School's out!

It's official - having passed all my exams, I am a second year NUIG student. First year is now a thing of the past and I've already disposed of the notes from the courses I'm dropping. Okay, so I kept some of them out of interest, but the recycling bin is pretty full :-)

Before I go any further, congratulations to all my classmates and hope you are happy with your results. To those still doing exams (especially my Sam), the best of luck to you!

After all the hard work, I wasn't expecting any fails but still felt nervous yesterday as the magic hour of 4pm approached. Was I being over-confident? What grade had I been given for my final English essay? How badly had I done in the Spanish exam and would it drop my overall grade to a B? Most of all, would the results validate my decision to go to college?

The noise I made when the results' screen finally appeared must have been heard all over Galway! The grades were everything I'd hoped for - and more. All I could do was laugh and 'woo hoo!' and hug everybody in the house. It was a completely different high from the one after finishing the Christmas exams; this had depth to it. It came all the way from 30 years ago when going to college was an impossible dream. "YES!" it said. "The brain was always there and now you've proved it to yourself." Never mind that everyone had told me I'd do well - the (now printed) results were there in black and white. I'd managed to 'beat' myself LOL.

Then came the realisation that the numbers meant that I had built a foundation for the next three years and, as long as hard work and application continue, I can improve. A new goal to strive for :-)

As I giggled my way around Tesco later on, there was a sudden change of mood - If only my parents were alive and I could see their faces as they heard the news. Dad's smile of approbation was always enough to make one's heart nearly burst; Mum would grin from ear to ear while telling me not to get cocky. She was always warning me not to get too big for my boots!

Maybe her warnings worked. I've already started reading literature for next year and my Spanish result is spurring me on to get back to the grammar books asap. School may be out but the little grey cells need constant exercise if they are going to keep working at the pace I've set them.

No, I won't spend the summer totally glued to the books. Have been lucky enough to get a few clients to type for, including transcribing stories for a famous Irish storyteller (got to be the best transcription work ever :-). Still haven't been able to organise a trip or two to Spain, but that will happen. No way will I go back to college without having had a couple of weeks total immersion in the language!

It's going to be a very different summer from last year but just as busy - I don't get holidays from being a mum. Time to put out the washing and then do some work.

Life goes on, in and out of term time. Happy Summer everyone :-)