Few beers at home, then 8 or 9 more in club

The main source of stress for Patrick Blake (20), a second-year business and German student in Trinity College, is the demands…

The main source of stress for Patrick Blake (20), a second-year business and German student in Trinity College, is the demands of his course.

"This year there is huge pressure on us," he says, following publication of the survey on third-level students' health. "At the moment I've just handed in one project, I've another German project due in in two weeks. I have a German presentation in two weeks, exams in four weeks and a German in-class essay test coming up."

Patrick says it takes at least two weeks to prepare a project, "so there's a lot on at the moment". When he finds it overwhelming the best thing is to go and get started on it. "I think once you start it's not as bad as it seems."

He plays soccer once a week to let off steam and says his friends and class mates are supportive. "This year I don't go out socially as much as I used to, because of the pressure of the course."

READ MORE

He lives at home with his parents in Portmarnock and goes out about once a week.

"I'd have a few beers at home and then mainly I go out to Tamangos [a night club in Portmarnock], where I'd have eight or nine beers."

His classmate Gillian Kenny (20), from Knocklyon, also lives at home. Unlike Patrick, who gave up a part-time job, she works at weekends in a shop.

"I worry about the course and college stuff. I failed last year and I'm repeating this year so the exams worry me. I talk to my friends and I suppose just get on with it.

"I go out once or twice a week, to Doyle's pub or other pubs around, and have about four drinks. At the weekend I'd go out out properly, say to the Palace on Camden Street." She said she spends about €60 on a weekend night out.

Second-year engineering student Patrick Heck (20), also from Dublin, said the transition to university from secondary school was "definitely difficult". He had been in boarding school and had "lived by the bell" there.

"With my course I have to be in often at 9am, so I had to be up, but it was definitely different to have to get myself in here every day.

"I don't work during term because I wouldn't have time but I work during the summer and put money aside then.

"My main worry would be keeping up with my studies and being proficient at it." He drinks "a bit less now" than he did in first year, due again to the demands of the course. If he does he has about four or five pints, he says. "But you can end up feeling crap through the next day and it really affects you mentally."

First-year student Amy Flood (19) lives in Wicklow and says the commute to Trinity is "a nightmare". She found settling in "not too bad" and has found making friends easy. She goes out at the weekends at home, when she would have "one or two drinks".

Kitty Holland

Kitty Holland

Kitty Holland is Social Affairs Correspondent of The Irish Times