Today's diary comes to you from the computer room of Trinity College. I'm using a green Apple iMac, if you really want to know. Computers are quite a big part of college - societies and clubs communicate with you by e-mail, so checking for messages on a regular basis is a good idea. Essays should be typed, as well.
Most of my work so far has involved a medium which is slightly older than e-mail - books. I've spent some time getting to know the library. I now know where to find the Irish Law Times Monthly for 1974 (and also to put it back where I got it). Naturally, I've used a library before, but nothing prepares you for the scale of a "copyright library". In case you haven't heard of this, I'll explain. The TCD library is entitled to one copy of every book published in Britain and Ireland. Now if they were to keep all these books in the city centre, there would be no arts block, no cricket pitch, and maybe even no canteen! So some of the books, in fact quite a lot of them, are kept in storage out in Santry (sort of a Happy Place where books go to relax and take time out).
There's still no set routine to college life. It'll be a while before this happens, and then the Christmas break will intervene. It's certainly different to have an irregular timetable - going in Monday afternoon, but Tuesday morning. Of course, it takes some getting used to, and one particular class, which was located in one of the science buildings, took a little extra effort. Still, it's things like that which add variety to life. Or so they say.
By now, I still haven't gotten to know all the students in my class. There's over a hundred, quite a few from the North, others who are just in Ireland for a year, some mature students, and so on. It may be a cliche, but there's so many different personalities in the group. I like that - it's a chance to find new friends and enemies.
I was informed last week that I won't have any exams this Christmas! We will be required to produce some essays and other pieces of written work during the year, and these will count towards the final grade. Other than that, however, there is quite a lot riding on the final exam, held between May and June (so far away). From what I've been told, most of the work gets done in the last term too. I've resolved not to let this be me, but I'm quite sure that I, like everyone else, will need to put my head down and work a bit harder when April comes around.
Until then, I'll keep trying to find my way around this place.
