So it’s February and to be honest I still haven’t opened a book. I do my homework when it suits or when I can be bothered. I know this is a very bad attitude to have but I find it really hard to actually do anything. It’s so much easier to come home and pan out on the couch and play some PS3 (I wish Fallout 3 and MW2 were on the big L.C). Same goes for this blog. I know I really should throw up a few posts, and I want to, I’m just far too lazy!

As a result of this laziness, my English and Geography teacher has probably come to expect any and all homework to be handed in late! Despite my best intentions that’s just the way it goes. At the moment I’ve to finish an Imaginative Fiction essay and finish a Geography question, but the Superbowl is on tonight so we all know they’re probably not getting done!

My sheer laziness along with not being able to sleep very much, for reasons I wont bore you with, are seriously crippling my chances! But I don’t really feel that bothered. I know I should be but I just ain’t!

I filled out the CAO in time for the deadline, and the discount (job!) a few weeks back. I’ve once again changed my mind in regards to what I want to do! I’m now gunning for CK401, Computer Science in UCC! Besides that I’ve only got 2 other level 8 courses down and only one level 6/7 course. I better throw down a good few more, just in case, you know?

Besides that, Pres are in 2 weeks. Fantastic. If I can pass all my tests I’ll be delighted. I’ll know where I stand then, and then hopefully bait away into the study! A likely story, but at least it’s a plan! The only thing though, is my physics grind teacher has had to cancel on me for the foreseeable future. I was counting on him to get me at least a pass in physics! Gonna have to try and find a new one now. Oh well!

Anyway, better get back to avoiding my homework! Just remembered I’ve an ABQ to do too. Balls!

-Darren

My relationship with Irish has hit a rocky bank. See, I did the whole Gaelscoil thing. I even went as far as to do most of my JC in Irish(I like to think I wasn’t granted that extra 10% by fatal error and in fact got much higher than my B average) and got an A in JC higher Irish.(My old Irish teacher went from telling me I’d go nowhere because of my cockiness to telling her other classes how I was a shining example. Some people still wonder why I moved schools.) Come fifth year the first cracks and, well, gaping wide chasms began to appear. I’d lead a charmed life of messy hand writing up till then and had(still have) terrible Irish spelling and knew no grammar, I just played it by ear and if it sounded right it was right. Tuisil gramma-what? was more or less my first sentence to my brand spanking new, and improved,(now with a 2 year no claims warrantee) Irish teacher. She failed to beat the grammar into me(literally) and eventually grew to dislike my carefree attitude. I then won the Gaeltacht scholarship(thanks to charming the interviewer) and came back even more cocky with my new Irish vocab. This nearly ended up in a divorce settlement. Ms kept me back one afternoon and asked/ recommended/ ordered me to drop to ordinary. I refused and produced seven a4s on an triail that she must have framed over her mantelpiece as she was super impressed with me. After that she managed to catch a viral ear infection or something along those lines and was out for two months. This meant that I’m now back to my fifth year oblivious state of Irish and need a serious kickupthehole to get back into action. I got this today. She was unimpressed with my aiste ar polaiteoiri that we did in class, citing that I hadn’t studied, even though I had, I’d written up an essay on it last weekend as a draft. All that I can do now is to blow the socks off(hopefully not literally) her by managing to memorise the ‘helpful’(now in color!) Irish Grammar Book that was seriously overpriced in easons. One can hope and one can pray.

On the bright side, my spoken Irish is decent and I can charm most people so give me a friendly examiner and the A is mine. My poor oral language is French. As a build up to the mock orals I phoned a friend of mine in Navan for a ‘chat’ in French. He spent most of it saying ‘sacre bleu’, ‘merde’ and ‘mon Deau’. We ended up speaking Irish.

I’m listening to ‘When It Rains’ by Paramore. I quote: ‘You’ll sleep ‘till May and you’ll say that you don’t wanna see the sun anymore’. Relevant words?

There were a couple I attended, and I’ll give my frank opinion on each as I take apart their composition roughly.

