A Day In The Life of a UCD Student

After a whole month of doing absolutely nothing back in London, the realisation that I would have to actually get back to work hit me like a train. Naturally, I took a bunch of precautions to make sure I wouldn’t suffer from academic whiplash while getting back into the swing of things. And although I dearly miss UCL and the half-calming, half-unsettling presence of Bentham, I was excited to finally drink a pint of Guinness in the only place where it tastes right.

Then, take a mental note to never make that mistake again. Nine AMs in London are awful in their own way, with the dreaded work rush on the tube, but Dublin has its own brand of evil, and it comes in the form of constant rain. Add that to five hours of sleep on a Monday, and ruin your mood for the entire day.

Step two: figuring out soc events.

While I sang praises for the cheap, cheap price of joining any society at UCD (damn you, £10 UCL History Soc fee!), I have to say their way of organising things is also very uhhh… UCD. In this case, that means it’s very last minute and planned for the short-term, so actually organising your calendar for, let's say two weeks in advance, is impossible.

Most societies email the weekly schedule on Monday morning, and by the time you wake up, there’s already an event ongoing that you’re bound to miss.

Step three: actually attending classes.

It’s almost as if we still pay for our year abroad and have to put in effort into studying. Not that any of us aren’t trying their very best. I swear I spend most of my days reading and writing essays and definitely not hanging out in questionable pubs.

Classes are pretty similar to UCL structure of course - lectures, seminars, tutorials, we all know the drill by now. And of course the first week is still tinged with sweet, sweet sloth, and none of your professors actually expect you to do the reading (thank god).

Aside from a couple of late nights (read: I head home around 11, before the buses stop running - life without a night bus service isn’t a life worth living.) and hanging out around the city centre’s copious pubs with friends, my first few days back were just as chilled as I expected them to be.

By: Joanna Pruchniewska