Maynooth University Undergraduate Blog

Our students give their insights into campus life.

[gomaynooth]

Some pics from our last Open Day.

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Open Days are almost here! Register now and you can enjoy a free hot drink during your visit. www.gomaynooth.ie

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How I save money as a University Student

So, I posted a poll on my Instagram asking my fellow peeps what they’d like to see in my next blog. Here you have it, an account of how I, Bukky, save money. This is not general and is more so specific to me, so if you do things differently, that’s great, feel free to share! But as far as this blog goes, here are some general tips I follow :)

Tip #1:

Be cheap. Yes you’ve heard it, I said what I said. I’m a student so realistically I hateeeeee spending my money. It’s either be cheap or don’t spend at all. It’s okay to occasionally splurge on things but if you don’t got the mula, turn your head away and keep walking hunny.

Tip #2:

Stop buying take-out. Most of my money is actually spent on food (because I love food lol). However, if you’re like me and tend to use all your wages on feeding yourself, stay away from that JustEat app; you’re not doing yourself any favours. Pro-tip, I usually do a weekly shop in Aldi, Lidl or Tescos if I’m feeling brand-fancy. I spend roughly €25 on my groceries with a few odd bits thrown in. Next thing to do is MEAL PREP. “awww but Bukky, I can’t cook”. Learn how to make pasta or rice without burning it and you’re good to go. You can freeze the majority of your sauces if needs be; so on a busy college day, you can come home, de-freeze your meal and thank God you’ve saved 10 cuid on that Chinese you were gonna buy!

Pro-tip: Bring lunch to college and just heat it there! There are microwaves upstairs in the Phoenix and also, Your Space. (I prefer your Space cause the microwaves heat quicker and there’s never any queues).

Tip #3:

Try not to spend too much on nights out. Most people I know break the bank on nights out and that’s where most of their money ends up going. Try to change your routine and spend less money on drinks. Stop being the person that buys everyone a round of shots all the time! 

Finally, and probably my best Pro-Tip of time which I live by:

Open a savings account.

When your wages come through chuck at least 1/4 of it into a savings account and DON’T touch it. For those of you fortunate enough to be on SUSI, you should do this too! You will save a huge amount of money by the end of the year, trust me!

Hopefully this helps a bit, 

I would have loved to go into more detail but I have a lecture now!

xoxo

Bukky

[gomaynooth]

Maynooth University is about being proud of their culture and history.  Maynooth University is about the communion of the human being with the nature.  Maynooth University is about a cosy and warm environment where every student is welcomed. Maynooth University is about the best match between the gothic style of the South Campus and the modern & innovative architecture of the North Campus.  Maynooth University is about friendly and approachable memebers of staff willing to help.  Maynooth University is about being unique.

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“Mid-Semester Block”

Hey hey hey! Welcome backkkk y’allllll.

And how rude of me (I know sentences should never start with ‘and’ but forgive me), let me introduce myself; I’m Bukky. I’m a 3rd-year Biomedical Science student here at Maynooth, an SU floater (ranging from clubs and societies member to science and engineering senator) and your favourite MU blue-haired stock photo gal (*Raven voice* yup that’s me)! 

Study week is over :( for some of you guys, you spent it ACTUALLY studying; unless you’re like me who spent it wandering the streets of London and bawling her eyes out at the Hamilton musical (which is A1, highly recommend). I will try not to ramble but this post is called “Mid-semester block” and by my standards of definition, it’s the moment in the semester where things are starting to really not make sense in lectures, you’re lost, stressed out (probably have your second dose of ‘college flu’ too) and you’re at a standstill in your uni work.

Here are some of my general tips to help you make it through the rest of the semester:

1. Take a break 

(any HamilFans see what I did there?) When you’re trying to get work done the last thing you think about is actually not doing the work. The best way to think is to have a clear mind and forget about the work for a moment. Go for a walk, take a nap (my fave) or even go out for that drink or coffee with your friends and just relax.

2. Talk to your lecturers

90% of the time, a two-minute conversation with your lecturer after the lecture will clear up any confusion you may have about your course content. If you don’t want to bombard them with questions after the lecture, email them and schedule a meeting. The worst thing you can do is leave all questions till exam period. Just get it out of the way and say “here, I’m lost and I haven’t a clue”; they’re more understanding than you think!

