Ladies and gentlemen, scholars and skivers, welcome to the next chapter of your life. The Leaving Cert is finally done and dusted – although the nightmares will continue until well into your 70s – and what will evermore be referred to as ‘my college days’ are just about to commence.
Now sit back, relax, pop open a can of your favourite libation and let this wise old sage guide you through all you’ll need to survive the next four years. Or at least the first month…
Shelter
So you’re finally leaving the homestead? If, as happened with me, your beloved parents are already redecorating your room with treadmills and dumb-bells, you should get a serious move on, in your search for a new place to call home. Of course, you don’t need me to tell you that this is a lot easier said than done. As you’ll soon find out first hand, you’re not the only person looking for a place to rest that clever head at a reasonable price.
Don’t panic however, there are people that can help. On-campus halls are attractive – but they are generally the first to go and a lot of universities only provide them for second years and upwards anyway. But, colleges can also help you in your search for private residence. The Accommodation Advisory Service at Trinity College, for example, runs through September and Freshers' Week, offering advice and support for all the future world leaders who have just joined the student body. They also provide a forum for new students to meet and search for accomodation together, thus supplying a whole new set of drinking buddies for you, as well as the venue for all those houseparties. Bottom line: any college worth the points will have some form of support system like this to be used and abused. Make them work for their registration fees.
How the students of yesteryear ever found a house/apartment without the faithful sites and search-engines of our worldwide web will always amaze me. Students heading to the North should check out bunk.com. Another neat site is accommodationforstudents.com, where those setting-off for the Dublin can read reviews of areas in the capital in which to rent, as well as being warned about places to stay away from, (hello South Circular Road!). And of course myhome.ie and daft.ie can be useful – it helps to actually register, as opposed to just logging on whenever you can be arsed.
When you find somewhere that sounds remotely presentable, remember you do have rights. The real bookworms out there might want to have a read of the Landlord and Tenancies Acts of 1967-1994 to catch up on all the ins and outs of renting, but the rest of us should just be aware that (1) there are certain standards that landlords legally have to provide; (2) they cannot charge more than the market rate for the property, and (3) they are not allowed to hike-up the rent more than once a year.
At the same time, as a tenant you have to abide by certain rules and regulations. It is a good idea to discuss all the boring-but-important details with your prospective landlord before you decide to take up residency. Make sure to check that all locks and appliances are in full working order. And have a look over the place and note any marks or defects – you don’t want to be accused when you’re leaving of being responsible for them.
If the transition from a comfortable, easy life of home cooking and magically-washed clothes to endless tins of baked beans and a ‘pile’ of laundry that comes complete with sherpas is too much to bear, there’s always the half-way house that is digs.
Digs may sound like a great idea but in reality are not for everyone. They can be lonely and you never know what kind of ‘host’ you’ll get. However, I have heard stories of friends hitting the jackpot with pancakes for breakfast and home-made cookies before bed. Nice crib if you can get it – although you’ll find it hard to sneak the boyfriend in at night!
Cash
I’m not going to lie to you: living on a student budget is no picnic, although there are a lot of home-made sandwiches involved. During the course of the next few years you will learn to find and save money in many ways, each more inventive than the last.
First things first: food and drink are to be bought in supermarkets. For economy’s sake, buy own-brand products whenever possible. Cook things for yourself – it isn’t hard. Only allow yourself a take-away when severely hungover. Eating out in expensive restaurants will probably remain a figment of your imagination except if a parent or sympathetic relative is involved – i.e. paying!
We didn’t really need Eddie Hobbs to convince us that Ireland is bloomin’ expensive (yes, I studied economics). So even with the most generous of allowences, future freshers may still need to get extra money from somewhere. The student grant aside (see article page 17), there’s always my good friend and yours: the bankman. He’ll give you money, pretty happily actually, but please note that you will have to pay him back.
Loans can seem quite scary to novices but, when organised sensibly, they can be useful. Most banks offer low interest rates for students, so it’s just a case of looking around, and choosing your poison.
