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College wasn't like this in my day

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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 965 ✭✭✭johnr1


    IME, most people actually gain independence after they finish college and are forced to actually get a real job, where for the first year they are contributing very little and more a drain rather than an asset to their employer. This is a necessary part of their education, but those who work first for a while in their chosen field and then go back and get their qualifications make for better employees in the long term. They also learn the value of money they earned themselves younger, and mature a bit quicker in the real world where mummy and daddy don't subsidise their lifestyles.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,540 ✭✭✭Giselle


    For me it was one long party; la dolce vita.

    I took the scenic route, largely because by the middle of the first year I would attend one in five lectures, at best. Of course, this was back in the day before continuous assessments and semesterisation so you could get away with it a lot more.

    Instead, it was clubs and societies, pubs and receptions and parties. Running college events and peoples election campaigns. Wearing a tuxedo and speaking in front of a large crowd at the debating societies on a regular basis; at first because I cared about the motions being debated and later because of the never ending stream of groupies.

    It was always being on the guest list for all the balls and clubs. And waking up next to one, or two, naked girls who'd I'd met the night before. And reading about myself in the student papers, or watching others read about me. Or articles that I wrote (not about me). And making a not inconsiderable amount of money in the process, by both fair and less fair means.

    And then eventually, long after everyone else who had started college with me had graduated and moved on, I completely lost my taste for it, put my head down for a final year, graduated and got on with my life.

    My postgrad was different. Went in. Attended lectures. Studied. Went home.

    Sapienza or L'Aquila? :)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 19,777 ✭✭✭✭The Corinthian


    Giselle wrote: »
    Sapienza or L'Aquila? :)
    UCD actually. The debating reference should have given it away as it's an Anglophone tradition. Had I gone to la Sapienza, I'd probably still be there, TBH...


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,488 ✭✭✭franksm


    For me it was the University of Ulster at Jordanstown - too much boozin', not enough ridin', and too many trips in the back of an RUC landrover (nothing bad, just the usual student shenanigans !)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,540 ✭✭✭Giselle


    UCD actually. The debating reference should have given it away as it's an Anglophone tradition. Had I gone to la Sapienza, I'd probably still be there, TBH...

    An Italian mod, who refers to La Dolce Vita... not something I'd associate with UCD!


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  • Administrators Posts: 53,127 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭awec


    This post has been deleted.


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,385 ✭✭✭✭D'Agger


    College for me was about growing up and maturing slightly - we've all done the bóllix, taken election signs and generally acted like nobody was in charge - because nobody was.

    And then you realise that means you have to take care of yourself.

    I used college to grow up after spending the middle years going out and enjoying myself which I don't regret for a second.

    I've got a solid group of friends around me who I contact and try to visit as much as possible, and while I'm sure alot of people say this about college friends before parting - I don't ever see myself drifting from them.

    Now that I'm out almost two years it's easy to look back and miss it - being able to have an hour or two off in the afternoon etc. or the decision to stay in bed and be lazy without fear of being fired etc. - I miss it desperately.

    They were the best years of my life, I was young and fresh going in and I was ready for the working world coming out, from an academic and personal level anyway - fairly certain I had the full college experience and if I have kids later on down the line I'll burst my ass to make sure they can have the same experience.


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