The 'How Was Your Year?' Thread

singingstranger

It's that time of year, guys...

Think of this as the 'Reeling In The Years' thread, except you can only do it for this year.

Personally I've had a magical year, getting involved in the Union, Belfield FM, writing for the Observer... it's been great fun. More fun than last year, although I missed the Merville social setup.

How has it been for everyone else?

tribulus

A tough year, more work than i've ever done but i'm told next year is much less intense. Enjoyed my course but again the amount of work made it monotonous and robotic. Also started playing poker at christmas and now have a problem - but it makes me money so meh

Bring on 3rd year!

Chakar

The best year of fun and learning ever I'm really happy with the Horizons system and that, it put more emphasise on the continuous assessment which I had no problem with.

Also I'm happy with what I did this year, being a class rep, helping out every now and then.And I don't regret running for Programme Officer, I realised the mistakes I made and won't make again.

I've made new friends, got to know quite a lot of people in UCD.I'm really happy that I settled in well in UCD because that is so important for first years because they can get fed up with the whole thing.That's the one thing I'm really happy about.

Red Alert

Results in general took a nosedive. I'm not bringing up the rear end by any means, but overall it'll take a lot of work to keep the 2.1 average i had. Depends on the marking how exactly it goes, little leeway for any more disasters. I do really need that 2.1 because i want to do postgrad here!

EDIT: Don't you need a 2.1., Irlrobins or other postgrad?

Got involved with Robo Rugby for my project and loved it!

Made friends with a good few of the postgrads too somehow.

pretty*monster

I was probably spoiled my having a great first year but I can't help leaning towards to conclusion that this year sort of sucked. Spent way too much time stressed out, missed too many classes, fell way behind on my course work, joined the union for a bit of craic and eneded up completely disillusioned, went out about twice as much but had about half the craic, somehow wound up smoking 30 a day, got dumped right before my exams which I have most likely failed...

On the other hand... I made a ton of new friends, got involved in a couple of things I consider to be worth being involved in, organised all PhilSoc's speakers for the year (and hardly screwed up at all), remained financially solvent most of the time, and grew up quite a bit...

But on balance this year still sorta sucks.
Roll on summer

Vainglory

My 2nd year still stands worlds apart as being the best year I've had so far in UCD. This year just wasn't as much....fun.

Ah, the days of going to the bar just because it was a Tuesday, getting skulled drunk, thrown out and bringing a load of bar flys back to some house for a party. Didn't seem to happen half as much this year. Y'all got boring.

Chakar

pretty*monster wrote:

I was probably spoiled my having a great first year but I can't help leaning towards to conclusion that this year sort of sucked. Spent way too much time stressed out, missed too many classes, fell way behind on my course work, joined the union for a bit of craic and eneded up completely disillusioned, went out about twice as much but had about half the craic, somehow wound up smoking 30 a day, got dumped right before my exams which I have most likely failed...

On the other hand... I made a ton of new friends, got involved in a couple of things I consider to be worth being involved in, organised all PhilSoc's speakers for the year (and hardly screwed up at all), remained financially solvent most of the time, and grew up quite a bit...

But on balance this year still sorta sucks.
Roll on summer

Was that due to the Sabbatical election campaign?

pretty*monster

Chakar wrote:

Was that due to the Sabbatical election campaign?

Not entirely, not mostly really.
I mean, I have almost no personal ambition. So losing wasn't like 'oh no I lost, life is over.'

It was other reasons, the kind of people I saw involved in the union, the kind of shit that goes on. The filthiness of politics, the spinlessness... laziness... general bad buzz stuff.

Not to mention the apathy.

But there were a lot of other things that contributed to me suck-y year.

irlrobins

Red Alert wrote:

EDIT: Don't you need a 2.1., Irlrobins or other postgrad?

For the techie ones you generally do. If a project comes with funding they generally stipulate that the recipient student must have a 2.1 min.

panda100

pretty*monster wrote:

got dumped right before my exams which I have most likely failed...

His loss prettymonster,his loss!Boys are just stupid anyway...throw rocks at them!!

hmmmm I think this thread idea may have been stolen from a certain chicktastic chick!!:)
All in all the year was pretty damn good year.
Think I passed all my exams cept one which I definalty failed.
Got lots of new clothes..yipeee!
Helped out lots more down in aware in Limerick which I wanted to do
Got a bit more confidence in myself which was something else I wanted to do
Doing my first debate
Had lots of fun nites out and days in with my mates
Discovered that I actually really like living with my brother
Started eating really healthy and dong lots more exercise and feel great because if it
Met a nice boy
Bad things that happened:
spending far too much time on the internet and making enemys of people that I didnt really want to make enemys of
Dropping out of the welfare race
getting addicted to marks and sparks choc chip cookies

elmyra

Eh...righty then.

