The Official Bitch About Daily Life in DCU Thread

cson

We had one of these in the UL forum and worked quite well. So basically anything that annoys you about college or life in DCU; this is the venting thread!

Mine; the fact that coffee in the Business School cafe is €2.02. And they actively look for the 2c. FFS. :mad:

Kavrocks

cson wrote: »

Mine; the fact that coffee in the Business School cafe is €2.02. And they actively look for the 2c. FFS. :mad:

The general price of tea/coffee and hot water around campus is very expensive.

plein de force

when all the computers are taken and people are just having the laugh on facebook when you need one to do work on

ustari

In lecture today 4 lads all looking at facebook on the one laptop laughing and joking through the whole thing. I don't care that they don't want to listen but don't ruin it for others. Final year and all.

The internet.

The irregular pricing in the canteens. Think there is some strange reason behind this but doesn't make sense to me.

Gob****es that stand and chat in the worst places:
Top and bottom of stairs
Doorways
A group talking blocking the whole corridor.

The ignorant woman in the library canteen. The young lad there is spot on though.

The library swipe system for entry, never works first time.

GLaDOS

The science building needs some couches!

YoungSpoon

If you're solely looking for tea/coffee, the interfaith centre is fairly good. Throw in any change you have into the fund every once in a while if you feel guilty for getting it for free. They're fairly sound in there, even if you don't want to talk to anyone or have any beliefs other than thirst.
The prices are all over the shop in DCU though. It's about €1.20 in the XScience building vending machine.
Aint too bad.

The internet and Eduroam on campus needs a slap though.

Konata

ustari wrote: »

In lecture today 4 lads all looking at facebook on the one laptop laughing and joking through the whole thing. I don't care that they don't want to listen but don't ruin it for others. Final year and all.

This. It is so damn annoying. Why bother coming to a lecture if you're just gonna sit there and chat or mess? Just go to the Hub or canteen or something instead! I'm not a perfect student but if I go to a lecture, I at least have the decency to stay quiet in it.

p1akuw47h5r3it

People having ridiculously long conversations in the library...Hate it!!

Shreddingblood

plein de force wrote: »

when all the computers are taken and people are just having the laugh on facebook when you need one to do work on

Yeah sorry about that.

Shreddingblood

Commuting + sh1t weather.

ustari

Konata wrote: »

This. It is so damn annoying. Why bother coming to a lecture if you're just gonna sit there and chat or mess? Just go to the Hub or canteen or something instead! I'm not a perfect student but if I go to a lecture, I at least have the decency to stay quiet in it.

There are lectures I go to that I not really paying attention/arsing around on laptop but I do it by myself and don't disturb anyone else.

I also can't get over how rude/disrespectful some students are to lecturers, have no problem having their conversation when the lecturer is trying to finish up the class. Only happens in the larger rooms really.

Aoifums

Can we have some toilet paper? Please. And maybe someone could actually clean the bathrooms or something. That would be nice :rolleyes: That's my biggest gripe.

Travy1991

I second Aoifurns. I remember last year, I was very sick and had to go and get sick in a toilets. I went into the toilets and I found a toilet bowl overflowing with ****e. Not good DCU, not good!

Kavrocks

ustari wrote: »

Gob****es that stand and chat in the worst places:
Top and bottom of stairs
Doorways
A group talking blocking the whole corridor.

I often wonder how people can be so inconsiderate. They need a good smack.

niamhzie

something very topical this week- the walkways are so uneven and drain terribly slowly in the rain, leaving gigantic puddles!

YoungSpoon

niamhzie wrote: »

something very topical this week- the walkways are so uneven and drain terribly slowly in the rain, leaving gigantic puddles!

At least you could get in to see that. I cycled for two minutes and the rain got through all of my clothes. Couldn't even leave the estate.

RubyRoss

This doesn't annoy me so much as it confuses me and I've been wondering whether others felt the same.

On the whole, DCU students seem very ...straight-laced. Sure, they might not do the assigned work and drink a lot - but that's pretty normal for the whole population - but they somehow lack the kind of indulgent individualism and radical madness that university has been famous for.

I'm a postgrad so maybe it's a generational thing

Shiny

RubyRoss wrote: »

This doesn't annoy me so much as it confuses me and I've been wondering whether others felt the same.

