Thursday, 8th


December 2016


info@eastcorkjournal.ie East Cork Business Post


the weight of high expec- tations, heavy politics and plenty of personal and professional baggage many prosper due in part to the extra steps that


they have


taken from talking through major issues before launch-


ing or implementing a suc- cession plan to protect their business and personal rela- tionships. The end of the year is


fast approaching and there is often a last minute rush to transfer farmland before


any budgetary changes kick in. Alternatively, you may have a son or daughter farming at home whose 35th birthday is imminent. What is certain is that the transfer of the farm should never be rushed or left


too late


to avoid missing important deadlines that could prove very costly. Karen Walsh, comes


from a farming background and is the author of ‘Farm- ing and the Law’ and a solicitor practis-


ing in Walsh and Partners, Solicitors, 17, South Mall, Cork and Unit 7 Block E, Nutgrove Office


Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14


Tel: 021-4270200 01- 291 0300 and Email: info@walshand-


partners.ie Web: www.walshand-


partners.ie Disclaimer: While every


care is taken to ensure accuracy of information contained in this article,


Solicitor Karen Walsh does not accept responsibility for errors or omissions howso- ever arising, and you should seek legal advice in relation to your particular circum- stances at the earliest possi- ble time.


Ode to be that age again? Accommodation Adventures from a Student’s Perspective


I would enjoy the freedom that it offered and the learn- ing opportunities


it would


by DR ROSARII GRIFFIN


I tend to think of my life


to date in decades. From 0-10 years of age, I had a relatively blissful childhood, with relatively few knocks here and there. At that time, we lived out in the rural countryside and we were told as kids to ‘go out in in the fresh air’ as though it had some magical qual- ity. Other times, we were told to ‘go out and play, and don’t come back until it’s dark’. We would duly oblige and go play in fields of freshly cut hay, up trees, or run down by the river, living a very free and easy life


or Tom Sawyer. The ages of 11-17 were


like Huckleberry Finn different.


We had moved to an urban setting, and I was constant- ly told to ‘come inside’, or asked ‘what


time will you


be back at?’ or, ‘be sure to be home by 6 o’clock’. This was a culture shock: from the freedom I experienced as a young child to the con- stant monitoring I was sub- jected to as an adolescent. This was one of the many adjustments I had to make during this decade. But it was during my teenage years that I encountered some of my best, and so far, lifelong friends. This decade was only marred (as far as I could see) by the onslaught


of adoles-


cence and the compulsory nature of boring classes at school. However, most of my teachers told me during those years that I should go to college because they felt


nitely the


bring. And so, believing what they told me, I com- pleted my Leaving Cert and soon headed for College. Fi- nally, the age of adulthood (18-29) had arrived, and with it, a newfound sense of freedom, independence and adventure. It would be my childhood all over again! My twenties were defi- highlight. At


eighteen, I left home to find College accommodation. I soon located a single bedsit for my first year in college. It cost ten pounds a week. That was good going, given at the time, average rents for rooms in houses or studios ranged from 18 pounds to 25, or even more if you got ‘digs’ (with meals provid- ed). Nobody could believe how cheaply I had secured my accommodation, es- pecially as the bed-sit was within a five-minute walk of college. Of course, you couldn’t swing a cat in it, but it did me just fine. I had a single bed, a single ward- robe, a small sink and cup- board, a desk with a chair, a fridge with a grill on top, an electric kettle, a few book- shelves, and a bay window- sill where one could sit over- looking our road, ‘Highfield West’. My electricity meter could cost up to 5 pounds a week. I fed it 50p coins to keep my fridge, kettle, grill, electric light, lamp and ra- dio going. My staple diet then was tea with beans on toast or pasta with beans. Cup-o-soups were


handy,


as were bowls of breakfast cereal. In those days, all you had in the fridge were the simple bare necessities such as milk, butter, cheese, ham and maybe eggs or sausages. While I shared the


@eastcorkjournal / #eastcorkjournal


bedsit with a friend at exam times, I remember distinctly that I did not like being in the bedsit studying. I found it too quiet. I preferred to study in the library, in the company of other people, albeit strangers for the most part. On the contrary, my friend Grace enjoyed the peace and quiet of my bed- sit. Ironically, she found the library too distracting. So for this reason, the bedsit worked out very well, as our schedules rarely overlapped. In my second year at Col-


lege, my accommodation was different. I was a lodg- er in a house with another student. The Landlord also lived there. That was a nice arrangement, and slightly more sociable than the bed- sit. I made a mental note of the fact that I did not enjoy being on my own, and so would never live in a bedsit again. My third year in Col- lege, I went on an ERAS- MUS Year where I spent the first semester in the UK, and the second semester in France. In the UK, I went to Leicester City in England. There, I was sent to live in a bungalow with three French Erasmus Students who had come to the UK to improve their English. I also had French, so this meant I could communicate with them in either language. We got along very well, and as ERASMUS students, we got to meet other ERAS- MUS students from all over the EU, including Greece, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Holland, Belgium, even Switzerland, and of course, England. The Erasmus stu- dents liked to gather in our bungalow, as they typically resided in halls of residence, and before long, our house became the perfect


