And just like that... another Issue of the University Observer is amongst us.
It feels rather unreal to think that we are already halfway through this incredible journey. Then I take a peek outside my window, the crisp air palpable as the sun settles way too early over the horizon for my liking, and I realise that 2023 is coming to a close. This third issue will be our last for this year, but the sadness for how fast time has gone is slowly being replaced by excitement at the prospect of what’s to come.
I am not familiar with the mystical art of manifestation, and as a Neapolitan I have an inclination towards superstition - if you hear me say this out loud, I will deny everything. Nevertheless, I like to think that what we have done so far has been setting up for even greater things next year. Each issue has made us grow prouder of what we do and the incredible team we lead, and I will probably never stop reiterating how grateful I am for what we are achieving together.
It has been a while since I last wrote to Santa Claus. I also tend not to get too caught up in making new year resolutions as I prefer to wait and see - watch me cry at the first minor inconvenience because it’s not going as I planned. One thing I will try to do next year, however, is to take more chances. Being Deputy has been incredibly rewarding from a professional standpoint, but it also allowed me to come out of my shell and be sociable. Covid did a number on me as an introvert, but I am slowly getting back out there. So, 2024-Ilaria, if you are reading this: send that text, go to that event, but please try to talk slightly less.
How to begin discussing this ending? First, I would need to process it and I haven’t exactly gotten to that yet. After nearly an entire semester punctuated by pitch meetings, coffee mornings, sleepless nights and “first times”, The Observer is finally ready to say goodbye to the second half of 2023 and to face 2024 head-on. This “most wonderful time of the year” is not just a time for resolutions, though I have many I’ll share with you soon, it is also a time for reminiscing and gratitude. So thank you. To our exceptional team in the UO and in OTwo, thank you to the fantastic contributors who have poured their passions and wisdom onto this paper’s pages and most especially, thank you to our readers.
Now, the moment literally two people on this entire campus have been waiting for, my New Year’s Resolutions! To stop comparing. Yeah. My parting gift to you is something you’ve been told all your life. But as I look back on my year, the famed Theodore Roosevelt quotes comes to mind: “Comparison is the thief of joy”. When you’re in college, especially on a campus as sprawling as UCD's, there are days you won’t be able to look into someone’s face, someone’s life, someone’s apparent success and covet it. I won’t admonish you and say “No! Don’t do that!”. It would be both sanctimonious and dishonest: there isn’t a day I don’t have similar thoughts. I would encourage you however to look inward and remember that someone else's light is not the absence of your own.
Best of luck for your exams and have a lovely break.
See you next year,
Tessa and Ilaria