Arts anyone?

Gwyllin

Is anybody doing Arts subjects, languages and literature in particular?

Vainglory

Doing history and philosophy for the degree, but did French in first year..

kasintahan

There are loads of arts students on here (myself included).
A lot of them doing languages (English & Italian mostly).

But the only languages I study are Java & ASM and the only literature I read is the old Mexican novel "manual"

Alana

I'm doing Italian currently, and theres a good bit of literature to plough through, but I've a few friends doing French, German and English, so Gwyllin if you want to PM me I'd be happy to answer any Q's you have or put you in touch with someone doing those subjects...

Gwyllin

Ah, you're very kind, Alana. I'm particularly interested in English of those you mentioned and Italian! I have tried to compare the Italian course at Trinity and the one at UCD. I can't really figure out which is the best one. There seems to be more medieval Italian literature at UCD however, and I think that is so exciting! Perhaps you could tell me a bit about what topics you are studying and a little about the lecturing? Is it high-quality teaching there or a bit lame? You can reply with a PM if you like!

arbeitsscheuer

Peachypants is doing English, 2nd yr goin on 3rd. She should be round here somewhere...

I'm doin History + Politics, so I can't help ya. Soz.

pretty*monster

I'm going into second year english.

Chinafoot

SebtheBum wrote:

Peachypants is doing English, 2nd yr goin on 3rd. She should be round here somewhere...

HERE I AM!!! HERE I AM!!!


...uhmmmm....what are we talking about? OH YES! English.

I would thoroughly recommend it. The lecturers are fantastic and the topics are very interesting and in 2nd and 3rd year there is a fantastic range of choices and you're bound to find something to interest you. For example this year I'll be doing a Middle English text and then in second semester I'll be doing Lord of the Rings.

Obviously not all parts of the course will appeal to you and you may downright despise particular areas (Old English....i'm looking at you mister!!!) but overall you'll get a really well-rounded view of the course.

PM me if theres any specific questions you have and I'll do my best to answer them

Oh and one piece of advice....whatever you do, DO NOT pick history!!!

arbeitsscheuer

peachypants wrote:

Oh and one piece of advice....whatever you do, DO NOT pick history!!!

Eh, no, History f**king ROCKS, people.

It's politics you should avoid like the plague. Abysmal, so it is. Half of the time the friggin LECTURERS have no idea what the hell they're blatherin on about.

But History?

In the words, (and accent), of a Limerick-born friend of mine, it's;

"F**KIN DIDDLY!"

Misticles

i done, irish, maths and linguistics. but i left, i thought the irish and maths course was extremly bad and the lecturers too, especially in irish!

taibhse

Never actually posted on this forum but Im doing English and Irish Folklore. 2nd year going into third do peachy pants u must be in my class!

taibhse

Never actually posted on this forum but Im doing English and Irish Folklore. 2nd year going into third so peachy pants u must be in my class!

taibhse

sorry that was an accident

Gwyllin

Oh hi, peachypants! Thanks for responding!! I'm getting kind of confused here. Not pick history? I thought the history course seemed kind of exciiting. What's the matter with it?

I love Old English so I don't mind that at all..

Chinafoot

Gwyllin wrote:

Oh hi, peachypants! Thanks for responding!! I'm getting kind of confused here. Not pick history? I thought the history course seemed kind of exciiting. What's the matter with it?

I love Old English so I don't mind that at all..

Ah i just cant stand history....the older stuff is great and really interesting but the more "modern" stuff just doesnt appeal to me

But yea, English is great........and also this is meant in a totally non-patronising way, its just that loads of people get the two confused, but Old English isnt the Chaucer stuff of "Ye Olde English".....thats Middle English.

For example:
"In which he lyved in greet prosperitiee; And sixty yeer a wyfless man was hee..."

(Which means: "In which he lived in great prosperity, and at sixty years he was a wifless man")

This is Old English: "Cyning sceal mid ceape cwen gebicgan bunum ond geagum..."

(Which means: "A king must buy a queen with prizes, mainly with cups and rings..."


