I lived on pasta and ham sandwiches, I used to crave going home

Emer Fitzgerald is forgetting when she graduated. “It was 2007. No, wait 2011, what am I saying? Last November anyway.”

DCU SU’s first Marketing and Communications officer is still settling in. She got the job two months ago and says, “I’m so busy I really wonder what they did when there was no-one here”.

Emer studied Communications in DCU before interning in two different PR firms. She said, “It was fantastic and great experience but unpaid so it was tough living in Dublin.”

She’s currently doing a part time postgrad in digital marketing.

She says, “My role consists of the rebranding of DCU SU – the new logo, internal and external campaigns.” She is the also the mind behind the small cutouts of Ed Collie and Cillian. “There’s pictures of the guys everywhere, they hate me!”

She edits greatcraic.ie. “We decided to scrap Campus – it was very costly and not effective enough so we launched a new e-zine instead”

I looked at the website. One article was how to get the shift in DCU. Another was on looking stylish in pyjamas. She’s already looking for student photographers and feature writers.

Emer was chair of Dance Soc in her final year and represented Ireland at the world hip-hop championships in Las Vegas.

She said, “I committed myself completely to Dance soc. I’m originally from laois and there was no hiphop dancing there so it was Leally exciting to start in DCU.”

She described moving to Dublin in first year. “I was so scared because all my friends went to Galway and there was no-one else coming to Dublin. But then I remember when I arrived in Larkfield and met my roommate Kerry she was just so like me. I remember peeking in the door and I saw a pair of ugg boots and fake tan and I thought grand. We’ll get on.”

She was never involved with the SU and says, “I think there’s a stigma attached to the students’ union, like they might be a bit nerdier you know because they’re political and they’re not afraid to speak out and make things happen and that can be a bit intimidating. This year we’re trying to reach out – not just to the students who get involved naturally but to the majority of students who won’t get involved.”

Emer described her first year  DCU. “I actually lived on pasta and ham sandwiches. I used to crave going home on Fridays to my mam’s cooking, to my bed and to a clean house.”

“When you start it’s all about having a good time and not having to worry or have that structured lifestyle you have in secondary school. I went out all the time. I went to everything. Then I got involved in my course and started to take it a bit more seriously.”

Were there any wild parties? She said, “Probably my biggest story is in second year when we got evicted. It was horrendous, yeah. We ended up having a neon party and we had neon lights and neon paint and neon everything. The place was just crazy. Maybe I shouldn’t put this in.”

She laughs. “I didn’t tell my mam. I just said I was moving home early.”