1. National College of Ireland.
This was one of the first open days I attended, the national college of Ireland is situated in/beside the IFSC, along the Docklands Luas line. Suffice to say, coming from the Southside of Dublin was a tad challenging. However, a friend and I arrived in good health on the morning and gathered in a group of friends before setting off separately to attend various lectures. However, since our times were off.. We didn’t get into the lectures in time so we had to settle with just the walking tour, Guided by the really cool girl in the grey hat, with the cute smile.

She was really down to earth, and guided us on a brief tour of the cafeteria, and the various halls, we covered most areas but the library. For reasons of exam study being on, we could not visit the library. But, I understand from what I gleamed through her explanation that it is a comprehensive study space and learning resource.

The classrooms did not seem to be that large, although smaller class sizes allow for one to one learning and greater focus on material, right?.
The IT room again, was in use so we did not get to view that in it’s entirety.. But from what I peeked in through the glass.. It is a maze of technology that I would somehow find a way of faulting.

At the end of the tour, Joanne?? Said thank you to us and queried whether we had any questions we could answer. The tour guide was an amazing addition the college tour and really helped in comprehending just what the school has to offer. Being a student, Joanna knew exactly where to go and what to introduce the areas as. But, in being a student this meant that she could also tell it how it is.. With no sort of leaflets or anything she simply lectured our group on what it’s like to be a student at the NCI and what student life is like. We also touched a little bit on various aspects of student life such as societies and the wi-fi system available to students.

Overall, the NCI was a pleasant experience.. There was a significant lack of freebies for those of you interested.. But that didn’t phase me in the slightest as I was there for the information from the students, not for the latest in biro technology.

What did I think about the atmosphere? Yeah, it was really cool.. Although I did get the feeling that NCI will progress to become something bigger in the near future, a fully fledged business and accounting university, at the forefront of providing skilled accountants and businessmen/woman to the workforce perhaps?. That’s definitely not a negative aspect of what I thought of NCI. I don’t have negativity to dwell on about NCI. In fact, I quite liked it and did pick up a prospectus adorned with black and pink designs. NCI looks to be a promising college, and for those of you interested in any sort of future career in either business or accounting, it’s definitely worth a look.

2. Dublin City University. 20th November.

Okay, so I had written a couple of notes prior to attending this open day, and how I thought it would go.
Here are the thoughts I had previous to attending.

‘DCU Open day tomorrow, hopefully will shed some light on what courses can be taken out there, as well as what I would expect as part of student life.. And If accommodation is available to students.

Biology seems to be one of the courses offered, judging from a quick look at the open day notice.. A lecture is also featured on various health sciences, except for medicine.’

This was a rather inconvenient commute to get to, and as it turns out was probably not worth it in the end. Dublin City University, or DCU for short, is situated a la Griffith Avenue on the North side of Dublin (an inconvenience for me).

After the lengthy commute on a rather overcrowded Dublin Bus (never again), we arrived at DCU. There were reps from DCU itself who also happened to be students, handing out various leaflets etc.. I didn’t get a look at what they were as I wasn’t really interested at the time.
We headed into the main square so to speak, and gathered at the arch beside the science buildings. From there, we split off into separate groups to attend the various buildings and to see what DCU had to offer. First point of call so to speak was the main building, whereupon I received a plastic carrier bag with a pen, a DCU Undergraduate prospectus.. and what initially appeared to be a bottle of Tipp-Ex inside.. Which later I found out was a highlighter pen cunningly disguised, as a bottle of Tipp-Ex.
Now, personally I’m not a fan of disorganized open days and various things not being available etc, but DCU was a sort of disappointment to me in that respect.

The various lectures that were on happened to coincide with something else I wished to attend, which meant choosing between one another. Now, I know what you might say here, he didn’t plan ahead and work out what he wanted to attend and when these lectures would be on. But ok, maybe I half planned ahead. Maybe I already knew that DCU wasn’t for me, and that even if I liked the lecture I would only half of one percent consider DCU as a possible destination.

I was asked about 5 times where various buildings were, fellow students obviously working on the assumption that I was a DCU student.

I attended one lecture, and that was for a friend who was interested in physical education with biology, or PE with biol, if you will.

