry back from Holyhead the next day, and on the way through Wales we stopped off briefly in a town with the longest name in Europe:

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch!

Or simply Llanfair PG...