By Aileen O’Leary
This is the penultimate entry in the final year diaries 2018/2019! This is our 11th issue this year and it is my second last diary entry. There are only a few weeks left in the semester and for my fellow final years and I, these will be the last weeks of college for us. As I’m writing this week’s article, I am looking at postgrad opportunities, masters, jobs, travel and the reality of final year is slowly setting in. It’s called final year for a reason, its final, there’s no going back, this is the end of college.
After four years, countless sleepless nights, cramming sessions, all nighters to get essays finished on time, late nights that turned into early mornings and days spent in one of the greatest cities in the world, the countdown is on. Four years suddenly feels like five minutes, time just slips away so fast, especially when you’re working against the clock.
It’s scary and terrifying to think about life post college, to start thinking about the bigger picture, about career options, moving out of home, travelling or pursuing academic life further. We leave home at 17 or 18 and we’re thrown in at the deep end. We figure out how to survive on our own, through a lot of trial and error but eventually we get the hang of it and before you know it you’re only a few weeks away from your final exams, from finishing something you’ve been working towards for four years.
I am both excited and terrified for college to end. I’m excited for what’s to come but when I think about NUI Galway and all that came with it, all the ups and downs, it makes me feel a tad nostalgic. Looking at how far you’ve come since you started, remembering who you were on that first day, compared to who you are today, it’s mind blowing.
College has thrown a lot at me in four years. In 2015, I was 17, painfully shy, had no sense of fashion (still don’t), couldn’t figure out how to perfect winged eyeliner (still struggling), had no clue what I wanted to do when I grew up and I still don’t. I’m okay with that, with not knowing what the future holds or where I’ll be five years from now because there is no way of knowing how the decisions we make at 17 or 21 will impact our lives. We just have to go with it and hope that when we’re older we’ll be happy with how it all worked out and if not, that we can be brave enough to start all over again.
To my fellow final years, brace yourselves; the end is just around the corner.
