I am officially a published writer in a newspaper! Eek. The first issue of An Focal for semester two came out today. I was hugely excited let me tell you. Two weeks of solid work had come to this. I refused to look at the pdfs before hand. I wanted it all to be a surprise, despite having meticulously read and edited each piece. But let's go back to the beginning. How in the name of God did I get here?



I started co op in the SU in UL on the 13th of Sept . I wasn’t nervous until the morning I started. I woke up with large butteflies in my stomach and nervous 'ol me was like "Oh dear, why I have done this?" It truly felt like starting a new school for the first time. I live literally a fifteen minute walk into the college, so bringing my bike to Limerick made the journey even shorter.

My first day was spent being inducted into the position of someone working for the Students' Union. We were shown around the SU, the canteens, all the offices. Places that a regular student would not have access too which was really exciting. I discovered people I knew already had also gained positions in the SU which delighted me. 

I actually had an idea of what I was going into as Deputy-Editor of An Focal. I write for a number of different publications already, ranging from this blog to a website aimed at college students (Campus.ie). I am a self-confessed writer, I spend a lot of my time screenshotting and saving pieces of writing that I find while reading books, newpapers and reading things alone. Words hold so much power so I was very excited for this opportunity.



I pride myself on having good spelling and grammar so I knew that would benefit me going into this position. Something I was really looking forward to was actually getting to read other people's work, seeing their passions and getting to put their words into print. 

I was worried that going into the position that I wouldn't have any ideas. Sometimes as a blogger and writer I find myself lying in bed at night, wracking my brain for some inspiration. I can usually cure this with some music. I always find the best writing comes from you when you're emotional. 

Flash forward to being in the position and I know that I have learned so much already. While I have a lot of writing under my belt, I had some much to learn in terms of structuring writing to suit a newspaper. I realised my having studied Media Law had not gone to waste as I had to phrase emails under different acts and ask for FOIs (Freedom of Information). Writing for a newspaper, even a student one entails formalities and technicalities but also lot of fun.



One of the huge perks is getting on with your co-worker. The editor of An Focal Tomás Heneghan already writes for his own blog, various newspapers and I admire his strong interest in politics, something I really lack. We can joke and laugh together which suits me right down to the ground. I feel really comfortable in the office with him, Killian and Aidan.
I personally don't understand why you wouldn't be excited about submitting work to An Focal or any of your university newspaper. Firstly it'll look great on your CV, you're contributing to your own college and it's something you can hold in your hands, keep forever and be very proud of. I personally am calling on people to send in their best instagrams of UL. I joined Instagram about nine months ago and quickly realised that for me it was not about likes it was about taking really pretty photographs. But we do pride ourselves on getting nice photos for the paper. We do our best to include writing and photos of the highest quality.



If you click the links below they will take you to our social medias and believe me we really do appreciate every like, share and follow!

On Friday, our filmmaking society held its first ever event, a lock-in. A lock-in is where you are locked into a place overnight and you generally cannot leave. We planned to watch as many films as possible during this time.You wouldn't believe how much work went into planning it. I've so many people to thank, but I'll save that for this post's conclusion.

Life in college has been very hectic, what with sorting out our filmmaking society, catching up with people, doing assignments and trying to do all of this without having Wifi at home. It's almost embarrassing to admit that I can't function properly without having 24/7 access to Wifi but it's true. There's so much you can't do without it. I've found it hard to keep up with my studies, this blog, communicating effectively with friends and family. However, I've had to discover ways to pass the time without Wifi. And almost four weeks in I can say that I'm almost used to a Wifi free life. SHOCK HORROR. Here's some of the things you can do to pass the time without Wifi. Maybe it'll encourage you to take a break from the internet, show you that there's more to life than Wifi and you can try out some fun activities!

The University of Limerick is now a home away from home. Honestly.
I never ever thought I’d think of UL like that going into it. Not in a million years. I thought it’d be counting down the days feverishly until Friday came. It turned out to be the complete opposite. If you read my previous blog posts you’ll know that I was eighty percent dreading going to college because I thought that I wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone. I was so wrong!

Right now as I type I miss college. I’m so relieved I’m heading back tomorrow. I miss my new friends, the three girls I’ve met are so so lovely and if I didn’t have them I’d be lost.  I know my way around the college now , another aspect of going to college I thought I wouldn’t grasp. I can get to wherever I want to go so easily, in the beginning I gave myself an hour to find where I was going for my labs and tutorials. Now I’m fine.

My housemates are all lovely. The fact that I can say that truthfully is amazing. Every single one of them are friendly, I’ve had no trouble with any of them. We all get on and I’m really happy with the way things turned out. I’m guessing I’ll be really sad when we all leave each other at the end of the year. I’m so grateful for them for being so welcoming. My shyness with them has completely vanished.

Something I’ve noticed about college is that the people are completely different to secondary school students. College students are a lot more friendly, they are more open. I like that because I feel comfortable enough that I can approach these people. I’m still really shy with people I don’t know though and I want to combat that because I feel like it’s getting in the way of friendships and other relationships. So step by step I’m going to try be little more adventurous, a little braver and to step even more out of my comfort zone. I say that now with butterflies in my stomach.
But I feel that if I don’t I’ll regret it.

I want to explore Limerick city more. I’ve been there three times now and each time has been different. More than once I have been in the city while it was raining. I hope to get a few photos and post them here so you can see the city too. My friend Pamela introduced us to these amazing milkshakes called Moody Cow and they are heaven. Every time we go to the city we go and get them. If you’re in Limerick city I recommend popping in there. It takes all of two to three minutes for the workers there to whip up these unreal milkshakes. Try the Oreo one, the Wispa one or the Twirl. There are SO many options. Do it, it’s worth it.

Lately I’ve been obsessed with freckles. Freckles of all things?! Nothing annoys me more when I see a girl covering her face up with foundation when she’s got beautiful freckles. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with freckles on guys too. There’s this person I’ve been seeing around lately and they've got the most beautiful freckles. They make a person's face really come to life.

Thanks for still reading even though I’m not very active, I checked my stats and was pleasantly surprised!

Have any of you started college this year, or a new school?
People have been so great to me, coming forward with so much support and advice. I'm so happy with my choice of college, course and my attitude to college is so positive. I'm really really happy.