3. Take care of yourself

There is nothing worse than a weak body and over-worked mind. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help if you need it. If it means you’ll get work done then please do it!

There are so many supports around campus so if you’re unsure have a look here!

https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/student-services 

Don’t forget about our officers in the SU, they’re always around too!

Until next time, 

xoxo

Bukky 

[gomaynooth]

How to make the most of your student life: 1. Get involved! Join a club, do some volunteering activities, become a class rep. The student life is not only about being stuck in the library and know all your readings by heart.  Useful link: http://www.volunteerkildare.ie/ 2. Remember WHY you’re here. You’re here to develop yourself professionally and personally, you’re here to challenge yourself, you’re here to gain experience, don’t waste this valuable time, 3 years may sound as a lot of time, but when you’ll throw your mortar board in the air you’ll tell yourself “That’s it? Am I a full-time adult now?”. 3. Travel! Travel now as much as you can because when you’ll have a full-time job, 2 kids and bills to pay at the end of the month, you’ll be eager to travel and see the world. Plan a city break in advance and this way you’ll save some money, don’t leave it until the last minute. 4. Watch a rom-com whenever you feel a bit down. Really, it helps. Have you tried Pretty Woman (1990) or Singin’ In The Rain (1952)?  5. Are you having a bad day? Nothing went today as you planned? Make a cup of your favourite tea and please remember one thing: Nothing is impossible, even the word itself says “I’m possible” (Audrey Hepburn). 6. Don’t let a lower than expected mark change your mood completely. I know, receiving a low grade is not great, but learn from the feedback you get from your professors, apply what they say & recommend to your future assignments, be sure that the professors have been in your shoes at some point in their life, all of them have been students in the past. All the best, Serena M.

photo credits: everythingzoomer

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[carla-pasqualin-blog]

Maynooth’s Lifestyle

What to do ?

Restaurants : for lunch or dinner Maynooth is home to quite a few restaurants, each with their own specialty, from Indian to Italian! Only small drawback you can not make a typical Irish restaurant because there is none in Maynooth!

Have a drink : the city also has bars, either for 16h and a good hot chocolate or 22h for a drink with friends with some music! The bars are the limit to the “world of the night” in Maynooth, there is no real nightclub they are rather dancing bars!


Instant beauty: even if this area touches a little more women, there are a lot of beauty institutes whether to nail or even hair! It does not hurt to take care of yourself!

To walk around : the whole city is within walking distance (at least the city center) which allows for long walks. Indeed, the university is the most popular place for locals to wander at the end of the day in the middle of the park and decor of St. Patrick College. Maynooth is also made up of several small banks where one can walk along the canal. But also many green areas, ideal to walk with your family!

Good addresses

La Maison Donatello : small very nice restaurant, not typical of the country because it is an Italian! But the prices are affordable, the service impeccable, and it’s really very good!

Shoda market cafe : small cafe next to the Glenroyal Hotel very warm, in a very old atmosphere and with hot chocolates very very good! The little extra, the mini marshmallows on top of the chocolate.                         http://www.shoda.ie/

L'art du chocolat : for those who lack chocolate, bread and French pastries, two friends from Bayonne have opened “The Art of Chocolate” in the city center. It’s so good ! And little information, they can recruit students for an internship!
                                                                                 https://www.lartdu-chocolat.com/

Carla & Pierre.

[gomaynooth]

First day at Maynooth

I am Carla, I’m 20 years old, a French student in Business School at ESDES at the Catholic University of Lyon. I just spent my second semester here in Maynooth. I chose my courses especially with marketing to be in agreement with my studies in France. 

I landed on January 21st in Dublin, and now have to find how to get to Maynooth. The people at the airport and even the Irish are very helpful and compassionate with the foreigners. So I go to "Zone 18" to find the Airport Hopper that takes me to Maynooth in 45 minutes.

I discover then the family that greets me, and that confirms me the hospitality of the Irish.

The next day I decide to discover the university in which I will be the coming months. I then discover the part of St. Patrick College that makes me think of a Harry Potter decor! This part is really impressive and full of history.

The university part is much more recent in terms of architecture, with a magnificentLibrary, huge and very modern. There is even a Starbucks inside, great!

After a few steps and a small road to cross, we find ourselves on a real university campus organized in different buildings.

