Dear Fresher me,
You’re really not very cool. You might think you are, but Dublin
secondary school life is over. You might think you know all the best
places to go in town. You think there’s absolutely zero chance that
your best friends in the future are likely to come from Cavan,
Colorado and Belfast. You also think Nando’s is the best
restaurant on the face of the earth, this in retrospect is pretty
unforgivable.
What you’re going to do is spend the next 3 months going to the
same clubs, eating the same food and hanging out with the same people that you have for the last 6 years. I’m not saying it’s not going to be fun, but come January you’re going to regret everything you missed out on. You’ll regret missing the first Surf Sail Salmon because your mate from Terenure was having a gaff. You’ll regret missing out on the Fresher’s Ball because Palace was the place to be, pretty unforgivable as well. Most of all you’ll regret not going to a single lecture because you thought you looked at the subjects and said ‘Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Intro to blah blah, I’ve done all these before.’ Note now; most of what you’ve been thought in secondary school is lies.
You’re going to have an epiphany in January. You’ll book a space
on the Ski Trip having no idea if you’ll know a single person on it. It
will probably be one of the best decisions you make in college.
You’ll realise that there was so much going on that you weren’t
bothered to see and so many people in the exact same boat as
you just looking to find their place in a new community. It’s this
moment when you truly feel like you’ve made the right decision
coming to Trinity.
In fairness that was all a bit sappy. You may have become a bit of
a sap; it’s probably for the best. So now that you’re starting all over
again remember this advice. Go to everything! Rugby, rowing,
debating. Give it a try at least! Your work load will never be as low
as it is over the next few months, if you don’t try things now it’ll be
a lot harder down the line. Trips. Go on as many as possible
sailing, surfing and skiing if you can. Trips are melting pots of
communities in Trinity, you’ll get to meet more people on one
weekend away then you will in a month in college.
Finally, don’t be afraid to change course. You’re not going to be unhappy 3 years
from now but you certainly know you don’t want to be a
Mechanical Engineer. It takes a lot of guts to change your mind but
it’s a lot easier now then it will be in 12 months and by then you’ll
probably just settle. Go sit in on the BESS lectures or grab a coffee
with someone in Law. Go speak to a lecturer in the Science
department. If you do these things then at least 3 years from
now when you’re asked to write an article for the UT you’ll be
confident in your decision and never have to ask yourself ‘what it I
had moved to…’
Finn Murphy is this year’s Ents Officer and can be contacted at [email protected].