Good stuff:
Got more involved in L&H and ended up getting committee (I was about to say 'ended up scoring committee' but that could have been interpreted all kinds of wrong ways.
Did a good few mid-year (often mid week!) road trips with different groups of friends...les hilarity.
Joined Boards and met all you lovely boardsies.
Didn't do half bad academically considering I missed about 90% of English lectures and 50% of History lectures.
Over the course of the year managed to gain new car, new laptop and new ipod...while I'm currently broke, I'm pretty proud of my financial dealings, I'm clearly pursuing the wrong degree.
Saw a lot of friends from school during the course of the year...I neglected to do that in 1st year.

Crap stuff:
Didn't stay involved in the Observer as much as in 1st year..gotta get back to that!
Didn't attend almost anything, must get act together for 3rd year!
Made poor decision about which group of people to live with- yuck!!
Spent too much time travelling home for drama stuff and up wesht for relationship stuff to the detriment of Dublin stuff.

All in all not a bad year though.

AngelofFire

Upon coming back last september, UCD was the last place i wanted to be, i had just failed my repeat exams and wasnt looking forward to doing first year again. But I stayed positive kept my head high, got involved in all the things that served me well last year, met more new people and came to realise that i actually like the place. I opened my mind to new interests and rediscovered old ones. I had many personal and family related issues to deal with during the year which weren`t nice but i persevered. I became somewhat disillusioned with the union during the latter half of the year due to the social outlet and cult of personality mentality of many hacks. I ran for an elected positon to help instill a sense of honesty and create a better connection between the SU and its members. i was greatful for the support many people gave me during my campaign. One thing i came to realise is that you need to take time out from the four walls of campus, im enjoying my time in college but am glad to see the back of this year, i`ll be away for two months during the summer and intend to cut myself off from the place just so i can refresh myself, but i`ll be back with a vengeance and i predict and exciting year to be had on campus next year.

''Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.'' Mohandas Karamchand "Mahatma" Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

BKtje

Was quite a relaxed year really. I probably should have done more work than i did but lets hope i kop on a little more next year.
Overall i enjoyed it. End of the year has promise too

singingstranger

AngelofFire wrote:

i predict and exciting year to be had on campus next year.

Greeeeeeat... :rolleyes:

AngelofFire wrote:

''Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.'' Mohandas Karamchand "Mahatma" Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Byron Dean (1931-1955)

rainbow kirby

Overall I reckon I had quite a good year

Good points:
Got more involved with Gamesoc
Doing far better academically than I have done in a long time
Feeling more able to balance work and college than I have pretty much since I started working for GAME 3 years ago
Getting my Odysseus place
Actually being in a course which I enjoy
Meeting some fantastic people
Getting to understand myself a lot better, and making a few realisations about myself.

Bad points:
Missing the Xbox 360 launch party (with free alcohol all night) because of coding like a maniac to finish a project
Lack of money - paying back €75 a week on my fees loan HURTS.
Being in a project group with 5 wasters and having to do about 90% of the project work myself
Not having time to do as much TKD training as I'd like, and as a result putting on a stone
Seeing my friends driven to breaking point under the stresses of final year CS
A certain course taught by a certain lecturer with the initials DD.

snickerpuss

My year was better than last year.

I made friends with people in my subjects....oooooh.

But less good cos i didn't have pretty*monster to go to class with/steal notes from/have breakfast with.

pretty*monster

snickerpuss wrote:

But less good cos i didn't have pretty*monster to go to class with/steal notes from/have breakfast with.

Oh how I missed our heart attack breatfasts.

Pythia

pretty*monster wrote:

somehow wound up smoking 30 a day

I'd say you know this, but you really need to cut that down.
I smoke a bit so I'm not going on an anti smoking rant but 30 at your age! Eek

Anyway,
Think I've got my average up this year which is good
Became chair of my society
Loser boyf and I broke up
Lovely new boyf and I got together
Worked out what I think I want to do
Got nice internship in a Big 4.
Made more friends
Cut down on drinking

So a better year than last year I think.

snickerpuss

pretty*monster wrote:

Oh how I missed our heart attack breatfasts.

I know! I've hardly damaged my heart at all this year!