The first time is very impressive and we think it will take some guidance ! On the contrary, each specialty (like me for the trade) has appointed buildings where the associated courses take place.The advantages of this university are that there are many places to eat on campus, but also a real group at the undergrate level!

The atmosphere between students, teachers and administration is very good, which reassures many and helps me less apprehensive of the months to come !

[gomaynooth]

Integration day

Hi all, my name is Pierre, I'm 19 years old and I come to study at the University of Maynooth for a semester. In France I am studying in Lyon in a business school: ESDES.

On the second day of our arrival, the University offered to new students and Erasmus to participate in a sort of treasure hunt, where we had to take unusual pictures in different places of the campus. Our photos should be as original as possible because it would take the form of a contest and as a result of this there would be lots to win to reward the best. I appreciated this idea because we had to build teams of about ten people and so it allowed us to know new people to interact with them and especially to better identify in the campus and in the city. Once our team had been formed we all decided to call it Hogwart because the St. Patrick College buildings strongly reminded us of the Harry Potter backdrops. There was a real group cohesion, indeed within our team people were of different origin (French, German, Brazilian ...) which allowed to learn more about each. I really enjoyed this day because I was a bit stressed to enter such a large campus when I knew almost nobody. What the university called integration day personally was very beneficial to me because I met new people, I also learned to find me in the city in short it really reassured me for the months that were going to arrive !!

Ps : I’m going to put you some pictures of our integration day so that you better visualize what we had to do 

Pierre

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Maynooth Students Union

Last week was Wellfest, a week that focuses on mental health awareness. I was given the opportunity to write a bit about my experience with mental health and give some advice that has helped me over the years. I urge everyone, especially students, to take a look at the article and try some of the tips I’ve listed. Thank you to the SU for giving me the opportunity to discuss something so important. 

-Aubrey Clark (2nd year English and Business)

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Fourth Year Industrial Placement for Chemistry Students

Final year semester two is here ! It's been an amazing three and a half years. Today I'd like to tell you guys about the 7 month industrial placement I took as part of my course - pharmaceutical and biomedical chemistry. During the first semester of third year, I began sitting placement interviews. This was a really good experience in the sense that I was learning exactly what was required by me to work at industry. By November 2016, I had been accepted by a Dublin-based Japanese pharmaceutical company. I would be working in the Quality Control sector helping to ensure products were maintained to a high standard! In June 2017, myself and ten other pharma chem students started our placements. The first day was scary and exciting, I was given a swipe card, a uniform and introduced to the team I would be working alongside. The most difficult part was probably having to move away from home. Commuting to Dublin every morning unfortunately was not going to work out for me given my working day began at 7am (on the plus side, I was off by 3.30pm daily!) My first few weeks consisted of being trained on the various pieces of equipment present in the laboratory and reading risk assessments. Honestly, it was quite difficult not to feel useless during this time given I was just sitting and reading. However, having finished my training, I then begun contributing to the quality control of the pharmaceutical products. Unfortunately, I cannot go into much detail about what I did here for confidentiality reasons. What I will say, is that if any prospective third level students are reading this, I urge you to consider a course that incorporates an industrial placement. Courses like biotechnology, engineering, pharmaceutical and biomedical chemistry and computer science and software engineering just to name a few. The placement is really beneficial and allows you to gain a few months experience which is really good CV material! Maynooth University has its own placement office to help students find a placement so there's very little chance of missing out on this opportunity. What's better, is the position is usually fully paid and some students may be offered a permanent job at the end too! Take care all!

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My Top Tips for a Successful Semester

So, semester two has officially started. Where did the first semester go, am I right? Here are just a few of my top tips that I have learned from my time in college.

The first thing that I recommend to do is to look at the past exam papers. It may seem weird to think about doing this at the start of the semester, but it can be a life saver. Take a note of the topics that come up regularly and when you get to that topic in the semester go and do an exam question on it. This cuts down the work you have to do during the exam time and will leave you feeling less stressed.

If you are a language student (like myself), be sure to practise speaking the language as often as possible, no matter how confident you feel in the language. Most language subjects have an oral at the end of this semester so it’s no use in practising at the end. If you study Irish be sure to head to the seomra na Gaeilge as often as possible to get some practise in, and even if you don’t study Irish pop in some time and learn some new phrases!

