Wine Strand

I’m finally back in the country, after my exams, and my post-exams holidays.

I was going to do a couple of posts on the exams, and the past week and a bit, but then George Lee went and resigned.

If you are Irish, I assume you have heard about George Lee’s resignation this morning. If you aren’t, or if you have no interest, then I apologise now.

I have to admit, I was somewhat surprised that Lee decided to throw in the towel after a mere eight months in the job.

My first reaction was that he was just throwing a hissy fit - he wasn’t immediately placed on the front bench, and therefore decided that he couldn’t be bothered.

Having watched his appearance on Pat Kenny’s Frontline this evening, I get the impression that it was a bit more thought out than a fit of pique.

But that doesn’t make it any less of a tantrum.

I still can’t decide if I think he made the right decision or not.

Well, I decided to take a short break from tonight’s studying to give a quick rundown of my day.

The oul’ nerves finally decided to kick in - about an hour before the exam! At that stage, being nervous is useless; there is little point in starting to worry about an exam when you have no time left to do anything about it!

As it turns out, the exam didn’t go wonderfully well. I had prepared, and prepared, and prepared some more, so I was actually pretty well prepared. Based on the exams from the past few years, that is. Which, in fairness to me, and my classmates, were very similar every year.

Until this year, that is. For some unknown reason, the lecturers in question had decided, whether jointly or otherwise, that it was time to shake things up a bit.

And, so, of the seven of us in my class, there were not too many happy faces at the end of those two hours. Which is an awful shame, when you think of it. After three and a half years of hard (and I use that word with a grain of salt) work, it is disappointing when the first of your final exams doesn’t go well.

All in all, having gone into the exam thinking I would do pretty well, I am a bit disappointed. To be honest, though, I don’t think I did too badly. I will be happy with 70, 60, perhaps even as low as 50%. Anything lower would be devastating.

In any case, we didn’t have much time to sit around crying over spilt milk, as they say. The next exam is at 9:30 tomorrow morning, and there is plenty of preparation to do.

That is why I am sitting here, writing this. I’ve hit some kind of barrier. I’m back at the stage where I feel no motivation to work any more tonight. So, after posting this, I will make up my mind. Do another hour, and maybe get something done, or head to bed, and start again early in the morning? Decisions, decisions…

On a lighter note, I have been recently listening to a lot of Bach. Namely the Bach toccatas, as played by Angela Hewitt. Which are lovely. It would be great if I could get to that stage of proficiency in my playing. Although her playing is far, far beyond proficient.

So, that’s about all I have to say for the moment. Slán go fóill.

It’s the night before my first exam, and normally at this stage the nerves are starting to show. And that’s a good thing, because it shows that I actually care about how I’m going to do.

I generally find it difficult enough to motivate myself, until the last few days before the exams, when I really get a serious amount of work done.

This year, for some reason, it hasn’t worked like that. I did a fair amount of work in the first week of study break, and then seemed to slack off a bit in the second week.

I don’t understand why, but I haven’t felt the pressure of a looming exam, and somehow, I’ve just managed to coast through the past few days, doing a little bit of work here and there, but really not as much as I should have been doing.

They are half of my final exams, in ainm Dé!

In any case, I have had enough revising for one day, regardless of how much I have actually managed to cover. Thankfully, tomorrow’s exam isn’t until 2pm, so there is time in the morning for some last minute cramming.

Hopefully by then I will begin to feel some nerves, maybe a few butterflies in my stomach.

What a lovely image….

So, back in the Big Smoke again.

I had a lovely time at home over the christmas holidays. Two weeks of actual holidays, followed by two weeks of studying. Not my favourite way of passing the time, especially at home, but it has to be done, I guess.

I do love being at home, though, even if I am studying. There is something to be said for waking up in your own bed, wandering around in your pyjamas, having your meals cooked for you.

Nothing beats Mom’s cooking.

In any case, the countdown is coming to an end. Tomorrow is the last day of the study break, and then the exams begin on Monday.

Woop!

You know, it’s not that I had forgotten this blog was here.

It’s not even that I have too busy to post.

Call it what you will, I have realised this evening that it is 8 months (months! yes! eight of them!) since I last posted here.

