It’s been a year since I first met my girl, and it’s been an emotional year for me as well.
But now, as I read a book about young people in the world today, I’m reminded that we are not a generation, but an entire generation.
We’re a very young group.
There’s a lot of pressure on us to become the next generation, and we have to learn from each other.
So I think it’s important for young people to have a perspective on life, because they’re living in the same era as the first generation, who were living in a different time and space.
But we have the same challenges.
I think the biggest lesson we can learn from the past two years is that we all have to be resilient, because if we don’t, then we won’t be able to build a future together.
– Sophie Kavanagh, 17 years old, from Dublin, IrelandThe stories are real: I met my sister in 2014, after meeting my friend, and I’ve known her ever since.
My dad died in 2016, and my mum and sister were married in 2017.
There were a lot to deal with, but I think I learned the most from her.
She was an extraordinary person.
I learned that if you put yourself in someone else’s shoes, you have to ask yourself how much you’re willing to sacrifice for that person.
And if you sacrifice enough for them, it becomes their story.
She gave me the confidence that I can do whatever I want.
I’ve always wanted to do something more, but at the same time I’ve realised I have to choose between my career and my happiness.
– Sinead McBride, 17, from Belfast, Northern IrelandA year ago, I was living in Dublin, and the city is so small, and there’s just so much to do, but there’s also so much going on around me.
My school was in a big building, and everyone is in their cubicles, or in their apartments, working in their homes.
The streets were so busy.
I went out to get coffee with my friends, but it was the first time I had been outside in a year.
I wanted to go back to my apartment, because I had so much time to myself.
But I realised I’d forgotten my phone, so I went to the cafe and bought a new one.
It was an amazing experience, because when I was a teenager, I didn’t have many friends.
So now I’ve had many, and that was a big learning moment.
– Rebecca D’Arcy, 17 from Dublin with her parents, brothers and sisters, and sisters-in-law.
I feel like we are all living in our own little world.
I’m very much aware of how big our world is, and how important it is.
– Hannah Hannon, 19, from London, UKFor me, it was just an adventure.
My parents bought a house in London in 2020, so when they left, I stayed with them for a few months.
I met a lot more people that year.
It helped me to realise that I have friends in a lot bigger places, and people that I want to talk to.
– Niamh Hagan, 20, from Dundalk, IrelandI went to university in Dublin in 2017, but the city changed a lot in the year before I started.
It became so crowded.
It felt like I was just moving to a different city.
I realised that there were so many different people in my life.
It’s so important to build friendships, to talk about life and work and whatever, because there’s so much happening.
– Claire O’Brien, 21, from Manchester, EnglandWhen I moved to Dublin from Manchester in 2016 to start my PhD, there were only two universities in the city.
It really opened up the world of education for me.
I moved from university to university, and all of my friends were moving out of the city to do things with me.
So the relationship between the students and the professors was really important.
– Rachel McCrae, 19 from Belfast who works in London, and is studying architecture.
The fact that there are so many opportunities to connect with other people is fantastic, but when you’re not in a classroom, you don’t have that space to meet new people.
I like to talk, but that’s not the way I’m going to work.
It doesn’t feel like I’m in a place where I’m having a great time.
– Megan McGovern, 17 (left), from Cardiff, WalesI started studying architecture at the Royal College of Art in 2020.
My dream was to build something that would allow people to walk around a city in a more natural way.
The building itself is amazing, and they have really nice space.
I love to do architecture in a studio, and to walk through the whole building.
But sometimes I can’t.
I can see the buildings