Make sure to mind your mental and physical health. Try to avoid drinking too much alcohol, no matter how tempting it may be. If the hustle and bustle of college life becomes too much take twenty minutes out and go and relax in the silence of the quiet room, located in the arts building. If you’re feeling like you need someone to talk to take advantage of the numerous free services available to all Maynooth students, such as the budgeting service, the writing centre, the career development centre, the Student’s Union, the math’s support centre and many, many more.

Get organised and avoid procrastination. I know this is easier said than done but leaving an assignment to the night before- or even the day of- is never a good idea. It only causes unnecessary stress. As well as this, try to keep on top of your notes, even if it means taking some time after each lecture and looking over your notes and making sure they’re in order, you will thank yourself when it comes to exam season.

Use the office hours/know your class rep. If you’re struggling with an issue, or there’s a certain thing that you’re unclear of within a module then go and use the lecturer’s office hours. If you’re having a bigger academic issue then contact your class rep who will (hopefully) resolve the issue for you.

I have left the most important tip until last, and that is to attend class. This may seem obvious but it’s something that is often neglected. If you do nothing else but attend class you’re doing well! Drag yourself out of bed for that 9am, go to that lecture you hate, attend the tutorial you find pointless. At the end of the day, there’s likely to be at least one class that you don’t like, which is inevitable but attendance is key and can make or break your grades.

These are just some of my top tips for a successful semester. Let me know if you have any other tips!

Grá mór,

Laurie x

[gomaynooth]

Saol na Comatéireachta/Commuting Life

Cloistear go minic gurb é saol na comaitéireachta an saol is measa ar fud na hOllscoile, agus tá gnéithe fíor agus bréagach faoin ráiteas seo. Tá táithí agam ar an dá thaobh den scéal. Anuraidh bhí brionglóid na mac léinn agam- bhí mé i mo chónaí ar an gcampas. Tá an mhalairt i gceist leis an gcomaitéireacht.

Tá trí chineál comaitéireachta ann: an bus, an carr agus an traen. Faighim féin an bus agus ceapaim go gcailleann tú neart ama ag comaitéireacht gach uile lá. Ar an taobh geal, is deis maith é chun féachaint ar Netflix (seachas má tá tú ag tiomáint)!

Gan amhras, an rud is measa faoi shaol na comaitéireachta ná go n-éiríonn tú go luath ar maidin. Nuair atá tú i do chónaí in aice leis an Ollscoil, ní gá duit a bheith i do shuí go dtí fiche nóiméad roimh an rang (bhuel, sin cad a rinne mé ar aon nós). Ag an am céanna, caithfidh mé a rá go n-éiríonn sé níos éasca tar éis tamaill agus is gnáthamh anois é.

Rud eile gur fuath liom faoi shaol na comaitéireachta ná nach bhfuil tú in ann a bheith ag fanacht tar éis a sé a chlog. Ciallaíonn sé sin nach mbíonn tú in ann cumainn nó clubanna a dhéanamh. É seo ráite, tá cúpla cumann ann a bhíonn ar siúl i rith an lae. Mar shampla, tá ‘caife cruthaitheach’ leis an gcumann sláinte mheabhrach, agus ar ndóigh tá tae agus plé ann leis an gcuallacht na Gaeilge.

Rud dearfach faoi shaol na comaitéireachta ná go sábhálann tú níos mó airgid. Ní mór duit airgead a chaitheamh ar chíos agus tá tú in ann do dhinnéar a fháil sa bhaile. Anuas air seo, tá do mhadra sa bhaile!

Mar a fheiceann tú, fiú go bhfuil deacrachtaí ag baint le saol na comaitéireachta, ní hé an rud is measa sa domhain é.

__________________

It is often heard that commuter’s have the worst life across the University, and there are aspects of truth and falseness associated with this statement. I have experience of both sides of the story. Last year I lived the student’s dream- I lived on campus. The life of a commuter is surely no dream. Let me tell you!

There are three modes of commuting: the bus, the car and the train. I myself get the bus and I think that you lose a lot of time each day commuting. On the bright side, it’s a good opportunity to watch Netlix (unless you drive)!

