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hrrrmph

edibility

I was in a kind of contemplative mood the other night, and realised that CTYI has had more influence on my life than anything (apart from my parents). Three years ago, when I first arrived there, I was a soft version of what I'd now rather scathingly call scang. I didn't know how to use a computer properly, I followed the latest fashions religiously, I was part of the group who smoked because it was cool, I looked down on anyone strange and different, I did everything a stereotypical girl in a secondary school should. And I'm not proud of that. Hell, I remember a moment in first year when Macdara was walking out of our science calssroom and I saw his schoolbag, with "pikachu" writen on it, and took the piss out of him bigtime. I'm not sure if he remembers that...

Anyhow, I think the point is my personality, likes, dislikes, etc etc, have all changed since then. I'm more open minded, tolerant, and so on, and I've discovered a lot about myself personally too- I don't think being bi would have been something I'd ever have admitted to without CTYI, and the music I listen to, the clothes I wear, blah blah, would all be influenced by my friends, and not personal taste. Plus my lifestyle now, the amount of time I spend online, playing games, and what not, going to dublin a lot, would never have happened either.

So what I'm wondering is...does everyone have this kind of experience with CTYI? Or is it just the people who go there who need it? Or let it happen to them? From my circle of friends I'd presume that it happens to everyone, but thats more than a little biased.

yes. wargle

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Cina

Originally posted by edibility
I was a soft version of what I'd now rather scathingly call scang.

This is true. The next September there was a big change. Even though I wasn't near CTYI myself, Macdara was the one who orignally introduced me to the itnernet, IRC, etc, and stopped me being skang myself, so I am humble to him!!

vikki

It happened to me too, i think CTYI is what makes people realize that they should be themselves, be an individual, and if possible stand out from the crowd. I was also a judgemantal (insert whatever obscenity you wish) along with my sheep/crowd following like behaviour. CTYI is the best thing i have ever been a part of! I dont know where i'd be, who i'd be or what i'd do without it. I have no idea what i'm going to do next year when i cant go back...

Barry Aldwell

I found that CTYI helped me enormously in developing some social skills, but I have also expanded upon that myself, since CTYI has ended, and matured beyond CTYI. For instance, today when I was visiting some CTYIers, I often found myself thinking "My god, they're so incredibly immature" (No offence intended to those involved, or CTYIers in general)

Basically, it brought me to a point, but I had to take it from myself from there on.

ll=llannah

It's funny, cause i started writing this huge thing. and then i realized i'm not bill clinton and am not writing a 957 page biography.
ctyi didn't completely change me, really. i just had a lot of fun and became more enamored of my quirky tendencies and ecclectic combinations of interests, persay. i've never been afraid to be alone, which ended up meaning I didn't feel compelled to be accepted by people who I didn't care in the least bit about. if i had been a sheep, i don't think i would've had the guts to take a chance on some nerd camp in a different country. it was one of the best decisions i ever made, though. i grew up alot there, (especially in my first year), met a lot of people who each hold their own place in my memory (and rusty little heart) and became more sure of myself (in that i was reassured of the fact that the people who say "hannah, stop being so weird" and mean it are not people whose company i enjoy.) i'd certainly have saved a lot of money on plane tickets if i'd never gone though. dear god. but i have pretty stamps on my passport. shiny!
but the ctyi experience is what you take out of it, i guess. how much you want to change others, be changed, how much you are open to trying something different within yourself...and all that touchy feely stuff.
i gon' stop thinking now. cause it hurts. heh. gotta love the summer.

oh, and kudos to sarah for this thread.

(...and i'd taken all of our brain cells for dead.)

on second thought, though, i could've taken a pseudonym and pretended i was someone else and gone back home to new york after ctyi and changed back and no one would've been the wiser! mwahahahahahaha! i could be......britney tiffany mary-lou ann! hannah? sorry, i'm not really her. bwahahahahaha. (remind me to not post when my brain cells are deader than usual, ok?)

halenger

Originally posted by edibility
So what I'm wondering is...does everyone have this kind of experience with CTYI?

Well I think it's everyone to an extent.

CTYI will always be in my mind a place of tolerance. People who accept others no matter what their lifestyles, looks, fashion etc etc.

CTYI made me a much more open minded person. Allowed me to see that people are really really different but that's not bad, not at all bad, in fact it's pretty damn good. I'm not saying we're all "individuals" etc cause we're not. Especailly all those who are trying to be individuals. You all know the phrase I'm thinking of.

Anyhow.... GO CTYI! WOOO!

Liquorice

I think that CTYI helped me come out of my shell, and it's one of the only places where I don't have social phobias etc. I did become a bit arrogant for a while, although that has faded(I hope). Before, I was less open to listening to different types of music, different genres of books etc., and I wasn't as willing to get to talk to new people. I've met a lot of interesting people through CTYI, even if I don't know many of them very well, and I've tried some new things. I think it's helped me immensely socially, because beforehand I didn't even hang out with my secondary school friends that much. But I think the most important thing is that I became more willing to act how I want to act, say what I want to say etc., and not care who hates/criticises me for it.

