Dublin, Ireland
| Dublin, Ireland | |
 Dublin City University | |
| Site Information | |
|---|---|
| College | Dublin City University |
| Location | Dublin, Ireland |
| Years of Operation | 1992 -present |
| Avg. Number of Students | 250 |
| Courses Offered | |
| Humanities | Criminology | Film Studies | Gothic Studies | International Relations | Japanese Language & Culture | Law | Novel Writing | Philosophy | Sci Fi and Fantasy Writing | Write, Act, Perform | Popular Fiction |
| Science | Animal Psychology | App Design and Development | Behavioural Psychology | Biomedical Engineering | Biotechnology | Clinical Psychology | Computer Animation | Computer Gaming | Game Theory | Marine Biology | Maths Experience | Medicine | Neuroscience | Robotics | Theoretical Physics | Social Psychology |
| Canon | |
| Smells Like Teen Spirit | Y.M.C.A. | 500 Miles | Pokémon Theme | Grease Medley | Street Spirit (Fade Out) | Bohemian Rhapsody | Iris | Gay Bar | Chelsea Dagger | Mr. Brightside | We Will Rock You | Teenagers | The Bad Touch | I Don't Feel Like Dancing | American Pie | |
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 Glasnevin, one of the universities in Dublin. It is the only site for the CTYI Summer Courses, but the primary school ones happen across the country.
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. CTYI requires a score at or above the 95th percentile, CAT requires one between the 85th and 94th and Summer Scholars does not require any minimum score although it is commuter only. Starting for the Summer 2023 courses, CTYI only requires you to be at or above the 95th percentile in either STEM or Humanities to do any course, rather than qualifying in a specific one.
Campus
DCU has a wide campus, and CTYI classes are only allowed into certain sections.
The Henry Grattan Building
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 are 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
The Street is a long glass conservatory attached to the back of the Henry Grattan 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. Initial registration takes place here on the first day.
The Canteen
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 "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 Terence Larkin
The Terence Larkin is the Lecture Theatre. The large-scale activities involving all 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 occasion 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, occasionally 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 surrounding the Quad. When students refer to the 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 by 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
"Sportalian Res" is the nickname given to the other residential buildings 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. The CAT programme a few years ago is now housed in Sportalian Res.
The Park
The park (Albert College Park) is used for sports during afternoon activities, and chilling during Lazy Activities such as Cloud-Watching, Music Appreciation and Meditation. It has soft, 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
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 always full of hungry CTYIzens. Because the "food" provided by the canteen is so vile, many students end up living off Spar food for three weeks straight.
Spar provides limited stationary supplies, snacks, hot food (such as wedges and vol-au-vents) and sweets. There is an ATM in the corner, which is very useful! The staff in Spar are friendly. They make sarcastic comments about the excesses of caramel bunnies being bought or compliment students' studiousness. The manager gave out free copies of newspapers in 2009 the day Michael Jackson died because students were in such a panic. There is a pizza counter which makes mediocre pizza, but with a fast turnaround time and customisable toppings.
As of 2022, it is no longer a Spar, but a Londis, a different chain of convenience store.
2023 Campus Change
During sessions 1 and 2 of 2023, there are renovations taking place in the accommodation on the Glasnevin campus of DCU, where CTYI is hosted. Because of this, in 2023, CTYI will be hosted at the St. Patrick's College campus of DCU in Drumcondra. This will lead to be there being less people doing residential for that year.
Tradition
Pirate Wednesday
The first and second Wednesday of each session, students dress up in Pirate Attire, brandishing cutlasses, tricorn hats, and flags. Many students run around the campus shouting Pirate Phrases and pirate-related humour. In the unfortunate case that some field trips have been arranged for a Wednesday, the pirates go along to those too.
There are sometimes Pirate-themed activities for Pirate Wednesday, notably in 09.1, when the RAs arranged an evening Pirate Treasure Hunt around the whole campus!
During Session 2, Certain CTYIzens have been notable to not restrict their Pirate Attire to Wednesdays but dress swashbucklingly every day. The title of CTYI Pirate is passed down from a nevermore to their Apprentice on the Last Friday of Session 2.
Candle-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) in candles. The students crowd around the candles and sing songs. Those gifted with the gift of guitar play along and lead the song. It often rains, amplifies the crying. Since 2009, in Session 1 the candles are often arranged on top of a Snapple pyramid to spell out the words.
After twenty to forty minutes, the RAs send us up to bed.