That was a decent enough lecture, even though there was some latecomers it didn’t affect the overall running of the lecture.
The seating in that particular lecture room seems to have an intended flaw within. Whenever one decides to stand up, the seating releases some sort of squeak of sorts, letting other students know you’ve stood up and cue rubbernecking to see who it is and where they are going!.

The lecturer was softly spoken, and rightly so.. he shouldn’t have to speak over others, as you’re supposed to be mature at third level.

The school of nursing and science were impressive, although the science building’s lecture rooms didn’t impress me at all.. Even though there was some sort of emergency exit at the back, the room was seriously lacking in windows/light source from outside. Primarily relying on light sources from light bulbs etc, not a good feature in my opinion, it needs windows.

After the lecture was over, I picked up a couple of leaflets about various science courses before leaving for yet another joyous bus journey back to the Southside with a friend.

3. Trinity College Dublin.

This was one of the more favourable college amongst those I had attended, and it had a sort of lasting impact if you will, on my decision making properties as a 6th year Student.

Trinity College Dublin, is located on College Green, on the south side of the river. It is one of the top-raking Universities in the world, and is situated amongst the ranks accordingly.. Having recently attained a rank of. It is a university at the forefront of education at third level in Ireland, educating all kinds of disciplines, from historians to sociologists, as well as Expanding it’s teaching base to lecturers, and medical professionals such as Nurses, and Doctors.

From the moment I entered the college reception on Nassau Street, I knew it was something that would be worthwhile visiting and spending time at, even for a short while.

I had already picked up a Trinity College Dublin (TCD) prospectus at the Higher Options Conference in the RDS in September ( see my previous post about that here ) so therefore I didn’t need to acquire another. One thing that not only had an impression on me, but also was a factor in decision making of where I want to go at third level, was the sheer richness of the architecture, and the many years of history steeped into those famous cobblestones.

The main square if you like, was bustling with activity, but yet very few were stopped to appreciate the architecture, or the many different parts of academic history which surrounded them. I really did appreciate TCD for this, and the history there is a true testament to a superior university which has existed for over 300 years. Superior education does exist, and the various statues of highly educated men and women stand tall amongst the day to day activities of our soon to be Student colleagues, keeping a watchful eye over them and sometimes inspiring their education.

Anyways, that‘s my thoughts on the architecture etc, now moving on to what I did whilst I was there. I did not get to attend any lectures as such, but for a talk on the higher education access route a friend wanted to know about. They detailed various ways to access college outside the points system and I vaguely listened to the detail.

On the way out, we passed some of the students going about their day to day business and chatting merrily amongst themselves. There was also groups of what I would imagine to be fellow 6th year students gathered at the Nassau Street entrance talking. I’ve just thought that maybe if they do intend to study at trinity and are accepted, is that where they’ll stand at lunchtime etc.. just as many do in the schoolyard and have their certain formation and location.

Afterward, I commuted home and contemplated the various details I had gathered over the visit there.

That was a rather detailed post, but I felt it was necessary to not only explain how I felt about that college, but also a couple of thoughts surrounding it’s reputation, and to explain what I think it is to be a student at Trinity College Dublin.

Okay, so that’s the college open days I’ve been to so far.

I think that there will be a couple more throughout the year, or what is a school year for us.
I’ll fill you in as they come along, or if I choose to attend said open days.

Feedback, as always, is appreciated.

Keep safe,

Barry.

Sufficed to say there is a lot that flows easily. Some things more than others, some things require just a little tiny bit of encouragement to flourish, almost like the flower that has different colour petals, it requires the same amount of encouragement as all the rest. English being the subject with the different colour petals that require attention.

One subject I have grown to really appreciate over the past couple of months is English Studies.

One reason English studies appeals to me is the effective imagery portrayed, and the lack of waffling.. Which is rather delightful given the amount of idiocy that happens with other subjects such as geography. I could care less about how general your terms are etc. I want specifics.

One thing I also appreciate about the English Studies class is that it is composed of the pupils who are capable of studying this calibre of material, and who don’t see a poem as ‘confusing, has too many words, doesn’t make sense, what time is lunch at?, when are we getting out for lunch?’ material.

