Dublin, Ireland

CTYI is held in Dublin, Ireland, in Dublin City University (DCU). It is not run by CTY, but associated with it. It was founded in 1992 and is run by Dr. Colm O'Reilly, who has been Site Director since 2005. CTYI is held in DCU (Dublin City University)in Ballymun, one of the three Universities in Dublin.

It runs Saturday morning classes and one-week long summer courses for Young Students (6-13), and Residential Summer Courses for Older Students (13-17). In the Older Students group, there is subdivision between CTYI, CAT (Centre for Academic Talent) and Summer Scholars. These courses run side-by-side and there is great competition and division between them.

Campus

DCU has a wide campus, and CTYI classes are only allowed into certain sections.

• The Henry Grattan Building is the main building on campus, where most classes take place. Attached to the back of the Henry Grattan is the Street. All RA Meetings are held in the Henry Grattan Building. There is also some benches inside the front door with a stand where Metros are available, essential reading in the daily life of a CTYIzen, for both the treasured "Metro-scopes" and for fending off enemies in epic-duels.

• The Street is a long glass conservatory attached to the back of the Henry Gratton Building. It is a very useful shortcut to get through to the canteen from the rest of the campus. It is filled with couches, which used to be the favourite location for Floorgies (or Couchgies in this case) until Session 2.08 got further years banned for causing trouble. There are a set of vending machines here, and it is a favourite hideout from the rain. Initiall registration takes place here on the first day.

• The Canteen is where all discos are held and the CTYI Site Office is situated in the back. It is right across the way from the Henry Grattan Building, there is in fact a small roof connecting the two to protect from the rain. It is the scene of many culinary crimes against humanity in such examples as the famously named "Mattress-Bread", "Ficken" (nobody was sure whether it was Fish or chicken) and the [[[Sportalian]]] Burgers, may or may not be made with real Sportalian. It has a moving carousel for taking the trays away and for tormenting the canteen staff.

• The Philip Larkin is the Lecture Theatre. The large-scale activities involving all the students take place here. The opening and closing ceremonies are held here, bookending the course with one of Colm O'Reilly's inspirational speeches.Students also gather here to divide up into groups for evening activities. The Drama and WAP classes perform their plays here, but the most notable occassion in the Larkin is Vinnie's Lecture. Vinnie is the Archaeology Instructor, and each year gives the exact same lecture, slide for slide, word for word on archaeology, occassionally varying the slide with the infamous Three-Legged Ass Chicken.

• The Res The main accommodation used for CTYI is the Larkfield Apartments. These are the square set of rooms that surround the Quad. When Students refer to Res, this is the place they are talking about. In Larkfield, there are two people per room number, each having an A and B. The A and B rooms are connected together by a small hall, bathroom and kitchen which are shared between the two students. The doors into the rooms and the individual rooms have card-locks, the loss of which causes most of the problems on campus.

• Sportalian Res is the nickname given to the other residential building across from Larkfield. It has been used in busy years to house some CTYI students in the case of overflow in Larkfield, but it is the true home of the Sportalians. Because of this, the majority of CTYIzens are scared to walk in, even if it has a better launderette. On the creation of the CAT programme a few years ago, they are now housed in Sportalian Res.

• The Park is used for Sports during afternoon activities, and chilling during Lazy Activities such as Cloud-Watching, Music Appreciation and Meditation. It has remarkably soft, usually damp grass. It also contains a playground, the Ultimate destination in the hopes and dreams of any Writing for Life students. WFL students are taken there (after begging for days on end) to gain inspiration and write haikus and plays.

• The Hub is a round building at the edge of the campus which CTYIzens are not allowed into. It has a closed bookshop taunting passersby. However, it is used by 21st Century Skills students when they go to play Xbox.

Spar

Spar is the major social area after the Quad. As it is the only shop on campus, it is almost always full of hungry CTYIzens. Because the "food" provided by the canteen is so vile, many students end up living off Spar food for the three weeks straight. The most notable Spar addicts include Declan's Snapple addiction(09), Izzy's Pepsi Max addiction (10/11) and Orlagh's Caramel bunny obsession (11).

Spar provides limited stationary supplies, snacks, hot food (such as wedges and vol au vents) and sweets. There is an ATM in the corner- very useful!. In 09.1, Spar was selling Labcoats, which were bought and worn to the disco by the "Straight Bunnies for Gay Pride".

The staff in Spar are generally very friendly. They make sarcastic comments about the excesses of caramel bunnies being bought, or compliment students on their studiousness. The manager also gave out free copies of newspapers in 09 the day that Michael Jackson died because the students were in such a panic.

Canon

The canon in CTYI is less strict than in the American CTY courses but there are some songs that recieve serious complaints if not played.

• American Pie
• Mr. Brightside
• Smells like Teen Spirit (banned after 08, but still surprisingly remains spiritually in the canon)
• Iris
• Bohemian Rhapsody
• We Will Rock You
• Grease Medley
• YMCA (CTYI lol)
• Chelsea Dagger
• Pokémon Theme Song (made canon in 08 when begged for at every disco)
• Gay Bar
• Street Spirit (during this song, everybody lies on the floor and holds their hands through the air above them, swirling patterns)

Semi Canon:

• Teenagers
• The Bad Touch
• I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
• I Don't Feel Like Dancing
• Taking the Hobbits to Isengard
• Don't Trust Me
• Blitzkrieg Bop
• Big Booty Bitches (followinging an obsession with the song through the whole campus during 09.1, the Dj was finally convinced to play it at the last disco of 11.1, cementing it in the hearts of the students)

American Pie

The traditions relating to American Pie go as follows for each of the 3 discos:

• Everybody forms into a large circle running the whole way around the canteen, with another separate circle in the center for Nevermores. Each person puts their arms around the people next to them and kick their feet in time with the music.
• When the music speeds up at "Did you write the book of Love?..", the kicking speeds up and the circles sway from side to side more enthusiastically.
• At the line "You both Kicked off your shoes", everybody kicks off their shoes as high as they can manage. This is a particularly dangerous time to be in the Nevermore circle as one has to riska barrage of flying shoes.
• During the chorus, when the song goes "This'll be the day that I die-", everybody jumps in time and shouts/chants "DIE DIE DIE DIE, LIVE LIVE LIVE LIVE, SEX SEX SEX SEX, MORE MORE MORE MORE!!!" In some cases, particular students add an extra "orgy!" on to the end of this chant. If there is a Psychology class that year, the Psych class substitutes "PSYCH PSYCH PSYCH PSYCH" for "SEX"
• At the line "My hands were clenched in Fists of Rage", the students shout along with "FISTS OF RAGE" and shake fists at the air.
• Everybody screams when it says "In the streets the children screamed"
• A recent addition, when the Holy Ghost is mentioned, students point to a "Ghost" ( a student who was previously a Nevermore but got invited back for another year) and scream "Arghh! A Ghost!"
• At the end of the song, the lights are switched on and mass crying ensues. The Nevermores cluster together and cry, while the rest of the students try to find their lost shoes from the floor and wipe away the tears, while the RAs give speeches and try to move everybody down to the Quad for the Candle-light Ceremony.

Courses

The courses offered at CTYI vary from year to year, some staying for longer than others. Common courses include:

• 21st Century Skills
• Archaelogy
• Astronomy
• Biomedical Diagnostics
• Engineering
• Japanese
• Medicine
• Philosophy
• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Veterinary Science
• Writing for Life
• Write, Act, Perform

Traditions

Candlle-light Ceremony

After the final disco on the last day, the crying students are herded down to the Quad, where the RAs have laid out CTYI and the year ('07 for example) ...