All that blood just flowing through my arteries unhindered....

dajaffa

panda100 wrote:

getting addicted to marks and sparks choc chip cookies

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm........White Chocolate Chip ones, oh yeah baby.

Anyway I had a fanastic year;

Just missed physio so thought I was going to DIT for optometry (yawn), then got in to physio in RCSI, and finally I got my place in UCD which *corny alert* was basically my dream since forever..........

Made loads of new friends (cause us physios are all lovely)
Did a bit for BFm which was cool and I got to know a few legends like singingstranger
In the second semester we had massage classes three times a week which was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, and learnt how to give them too
Got inolved in a (failed) ents campaign but got to know lots of SU types which was cool, n for exec elections I was on Carol-Anne's team for women's officer which she won, YAY
Finally thanks to S + M I only ended up with 4 summer exams, some of which I'd already passed,

All in all, one hell (in a good way) of a year

Oh and met boards peeps at beerage last thurs which was wkd

Mr.Nice Guy

Bad year for me. I didn't do the work I told myself I would do when I got through 1st year and now repeats are a real possibility for me.

On the social front, I made one good friend and a few other acquaintances so I improved on that from 1st year.

To be honest I feel like I can get so much more out of UCD but so far I've failed to do so.

I would expect to be in UCD next year (though what year I'm not sure!) so my aim is to get my act together next time. Third time lucky right?

Jonny Arson

Well I've pretty much have had the weirdest college year anyone has probably ever had!

First day back. I get aquainted again by going my 2nd year lectures and later that day I found out that I failed the year! Worst start you could possibly have. After a week of deciding whether I'd repeat the year or leave I chose to stay. Found out later that I had to repeat a fraction of the year. So throughout the year I had an average of 2 hours a week so I've had the easiest year ever.

Main pluses were:
- having little academic pressure for the first time since I was 3 years old which made me let my hair down
- having the opportunity to work during the year which meant I gained more workplace experience and obviously earning more money than I would normally have done.
- comfortably passing all my coursework so far
- certain that I will be in 2nd year next year

Lows:
- repeating the year obviously (so painful, over my dead body I'll fail a year again!)
- paying fees
- lack of academic work has made me lazier than ever
- losing contact with most of my aquaintances from 1st year
- still feeling isolated and unhappy around campus

Looking forward to next year though. A fresh start on all fronts providing I do pass my last module. Roll on September!

Blush_01

Good:
-The ELS was lovely and I made some really good friends. The kind who automatically know what to do when you cry.
-Continuous assessment went spiffingly. Have a much better average than last year's ok one.
-Went to most of my classes, only missed ones that didn't matter really.
-Arts Ball was deadhlie, and I got to be bossy!
-Worked just enough to keep my head above water
-Just got season 1 of HEX online... it's in the post... I love HEX and don't have Sky.
-Latvia rocked, and was my first proper break since March 2003!
-Was at my first wedding.
-Got rid of some emotional deadwood.
-The department doesn't hate me as much!
-Pretty shoes.
-Polka dots are in!!!
-American Cream.

Bad:
-I'm still fúcking chicken.
-Dad
-Grandma
-Certain lecturers created a really bad buzz in lectures.
-Less OE

Blush_01

So, about this weather, eh?

rain on

did ye olde masters this year. it was great. met lovely people through it and read great books. now i have to do my thesis though which is scarifying. generally it was a good year though.

Stabshauptmann

Without a doubt the best year of my life and I put it down to 3 things; giving up the smoke, not being afraid to try new things and to chance my arm and forgetting about the consequences.

Last year I smoked more a week than Ive done all year and its made such a huge difference, I cant believe Im the same person.

I got back into sport by joining ultimate frisbee and had many great sessions, weekends away, nights out and even a black tie ball. What I didnt realise is how antisocial I used to be, I didnt even realise that one of the guys from frisbee was in my class (of less than 30!).
Now Im a society auditor and cant walk from one end of campus to the other without stopping to talk to at least 10 people. In fact I owe alot to DutchSoc and this years auditor for loads of things.

Last year, and even the start of this year, I wouldnt have dreamed of going for a drink with ppl I'd only known online but those beers I have been to have been some of the best fun and definitly the best company/conversation. Anyone who hasnt been this year should make it a priority for next year to make it to as many UCD Board Beers as possible.

Ive done a lot with the attitude of let the consequences be damned and a few things did come back to bite me.

