Finding approach to study that works for you key to a productive Christmas

Q I'm not sure if I'm on the right track with my CAO application and careers research. What should I have done by now?

A Now that Christmas is fast approaching and we have been back at school for more than three months, students are likely to have made some progress on their career exploration and planning. While it is possible to open a CAO application right up to February 1, early application is advisable.

At this point, students should be attending the open days of the colleges for which they wish to apply, reading courses regularly, and gathering information on as many courses as possible. It is better to have too many than too few at this stage and the next step is to decide what the order will be. This should always be in your order of preference.

Students should also pay particular attention to any restricted entry courses they would like to apply for as it is not possible to apply for these during the 'change of mind' process.

Q How can I make best use of the Christmas break to get on top of my school work?

A No doubt all over the country teachers are loading on the work in an attempt to ensure that the courses are finished as early as possible. In addition to this, students may be working hard on projects and briefs.

Some students may be getting work weary, while others are wondering where the year has gone.

However, the Christmas holidays are an excellent opportunity for everyone and should not be missed.

It is difficult for anyone to spend all day at school and then go home and write large assignments, such as essays. The Christmas holidays are a great opportunity to catch up on some of this work. It is also important to keep a good routine and have balance. Try getting school work done as early as possible in the day. This way you can get in a good couple of hours' study and still have the rest of the day for relaxing and family time.

It may also be a good idea to come up with a plan of what you want to achieve over the two weeks. There are two ways you can do this.

Firstly, if you find that you are easily distracted, perhaps give yourself a number of tasks to achieve rather than focus on the time you wish to spend on study.

The People's Procession of Light is back!

This free, fun-filled, family-friendly event will once again illuminate the streets of Dublin where we invite you to join us on our journey, bringing families, visitors and locals together to experience the magical spirit of Ireland. To mark the closing of The Gathering 2013, our theatrical street performers and enchanting characters will provide a visual and musical spectacle beyond imagination.

With Ireland’s top specialists in illuminated processions and aerial dance leading the way, this year’s Procession will create a spectacular river of light through the heart of the city. For the first time in the history of Irish public parades, the People’s Procession of Light will make its final leg of the journey through the iconic Grafton Street to the grand finale at St. Stephen’s Green.

Be part of it!

Be more than a spectator! Join the parade and help us illuminate the streets by bringing your own source of light to the procession.

Kids, grown-ups, families and friends are all welcome to participate in this very special New Year’s Eve celebration. Join our free lantern-making workshops, follow our easy step-by-step home kit or simply bring your own lanterns from home. Help us spread our visual message: The Light is on, Come on in!

Please note that participants are required to register for the Procession and workshops in advance.

Register to Participate in the Procession

Register for the Lantern Making Workshop

   

Happy Christmas!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TEywsWQ9QE

Traditional Culture Festivals Waterford Winterval - Ireland's Christmas Festival

This December, Waterford, Ireland oldest city will be wrapped up in the sights, sound and taste of Christmas. This delightful Christmas festival is packed with seasonal events and activities set in unique heritage sites arournd the city.

Winterval is a delightful Christmas festival for the young and young at heart and is packed with seasonal events and activities set in unique heritage sites around Waterford City. Winterval takes its inspiration from the enchanting Christmas markets throughout Europe, bringing the collective sights, sounds and festive charms to Ireland's oldest city. 

From Santa's Grotto in the Medieval Museum to a Georgian Christmas in the Bishop's Palace, a toy museum, Winterval Express Santa Train, ice-rink and an animal farm complete with reindeer, Winterval is set to be a highlight in the Christmas calendar that every family will want to experience. Look forward to craft making for children, an artisan food fair, a Viking Yuletide village, storytelling in Reginald's Tower, a Polish Christmas, and a spectacular 3D sound and light show and Christmas Market in Cathedral Square. 

Dates from 29 Nov. to 23 Dec. and Dec. 27-31. See programme and check website for more details of events at Winterval.

Visit Waterford Winterval - Ireland's Christmas Festival Events: Come and check it out for yourself.

Waterford on Ice.
Horse-drawn Sleigh.
Snow-globe. 
Christmas Carousel. 
Helter Skelter.
Waterford Illuminates. 
Old Man Winter.
Valgard.
Creative Writing Workshop
The Christmas Markets. 
Santa's Grotto at the Medieval Museum. 
Winterval Express Train. 
Toy Museum - large Room, City Hall. 
Storytelling at Reginald's Tower 
A Georgian Christmas at the Bishops Palace. 
Story Telling at Reginald's Tower 
City Square Snowman Competition.
Late Night Winterval Club.
House of Waterford Crystal Christmas Experience
Winterval at the Theater Royal 
Winterval at Garter Lane
The Singing Christmas Tree

Gadgets: Making travel easier

Spypoint BF-10HD Wildlife Camera
Sounding like something that spooks might use on a surveillance op, this is actually one of the best pieces of gadgetry around for capturing wildlife on video. With HD albeit only 720P as well as 10MP stills, it really comes into its own is after dark, where black flash infrared LEDs means no spooking your elusive subjects with a Cyclops red light. You’ll get close to three months on a full charge, shooting to an SD card. You can set the sensitivity of the trigger based on the wildlife you’re interested in, but let’s just hope your memory isn’t full when the skating pandas appear.£238 from military-outdoor.co.uk

Outlier Doublebag
If it’s more packing into less luggage you’re looking for, the regime du jour is rolling. It’s compression in effect; every cubic centimetre of air you roll out, can be replaced by sock or top. Doublebag from Outlier doubles as a compression bag and a dirty laundry stash. This magic is pulled off by a double compartment, where the clean clothes all start in one side of the bag and as they’re worn, get stuffed into the other end. Both ends close with aluminium clips and the bag is made from tough 125gm Supplex nylon. $48 from
outlier.cc

Doxie Flip Portable Scanner
Doxie has been a leader in portable scanners, usually for documents, but the Flip is something new again. Completely portable in that it’s about the size of a notebook and powered by battery, it’s been made for photos and journals, and the general miscellany of travel. You can use it as a standard scanner with your subject under the lid or flip it over and actually see what you’re scanning through the window.
$149 from getdoxie.com

Travelling is that thing everyone tells you to do

Travelling is that thing everyone tells you to do. It's likely your whole family encourages you to explore the far reaches of the known world while you're “still young”. But that's easier said than done.