Without a doubt, the worst thing about commuting is that you have to wake up early in the morning. When you live near the University, you can get up twenty minutes before class and still be on time (well, that’s what I did last year anyway). At the same time, I have to say that it becomes easier after some time and it’s routine now.

Another thing that I dislike about the life of a commuter is that you can’t stay after six o’clock. I get a private bus, so this means that I can’t do some clubs and societies. Last year I did debating, and I really enjoyed it but it starts at seven which means I can’t do it this year. ☹ With that being said, there are some commuter-friendly societies! For example, there is Creative Coffee, which is ran by the Mental Health Society and involved tea, coffee, biscuits, colouring and sometimes playdough. Of course, there is also Tae agus Plé run by the Irish Society. Both of these are great ways to meet new friends in a fun, relaxed environment.  

Something that is positive about commuting is that you save more money. You don’t have to spend money on rent and you can also get your dinner at home. On top of this, your dog is at home!

As you can see, even though there are difficulties associated with commuting, it’s not the worst thing in the world.

[gomaynooth]

An tOireachtas

Dia daoibh a chairde! Tá súil agam go bhfuil sibhse i mbarr na sláinte agus nach bhfuil sibh ag streachailt leis an obair ar fad, is cinnte gurb é seo an t-am is measa sa seimeastar. Beidh mé ag caint faoi rud an-spéisiúil inniu: an tOireachtas. An tseachtain seo caite chuaigh mé go dtí an Oireachtas den chéad uair. Bhí sé ar siúl i gCill Áirne i gcontae an Chiarraí, agus ní raibh mé ansin riamh freisin.

Chuaigh mé leis an gCuallacht na Gaeilge, agus d’fhágamar ar an Aoine as an Aontas na Mac Léinn ag a deich a chlog sa mhaidin. Bhí an turas fada, mar ní maith liom an bus go ginearálta ach is cinnte gur fhiú é. Rud amháin a thug mé faoi deara go raibh aisteach nuair a shroicheamar go Chill Áirne ná go raibh comharthaí Corcaigh ann- ní rud é sin a fheiceann tú i Má Nuad!

Shroicheamar ag ár lóistín ag a ceathair a chlog agus bhí sé i bhfad níos deise ná a cheap mé go mbeadh sé. Bhí mé ag roinnt seomra le triúr eile, agus ní raibh leaba bhuinc le feiceáil in aon áit ar bith. Ní raibh éinne ag iarraidh a bheith ag dreapadh isteach an buinc bairr ag a trí a chlog sa mhaidin agus iad ar meisce. Anuas ar sin, bhí en suite i ngach uile seomra. Saol ríthe a bhí againn agus is cinnte go raibh gach duine ar scamall a naoi!

Nuair a bhíomar déanta ag priosláil faoin seomra, chuamar chuig an mbaile, rinneamar píosa siopadóireacht, fuaireamar alcól agus bia agus thángamar ar áis chuig an tseomra. Bhí cóisir mhór mac léinn ar siúl san óstán Gleneagle, agus bhí gach duine gléasadh suas. An téama a bhí ag an gCuallacht ná ‘cartún as do leanbaíocht’. Bhí mé féin gléasadh suas mar ‘Darla’ as Finding Nemo. Bhí oíche den scoth againn ag an gcóisir, bhí an ceol ar fheabhas! Bhí cineálacha difriúla den cheol ar siúl, agus ceann amháin a thaitin go mór liom ná banna le meascán idir rac-cheol agus ceol traidisiúnta na hÉireann. Bhí craic iontach againn ar fad! 

An lá dar gcionn chuamar chuig bricfeasta sa bhaile i gcaife darbh ainm “scéal eile”. Bhí arán baile acu agus bhí sé an-bhlasta. Tar éis an bhricfeasta chuamar go dtí an Gleneagle mar bhí comórtas rince ar an sean-nós ar siúl. Chonaic mé rince sean-nós uair amháin nuair a bhí mé sa Ghaeltacht agus bhí orainn píosa beag a fhoghlaim, agus geallaimse daoibh nach raibh codán den tallainne againn a bhí acu, bhí siad dochreidte!

Tar éis an gcomórtas, chuaigh mé go dtí díospóireacht a bhí ar siúl idir foirne de mhic léinn tríú leibhéal. Bhí siad ag argóint ar an rún “is miotas é stádas amaitéarach Chumann Lúthchleas Gael!” Ba díospóireacht iontach é, d’fhoglaim mé neart rudaí nua agus bhain mé a lán sult as.

