A lot happened in that 15 months. Since then I have been to Watford, Lithuania, Boston, Portugal (twice), Belgium and back. Boston was the most interesting. As many of my friends would already know, I was due to attend college there for 2 years (at Northeastern University as part of DCU's academic programme) which I thought would be great because then I would also have the opportunity to compete in the NCAA Athletics system. As it turned out, my 2 years was cut short to 2 months, and before I knew it I was back in DCU and running in the Dublin XC Championships yet again. The way the sporting setup was over there didn't register with me at all and looking back now I feel like I made a tough, but right call. I really enjoyed my short time over there and all the guys on the NU XC team made me feel right at home and it was a pleasure to get to know them. I will go back hopefully in the near future and catch up - and also kill some 10 mile Franklin park loops (I miss the Bearcage).
The class setup over there however was phenomenal. It really is a different world of learning when you are in the American system. The quality of the lectures and the whole process of learning there is so much more efficient and beneficial to what I have experienced in Ireland. In fact, I was shocked to come back to Ireland and dive straight back into lectures here and see the difference after experiencing the quality over there. Small class sizes, in-depth case analysis every class and massive marks for class participation were the key factors over there that made the difference. That and the pure desire to learn. This desire to learn is largely missing in Irish business schools, and after careful thought I am quite certain a lot of it boils down to the fees issue. College in America is taken extremely seriously by students. And what helps is the fact that with small class sizes, all marked on class participation, you can't afford not to be serious. And where do the small class sizes stem from? Fees. We don't have fees here and to be completely honest I won't be the first person to be marching in protest against them coming in. As long as fee introduction is accompanied with a loan scheme which is accessible to all levels of society I think it would be a very positive development for Ireland. Not only would it narrow the gap in the exchequer, but it would also make prospective students think very carefully about whether they actually want to go to college, learn, and make an effort with it and look carefully at what career they really want to pursue, instead giving the government and the taxpayer the fingers and taking them for a 4 year free ride.
A story for another day. Getting late now and although the clocks go back an hour tonight, I've still got to run the Dublin XC Champs tomorrow. Let's hope it's a good one. Happy Halloween.
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