I don't know anybody who doesn't want to travel the world and visitAustralia or american, or exotic like Brazil havens a little further afield likeBhutan (fish out your atlas for that one).

We talk about it between lectures and at parties: how we'll do a J1 in the summer and go travelling before “settling down” into a straight-laced proper job that pays well enough for a trip to the south of France once a year.

With the fervent excitement of a religious fanatic, we discuss the places we'll see and the things we'll do and the foods we'll eat and the portions of life that we'll sample.

And yet, when it comes down to it, it doesn't always happen.

1. Don't hold back

For many, the lure of the job after college is too strong. The career progression is hard to turn down in favour of a trip abroad that'll drain your hard-earned funds.

Or you get caught up in a relationship, or a postgrad, or in family strife, or money's that bit too tight and you say you'll save up and then you'll go.

But you don't. Because in the lottery of life there's always going to be that “something” holding you back.

Don't let it to hold you back. The benefits of travelling are vast and unexpected: meeting new people; broadening the landscape of your mind; trying new foods and activities and crazy things; experiencing places that aren't like the wet, homogenous 32 counties.

1. Money

It may be cliché but when you're young there's certain things you should do, and travelling is one of them.

You don't want to be old and grey, ensconced in your nursing home, wishing you'd dropped everything and gone to India or Pakistan when you had the chance.

Money will always be a little too tight for travelling; it's inevitably going to be cheaper to knuckle down and stay at home, earning pocket change in a mind-numbing part-time job.

You might justify it as “responsible” to stay, or claim you don't have the means to travel; and, yes, some people don't. But there are people who have encircled the world on an absolute pittance, and there's no reason why you couldn't do the same.

2. Interrailing

Last summer, I took part in the age-old traditional of interrailing aroundEurope - it was arguably one of the best things I've ever done.

I met students from all around the world, braving it alone or in pairs, set far adrift from their homes in Australia or New Zealand or Japan.

But the one thing that stood out was the absolute lack of Irish students who dared go it alone, or even in small groups; the majority were clumped in fives or sixes or – in one extreme case – a group of 13.

So maybe our culture isn't one of real travel, real exploration, and that's why we stay rather than go. Though we put big weight on our famed diaspora, there's a difference between flying from one nest in Ireland to another in America, and settling ourselves comfortably there.

It might be that we just aren't used to it. We lack the cultural norm to force ourselves onto a rickety flight to Turkmenistan, a camel ride to Mauritania, a boat journey into the Amazon's soul.

But to make a norm people have to take the plunge, so let it be you who swims with sharks in Australia instead of flirting with hypothermia in Ireland; who welcomes in the New Year in Chiang Mai rather than Coppers; who eats potentially-lethal puffer fish in Tokyo instead of McDonald's and a mediocre night out.

Let it be you who goes and doesn't stay.

Dublin a hit with students QS ranking places Dublin 15th for being student friendly

Dublin has been ranked among the top student-friendly cities in an international ranking that places it 15th of 50 university towns. Paris tops the list, with London coming a close second.

This is the second student city ranking to be published by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a company that also produces a world university ranking. And while Dublin’s universities may not top the bill – falling outside the top 100 – we do much better when it comes to keeping students happy.

London-based QS does not use “party town” as one of its five main ranking criteria, but that didn’t seem to matter given Dublin’s overall performance. QS uses university rankings, student mix, quality of living, employer activity and affordability when it assesses a university town and the benefits it bestows on students there.

Dublin performed well in all of these categories except affordability, said Ben Sowter, head of research at QS.

Affordability an issue“With a maximum of 100 points awarded, Dublin’s highest scores were 92 for student mix, 80 for quality of living and 77 for university rankings. However, with the cost of higher education rising around the world, the city’s affordability score of 42 could be an issue for students facing financial constraints.” We managed 75 for employer activity, QS found.

To be included the city must have a population of at least 250,000 – something that rules out our other cities – and must have at least two institutions in the QS WorldUniversity Rankings, in our case Trinity and UCD as the highest two.

This approach meant that 98 countries qualified, but QS only provided a top 50 listing.

Dublin was placed 8th in last year’s inaugural ranking but QS warned that comparisons between 2013 and 2012 were a problem because of significantly changed criteria, a spokeswoman said. The figures this year put us in joint 15th along with Vienna, not a shabby student town at all.

Thirty countries are included in the top 50, with the US having seven cities in the rankings. Australia had six, Canada and the UK three each.

The top 10 running order is as follows: Paris, London, Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne, Zurich, Hong Kong, Boston, Montreal and Munich, with Melbourne and Zurich tied in fifth place.

Students are increasingly internationally mobile and the availability of a city’s ranking will complement the QS universities ranking in helping them make informed choices if choosing to study abroad. “After all, a university experience is intrinsically influenced by the location, especially for international students,” said Mr Sowter.