On the Final Night, no student is willing to go to bed without a fight, and many Corridor Parties are held. Once students are pushed as far as their rooms, their room keys are taken and the doors are put on the latch so no students can escape. RAs and the Assistant Site Directors keep watch.
Favourite songs for the Candle-light Ceremony are:
- Good Riddance - Green Day
- When You're Gone - Avril Lavigne
- Save Tonight - Eagle-Eye Cherry
- It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) - REM
and of course,
- American Pie
Snapple Tower
During a session, people will buy bottles of the drink Snapple and donate them to the architect to construct a tower out of the bottles. There will be a designated architect who will build the tower with some help. In session 1, there is the Kevin Fletcher Bottle, which is passed down from architect to architect.
Chants
Chanting sessions are more of a thing in session 1 than session 2. Here are the chants: They are call and response with the part before the - being call and the part after the response.
OLD MAN! - GAY PORN ELDERLY GENTLEMAN! - HOMOSEXUAL PORNOGRAPHY (A chanting session will always start with this chant, but the rest can follow in any order)
HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO KICK A BABY? - IN THE FACE!
SINGLE FEMALE LAWYER! - HAVING LOTS OF SEX!
NOTHING! - BUT SHORTS
WHAT TEAM? - WILDCATS! WHAT TEAM? - WILDCATS! WHAT TEAM? - WILDCATS! WILDCATS! - GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME!
MERRY CHRISTMAS! - FROM VLADAMIR PUTIN!
WHERE’D YOU PUT THE POPCORN? - IN THE TOASTER! WHERE’D YOU PUT THE TOASTER? - IN THE MICROWAVE! WHERE’D YOU PUT THE MICROWAVE? - IN THE OVEN! WHERE’D YOU PUT THE OVEN? - OUT THE WINDOW!
GLORY TO JOHN! - DEATH TO HIS ENEMIES! GLORY TO HIS ENEMIES! - DEATH TO JOHN!
KILL THE SPARE! - AVADA KEDAVRA!
PILLOW! - MASTURBATION!
NO EGGS - NO PEACE (repeated until someone changes it)
WHAT DO WE WANT? - JACK! WHEN DO WE WANT IT? - JACK! JACK! - JACK JACK JACK JACK…
WHO PLAYS COUNTY? - NIALL PLAYS COUNTY! WHAT COUNTY? - WICKLOW! (Sometimes both responses are replaced with “Ben” or “Dexter”)
DADDY CURT’S - LITTLE BOYS! DADDY HURTS - LITTLE BOYS!
I LOST THE GAME! - I LOST THE GAME!
MARCO! - POLO!
CTYI Terminology
Some of this may differ from American CTY.
- Newbie - A person in their first year of CTYI
- RA - Residential Assistant
- TI - Teaching Instructor
- TA - Teaching Assistant
- CTYIzens - CTYI students
- Sportalians - Foreign language students, usually from Spain, Italy and Portugal who are on an English-language learning Summer camp at DCU at the same time as CTYI. Their reputation is quite seedy.
- Nevermore - Someone in their final year of CTYI or who has already finished, due to aging out of the programme.
- Nomore - Someone who is in their final year of CTYI, due to reasons other than age.
- Newbiemore - Someone who is in both their first and last year of CTYI at the same time.
- ARC - Assistant Residential Coordinator
- Session Whore - A CTYIzen who has gone to both sessions either in the same year or switching between them from year to year.
Other CTYI Information
Other Programmes ran by CTYI
Baby CTYI
CTYI also runs a non-residential primary school programme. There are Saturday classes during the school year, and a week-long course in the Summer. Since it is not possible for everyone in Ireland to commute to Dublin, there are multiple satellite sites such as the following.
- Cork
- Athlone
- Letterkenny
- Galway
Early University Entrance
EUE is a programme where Transition Year students in Ireland (aged 15-16 years old) take actual university modules in DCU for one day a week for a semester with an exam at the end which a normal university student would also be taking.
Early Research and Project Network
The aim of this project (ERPN) is to link academically gifted and highly motivated second-level students with tutors who can teach them the art of research and writing. Through self-inspired or prescribed research questions and projects, ERPN enables second level students to begin engaging in projects with a view to presentation and/or publication.
International Students at CTYI
CTYI has accepted international students for many years, with them making up 10 percent of the student population before the Covid-19 pandemic. CTYI can be an appealing choice due to being cheaper than American CTY, costing between €1800 and €2700 over the years to do residentially. It also takes seventeen year olds, which many sites in the USA do not.