On the whole, DCU students seem very ...straight-laced. Sure, they might not do the assigned work and drink a lot - but that's pretty normal for the whole population - but they somehow lack the kind of indulgent individualism and radical madness that university has been famous for.

I'm a postgrad so maybe it's a generational thing

Its pretty much due to the fact that DCU has no Arts courses to speak of. DCU is a technically focused (science, engineering, business etc..) university.

There are no arty-farty-5 hour week courses to provide the students that would be contributing to the atmosphere you are looking for.

Don't get me wrong, I think it would be great if we had that atmosphere but it has been speculated that this is the why.

ordinary_girl

The way that a lot of the computer rooms don't have enough chairs for the amount of computers they have.

How very LOUD it is when you close the cubicle doors in the toilets in the Henry Grattan. Always makes me jump!

YCT527

1. Restaurant price-too expensive (€5 for a not-even-medium-sized plate of rice with whatever I add in)!:mad: I rather eat the chicken fillet roll in Spar (only €3.20 or so)
2. Bio lecturer is crap! (Jacinta I meant, NOT Mary):mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::(:mad:
3. Travelling, weather (like on Monday):mad:
4. Library computers being occupied in the afternoons....!!!!:mad: Although morning time is okay.
The automatic curtains on the 1st and 2nd floor always goes up when too dark, then down when too bright, then up again...and down again..up.. down..ahhhh!!! So annoying! Always divert my attention when that happens!
5. Maths Lecturer is crap.
6. Chem labs is not connected to the lectures. (I did chemistry for L.C, so I don't mind. But I do feel sorry for those who never took chemistry for L.C though).

Aoifums

RubyRoss wrote: »

This doesn't annoy me so much as it confuses me and I've been wondering whether others felt the same.

On the whole, DCU students seem very ...straight-laced. Sure, they might not do the assigned work and drink a lot - but that's pretty normal for the whole population - but they somehow lack the kind of indulgent individualism and radical madness that university has been famous for.

I'm a postgrad so maybe it's a generational thing

I kinda like that I like being able to slack off and stuff but I like being able to put my head down and work when I want to. I don't want dickheads disrupting that.

face1990

1. More student & staff parking is badly needed. I nearly always have to park in the estates on the other side of Collins Avenue, where the roads are constantly lined with cars. I feel sorry for the residents.

2. When I leave the mac lab for a moment, with a video rendering away (generally takes a few hours), and come back to find some one using it to check her facebook (thus adding another 30 minutes to the render).

3. The new coffee machine in the street. The other day it just gave me a cup of hot water.

One thing I do like is the coffee and tea in the restaurant (not Starbucks). It's cheap, reasonably nice, and comes in a proper mug rather than a paper cup.

p1akuw47h5r3it

YCT527 wrote: »

1. Restaurant price-too expensive (€5 for a not-even-medium-sized plate of rice with whatever I add in)!:mad: I rather eat the chicken fillet roll in Spar (only €3.20 or so)
2. Bio lecturer is crap! (Jacinta I meant, NOT Mary):mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::(:mad:
3. Travelling, weather (like on Monday):mad:
4. Library computers being occupied in the afternoons....!!!!:mad: Although morning time is okay.
The automatic curtains on the 1st and 2nd floor always goes up when too dark, then down when too bright, then up again...and down again..up.. down..ahhhh!!! So annoying! Always divert my attention when that happens!
5. Maths Lecturer is crap.
6. Chem labs is not connected to the lectures. (I did chemistry for L.C, so I don't mind. But I do feel sorry for those who never took chemistry for L.C though).

I didnt do Chem and I think the labs d reflect what we do in Lectures...

YCT527

DanDan6592 wrote: »

I didnt do Chem and I think the labs d reflect what we do in Lectures...

Well, maybe it was just me who thinks that way. But there are people who think the labs do not connect with the lectures.

Noodleworm

Ideally the school of communications need one room of good macs for people to do project work, a room that has no classes in it.

when in C101 we all tend to develop a habit of just saying 'theres a class in here' eveytime we hear the door open.

p1akuw47h5r3it

YCT527 wrote: »

Well, maybe it was just me who thinks that way. But there are people who think the labs do not connect with the lectures.