I really do appreciate the efforts that has been made by our English teacher/lecturer you might say. I do acknowledge that she has put her half in, actually now that I think of it she has put more than her fair share in. And, even though she didn’t have to, has inspired our class into appreciating the language and beauty of the English language.. Even if she doesn’t realise this, she has done it and succeeded.

What I’ve noticed about us, Is that we have almost matured for 45 minutes or so whilst class is on.. There is absolute golden atmosphere, I would say perfection is close.. But perfection is achievable if the attitude and mental backdrop is there. We can have a group giggle if you will whilst the roll is being called as there is a key question asked every time. Now, it’s not a laugh as in catch up on what we did that weekend amongst us.. It is a group activity.. Almost like pass the parcel if you will!.

It has hugely benefited how we interact as a group and how we can learn so much about someone from just listening to them.
I suppose this is all indirect from what I have learned about poetry as an English studies student, but then again there is so much more to be attained from class then just the subject matter itself.

I have recognised that absolute perfection will not be reached  in my English studies class.. Suffice to say we are much closer to it then I were at the start of 5th year.

I can express nothing but gratitude for the learning opportunity my class and I have been given, under an excellent tutor and mentor. Tutor and mentor are to be taken in a sense of not a school appointed role, but in a life assigned role.. Some people are there to guide you through life, and sacrifice a lot for that.. This woman is a prime example of what we can aspire to be some day.

I guess you can call this a rambling, or a projection of appreciation of how much a 6th year student can gleam from a single 45 minute session, if the right figure is behind us as a guiding force.

Our English teacher has never forced us into anything, she takes feedback from us and adjusts accordingly.. It’s much like a learning based drivers licence. If the instructor thought one day that he was being too tough on his students and no-one was acquiring the required grade, then he adjusts how he teaches that subject by asking his peers. Our teacher is the instructor, but uses our reaction to work, and our general attitude towards work as her canvas of how she can improve. Mixed up metaphor I know, but it’s possibly one of the only ways I can describe it.

This is so, because not every method is perfect, but if you have a  bonus of having a teacher who is passionate about the subject.. You will gain inspiration from that person.

You know what, just to add to my previous metaphors.. Here’s a much better description I have conjured up. We are the keys of a piano, our teacher is the pianist. In order to do well at the big performance.. We must work in tandem with our pianist and be creative. If we don’t sound as we should, then the pianist will adjust us accordingly. Together, if we work well together and at the same time we are consulted.. Then we will impress the audience and critics (examiners) at the big concert (the leaving certificate).

I know I have gained inspiration and rekindled a new found love for the English language in all it’s beauty and glory, for this I thank her. Perfection may not be reachable, but it’s about as damn close as we’ll get to it.

This post doesn’t have much of a helpful end to it, towards my readers, but hopefully you can gain some sort of appreciation for what you have, maybe you have a teacher/mentor of a similar composition.

Keep safe,

Barry.

It happens at least once a year, it’s not something that can be dodged, and it’s definition will mean a lot to you over the coming months, and indeed years.

This ‘it’ affects mainly 16-18 year old hormonal Irish men and women.

It happens from September until June, includes lots of thinking, and indeed lots of emotions.

What is he talking about? Study!.

Study is not something that we can dodge, for a number of reasons. To understand the concept of studying, we first need to understand the definition of what this word means.

Main Entry: study
Pronunciation: \’st?-de\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural stud·ies

Etymology: Middle English studie, from Anglo-French estudie, from Latin studium, from studere to devote oneself, study.

Study : application of the mental faculties to the acquisition of knowledge.

Study is not only learning facts, it is acquiring the skills and methods necessary to learn.

With this in mind, let’s look at what we do to learn, and a couple of methods on how we might acquire knowledge, on an individual basis.

I also touched on the VARK test earlier in the blog. It turns out this can be completed online. Here is the link to that particular tool to find out your optimum method of learning.

Now, I’m not going to tell you how to study, mainly because that requires your input.. Specifically speaking you know what works best for you. Outside criticism can make you want to adjust it slightly, but only you can decide what study method is for you.

