Diary of a mature student

By Lina Ryan

This is the last year of a four year journey and every year is the same. There was a fantastic buzz coming in the courtyard on Fresher’s Week to see the amount of students there, young, old, not so old and of all nationalities. The colour was fantastic. We all start back full of enthusiasm and then you get your course outlines for each module, assignments, deadlines and then by the end of week two, the panic sets in but only temporarily.

There are always the modules that you like so this year I have decided I am going to allocate time early in the week, when hopefully I am more alert, to work on my least favourite modules. I’ll keep you updated on how that works.  This year once again I am joining a new group and like first year mature students it can be daunting but I just go in introduce myself and you only have to do it once and after the first class while everyone won’t know names, faces will register.

I was delighted to catch up with old friends whom I haven’t seen during the summer and enjoy a leisurely coffee in the Stables and with the weather being nice to sit outside and chat.

At the end of last semester I joined the mature students club and a great club it is too, you get to meet fantastic people and the club organises great social events for us “oldies”. We need our down time too.  “Can’t let the young ones have all the fun now can we!”