ATTENTION NEWCOMERS: READ THIS! | Aisling O’Sullivan

OK, so you’ve finally made it. The Leaving Cert. is behind you, you’re 18 (well, most of you), and thankfully, your uniform-wearing days are behind you! Life is good, right? That said, you may initially be a little disoriented at being the new, tiny fish in a very, very large pond! So we lovely older UCC students have decided to throw some tips together for you, just to help you get started.

               Firstly, whatever you do, make sure you look completely and utterly confused wherever and whenever possible (that’s how you get free stuff, bless the little freshers!).  To be honest, you probably won’t need to try too hard at that. But for anyone who has a good sense of direction, work on your ‘tourist in a foreign country’ impression, unless you want to actually be stuck paying for all of your food in Captain America’s!

              Secondly, try not to completely flip out at the amount of information thrown at you in the first week’s lectures. All of the information given to you will be available via Blackboard/the departmental office/lecturer’s e-mails etc. So just relax and focus on where your first college night out is going to be! Oh and also, Blackboard is the site that’s used by the college to put up the notes of the previous week’s lecture, where you can submit your essays, and just generally get information about your studies. Sounds simple, but it created many sleepless nights in my first week trying to figure it out! But more importantly, Foster’s for three euro in the New Bar. Enough said!

                The Starbucks in the ORB that is not really Starbucks! Go there, buy coffee, look cool. For those of you who don’t drink coffee, start! This place just makes you feel important, like a proper grown up! And the coffee’s good too.  By the way, the whole “Starbucks” thing: It looks the same, tastes the same. In short, it’s awesome.

                 The amphitheatre (aka the big round circle outside the student centre) is a great place to sit on a sunny day! So with any luck, you’ll have one day this year where that option is available to you. The library may look massive and unsettling, but it’s a helluva lot less complicated than you think. Look up the UCC library on the internet, type in what you’re looking for and you’ll be given the code. The floor for the given subject will be mentioned as well, i.e. Q+1 is the first floor.

                 Don’t walk on the UCC crest by the West Wing unless you want to fail your exams or get pregnant! I’m not the superstitious type myself, but plenty will look on at you in abject horror if you do, so don’t say you weren’t forewarned. Same goes for The Quad (the square of grass outside the West Wing): steer clear or you’ll be repeating those exams come August!

                 It’s a cliché, but try to make new friends, even if you already have a lot around you from school. It’s always good to get the know different types of people, so put yourself out there.

                   There are plenty of clubs and societies to choose from, so taste everything and see what you like. It’s all experience, so branch out and try new things! In addition to all of this, there is also a student health and counselling service which runs free of charge all year round, and which no student who’s in need should be afraid of availing of.

That’s the general gist I think. Now go have fun!