New Year New… Ah you Know the Rest

Firstly welcome back to UCC and a Happy New Year to all of our wonderful readers. So we’re all back to reality following our love affair with mince pies, pringles and turkey over the Christmas period, and yes, this is it, this is the year where I change, this is the year for me….well hopefully. It’s always good to come into a new year with some sort of personal aspirations that you wish to achieve over the next 12 months. For some it might be giving up the drink – good luck -, for others it might be getting that perfect summer bod, or even just putting that little bit of extra hard work into something, whatever you choose, GO FOR IT!By the time most of you are reading this I should, – please God – be in Brussels with the USI, representing UCC and the University Express as a student journalist, so I hope to do you all proud. I look forward to my trip given the incredible circumstances which currently revolve around Brexit. To be fair the chaotic mess that has ensued over the last two years, along with the calamitous planning and negotiating, should make anyone who does a lastminute.com assignment feel that it can’t be as bad as that cluster****. There is plenty of content in this edition of the University Express, particularly in the news section. Lots of stories broke out over the last month or so involving both UCC and university students in general. A key theme in this paper is how Cork is progressing to become a modern and more sustainable city. We are beginning to see more and more shifts towards the importance of living in a clean and natural environment, while aiming to utilise the space that we have as efficiently as possible.  Professor Frank Crowley gives his thoughts on why Cork needs to have more apartments, while our Online Editor, Fiona Keeley shows how UCC is leading the way at a university level in our relationship with the environment. This leads to some interesting reading so I hope you enjoy it! Tóg go bog é,Ciaran.