With the above covered, let’s work on a little bit of what is necessary for study, granted this can be different for each student.. But let’s touch on  some of the more general factors that can affect study.

1. Environment. This is one of the more influential factors.. It can impact on what you study, how long you study for, and where. Being in front of a computer with internet access to some of the more prominent social networking sites such as bebo,facebook,twitter, etc.. can become a distraction. So what might work in this case is to either connect to a study website and leave that open, or simply do not use the computer at all during your specified study period. (we’ll touch on study planning in the next study related post).

2. The student’s attitude. Ok, so this is also one of the main factors in deciding how long study will go on for.. Mainly because if you’re not interested chances are you’ll want to spend less time at it. Attitude has a lot to do with your surroundings, too. Being in a room with no windows can be a bit of a drag.. As natural light has a big effect on our moods and attitude..

3. Nutrition. Food, believe it or not, can be a big factor in study. Nutrition fuels the body and it’s work. As you all know, if you feel better, you do better. Make sure that you keep hydrated and that you eat healthily as this can have a big deciding factor in how long, or how much you study, not only in the short term.

4. Peer pressure. This is one of the most prevalent of  factors existing. A text message can be enough to start the thoughts of ‘ah sure, the books will still be here when I get back, what’s one more day’. Peer pressure is something you’ll need to handle if you’re going to make a successful study plan. Maybe putting the mobile on silent, or vibrate if you’re waiting on something urgent, but otherwise you have to learn to filter communication to allow for a study plan.

5. Physical Exercise. Physical Exercise is also a factor. There are recommended guidelines that state 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise is recommended daily. This can be that walk home from school, combined with walking the dog or whichever way you choose. Whatever those 60 minutes may be, they can be worthwhile looking into, as exercise is one of the fundamental necessities for our health. There are various studies out there that suggest exercise helps the body’s natural functions and thoughts, as well as improving your overall fitness level and cardiovascular health.

6. You. You are the most important factor in study, your attitude to study is composed essentially of 5 factors listed above. The culmination of which (6), can make a very successful student, given the right circumstances and input.

So, to recap : Environment + Student’s Attitude + Nutrition + Handling of peer pressure + Physical Exercise = A prepared student.

I will list various sources in another post.. If you would like information on sources of nutrition etc I’ll leave my e-mail address in one of the posts and you can send me a mail there and I’ll reply with the information.

Hopefully this has given you a little bit of an insight into study, and how it can be utilised.

There will be a couple more posts on this, but this covers some of the basics.

Keep safe,

Barry.

So, what has been happening in my life? Well I haven’t blogged anywhere in ages, for no apparent reason. New Years resolution, anyone?

A few weeks ago I headed to my only two open days; Trinity and UCD, both just a few days apart. As I’ve said before, I’m hoping to do Computer Science. If I’m honest, I was probably going to put Trinity as my first choice on the CAO anyway. The open days just sort of cemented that. I never really warmed to UCD at all; found it to be a very big campus and a bit of a concrete jungle. The guy showing us around didn’t exactly make the accomodation desirable, either. We passed by the Computer Science building and I asked if I could go in for a look, but I wasn’t allowed?! There wasn’t really anywhere to ask questions either, apart from the information stall. I don’t know, but I’ve always found those a bit useless. You queue up to speak to a lecturer, only one among possibly hundreds they will speak to, and its basically ask a question or let somebody else in. I never really have specific questions to ask about the course, I’d just like a bit of an overview. That’s why I liked UCD’s idea of there being students around during the Open Day to answer questions, but there didn;t seem to be anybody there that could talk to me about CS. I felt it was pretty much a waste of a trip to Dublin; I found out nothing new, got no insight into the CS course in UCD, and didn’t take a fancy to the campus at all.

The following Wednesday, I headed up to Trinity, hoping I’d have a better experience than UCD! Trinity was by no means small, either; took me a good while to get to grips with the place. They seemed to have a lot more lectures on the day than UCD. I downloaded a program for the day online and had all my lectures planned out! Everyone there was really nice and helpful, and the lecturers gave me their E-mails so that they could put me in contact with students in the course. There seemed to be an awful lot of interest in the course! Got a nice tour around the Computer Science building, aswell. I can see myself there! Much better experience, which was great as I needed to like Trinity! Now, just to nab that C3 in honours Maths…..

