Polish student Miroslawa Gorecka, whose Exam Diary in The Irish Timesin June generated huge interest, describes her reaction on receiving her results yesterday
"I'm sitting on a train on my way to Dublin. It's Leaving Cert results day and I'm off to visit the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
His officials will stamp my results with a declaration that they are authentic. This will prove to my fellow countrymen and women that I did not buy them on the black market. Only in Poland would such a stamp be necessary.
There's no question but that this Leaving Certificate is real. I have 18 months of hard labour behind me to prove it.
When I started the Leaving Cert diary I was full of confidence. It didn't matter, I said, that I had only come to Ireland 18 months previously. I could overcome the new subjects, new language, new school, new food and the terrible weather. I told Irish Times readers that I could get the points for medicine despite all the obstacles. I spent 18 months with no TV, radio or internet - just my school books for entertainment. I learned Shakespeare for the first time.
By the end of June, I started to worry that I had made a very public fool of myself, a national fool of myself. I had my tickets to Poland booked for 5pm on results day and was planning to make a quick exit in dark glasses, my crumpled Leaving Cert shoved to the bottom of my suitcase where the passes and fails could not be seen.
No need! I got 5 A1s and a B2 in English! That's As in biology, chemistry, honours maths, business studies and Polish.
I'm crying on the train. I can't believe my luck. I have 580 points. I probably have enough for medicine in NUI Galway, my first choice, or for the College of Surgeons. I know I have enough for medicine in universities in Liverpool, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine.
Instead of missing out on medicine, I now have to choose between five countries where I can study to be a doctor. It's incredible. I'm 16 years old and the whole world has just opened its arms to me.
I haven't told my mother yet - she's a GP working in Skerries but she's in Poland now. I think I'll save the news until I get home. Then I will look up all my Polish friends and we will go and celebrate with music and some drinks in the local bar at home. I can't wait to share my great news with them.
I'm leaving Ireland for now. I had a great summer in Galway working in a veterinary clinic. I could be a vet now, either!
The possibilities are endless. The Leaving Cert and the Irish education system have been brilliant for me - the world is my oyster now.
Who knows where in the world I will take my Leaving Certificate. One thing is sure - I won't be selling it on the black market.
All that remains is to say a big 'thank you' to all the Irish teachers who helped me so much and to all the good friends I made here. Goodbye Ireland - for now. See you in September!"
Miroslawa Goreckais a former student at Drogheda Grammar School