But its not too bad really.

Mr.Nice Guy

peachypants wrote:

(Which means: "In which he lived in great prosperity, and at sixty years he was a wifless man")

In fairness, if he's sixty he's going to have some kind of whiff...

Blut

Do do history, if youve any interest in the area or if youve done LC history its easy as pie - you can get away with doing absolutely no work / essays all year and still get an honour in the exams no problem.

Politics is however really dull and takes some effort, do avoid that if you can!

Gwyllin

I love making an effort into things. Going to university to avoid work is just... sloth!! :eek:

Peachypants, I've read Old English texts many times and listened to it too. It's amazing! I thought of going to Cambridge to study it, but I ended up with Trinity(or perhaps UCD)! Middle English is nice too though.

Do you ever get to read Norse texts as well? Old Norse is the language of my ancestors so.. I'm obsessed with it.

kasintahan

Gwyllin wrote:

I love making an effort into things. Going to university to avoid work is just... sloth!! :eek:

Bloody Norwegians showing up my work ethic!

Oh, well. At least we'll be guaranteed you'll be at our UCDD boards beers.

Chinafoot

Gwyllin wrote:

Do you ever get to read Norse texts as well? Old Norse is the language of my ancestors so.. I'm obsessed with it.

yea in second year we had a seminar option on Icelandic literature. looked very interesting alright.

arbeitsscheuer

peachypants wrote:

Ah i just cant stand history....the older stuff is great and really interesting but the more "modern" stuff just doesnt appeal to me

Heh, opposite for me. Can't stand that pre-1700 requirementy thingy. B*stards.

Blut is spot on about politics btw.

At the end of the day though, as this thread has shown, it really is a case of just doing whatever you're into, and making 100% sure that what you're into is actually on the course! (My mistake: Thinking politics contained politics. More's the fool me, eh? :rolleyes: )

I loved History, hated Politics. That's just me.

Mr.Nice Guy

SebtheBum wrote:

Heh, opposite for me. Can't stand that pre-1700 requirementy thingy. B*stards.

Blut is spot on about politics btw.

At the end of the day though, as this thread has shown, it really is a case of just doing whatever you're into, and making 100% sure that what you're into is actually on the course! (My mistake: Thinking politics contained politics. More's the fool me, eh? :rolleyes: )

I loved History, hated Politics. That's just me.

Seb, seeing as you do politics, is it worth reading that John Stuart Mill book, On Liberty? I have it sitting at home here and haven't gone near it. Is Mill on the Politics course for 2nd year?

m1ke

Politics always seems to get a bad rap: I really liked it. People just need to find the particular area that they enjoy in it and stick with it (whether that is political theory, international relations, electoral studies etc...)

is it worth reading that John Stuart Mill book, On Liberty? I have it sitting at home here and haven't gone near it. Is Mill on the Politics course for 2nd year?

There are a few courses in 2nd year that this book would be very useful for. It's worth a flick through.... I never read the whole thing myself but once you get the gist You should read Machiavelli or Hobbes as these boyos are a big part of the second year syllabus.

Here's a link to the Machiavelli book, all these old texts are available by googling because they're out of copyright.
http://www.constitution.org/mac/disclivy.txt

Mr.Nice Guy

Thanks m1ke. :cool:

arbeitsscheuer

Hey M1ke, I never thanked you for the stuff on Neorealism you sent me.
Cheers mate, it really helped me get thru that section of the paper, I had no clue what to write for IRT, seeing as how I missed 90% of the lectures this year - (9am on a thursday? P*ss off Tobias :rolleyes: )

Anyway, Cheers mate, hope ta see ya round next year

Blut

Tobias seems to get all the dodgy lecture times, he was 3pm on a wednesday (ok I guess thats not that bad but when otherwise you finish at 12 and usually hit the bar...)this year in 1st pol. Its a bit annoying as he was one of my favourite politics lecturers.