Or you could always do it the old-fashioned way and get a job. There are certain jobs that suit students perfectly, promotions being the obvious choice, but also waitressing or bar-tending. It is a good idea, though, to keep your future career – you know, that thing that happens after college? – in mind, so when looking for extra-curicular employment, try to find something that is in some way connected with what you eventually want to get into.
P.A.R.T.Y.
Oh the stories you will have when you finally get that degree. There’ll also be a worrying number of road signs, traffic cones and shopping trollies around the flat. The memories will stay with you forever (whereas traffic cones burn alarmingly fast). Yes, youth of today, you drink far too much.
Again the key word here is ‘supermarket’. You can find an array of alcohol, some of which comes in big plastic bottles and seems familiar – but just don’t look right. Take wodka for example: this clear liquid sent from the devil was my drink of choice until that night I went blind for about 10 minutes… In any case, drinking at home is certainly the cheapest and most fun way of kickstarting a night out, whether it’s at a house party or with your mates before hitting the clubs.
Club owners often try to profit from students’ apparently endless need for alcohol with certain mid-week nights being dedicated to the lowly academic. There are pros and cons to these events. The booze is cheaper and it can be a good context in which to meet fellow students. However, if you’re not a big fan of over-crowding and a 20 minute wait at the bar, it may well be best to stay well away.
In any event, you don’t have to drink to have fun. There will be plenty of shenanigans to keep you entertained during Freshers’ Week and your trusty Ents officer should provide many a themed event to keep you going through the year, including comedy nights and gigs.
There will also be opportunites to get that college scarf out – matches against rival universities, debates between clubs, and student theatre productions. The main thing here is that the more involved you are, the more fun you’ll inevitably have, so join clubs and societies. You’ll meet more friends that way than any night out on the beer.
Studies
Apparently college has something to do with education. This means that at some point you will have to knuckle down and do some study. Shocking, I know.
The difference between college and school is that you are in charge of your own work. There’s no detention or punishment of any sort if you don’t get your homework done – in fact, bar a few essays, there’s barely any homework to do. The only catch is that at the end of the year you are expected to pass an exam or two, and your chances of doing this are massively increased if you read a little along the way.
At the beginning of the course, lecturers will tell you to do a certain amount of hours in the library. It’s not advisable to completely disregard this advice – but generally you can get by and even do well without being too swotty.
Of course, it helps to be interested in what you’re studying. The most intelligent person I know failed her exams twice because she hated the subject so much she couldn’t bring herself to open a book.
If you don’t like what you’re doing, don’t keep trying to do it. It’s as simple as that. If you decide early enough, you may even be allowed to swap courses within the college, but if you only figure it out half-way through the second semester, it’s not a crime to quit and reapply the following year.
Holidays
Not to get too ahead of ourselves here but one of the advantages of being a student is that there are those long, carefree summers to look forward to. Once the exams are over, you will have roughly four months to exercise the independence you were granted at the beginning of the year. My advice is to take full advantage of the opportunity.
Four months is far too long to be spending in rainy old Ireland, so this is the time to explore the world. Taking a J1 to the United States is probably the first thing that springs to mind, and rightly so. These days, it’s not just a case of filling out a form and Sam’s your uncle, but it is worth it. Believe me!
Whether it’s New York or a small town along the west coast, a summer in the States is not only profitable in the fun stakes, but financially too. Three years ago I worked in a small café on a beach in Hawaii and had the best summer of my life. I came home with $3000, a deep tan, and a tendency to say ‘trash’ or ‘garbage’ instead of ‘rubbish’ (thankfully my friends forgave me).
You can of course work in any country in Europe, potentially brushing up on your language skills while you’re at it. Or just go inter-railing around the whole continent! You could even venture further afield and head east for Vietnam or west for South America.
As you can see dear freshers, the world is your oyster. Enjoy it while you can, because reality is never far behind…