Introduce Yourself 2014/2015 - Introductions only - No chat

Name: Sam
Course: JF Engineering
Age: 18
Clubs/societies: french, phil, sailing

Name: Mike
Year/Course: JF Law and French
Age: 18
Societies/Clubs/interests: No clue yet! Probably at least one of the debating socs

Name: Eimear
Age: 17
Year/Course: 1st/Midwifery
Clubs/societies/interests: French, maybe Gaelic football and basketball too

Name: Helen
Year/Course: 1st Year Human Health and Disease
Age: 18
Societies/Clubs/Interests: Don't exactly know yet... SVP, Modern Languages, Music? I'm sure there'll be many more...!

Name: Niamh
Year/Course: 1st Year Midwifery
Age: 19
Societies/Clubs/interests: Rowing, Cumann Gaelach, not sure what else so far!

Name: Lisa
Year/Course: SF Science
Age: 20
Societies/Clubs/Interests: None last year but I intend to make time this year... Literary, KnitSoc maybe. I like to watch Phil/Hist debates.

Name: Alison
Year/Course: JF TSM Ancient History and Archaeology / Latin
Age: 30
Societies/Clubs /Interests: most probably the classical society

Name: Kevin
Course: 1st year MSISS
Age: 18
Clubs/Socs/Interests : sailing, drama, debating, gaeilge and whatever else is good

Name: Caoimhe
Year/Course: Medicinal Chemistry
Age: 19
Clubs/societies/interests: Dance, music, german, martial arts

Name: Katie
Year/Course: Mental Health Nursing
Age: 18
Societies/clubs/interests: Music, Modern Languages, and maybe some sports, haven't looked at many yet

Name: Jeff
Year/Course: Economics and Philosophy SF
Age: 20
Societies/Clubs/interests: Right, so, last year I did what all Freshers do and I joined almost every single society. Here are the good, the bad and the ugly in my opinion.

Best Society: An Cumann Gaelach (coincidentally won best society at the CSC awards) was mighty craic last year. Trip to the Oireachtas is a must, lock-ins in An Conradh are a right of passage and the general scene around Seomra na Gaeilge is great. Can't beat it! I made more new friends in the Cumann Gaelach than in any other society. Make sure you find out where Seomra na Gaeilge is during Freshers' week; 20c tea, coffee, and biscuits. It's a great place to chill altogether, is deis iontach é do chuid Gaeilge a úsáid and it's a nicer atmosphere to do assignments in and study than the library!

Debating Societies: There is a difference between the Phil and the Hist, but it's not very big. Generally, I've found that the Hist are better for academic discussion and serious debate on serious topics whereas the Phil debates tend to have more ludicrous motions debated in a less serious style. I feel that confidence, entertainment and eccentricity were traits that would be more commonly found at Phil debates, whereas, good philosophical grounding, taking the debate seriously and looking at debate topics in a more academic light were more commonly found at Hist debates. The Phil has a good social scene and the Hist leaves a lot to be desired, however, both have good post debate "refreshments" and finger-food. GMB is a great place to chill if you have gaps during your days.

Sports: I decided to try out sports I'd never done before: Judo and Boxing. The boxing coach is quite the stereotypical boxing coach who spends the session shouting and takes things very seriously, however, nothing he says is malicious, just, helps keep you motivated. Although, there is nothing better to help you get in shape; lost over a stone in my first month of it. Judo was quite laid back and had a really nice group of people in it. The coach was super friendly and helpful. I felt with these two clubs, especially Boxing which has a slightly less friendly feel, that you might want to bring a pal along if you are to enjoy it to the full.

Music Societies: There seems to be a great music scene throughout all of the universities music societies. From what I hear, Choral Society puts a lot of preparation into doing big pieces twice a year or so and it would have a lower standard then any other choir on Campus as it does not hold auditions, however this can be appealing for some. The barbershop ensembles and choirs associated with Trinity Singers (Trinitones, Trinity Belles, Singers, Boydell) seem to all have a good standard and good social life. However, if you successfully audition for Trinity Chapel Choir and then gain a Choral Scholarship, you can receive between €625 and €1250 depending on how much singing you're happy to do. The social life of Chapel Choir has a very oxbridge feel to it all, which can be enticing to some people and a turn-off for others.

The Bad: I don't know if it's fair to describe it as 'bad', but rather 'unexpected' and caused some annoyance. I expected that when I payed my membership fee for DU Food and Drink that the fee itself was the most I was expected to pay (except for the society ball). However, pretty much every Food & Drink event cost €5 or more and would sell out in literally 5 mins - and I'm using "literally" correctly here instead of a tool of exaggeration. I was also in the queue for the Food and Drink Ball an hour before the selling of tickets was actually meant to begin, yet, tickets had sold out by the time I was meant to buy my ticket. It seems the society was incapable of organising itself like a large society which it actaully is and rather organised itself as a small society. With all of that said, from what I have heard from the few who have been able to get tickets to Food & Drink events, the events themselves sound brilliant.

The Ugly: French Soc. The society had one or two events during freshers' week and then I only got one or two event invites here and there after that. There wasn't much craic at the events either. In fairness to them though, there seems to be a big push to have the society more active for 2014/15. I hope that this comes to fruition.

I hope you some of you at least find this helpful and I'm sorry if I wrote too much!

There's no harm into signing up to too many societies; you often make back more than you spend on what's inside the goodie bags.

PM me if there's anything you'd like to ask me about life as a Fresher.

P.S. I envy any of you who have got into Halls; only got to go to Halls two or three times and it was absolutely unbelievable craic!

Name: Brendan
Year/Course: 1st year BESS
Age: 18
Societies: Don't know yet bet defiantly media
(message me if your doing bess i kinda wanna get to know some people first)

Name: Malvina
Course: 1st year BESS
Age: 18
Societies: Not sure yet but looking at history, paintball, hispanic, business and econ
(heyimbrendan can't message you so maybe try messaging me!)

Name: Joseph
Year/Course: 1st year Computer Science
Age: 19
Societies/Clubs/interests: DUCSS, Wind Surfing, Cycling