THEN:My potatoes and toilets summer. Ruth Scott, DJ, presenter of The Frequency on RTÉ 2FM. NOW:My Abercrombie and Fitch summer, Danielle Moran, third year English and Spanish student, UCD

Ruth Scott, DJ, presenter of The Frequency on RTÉ 2FM:I spent my student summers in the mid-1990s peeling spuds and cleaning toilets at the Irish Cultural College in Paris. In previous years I had done the summer schemes back home in Limerick, working on Tidy Towns for about £100 for the whole summer. There wasn't a lot of work in Ireland for students at the time.

My mum organised the Paris job for me. I was studying French in UL and a summer in Paris seemed like a great way to improve my language skills. Off I went to peel carrots and potatoes with Polish nuns in the morning and make beds and clean toilets in the afternoon.

I started each morning at 8.30am and got out as soon as all the beds were made and all the toilets cleaned in the evening. It was hard work, but if you went abroad for a summer, you expected to do gruelling jobs. It was well worth it - I got good money.

I was conscious of squirreling away as much of my earnings as I could and was able to bring plenty home to fund my college year. I was on a student grant, so it was nice to be liquid for the year.

Paris was an amazing experience. I'm not sure I learned much French - I spent my days peeling carrots with Polish women and much of my socialising happened in Irish bars. I used my weekends to explore the city and checked out every cultural site in the guidebook. By the end of the season, the only place I hadn't visited was the city sewer - I'd seen enough toilets for one summer.

Danielle Moran, third year English and Spanish student, UCD:LA was the most amazing experience of my life. I didn't even have to look for a job - I walked into Abercrombie and Fitch to browse the clothes and someone approached me and asked if I'd like a job. Two hours later I was being interviewed and by the end of the day I had a job at the Santa Monica branch.

The wages may not have been great, but the clothes were cheap - I got some stuff at 50 per cent of the retail price and some at 30 per cent. They encouraged us to buy and wear the stock, so I bought loads. It's a really popular brand in Ireland, but you can't get it here.

I managed okay on the low wages and hours. I wanted to work six hours per day from 3pm to 9pm because that meant I would get home in time to go out in the evenings.

The cost of living was low compared to Ireland and the social life was great. Accommodation was no problem - I knew the boys who ran fraternity accommodation in UCLA. I stayed in a fraternity house and hung out with the UCLA students on Manhattan Beach or the OC area.

The living is so easy there - movies, parties, bars and dinners out. It's not at all what I expected of LA - not a bit pretentious. Everyone does their own thing.

I chose Santa Monica because it's a smaller town and I immersed myself in American culture. I spent all my money there - there wasn't much point in bringing it back.