I had all my Christmas tests finished about a week before the break for Christmas, which was nice. Just waitng for results now.  Not sure if it was as productive as last year when we had the tests up until the break, though. Not that I’ll complain, I had to miss the last day of school as I was stuck in Dublin after PAUL MCCARTNEY! Gig of the year? Yes.

After that, I won’t be posting till after Christmas.. even then it might be scarce.

The workload is not the reason, there is just enough going on at the moment without having to constantly update this whenever.

I’ll work out some sort of format as to when I’ll post up.. but I’ll throw up about 3/4 posts over the next few days.

That should keep you all occupied until after the festive season has passed.

See ya in a few days,

keep safe,

Barry.

I don’t think I did too badly at all in the in house Christmas tests(held pre-Halloween for some reason). I beat average in most subjects and didn’t fail anything. This is on one hand, on the other I’m seriously pissed with myself. In my best subject, English, I only got 87% and my other guaranteed A in the LC, Bio, only got me a B1(two freaking percent off an A!). My French needs some serious work and my fluke second highest in building was nothing but a fantasy wish for the real thing.
All in all I got 440 points if it were to have been the real thing. This would please me, what with it being so early into the game and especially as I had only started working in September after doing literally no work between Christmas and June last year(I bombed my 5th year tests).
My desired occupation next year is English in Trinners and for that I need between 520 and 560 points(last years), so I’m planning to up my ante by 50 for the mocks and then again for the real thing, leaving me with 540. Fingers(and toes) crossed.

I missed my first day of 6th year on Wednesday to attend the Trinners open day. I’d gone up on the Tuesday, stayed with my girlfriend(her Mam seems to love me) that night and went to the open day on Wednesday. I got the authentic student experience as I met up with a bestie from last year who’s currently studying med in Trinity at Trinity Halls and got the bus from there. Six of us attended a medicine lecture, including the afore mentioned med student. I think only one of us(maybe two) will actually end up putting that course down on their CAO so really our only purpose was to use up seats that could have gone to the masses outside waiting for the next lecture as ours was full. Quite sad.
I was surprised how many people I bumped into that I knew. Whether from school, besties from around the country, Gaeltacht people or simply those from another life that I just knew. It seems the entire country was out in storm to appear intellectual and to strive for the valued few places in the…. 41st(?) best college in the world.
After med, me and two other besties attended the world religions and theology lecture(bumped into another friend there). I really like the look of that course(as a second TSM). It seems less popular and deals with philosophy and thinking in general, as well as the obvious God stuff. Sounds like it’ll be up there in my top 10.
Aprés that, it was on to English at 12. The lecturer knew he was funny, so he took advantage of that fact. Annoyance aside, I quite enjoyed the talk. I know he’s only a salesman trying to sell his course but, my gullible self aside, the sound of reading a novel, a play and several poems(on average) a week is extremely blissful to me. My top few courses are definitely going to include English.

I went Christmas shopping last Saturday in Limerick. It went as follows: I bought 2 dvds for my sister for 9.99. I then pointed out two novelty boxers and a hoodie I wanted to Mam. After that I bought Lost season one for myself for 20squid. That was my Christmas shopping. I’m quite the generous guy as you can see.

Anyone want to write my Boland essay for me?

6th year however, just gets worse. The workload keeps growing and the tests are coming thick and fast. All the teachers seem to talk about are ‘mocks’ this and ‘mocks’ that.

Even the weather isn’t exactly on our side. Because we’ve a lake at the back of our school, last week the two entrances flooded, and we were forced to climb a side fence to get into school. You try climbing a fence in an ankle length kilt. Not an easy job.

Oh and before I go, what’s the scariest, most nerve-wrecking, yet exciting thing that could happen you at 11 o clock on a Tuesday morning? Waking up to find you’ve an interview for Queens? I think so.