I don’t do new year’s resolutions, but if I did, blogging more would be one of them.

On the basis that they are not new years resolutions, here is a list of things I would like to do this year, or do more often. And do them well. At least, to the best of my abilities, and that is all anyone can hope for, isn’t it?

1. Blog more.
2. Understand how to make nice websites. Ones that look nice, and work well.
3. Use the knowledge from number 2 above to make some websites. Nice websites, that work well. I think we’ve covered this.

When it comes to non-internet-related things, which I guess are somewhat more important than those in the first list above, there are a small number of fairly specific goals I would like to meet, along with a few more general…. let’s call them… hopes:

1. Most important thing I absolutely, positively must do this year is pass my finals. It’s been a long, hard slog so far, and it would be a shame to fall at the final hurdle, so to speak. And I don’t mean scrape through with 45 or 50%. Without meaning to sound like I am blowing my own trumpet, I have been top of the class every year so far, getting a first each year, and I don’t mean this year to be any different. I refuse!
2. Contingent on passing my exams, but nonetheless important, would have to be finding a job once the summer arrives, if I haven’t one lined up already. What kind of job, I hear you, my readers (if I have any), ask? Well, given that the qualification I am currently studying for is a B.Sc. in Science Education, in DCU, the logical course of action after four years of teacher training would be to find a job teaching. So, that’s what I’m planning at the moment.
3. Once I have fulfilled the first two goals, anything and everything else this year will be a bonus. These include, but are not necessarily limited to:

• • Building a model rail layout (more on this anon)
  • Learning a new language (possible but unlikely, given number 1 above)
  • Travelling more (quite possible, more on this at a later date)

So, I guess that’s enough for now. I know there is some theory about how writing down your goals helps you achieve them. Then, I recently heard an opposing theory that sharing your ideas with other people, and hearing their praise for having such good ideas, provides enough self-affirmation that most people go no further with their grand plans. I have experienced the latter, but I’m still hopeful that writing down what I hope to do in the next year or so will be motivation enough to give it a go.

Referring back to the beginning of this post, I think that may have been what was lacking in the last few months.

Motivation.

I thought this was great. But then, I like cats.

It has been a while.

A long while.

But, I’m not gone anywhere.

So, hello!

I love travelling.

I love seeing new places, experiencing different things, learning new languages. All that jazz.

I am constantly checking out the Ryanair website, to see what new deals they have, and to see where I could fly to, for a day, a weekend, or a week, for as little as possible.

I usually don’t care where I end up, or usually when I fly, so it was “researching” some flights that I came across this:

Fly from Dublin to Frankfurt-Hahn on Firday evening, and return on Sunday evening. Perfect timing, really. No need for me to miss classes, and no need for anyone else who wanted to come along to have to take time off work.

And the cost of these magical flights?

€10 each way, including those horrible taxes and charges. Add in another €10 for booking the flights using a credit card, and you get a weekend in Germany for €30.

So, that’s what I did.

My friend Amy and I flew out to Frankfurt-Hahn, not to be confused with the actual Frankfurt International Airport, on Friday evening last. We had a lovely weekend, and flew back on Sunday evening.

I will post again - make a mini-series out of it, if you will - about what we did over there, but there is the basics of it.

For all their faults, you can’t beat Ryanair for flights that cheap.

So, I am heading away on a well-deserved (I think) mini-break this evening.

My friend Amy and I are going to spend the weekend in Trier, in Germany, and the plan is to take a day trip to Luxembourg.

I mean, how many people can say they deliberately visited Luxembourg?

My friend commented, on hearing this, that there may be a reason for people not visiting the place!

I’m sure it will be lovely. I will let you all know when I get back!

So, it’s Thursday night.

I wasn’t teaching today, the school was closed for an inservice training day. I didn’t have to go, but the teachers were being given a lecture on Assessment for Learning, and it probably would have been useful to have gone to that.

As it was, I had a nice lie-in, followed by lunch with a friend, then I gave grinds to my cousin, who was off since the school was closed, then did some shopping, and have been sitting here since about half six, thinking about the classes I am teaching tomorrow.

What a productive day!