By Sadhbh Hendrick
Dear Diary,
I write this whilst battling self-diagnosed Refresher’s Flu. Symptoms include (but are not exclusive to); mild-severe hoarseness, stark reminiscence and appreciation for ease of nasal inhalation, Amber Leaf-esque coughing etc etc. I’ll be better before I get married, as they say. However, given that marriage rates are expected to drop to 70% for our generation (according to Bentley.edu), this provides far less comfort than Boomers may suspect.
After being in attendance at Commerce Ball this week, a serious nod of kudos towards BizSoc is necessary. I can’t speak for any other Ball this year due to my absence but Commerce Ball was a superb event indeed! This brings me nicely to my next point of discussion. Semester 2 Clubs & Socs Days. Whether you are a first or final year, attending these events is never a bad idea. Whilst it may seem like it’s ‘too late’ to be joining in, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Be it week 4 or not, there are nothing but positives to be gained from putting your hand up to join something new for the semester. And sure look, if it’s not for you, you never have to attend again, but I said it last semester and I’ll say it again: When else will you be in a building where all at once, the Baking Society are putting Paul Hollywood to shame, the Organic Gardening Society are channelling Diarmuid Gavin, Trad Soc are, and I quote, “Keepin’ it reel, jigiddy jigiddy”, Potter Soc are casting spells and the Lit and Deb are putting the world to rights, one Thursday at a time? Make the most of it kids.
Throughout my entire NUI Galway existence, I have lived in student accommodation. It’s a character–forming process to say the least. You learn to appreciate the decorative ability of mould or squeeze your entire fashion portfolio (ie. Clothes) into the tiniest of wardrobes. Student accommodation allows you to eventually find entirely uncomfortable suites of furniture to be rather lumbar supportive. You become adept at enduring chilly-extremely chilly states of temperatures. All in the name of a stronger immune system, they say. Another thing that has come alongside student accommodation living has also been the opportunity to live with students that are here on ‘Study Abroad’ or Erasmus. And whilst that infamous Facebook video may hold true (you know the one, ‘So when I was in Europe!!!!!’), living with students coming to Galway for the first time has been very insightful. It’s an interesting process indeed.
Firstly, they navigate their way into town and over the bridge into college. They find their way to the Quays or the Front Door. They learn to pronounce all the necessary place names and actual names. They make friends and acquaintances, falling for the Galway charm. They hear various renditions of the Irish struggle for independence and even vaguer versions of the history of Gaillimh. This semester is my sixth time watching the experience unfold, yet, each time, it’s as fascinating as the last one. As you hear some questionable pronunciations of seemingly simple words like Donegal or Eyre Square, it evokes a certain pride of place and pride of Galway. Watching a fellow student appreciate the stories, secrets (and seshes) Galway has on offer forces you to appreciate them for yourself all over again. Roll on Galway 2020!
As a parting note, I am deliraaa to inform you all that this week I shall be clicking submit on the joy that is my Final Year Project. The culmination of a lot of hard work all boils down to a simple upload. I’ll try not to be that person that does the boomerang on their Insta story of putting the spiral bound copy through the submission box. We all know the type.
GRMA,
Sadhbh x