Results: have them. College offer: have the first one (fingers crossed for today). Accommodation: have it, a nice spacious flat in D·nβras applied for in April with a school mate - we were being optimistic!

I've seen the English paper that I got a C2 on and I think it was marked harshly. My teacher was also sympathetic, so I'm going to appeal that result.

Regardless of the result of any appeal, I will be going to Galway to study some sort of engineering. So to use the catch phrase of the summer, "Oh my God!" Buckle your seat belt, prepare yourself for the culture shock of your life, sit back and enjoy the ride. It'll be books, books, books, and two all-Ireland finals! It is fair enough to make the assumption that life will be a "wee" bit different. New people, places, faces and accents!

I have spent a few weeks in the Gaeltacht after first year and fifth year, not to mention summer months with my aunt, uncle and cousins, so it's not the "leaving home and all its comforts" aspect that is too daunting. I think the scariest part is the thought that there is no going back on this road to independence and adulthood. To be melodramatic, the next four years will make us or break us as we dip our feet into the sea of life. Will the waves crash and tumble, engulfing us in their midst, or can we ride the surf and emerge victorious from the tunnels we encounter?

Anyway, when will the results of the appeals come out? If this year goes like last year, the results might not reach you until late September (a bit late unless you're aiming for Trinity); by then any upgrade could be a futile effort to boost self-confidence or prove your intuition right, because if the course you want is full or has a waiting list you will not get it. What is the point of the appeal system? What use is an upgrade if you have to wait a year to use it, and in waiting a year you also gamble with the points system? For those of us who are clutching at straws in the last chance saloon, quick service is what we deserve, especially if we have been undermarked.

The appeal system and rechecks seemed like such a good idea, but I am thinking this business should be settled by now. It is just torture that the whole situation is prolonged, but that's life and nobody is perfect - yet: the cloned generation is still to come.

Unfortunately, for now some of us are searching the past for the way to the future, because the directions provided just did not suit.