My Leaving: ‘I never thought that clear blue skies would be so depressing’

Young people here love our hometown but we are outward-looking and we think about travel, whether to other parts of Ireland or overseas

Tara Kelly: Maths paper one was a hard exam

I’ve been better.

After maths paper one, I felt a bit destroyed. It was a hard exam: some of the questions were quite awkwardly phrased and most of my class found the higher level paper really tough.

I'm taking all higher level subjects apart from business. The points for physiotherapy are quite high: I'd really love to do the course but if I don't make it, I have applied for sports science in Letterkenny IT after which I could do a masters in physiotherapy.

Carndonagh is a fairly isolated community, and whether or not to stay here or move away is always a part of the discussion. But I don't really see it in the negative: young people here love our hometown but we are outward-looking and we think about travel, whether to other parts of Ireland or overseas. This has shaped who we are.

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Brexit rumbles in the background, but it isn't really something that I think about much, and nor does it dominate our lives. I do have an aunt and uncle who live in Culmore, the first town over the Border and right beside Muff in Co Donegal. They're a little concerned, but the feeling is generally that it will all be resolved.

To be honest, my mental bandwidth is slightly limited by the exams at the moment. I’ll be working in the local shop tomorrow and then back to the books, with some time off for good behaviour. Over the past few weeks, I’ve tried to study as much as I can and to make sure I get a walk in by the beach. When it’s sunny, the Inisowen peninsula is the most beautiful place in Ireland.

Ah, the sun. I never thought that clear blue skies and belting weather would be so depressing, but it's made it hard to stick my nose in the books. I've managed though, with the help of a good sleep routine and the guilty pleasure of Love Island, because when life is as intense as it is right now, there's nothing quite like a bit of trash TV to distract.