If I can specialise more in the international relations side of politics in 3rd year I may grow to like it, however after 1st year and after seeing last years 2nd year choices there seems to be way too much emphasis on political theory for my liking.

arbeitsscheuer

Blut wrote:

If I can specialise more in the international relations side of politics in 3rd year I may grow to like it, however after 1st year and after seeing last years 2nd year choices there seems to be way too much emphasis on political theory for my liking.

Agree 100%.

And as you said, Theiler's actually a really good lecturer, but I just couldn't get in for 9am on a thursday last year. IR does interest me, as does comparative politics, but the subject is so theory-laden that it's no wonder it has such a high failure rate.

beanyb

I love politics! But I guess I'm the odd one out here... except for theory, I do hate the theory. I never read any of the books we were meant to for it, but I got the main ideas of it and that's all you need really, in 1st year anyway!

On Theiler, he was a really good lecturer. The stuff was all really interesting, he's just kind of hard to understand at times. I mean I know it's not his fault that he's Swiss... but still! And he was mean and gave like no tips for the exam. He came in and basically listed off the course telling us to study that. Mean I tells you.

Gwyllin

Why are everybody talking about how warm their hearts become at the thought of studying politics?!!!??? Be aware of my Viking rage!! This is MY thread, I ask the questions!!! :mad: Awright, politics sounds great, but we are discussing literature and languages here!!!!!!!!!!!

So I would have liked to take politics too, but.. What to do about it? Be depressed at how many times democracy has failed?

boneless

Gwyllin wrote:

Why are everybody talking about how warm their hearts become at the thought of studying politics?!!!??? Be aware of my Viking rage!! This is MY thread, I ask the questions!!! :mad: Awright, politics sounds great, but we are discussing literature and languages here!!!!!!!!!!!

So I would have liked to take politics too, but.. What to do about it? Be depressed at how many times democracy has failed?

OOOH! The Vikings are angry with us!! Hey! I'm one eight Viking!! I think its my left leg...

Anyhow, if you do get to UCD check out the Archaeology Dept. And it's a pity that Howard Clarke has retired... he taught a great course on the Viking age and a knowledge of old Norse would have been a definite advantage there. Look forward to meetin' ya at a beers session!!

Blush_01

peachypants wrote:

HERE I AM!!! HERE I AM!!!


...uhmmmm....what are we talking about? OH YES! English.

I would thoroughly recommend it. The lecturers are fantastic and the topics are very interesting and in 2nd and 3rd year there is a fantastic range of choices and you're bound to find something to interest you. For example this year I'll be doing a Middle English text and then in second semester I'll be doing Lord of the Rings.

Obviously not all parts of the course will appeal to you and you may downright despise particular areas (Old English....i'm looking at you mister!!!) but overall you'll get a really well-rounded view of the course.

PM me if theres any specific questions you have and I'll do my best to answer them

Oh and one piece of advice....whatever you do, DO NOT pick history!!!

I hate you, I wanted Lord Of THe Rings... got Canadian Fiction instead - which is actually not so bad. It's all about the lecturer really.

OP - English in UCD is, as PeachyPants said, fantastic. Unfortunately there are rumours that Christine Thijs is leaving, I'm not sure how definite that is, but if she does leave I'm sure you'll have plenty of dealings with Niamh anyway. First years mainly focus on Middle English - Sir Orfeo and Chaucer with the odd OE riddle for fun at the end of term. In second year there's more OE, but not all that much, unless you do Mode 1 - which is fantastic, if a little overwhelming at first. There are language labs where you learn OE pronunciation and a number of courses that focus on the origins of the english language etc.

UCD has mandatory OE, which is a pretty good idea in my opinion. If it wasn't madatory many people wouldn't bother trying it, and so many people get to like it when they give it a chance. Thank you JRR Tolkien!

As far as I know, freshers are going to have some deccent modern literature on their course this year too, as in really recent stuff - Vernon God Little is a possibility, or was at one point. Your lecturers will be willing to help you out if you have any queries - or should be anyway. Also, use your staff-student liaison person if you have any questions. They get to talk to the department and express student issues. The SU rep is pointless as far as I can see.