Squeee

Awww. I'd reall love to join in and say that it helped me or changed me, but it didn't. I never went til I was fifteen and so by then I'd already become comfortable with myself and I'm not too shy, a little though, so I was already myself and didn't need to be brought out. I'd say maybe it's a mix of the open-minded atmosphere (although I didn't really meet very many strange people in S1 2003,) and that people start going when they are 12 and 13, which seems to be the age at which people start to be more themselves.

edibility

I was just turned fourteen when I went, and going into junior cert...I don't know, maybe I was one of an odd few who it did have a drastically huge effect on, or maybe it was going to happen anyway and CTYI just brought it on

PurpleFistMixer

Sarah, I find it incredibly difficult to picture you as a skanger. To go from that to someone who for one thing knows what 1337 is, let alone how to write it, is pretty amazing. CTYI does wonderful things.

As for me, yeah, I think CTYI was good for me. It did however make me a lot more violentminded and ninja obsessed. All right, I was already ninja obsessed but now it seems every second word is ninja! Jeasusninja. All good fun though!

edibility

Heh...the internet thing (including 1337 :P) wasn't so much CTYI as Macdara, although he wouldn't have been around probably if it weren't for CTYI.....wow, that'd be weird.....

Caoimhe

its so freaky to think what life would be like without ctyi. ive been goin so long its made a serious impact on my life. for one thing id know hardly any guys at all coz ive always been in all girls schools and have superstrict parents. n life would be pretty dull without the friends i made there. in fact i think ID be pretty dull too.

malecO

Originally posted by Squeee
Awww. I'd reall love to join in and say that it helped me or changed me, but it didn't.

It's pretty much the same for me. I went in 2000,2001 and 2003and it didn't change me that much at all. What did change me though were the year I spent in france, and percussion. Yes, it's true, without percussion I wouldn't know half the people that I do know now. Even last year in ctyi I got to know a hell of a lot more people because of drumming ability. Yes, that right.

Crash

CTYI introduced me to Gurls.

oddly enough true - went to an all boys very catholic school originally and was very very shy - now look at me

i'm just a babemagnet. (anyone posts contrary and they're banned)

Caoimhe

cursed catholic schools, destroying our male/female relationships!!

article6

Originally posted by crash_000
(anyone posts contrary and they're banned)

CONTRA... no.

Have I changed? Not really; or at least, no more than I would have without CTYI. I'm still a voracious learner (I learned Morse Code yesterday, out of boredom: .-.. . . - ). And I didn't need to be introduced to gurls because, although I went to a Catholic school, it was a poor (or 'less well-off') Catholic school. And that makes all the difference.

twirly sponge

Hmm, i don't think CTYI has changed me a whole lot. It's probably made me a little more open-minded but I'm pretty open-minded anyway.... And while I have no problem talking to random people in ctyi, which i dont do a whole lot outside ctyi, i'm not really any more outgoing or confident in ctyi, than in the "real world". So there you go.

butter_fly

tell ya da truth...its not so much that ctyi helped me accept other people bein 'diiferent'...wat a ****ty word...it helped me accept me...thanx peeps!!!xxx

imp

CTYI definitely changed me... I still haven't really figured out if it was for better or worse...

}:>

Jarge!!!

Most definitely, my friends, most definitely.

Before CTYI I was almost normal. Now...

:D mags :D

CTYI has definitely changed me. Totally. I went for the first time when I was twelve just after first year and over the five years I've changed with every session I spent there. I've become more outgoing and comfortable with others but more importantly with myself.

Lil' Jesus

CTYI changed me so much each time, maybe not as much this time but my first two years amazed the crap out of me. I was a total recluse with no idea how kick ass people could be, or how cool I could get (I'm not bragging, I'm just saying I was SUCH a recluse back then :P). I met amazingly smart people and amazingly open and eccentric people that changed the way I think about people in general, I now believe ONLY 99% of humans are assholes ;p.

The second year was amazing. It was probably my best year (even though this year rocked) and I was still a commuter. I went through the whole thing, a lot more open this time, staying till 10pm and coming over on the weekends, many people thought I was residential :P, including my teacher, at times. (Ps: do art design, my best class ever). At the closing ceremony I expected to just go up, get a small cheer and sit down but was shocked by the huge applause I got and how all my friends stood up. If a tear didn't roll down my cheek then it should have.

Despite of all the good things those years gave me, they kinda screwed up the first week of this session for me. I expected way too much, or I at least expected it to happen too early. As we all know the last week is filled with hugs and everyone loving eachother, and that's where most of my memories are from. But after I quit bitching and calmed down, this year was soo brilliant it's not even funny, I made so many friends I miss so much it hurts, and I got a real feeling I was wanted, which is rare :rolleyes: .

Wow, that was longer than I expected, sorry. CTYI has just been a HUGE part of my life and all...ok bye!

meeka

aww aiden! that post was so cute

lol nm.
yup, CTY has changed me; my friends have been telling me ive been acting differently already... i really dont know how though.

anyways, im gonna miss everyone soooo much until next yr, and a certain person even more than that... (you know who you are :cool: ) thats the only part about CTY that i hate - leaving all the people. *sigh* oh well. ill just have to go through the wholllle year again, and see you all again (cept for the poor nevermores) next year. xxxx meeka

Stephen Forde

HI mags. CAnt wait till thursday!!!HEHE all us nevermores in my house:D.

Well i think ctyi is the best place in the world. Even better than heavan. (if there is1)I have met so many people that i wouldnt socialise with at home in my usual surroundings. Goths for instance are just frowned upon and slagged. But ctyi goths are so kewl.There is so many wierd people in ctyi and so many of them a kewl type of weird. Its just so great. I have so many good friends in ctyi and i hope i can just keep in conrtact with them as much as possible and meete up as much. And live in sorrow over the 4 great summers i had in ctyi. SOB SOB Sigh.