No there is a few we got an email about it from one of the class reps or something, I just think they are grand

niq

Struggling with theory in physics lab and THEN going over it in a lecture 2 weeks later!!! >:(

SoTek72

Trying to organize three people together for a project, when they clearly don't care.

:mad:

Einstein?

YCT527 wrote: »

Well, maybe it was just me who thinks that way. But there are people who think the labs do not connect with the lectures.

The chemistry labs in year 1 are designed to give you a very broad introduction to quantitative and qualitative chemistry.

They are by very little means connected to the lectures which are again, a very broad introduction to the various parts in chemistry; organic (paraic james legend), inorganic (conor long - legend, his talk about the greeks is just awesome), physical (that woman that throws a liquid nitrogen down the lecture hall) and analytical.

In all fairness, the practicals do have a small bit of hit and miss with the lectures - but you'll be grand!

Keep in mind for the exams that knowing extra stuff from, for instance the labs, won't help you in the written exam and vice versa. Keep them separate and don't mix. They're not looking for essays or anything, it's very straightforward.

OneArt

That creepy lift in the Henry Grattan always freaked me out.

The way cars would drive just anywhere. You'd just be walking along happily to class and next minute... AHHH!! You're being chased by some truck-like mechanism thing.

I also used to hate how the campus was always dead from the afternoon onwards. That said, I made some great friends in DCU so it made the whole thing bearable!

Damn I miss that college...

HugoBradyBrown

And some days it rains.



Hugo Brady Brown

RubyRoss

OneArt wrote: »

The way cars would drive just anywhere. You'd just be walking along happily to class and next minute... AHHH!! You're being chased by some truck-like mechanism thing.

Absolutely - it's especially strange after dark to turn a corner and face the gizmo coming towards you

plein de force

those bloody blinds in the library moving every two seconds do my nut in.
it's supposed to be a quiet study area!
and how it's so easy to fall asleep or get distracted in T101

Tiroskan

ustari wrote: »

The library swipe system for entry, never works first time.

The one in the middle seems to be particularly bad, I just avoid it. But other than that I haven't really run into problems other than my card being the wrong way around (which happens embarrassingly often.). I think you just have to be careful about the speed at which you swipe your card through it, if you do it really quickly it doesn't seem to read it properly.

Also, **** yeah, groups in the corridor. So annoying. You'd think they'd at least have the decency to move off to the side.

Konata

Tiroskan wrote: »

The one in the middle seems to be particularly bad, I just avoid it. But other than that I haven't really run into problems other than my card being the wrong way around (which happens embarrassingly often.). I think you just have to be careful about the speed at which you swipe your card through it, if you do it really quickly it doesn't seem to read it properly.

Also, **** yeah, groups in the corridor. So annoying. You'd think they'd at least have the decency to move off to the side.

I just place my card on the scanner at the top, way easier! Never had it not work yet.

YCT527

Einstein? wrote: »

The chemistry labs in year 1 are designed to give you a very broad introduction to quantitative and qualitative chemistry.

They are by very little means connected to the lectures which are again, a very broad introduction to the various parts in chemistry; organic (paraic james legend), inorganic (conor long - legend, his talk about the greeks is just awesome), physical (that woman that throws a liquid nitrogen down the lecture hall) and analytical.

In all fairness, the practicals do have a small bit of hit and miss with the lectures - but you'll be grand!

Keep in mind for the exams that knowing extra stuff from, for instance the labs, won't help you in the written exam and vice versa. Keep them separate and don't mix. They're not looking for essays or anything, it's very straightforward.

Well, if you read my earlier quote, you would know that I had already took chemistry for Leaving Cert. so I'm not too annoyed about this. But still a bit. It should connect with the lectures 100%. Since Conor Long meant to be talking about the mole concept and such and acids and bases before the labs on those topics, but he cancelled 2 lectures as his voice was gone or something, but recovered few days later. Maybe that was the cause of this disconnection, week 1 lab was connected perfectly with what he was taking about in the lectures (about ions etc.), then in week 2 or week 3, I noticed a bit of disconnection.
But anyway, I agree that Conor Long was a legend, I like the way he talks about chemistry as if it was a story or something by connecting to a famous scientist (like Newton) or an event (like the one you mentioned about the Greeks). Now I have a new lecturer, Ordilla Finlayson (the woman who throws a liquid nitrogen down the lecture hall....the gas was so cold!). She seems to be good even though I've heard some negative remarks about her from a friend who knows some 2nd or 3rd year students. Still, I think she's ok so far. She just teaching us in a different way I suppose. Never had Paraic James yet, so I'll say nothing about him.