party venue for ERASMUS par- eastcorkjournal


ties. Following a semester


of partying in Leicester, I then headed to France after Christmas to spend my second semester at the University of Strasbourg, in the North Eastern part of France. That was an inter- esting experience. Instead of living in a house, I got a room in a long corridor like a dormitory, as part of a complex-block of flats. It was similar to a bedsit, ex- cept at the end of each cor- ridor, the students shared a kitchen and toilet/shower facilities. While everything was pretty basic, it worked. Certainly, I felt my expe- rience of being an ERAS- MUS student in Leicester superseded my experience of being an ERASMUS student in Strasbourg. In Leicester, the campus was completely


self-contained,


and student life was highly organised. You rarely had to go off campus for anything, and that included parties. It was safe and secure, as the Students Union were very active. For instance, they organised campus buses which operated every night, dropping students to their doors in the surrounding ar- eas and the bus always pri- oritised females. In France, I felt students were very much left to their own devices as to how to organise their own social entertainment. Very little was centrally planned. As a result, it was a little bit more difficult to integrate, and because there wasn’t a central campus either (the University was very spread out), it was more difficult to


organise anything. So


from my limited EU Eras- mus experience, I learnt two things. Firstly, it was a great way to learn about the culture and countries


of fellow European students (and there was a lot to learn and enjoy, from music, to national traditions, to their cultural ‘attributes’). From the Italians to the Greeks, and the Dutch to the Danish, Europe certain- ly is culturally very diverse, but also very enlightening and interesting. The sec- ond thing I learnt from my ERASMUS experience was that England was definitely the place to go if you want to have a great


time as a


student. Now, that thought registered with me, and I subsequently (and rather unexpectedly) ended up back in the UK for another four years as a post-gradu- ate student some years later. But that is a story for anoth- er day. For now, my ERAS- MUS year was over, and it was time to return to UCC in Cork to knuckle down to my final year of College. As my ERASMUS year was such a great party year, and a great year of learning all things European, however, I was more than ready to set- tle back home and prepare for my final exams. Back in Cork, I was late looking for accommoda- tion and so I eventually had to settle on a house requiring a girl to share a room with another female. I had no option but to ac- cept. The


Landlord told


me he was renovating an- other


room upstairs, and


once that was finished, she or I could move into that one. He also reassured me it was nearly complete, as I was so reluctant to share a room being quite used to having my own space. So, for a reduced rent, I agreed on the proviso that I would not be waiting too long. I was definitely not keen on sharing, having become ac-


customed to my own living space and privacy. Never- theless, I conceded. And as it turned out, I was de- lighted that I did concede, as the girl I shared a room with was great fun, full of life, extremely interesting, bright, articulate but


also


had a sense of devilment which was most appealing. Not surprisingly, she hailed from the Kingdom of Ker- ry, and had that very funny dry Kerry wit about her. (As it happened, I ended up dat- ing her brother for similar reasons for several years, but that is also a story for another day.) As it tran- spired, I was in no hurry to move rooms, and so, when the Landlord would apolo- gise for the delay in the ren- ovations, I was quick to re- assure him it was OK on the basis of retaining the lower rent. That worked out very well for everybody. Howev- er, post-Christmas, she had planned to go to the Nether- lands on an ERASMUS se- mester. As she was the only sane person in the house, (this house turned out to be a mad house, with parties going on every night of the week), I knew I also had to leave it. Whilst I enjoyed the other house-mates, but as it was my final year, my room mate and I were the only two students in the house attending college. So, once my room mate took off in the new year for the Neth- erlands, I also jumped ship and relocated to another house, this time an all-fe- male house, with a group of girls who were all stud- ying for their final exams. This was a much better and quieter situation. They also enjoyed a party, but only at weekends. I could breathe a sigh of relief and get on with my studies.


During my College years,


I lived in all sorts of ac- commodation, and shared living quarters with all sorts of people. I lived in bedsits, in halls of residence and in shared student houses, blocks of dormitories, flats and studios, and I lived with all sorts of students. Mostly, they were all pretty decent. Rarely, I have to say, did I ever come across drugs. They were not a feature of my time in College or indeed, my life in College. Alcohol did feature, but not in great quantities, as no- body really had the money to go mad. Most students I knew lived on tight budg- ets. The one house that did suffer was the house I even- tually left. Not surprisingly, they all failed their exams as there were parties every night. And that was the sum of my living arrangement in my twenties. By the time I hit my thirties, I was more than ready to settle down, in one house, with one person. Since then, I’ve had my own family, and love every min- ute of sharing living with them. While I loved the adventure and excitement of my twenties, living in all sorts of places, meeting all sorts of people, I was well and truly more than ready to settle down in one spot, somewhere I could eventu- ally call home, and call my own. As the Irish expression goes: Níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féin – there is no place like home. Before too long, it will be my children’s turn to enter the world of independent living, adven- tures and new experiences. I hope it will be as positive and insightful for them as it was for me. Only time will tell. Contact Rosarii at info@eastcorkjournal.ie or @rosarii_griffin.


Tel: 021 463 8000 • Email: info@eastcorkjournal.ie • Web: www.eastcorkjournal.ie


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