“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the eye. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror.I can take the next thing that comes along’. You must do the thing you think you cannot do”. -Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)

I stumbled across, (okay Googled) this brilliant quote. I love it and definately feel that it’s relevant to all of us L.C. students who will soon endure the horror (for most) ,that is a week of exams, hours of writing and thinking. But we shouldn’t think of it as a ‘horror’ or something unnecassary that was put in place to strip precious time and sunshine away from us teenagers and young adults. The Leaving cert is a phase that everyone has to go through. It’s an experience on its own, one of many!

Im going to suspect the majority of us are now flicking through biology books, learning last minute diagrams of the nitrogen cycle we thought we learned off by heart last week, or madly highlighting useful french phrases we hope to use in the opinion piece. Some of us are probably asking ourselves why we left this all for the last minute, whilst others sit calmly, blissfully sneering at the dreadful thing that takes over the majority of the 6th year population; procrastination. Hey, it’s not our fault that there happens to be kids turning 18th every weekend, or that the thoughts of summer take over our minds, it’s hard! This week has been draining and hectic, no doubt about it, we’ve questioned our abilities and asked ourselves the overwhelming question; “can i still actually get an A in (insert subject you felt an A was possible but now doubt yourself)”.

I honestly think that quote sums it all up! We’re going to look back at this experience some day. All it can do is make us stronger individuals. You only learn from your mistakes you can’t repeat them, you only become stronger and believe in yourself more. If anything, you’ll have more confidence in yourself, you know your weaknesses more and will only embrace them in the future. For some that may be watching glee when you have an hour’s worth of chemistry study planned…im guilty of that anyway:) So what if you don’t get your first choice? Maybe there’s more in store for you? maybe it wasn’t meant to be.

It’s definately sad to think that our 6 years of school have come to an end. I was definately upset and pretty much broke to bits when we sang our graduation songs, got our yearbook signed and got our hoodies. Its crazy. And now we have to do it all again in college! *lets out a sarcastic ‘whoop’*. I will never forget the friends I’ve made and even the amazing teachers I had whom I consider my friends because they cannot be any cooler, friendlier,,and just pure sound!

I think doing this blog was one of my greatest decisions. In a way it acted as therapy..ha. No really. I wrote about school, open days, exams..but even my own personal feelings about everything. Something not everyone gets the chance to do so openly. And to think that people actually read and enjoyed and felt the same way was kind of amazing, thrilling and honestly made me feel less worried. I know I may have been the more pessimistic of the bunch at times but we all have those days

I don’t want to think of this as my last blog becauseIi want to blog after the exams themselves and the CAO and all that jazz, (if we’re allowed?). THAT will be something alright:) totally different feelings then I suppose ^__^ lol.

I dont want to spend too much time online otherwise I’ll check my daily websites and get hooked for another 2 hours so I’ll just say that I hope the exams go just as planned for everyone. I hope they don’t bring too much stress. I hope our predictions are right! And I hope you all get what you earned and deserve. Best of luck in all that you do and I shall talk to you soon!!

For one of the last times; Bonne chance mes amis!! x

-Ally.