An oíche sin chuamar go dtí an ‘Club na Féile’. Níl mé in ann cur síos a dhéanamh air, ba saghas céile é, ach ag an am céanna bhí atmaisfeár i bhfad níos fearr ag an imeacht sin ná atá ag aon chéile. Arís, cosúil leis an oíche roimhe sin, bhí an ceol ar fheabhas agus bhí gach duine ag comhrá is ag rince is ag gaire ag an am céanna. Ní shroicheamar ar ais go dtí an lóistín go dtí a ceathair a chlog sa mhaidin agus is cinnte go raibh tuirseach an domhain ag gach uile duine an lá dar gcionn ach b’fhiú go hiomlán é.

D’fhágamar Dé Domhnach ag a dó a chlog agus bhíomar i Má Nuad ag a seacht a chloig. Gan amhras ar bith, ba thaithí dochreidte é an tOireachtas agus táim go hiomlán cinnte go mbeidh mé ann an bliain seo chugainn, agus gach uile bliain tar éis sin! Rud eile a cheap mé go raibh aisteach ach iontach fóin Oireachtas ná mo laochra Gaeilge a fheiceáil ag siúl timpeall- na daoine a bhreathnaím  ar Snapchat gach lá!

Fanfaidh mé ansin é, agus tá suil agam go mbainfeadh sibh taitneamh as an deireadh seachtaine agus beidh mé ag caint libh go luath.

Grá mór,

Laurie x

[gomaynooth]

My First Year of Science!

Hey guys, how’s it going? My name is Amy McNeill and I’ll be one of Maynooth’s bloggers this year. I thought this would be a good time to start since it’s mid-term and I’m trying not to think about all the work I must do. My first blog will be about my first year of college, I really hope you’ll find what I have to say is helpful and give you an insight into what life of a science student is like.

I am a second year Biotechnology student here at Maynooth, studying Biotechnology, Chemistry and Maths (I know right!). At the beginning of first year I was doing general science and transferred into biotechnology half way through first semester when I got my Biology Leaving Cert script rechecked (went up two grades!). In first year, biotechnology is basically general science, so I didn’t have any work to catch up with. Unlike with Arts, I didn’t have much choice in what I got to study. Finding out that I had to study Biology and Chemistry was great, those were the subjects I enjoyed most and wanted to study in college. Finding out that Maths was compulsory was not so great. FYI anyone that is studying any science course in Maynooth needs to take Maths in first year. 

Now a bet you’re wondering why I’m still studying Maths in second year, why I didn’t get rid of it as soon as I could. See the thing is in first year I did Biology, Chemistry and Maths but that was only 45 credits, so with three subjects down I still had one to go. For most people that might have been a hard decision but for me it was a walk in the park and my mind went straight to Critical Skills. When I read up about it, it sounded a little boring and I didn’t know what I’d get out of it but to me anything is better than physics. Since Critical Skills is only available to first years I was stuck doing Maths for another year, yay me, but you can’t win all your battles.

What people don’t realize is Science is a lot of work, we’re talking 22-24 hour weeks here but I wouldn’t change it all. Yeah you can get tired of lectures and tutorials and writing/doing lab reports and maths assignments can be a real pain in the ass. You can feel so tired and want to pull our your hair sometimes but when you’re studying something you enjoy those things seem small. 

Biology came easy for me, it was my strong subject in school. The first week of lectures were great, the lecturer was amazing and the material was interesting. You know the way in school you have your favourite teachers, it’s the same in university. Now don’t get me wrong most of the biology lecturers are great, some not so great but none of them can be compared to Jim Carolan, King of the Bees (You’ll get it in first year.) Hands down the best lecturer!

Chemistry was a little trickier, it had a little more work involved than Biology but I made it through. The labs were what I enjoyed most about chemistry, a different experiment each week all based on the concepts we leaned in our lectures. Quick tip: make sure to read up on the experiments before hand in order to absorb as much information as possible instead of going in blind.

