I know this was supposed to be a continuation of the Orals but I’ve been advised by a friend (after a year and a half of blogging on this, I’ve finally entrusted two friends with my URL. Who knows, by June I may have told three more!) to stop dwelling on the past. I agree with her-if you thought I had a lot to say about the French, the Irish would have been akin to a postdoctoral thesis in length.
To summarise though, the Irish Oral was a low-key affair. I wore navy, as I am obligated to do in keeping with the school’s dress code. I made the mistake of dragging myself out of bed at six in the morning to look over notes on the economy and this was my downfall. By nine a.m., I was too sleepy to be nervous about the exam. By twelve noon, when some Second Years walked down the off-limits corridor that was being used for the Orals, I was too tired to shoot them with a disapproving look. By the time the examiner called me in, I was exhausted. She was nice but made a lot of notes rather than eye contact, which put me off a little. In my fatigue, I kept forgetting simple words and used “deas” three times in one sentence. Grabbing at straws, I shared my poor French Oral joke with her about my lack of exercise but she merely replied with a “I suppose that’s how it is”. I know my consumption levels have increased twofold since the start of Sixth Year but even that was uncalled for, surely! I’m not going to sugarcoat it (even though the examiner seems to think I enjoy sugar quite a bit)-I’m disappointed with the way this Oral went. However, the eternal optimist in me knows that things could have gone worse. I could have fallen asleep.
Before we got the holidays, I finally completed my History RSR. Anyone who does History will understand the rush of emotions involved in handing up the project for good. Having worked on it since the start of Fifth Year, I no longer felt like I was submitting a simple project for a State Exam. I was giving my baby up for adoption. Hopefully the Department of Education can give it the care it needs, and the examiner the grade it deserves, whatever that may be. Sadly, I didn’t get my Geography Field Study completed yet but there are still three days to finish my graphs when we go back to school.
I’m not sure if anyone noticed but there seems to have been some form of a royal wedding taking place. Of course I’m joking, one look at the internet on Friday was enough to inform me that seventy-eight of my Facebook friends are going to marry Prince Harry. Should I start looking for a hat? What made me laugh was the fact that prior to the wedding, when criticising it was the fashionable thing to, most of these people sounded like they were going to resurrect the ghost of Thomas Clarke to ruin the occassion. Then come Friday afternoon, suddenly they were in love with the dress, the bridesmaids, the happy couple and the British public in general. It was hypocrisy at its finest but at least it was a break from the “passed my theory test” statuses!
I watched a few minutes of the ceremony in the morning and some highlights later on (together with the live commentary it makes it sound like a soccer match) but I was reaching a breakthrough with a History essay at the time so I returned to it after hearing “I do”. Kate Middleton wisely completed her education before settling down with William, after all. Although they first met at university, I highly doubt there’ll be any royalty attending NUIG this autumn.
That reminds me, the CAO Change of Mind form is opening soon (5th May for all those who lost the handbook) and indeed, I have had a change of mind. I couldn’t muster up much enthusiasm for my first choice and after a long think about it, I’m almost sure I now want to do Public and Social Policy instead. It seems to be a combination of all the courses I’ve considered in the past, although I’m a bit wary of the Economics element. That being said, I always would have liked to have studied Economics for the Leaving Cert if my school offered it. I guess I won’t know until I’ve tried it! My problem is that I know the career I want and have a list of others that I would thoroughly enjoy, yet I’m finding it hard to pick the course that suits me. Most of the girls in my school are the other way around, as in they know a lot of courses they would like to do but don’t have a clue where to go from there. Sometimes I don’t know which is worse.
I hope everyone had a good Easter and took the chance to take a rest as well as get some revision done. My better teachers set some work to do, which was great because it prevented me falling back into lazy habits. I’ve also noticed how considerably relaxed I’ve been without the company of a hundred stressed students the past two weeks! I would generally deem myself a laid-back person but I’m sure you all know how capable exam stress is of having a domino effect. One person gets upset about a Maths result and by the end of the day, we’re all pulling our hair out and swinging from the lampshades. Well, it hasn’t gone that far yet but with three weeks until graduation, it’s only a matter of time!
Hey everyone!
I know you shouldn’t really go by the mocks because who knows? I could get a horrible paper on the day and totally screw it up (hope that won’t be the case though). I thought my art exam may have been marked too easily, but I cant complain. Actually, just thought I’d throw this in here, my friend got into NCAD!! So 140 points-yep that’s all, and a few months later she shall be walking into the NCAD college building, dressed like one of those indifferent, aesthetic, expressive art students (which in my opinion are the coolest frickin’ people on earth!!). 
Ohh! I also finished ‘The Road’ last week, by Cormac McCarthy, a very different book might I say, well written but the style was something I’ve never experienced before. A good read, it’s a movie now too I think? On another note; isn’t the line up for Oxegen amazing? Muse AND 30 seconds to mars?? 
