5 - A Typical Week

A typical week studying English at UCD differs massively from studying many other courses. My flatmates who studied Agricultural Science and Business and Law were both astounded and jealous by how few hours of class I had a week compared to them - approx. 12 hours compared to 25+! It all balanced out however, so for the hours they spent doing labs or long tutorial classes I had to be in the library (or my bed) reading books and poetry and more books and plays and short stories and even more books! 

Sunrise Over UCD

It meant that I had to manage my time to make sure I got started on something long (Dickens) or complicated (Joyce) early so that I wasn’t rushing. All told though with Arts you are given a lot of free time for your own research and self-directed learning, an important skill which since then has aided me in many other parts of my life.

Third year was definitely my favourite year in UCD, as there was a massive choice in classes. I could choose six from over 40 different modules, the largest selection in any Arts degree in the country!

Classes were now on specific authors, periods of literature or subjects. Having already realised that my passion lay in American Literature, I chose as many classes as possible. It was perfect – I was studying what I not only loved but also knew a good deal about with classes full of like-minded students and lecturers whose speciality was American Literature.

Between classes I could hang out with my friends around the Arts Block, play 5-a-side football beside the sports centre or just chill by the lake in the nice weather. Because it was our final year a big group of us suited up and went to the Arts Ball, a huge event in a swanky hotel in the city.

I felt my Erasmus year had given me much more confidence in my abilities and with people so whereas before I might have been more reluctant to speak up in class sometimes or talk to other people in my tutorials that wasn’t a problem at all any more. The great thing about UCD was that you could have friends from a variety of places – friends I’d known before, friends from home, classmates, people from the International Students Society, UCD students who I’d met on Erasmus, even guys you’d play football with. This huge variety of people in UCD was great as everybody was always into something different and the huge number of clubs and societies meant that there’s always something on, be it a play in the Dramsoc theatre, a comedy (or serious) debate by the L&H Society or even a celebrity visiting the university, be it Roddy Doyle, Paul O’ Connell or even the cast of Geordie Shore! (Cast of Geordie Shore not pictured for your own safety)