There were a few flings that didnt end well but I can say they were fun for the most part and put the rest down to experience.
My finances arent the over whelming tower they once were, but every penny well spent.
Exam pressure almost killed me thoughI did go to more history lectures than accounting and BIS combined - deadly serious (But Im sure I pulled through in the end).
There are ppl in RL who I might not have wanted to know I spend a lot of time on discussion boards or thats how I met person X or Y but Im glad I did get to know those ppl.

Chakar

AngelOfFire wrote:

But I stayed positive kept my head high, got involved in all the things that served me well last year, met more new people and came to realise that i actually like the place. I opened my mind to new interests and rediscovered old ones.

Yeah. staying positive is so very important, because there's so many things that can make you negative through the year and so its important to have a positive attitude even when the going gets tough.

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind."
William James
US Pragmatist philosopher & psychologist (1842 - 1910)

Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
US essayist & poet (1803 - 1882)

Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it; it's only for wallowing in.
Katherine Mansfield
New Zealand short story author (1888 - 1923)

Remember! Things in life will not always run smoothly. Sometimes we will be rising toward the heights - then all will seem to reverse itself and start downward. The great fact to remember is that the trend of civilization itself is forever upward, that a line drawn through the middle of the peaks and the valleys of the centuries always has an upward trend.
Endicott Peabody
US educator (1857 - 1944)

A tough lesson in life that one has to learn is that not everybody wishes you well.
Dan Rather
US television newscaster (1931 - )

Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.
Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892, Act I
Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet (1854 - 1900)

Question: Why are we Masters of our Fate, the captains of our souls? Because we have the power to control our thoughts, our attitudes. That is why many people live in the withering negative world. That is why many people live in the Positive Faith world. And you don't have to be a poet or a philosopher to know which is best.
Alfred A. Montapert

Chakar

Kaptain Redeye wrote:

Anyone who hasnt been this year should make it a priority for next year to make it to as many UCD Board Beers as possible

People should go to the Board beers, I went to the Board beers on Thursday without knowing anyone except Firespinner and singingstranger and I got on grand and got to know everyone else who were there.

Slash/ED

Fantastic year. Academically, it was pretty easy and relaxed and hopefully I've passed everything. Socially, made a load of new friends this year, good ones too, and had more mates on campus than last year to begin with anyway. It's proof to me that if you make the effort (and by that I just mean talk to people or stay around after lectures and not just go home) and don't just moan about lack of social life etc there's no problems with making friends in UCD.

The main difference was I was just enjoying going into college, which I wasn't last year, this year I had some days where I'd only have 1-2 hours and I'd be in at 10-11 and wouldn't leave again until 5-6, just hanging around with my mates most of the time, even heading in on days where I'd no lectures or anything at all just to hang around. Complete contrast to last year, total laugh, delighted with how it went.

Pythia

Blush_01 wrote:

Stuff

Grand, I'll edit it, and if you could too.
Thanks

Blush_01

Consider it done!

GusherING

I'd a great year.

Good things:
Met loads of new people, I'd say I trebled the amount of people I know in UCD this year and that's exactly what I had always intended to do after a quiet enough 1st year.
Got involved in the Union - was a class rep and thought I did a good job.
Ran an election campaign in the Ents Race. Wouldn't do it again because it was hard work, but fun and exciting!
Went to Talinn in Estonia with people I didn't know 9 months ago for a week long pissup!
Managed to get to lectures and do coursework to a decent standard.
Started playing 5 a side football regularly.
Elected Treasurer of Retrosoc!

Bad things:
Broke up with my girlfriend of 18 months during the Easter Break
Spent way too much money
I actually know way too much about modularisation and have realised the sinking iceberg that UCD sits on in terms of its organisation, low staff morale and authoritarian leadership.
Got addicted to coffee in the Arts Cafe
Smoke about 20 a day now, up from 12 in September.
Hold down a ****ty job which pays little to fund my social life

Sangre

I have a law degree!

panda100

Sangre wrote:

I have a law degree!

uh oh watch out Dublin..he is now armed and dangerous:)

AngelofFire

Sangre wrote:

I have a law degree!

uh oh watch out Dublin..he is now armed and dangerous

Chinafoot

Good:
- Met loads of fantastic people
- Met a fantastic bloke
- Got to go to Prague
- Did much better in History than the previous two years
- Had a lot of great nights out
- Modded all you wonderful people on the UCD forum
- Organised some fantastic UCD Boards Beers (yea, yea...self praise is no praise)
- Banned VenusInFurs (definitely one of my finer moments!)
- Hopefully have finished college for the time being.


Bad:
- Let myself down with my continuous assessment, particularly English
- Took for granted the fact that English was my better subject
- May have to repeat due to the first two points


Once the good out-ways the bad I'm happy!