Critical Skills was not what I expected and I would totally recommend it to all first years. My first thought was it was going to be boring and that I’d have to try and keep my eyes open in each class but I was wrong. The course work was so interesting, I didn't have a chance to fall asleep.Instead of the 300+ people that was in a Biology lecture or the 500+ people that was in a Maths lecture, the Critical Skills classes were quite small. This was a great was for meeting people and making new friends. The year had a good balance of class discussions, group work and in class-activities. Best thing about the module is that it has no exam and one less exam is great for Science students when January and May hit.

Now I get to my least favourite subject Maths. I’m not going to lie to you guys, Maths is rather difficult. At times I’d be sitting in lectures not having a clue what was going on and when the lecturer asked if we had any questions, I had no idea where to start. What got me through first year was the Maths Support Centre. They have excellent staff and resources there so I’m telling you to use it. They have weekly workshops for first years which are extremely helpful and you can even just pop in if you have a homework question. If I can get through first year calculus and linear algebra, yous can. 

So I think I have rambled on long enough and for anyone that has actually gotten this far, I’ll leave you with this: GO TO YOUR LECTURES!!. They really are important.

Catch you later,

Amy ;)   

[gomaynooth]

My Week as a Maynooth Student 1

Dia daoibh, a chairde! So, the last two weeks were filled with assignment stress, but I don’t want this to be completely a negative post, so I’ll just be writing about some things that I did on campus over the last week or two.

Last week storm Ophelia occurred which meant that we had two days off college. Do you remember back in primary/secondary school to the rare snow day where you got the day off and it was the best thing ever? Yeah, it’s certainly not the same feeling when it comes to college- in fact it causes more stress than anything.  One thing that I learned from the storm is that I would never be able to do self-taught classes. The sheer amount of self-motivation needed to sit at home and do an assignment while everyone else relaxes, watching movies is unfathomable. I would consider myself a motivated person and I got a good bit of work done, but nowhere near as much as I should have done.  

Last Friday I had class rep training, and yesterday I had an additional training session from the USI (Union of Students Ireland). This year I am the Nua-Ghaeilge second year academic representative, last year I was the Geography class rep. This year I also sit on the Student Senate as the Arts, Celtic Study and Philosophy representative. The Student Senate is the governing body of the Student’s Union, and makes sure that the officers are held accountable for everything they do, so it’s good to know who your Senators are!

On Tuesday I went to “Speed Friending,” which was being ran by the Mental Health Society and I*ESN (International Exchange Erasmus Student Network). If you don’t know what speed friending is, then just think of speed dating, except instead of dating you make friends! I must say it was a wonderful event, I got to meet lots of new people from all over the world and I hope that they have another one at some stage throughout the year. What was even better was that it was commuter friendly! It ran from 2-4pm in the SU.

This week is Safety Week on campus, which is a campaign being ran by the Student’s Union which is mostly about alcohol and road safety awareness. On Wednesday I was interviewing some students all about alcohol safety, and to see if they are safe drinkers. One thing I had the students do was to pour water into a cup and put how much they thought was equivalent to a standard measure of vodka (most people’s drink of choice), which I then poured into a measuring glass to show how much was correct, compared to what they had put. One thing that I noticed was that the students who didn’t drink (and there was more than I thought) were the most incorrect. 

This got me thinking, and it made me realise that when people first start drinking- or maybe experimenting with alcohol- they don’t even realise how little is in a standard measure of alcohol, so they guess too much and end up drinking a lot more than they think. So, if you do drink (spirits especially) I would challenge you to measure your alcohol the next time, and you might just be surprised by how many more units of alcohol you’re drinking than you think. Also, make sure you ALWAYS mix spirits with some kind of mixer, do not drink it straight. Yesterday the RSA came onto campus and had a range of cool things for students to do such as their roll-over simulator, mock theory tests, road safety quizzes and lots more fun stuff. I didn’t get a chance to go unfortunately as I had training, but it looked like good fun.

That’s all for this week, guys! I’m going to the Oireachtas next week with the Cuallacht so I should have a blog post up on that, as Gaeilge. 😉 I hope you all have a good, productive study week,

Grá mór,

Laurie x

Here is a picture of myself and Amy going for the train, looking like drowned rats after class rep training. (p.s. that hot chocolate is from Euro Saver beside Dunnes and it tastes amazing, and it’s only one euro)

Alternatively, here is a picture of us the day before, gotta love Irish weather... (p.s.s. those slushies are also from Euro Saver, and are also only one euro)