I’m Eilish (pronounced Eye-lish – don’t ask. My parents decided to give myself and all of my siblings the hardest names for anyone to pronounce), 19, currently in second year of architecture school in Queens University Belfast.
I grew up in Bath, thanking my parents nearly everyday for bringing me up in such a beautiful city. Staying a resident of Bath until we moved just up the road to Somerset; suddenly introduced to more farmland and tractors than I thought possible.
Although many people don’t have this experience, I was lucky enough to know what I wanted to do from very young. Originally I wanted to be a doctor, but my older brother also decided to choose the same career path, but being my stubborn self I decided to go a different direction. We had a family friend, Mark, who was an Architect (I owe where I am today to him), talking about a building he was designing and I was intrigued about everything he was saying. I was obsessed.
From then on I started to draw my “dream house” on 6 a4 sheets (all stuck together with sticky tape), not knowing that this was the start of what I would be doing nearly everyday in designing. I kept redoing these “dream houses” over and over, changing small bits that I didn’t like. Every Easter I would set up an easter egg hunt for my family, with a map of the house drawn on small bits of paper for them to follow. 2005, the ‘year of the computer’. I started my easter egg hunt maps using no other than PowerPoint to draw a plan of my house. Here is the result of my attempted plan (take note of how large a small shed is in comparison to the large living room):
Knowing my career path, choosing my GCSE’s and A Levels became easy. Completing Maths, Biology and Graphic Design at A Level. After doing graphic design I soon found sweet comfort in one software…. Apple. It took over my life, from iPod’s (the first shuffle) to iPhone to my Macbook Pro, I now cannot go back, no matter how much my mac fails me (which is often, I have bad luck when it comes to technology). You will hear me talk about my MacBook Pro FAR too much.
After going through the painful process of UCAS, I got accepted in all of the 5 universities I applied for. Then came the hard bit…. the decision of where to go. If anyone knows me well enough they would know how indecisive I am, even finding it difficult to choose between chocolate or vanilla ice cream, let alone Universities. But after visiting a family member who was already at student at Queens, I fell in love with the Architecture Studio – I even had my OWN desk (for anyone who doesn’t understand how this was such a deal breaker; imagine trying to carry a table size drawing board into class every day).
So, in September 2012 I started Queens as a fresh faced 18 year old; I thought I knew all about what Architecture Stage One would entail. I studied the course details, I knew how the modules worked, I knew the work was going to be hard, but I wasn’t prepared, I mean what could be harder than A Levels?! I was wrong. It was a lot harder, a lot longer hours and a lot more effort, but it was different, I wanted to be there. Our small class of 60 soon bonded together, becoming friends with people who wanted to be there just as much as I did. I knew how long the course would be, 7 years of hard work and hand in’s, but I couldn’t wait to get stuck in.
I soon realised that I didn’t know everything like I thought I did. I realised that I wasn’t instantly good at everything we learnt. But, before I knew it my class became like a second family, helping one another when we needed it.
First year became like a blur. When people say university life goes quickly, I wasn’t sure I believed them until the summer arrived and first year was over. Now in second year of Architecture School, it’s nothing like I imagined it to be like, but I truly agree with people when they say your time at university is the best time of your life.
The Architecture Studio 