JustCoz

Not a very good academic year for me, and I probably should have gotten involved in stuff. Ah well there's always next year!

TheVan

Well...
Good Points

Got involved in college in societies
Made loads of friends in my year which I hadn't really done up until now
Got to know lots of people better
Think I did reasonably well in results
Remained single (see bad points also!)
Got some idea of what I want to do after college in the short-term
Ate a lot healthier

Bad Points

Remained single
Didn't get to do some stuff I should have
lost contact with a lot of people from Athlone (home)
Although I have formed some opinion on what I'm interested in, I don't know yet what I ultimately want to do

All in all, my best year in college!

nursebetty

Well after repeating for my course I should hope it was a good year!! I realy like my course so all that stuff was good and made loads of new friends which was cool. I didnt realy get involved in any socs which i'd like to do next yr...any recommendations? I think i missed out a bit 2 cos i didnt go out as much as my m8s cos they were out to score and i wasnt but all in all it was a good yr. Think the exams went well too!

panda100

TheVan wrote:

Well...
Good Points

Got involved in college in societies
Made loads of friends in my year which I hadn't really done up until now
Got to know lots of people better
Think I did reasonably well in results
Remained single (see bad points also!)
Got some idea of what I want to do after college in the short-term
Ate a lot healthier

Bad Points

Remained single
Didn't get to do some stuff I should have
lost contact with a lot of people from Athlone (home)
Although I have formed some opinion on what I'm interested in, I don't know yet what I ultimately want to do

All in all, my best year in college!

You missed out doing your first debate!!That must have been a high

Font22

good year over all but annoyed i didnt go out and embarrass myself some more. god knows i dont do enough of it!!!

TheVan

Font22 wrote:

annoyed i didnt go out and embarrass myself some more. god knows i dont do enough of it!!!

Really?? Next year should be interesting so!

Waltons

Also a good year! Academics dipped a lot in the second semester...Just couldn't get the hang of those 9 o clock starts. Still, happy enough with how I thought the exams went.
Social wise, I probably should've gone to more society stuff. JazzSoc events seemed like they were a laugh, and I enjoyed the 1 or 2 GameSoc coffee things I went to. Pity they were on Fridays (also known as my day off). Made some good friends from my course towards the end of the year though, so that was definitely a plus.
All in all, a good year, even if I didn't do much

boneless

I'm just so glad I'm so shy and didn't make a show of meself at Beers and such occasions... it's nice to be a wallflower! I had a lovely year...

BKtje

its nice knowing nothing of the pain that you didnt know you'd suffer till the day comes.
To live in ingnorance is bliss, to live in bliss is agony. Take your pick

EDIT: jesus im a depressing drunk

Hermione*

Kaptain Redeye wrote:

Last year I smoked more a week than Ive done all year and its made such a huge difference, I cant believe Im the same person.

Another convert to my smoking-will-eventually-destroy-you clan, excellent!

Kaptain Redeye wrote:

Last year, and even the start of this year, I wouldnt have dreamed of going for a drink with ppl I'd only known online but those beers I have been to have been some of the best fun and definitly the best company/conversation. Anyone who hasnt been this year should make it a priority for next year to make it to as many UCD Board Beers as possible.the end).

Boards beers rock. That is all.

Hmm, pluses and minuses,

+ major plus would HAVE to be my little sis being discharged from hospital after nine months ... just in time for Christmas too
+ also when she started walking again 24/7, Ireland is NOT wheelchair friendly
+ my older sis coming off steroids after eight months (2005 sucked in our family, but it could've been lots worse)
+ moving into fabulous new house in ballsbridge, and meeting three of my roomies, really great people
+ realising exactly how strong I can be when I have to
+ meeting lovely new people on boards
+ the amazing feeling of protection last week when my bag was stolen, and I thought I was flat broke, and my mum lodged an extremely generous sum to my friend's account to 'cheer me up'
+ oh yeah, and the b/f

- so didn't study as much as I swore I would last August, have probably fúcked up my chances of a masters
- encounetered some genuinely paranoid and disturbing housemates
- one of my oldest, bestest friends ever left last August to go to America ... 'ah, I'll be home at some point, maybe in a couple of years, you never know', so reassuring, that was :rolleyes:
- my mummy being in and out of hospital like a yo-yo since Christmas, though finally on the mend now, thank God
- extreme poverty and debt as a result of wasting another year in ucd

On the whole, it wasn't too bad