I kinda know that the labs are separate from the lectures, but thanks for telling me this anyway.

Gunslinger92

Odilla walked out of a lecture last year, she had warned the class about excessive chat, and then, I THINK, some fella made a fart noise using his underarm and off she went.

Of course, I skipped that lecture and missed it :rolleyes:

Just a bit of random trivia

Joeyde

face1990 wrote: »

1. More student & staff parking is badly needed. I nearly always have to park in the estates on the other side of Collins Avenue, where the roads are constantly lined with cars. I feel sorry for the residents.

I think this is an issue with planning and Dublin Corporation. They wont build more carparks as they are trying to encourage the use of bikes and public transport, and with good reason.

If you have no option but to drive I suggest you arrive a little earlier, You would be amazed the difference 10-15 minutes earlier in the morning can make with car park spots.

As for people complaining about the weather....seriously?

face1990

Joeyde wrote: »

They wont build more carparks as they are trying to encourage the use of bikes and public transport

They also halved the number of the bike 'parking' spots.
Even they were always nearly full, they were replaced with those shelters that won't hold nearly as many bikes in them.

andyman

Gunslinger92 wrote: »

Odilla walked out of a lecture last year, she had warned the class about excessive chat, and then, I THINK, some fella made a fart noise using his underarm and off she went.

Of course, I skipped that lecture and missed it :rolleyes:

Just a bit of random trivia

She walked out on one when I was in first year too. The silence when she left the room was hilarious!

p1akuw47h5r3it

andyman wrote: »

She walked out on one when I was in first year too. The silence when she left the room was hilarious!

What made her walk haha?

Urizen

Gunslinger92 wrote: »

Odilla walked out of a lecture last year, she had warned the class about excessive chat, and then, I THINK, some fella made a fart noise using his underarm and off she went.

She was right to do that, tbh. She's not the most engaging lecturer, granted, but she does her best I'm sure. You'd get pissed off too in her position.

And, iirc, she did something similar in my first year too. Think she might do it to make a point whenever necessary.

thewhitepele

Best of characters in Science. Jagerbomb Long being the best of the lot.

nehpets5555

The utterly ****e "audio" lab/C102.
Mac mini's are awful for trying to run Protools and have any high usage of it.

joshrogan

There was no toilet paper in any of the library cubicles today so I had to go to the science building which was frustrating.

extopia

nehpets5555 wrote: »

The utterly ****e "audio" lab/C102.
Mac mini's are awful for trying to run Protools and have any high usage of it.

Good audio has SFA to do with protools or any software in fact. Use your dang ears!

Noodleworm

extopia wrote: »

Good audio has SFA to do with protools or any software in fact. Use your dang ears!

Even if they record fantastic audio, they do have to edit it somewhere.

extopia

Noodleworm wrote: »

Even if they record fantastic audio, they do have to edit it somewhere.

Touché.

But I stand over my (badly made) original point. The tools you have at your disposal are in fact more than adequate for the needs of the course. 95% (or more) of radio is blissfully non technical. I think.

face1990

extopia wrote: »

95% (or more) of radio is blissfully non technical. I think.

Audio is about more than radio

nehpets5555

extopia wrote: »

Touché.

But I stand over my (badly made) original point. The tools you have at your disposal are in fact more than adequate for the needs of the course. 95% (or more) of radio is blissfully non technical. I think.

Except the fact that its not just radio that is done. Protools often crashes (for the lecturer too) when even one or 2 reverb plugins are used, on sessions with maybe 4 tracks. It really shouldn't happen. I've been in previous courses be it PLC's or otherwise, and DCU has by a long shot, the worst audio labs.

Noodleworm

Recording Studio 2 is the worst, after about 20 mins protools starts crashing about a minute into every recording.
Its also a real pity more training in the TV studio isn't given, us multimedia people were kind of just left to figure it out, and Im pretty sure most of people don't know the Stop-motion Animation room exists.
They could easily spread people out, and get them away form c101 by fixing up a few of the PC labs. Those computers have great processors but It seems the network, in combination with Windows 7 is crippling them, making them useless for anything other than just office programs and browsing.