New Beginnings

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Xtreme Activities

On Wednesday 20th we went to Xtreme activity center.

When we got off the bus, we were split into groups. I was with the last half of my class, people with last names beginning with K and downwards. Then we put on harnesses and helmets and set off to our first activity. The first thing we did was the highest obstacle course, which you can see in the picture above. We were attached on to some ropes that were attached to a metal beam above us. The ropes rolled along the beam as you walked. This activity was definitely the scariest because I was wobbling so much I always felt like I was going to fall off.
The next thing we did was a climbing wall. I was kinda wary about this because I was never very good at them but I gave it a go and got to the top! We did the zipline next. That was really fun but I didn't find it scary at all. We then took a five minute break.
After our break we did archery where we all channeled our inner Katniss. That was really fun. Unfortunately nobody hit the bullseye. Our last activity was the fan which basically meant were were tied to a rope and had to step off the top of the building. It was actually really fun!

Overall this was definitely one of the best trips in TY x

Swim a Mile

On Wednesday 6th of May, we had Swim a Mile with a Smile for Ian Daly. This is a special charity event held every year to raise money for Crumlin Children's Hospital and Barretstown. It's held in memory of Ian Daly, who was a boy that died of a very rare form of cancer at the age of 11.

We set off early on Wednesday morning en route to the National Aquatic Center. When we arrived Brian Daly was there and he explained to us what we had to do. Unfortunately I was unable to swim so a few other girls and I walked down to the poolside while everyone else got changed.

When all the other girls arrived, the event began. Some girls were in groups and others swam the mile on their own, but the overall objective was to swim 64 lengths, and each length was 25 metres long. All the girls who weren't swimming were lap counting. We had special boards that were visible to the swimmers and showed them how many lengths they had left to swim.

Eventually everyone finished their mile and was extremely proud of themselves. We all received a t-shirt and a photo was taken of us at the poolside.

Overall the day was very fulfilling and it was all for a good cause. Even though I didn't swim I was still very happy that I took part.

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Driving Me Crazy

On Monday this week our class traveled to the Leinster Driving Campus to do a special TY workshop on driver theory and practical, real-life driving lessons. We were split into two groups, A and B. Our group did the Driver Theory section first. Within our group we were split into groups of three. Each group was given a real life theory test and was asked to complete it. My group was made up of myself, Eimear and Aoife. We tried extra hard because the instructor said that whoever got 40/40 on there first try would win a voucher.
Unfortunately we were unlucky and got 34 our first try, 34 our second try and eventually passed with a 35 on our last attempt. Lucy's group won the voucher which was expected as she had completed her real theory test a few weeks ago.
Another part of the theory section was to show us the effect of alcohol and drugs on sight and depth perception. We had to put on "Beer Goggles" and pick up a cone, place it on top of another and give the instructor a high five. The results were very funny, Zave especially as she ended up kicking the cone before reaching for it so she was chasing the cone around the room. For my turn he attached the cone to the roof. It didn't take me long to find it which was fortunate because it would have been a pain to be staggering around for ages without my full vision. He said he always did that for the tallest person in the group which happened to be yours truly. Thankfully the theory section was really fun and all that was left now was actually driving a car.

Each of our groups was put in a car and we took turns to drive it. We were all taught the basics, such as starting and stopping, bends and corners and indicating. On our second turn we were taught how to do harder things such as roundabouts, junctions, hill starts and reversing. I wasn't the best driver and it seemed to the instructor that I was very fond of the grass as I kept edging onto it.
Overall this experience was really good and I learned a lot of things from it, one of those being how to drive a car.

"Speed Dating"

On Friday 20th, we went to Salesians College, the local boys school (gasp), to do French speed dating or "conversational exchange" as the teachers liked to call it.
We each had to spend two minutes talking to a boy in French as our teachers laughed at us. I managed to embarrass myself in as many ways possible but still managed to walk out with my head held high (ish).
Overall it was a great experience and I did learn from it. I slowly became more confident throughout the process and felt like I could say more about myself without stuttering or letting out a nervous giggle. Unfortunately, some of the boys didn't feel as comfortable as I did and were really awkward when I tried to start conversations with them. At least we knew we weren't the only ones who were scared.
Well it was fun as well as mortifying.... A bientot!

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Review...

A lot has happened since I last posted, so here's a review on what has been going on lately.

Lollipop Day

On the 27th of February we had Lollipop Day, which is a charity event for esophageal cancer. Our year arrived at the Powerscourt Center and received t-shirts, caps and boxes of lollipops. Our task was to go out and sell these lollies to people and therefore raise money for cancer. Each lollipop was two euro and we raised a lot of money for esophageal cancer. A group of us also busked on Grafton Street for the charity as well.

Scifest

On Friday the 6th of March we had Scifest. Our project had been completed the night before, which meant we were actually organised in comparison to the other groups who were finishing theirs about an hour before the judging. Our project "Caffeine Craze" actually went down quite well with the judges which was really good. We got through to the finals in IT Tallaght which was great

Wesley Choir Competition

On the same Friday we had our Wesley Choir Competition. We had been practicing "Rule the World" by Take That all year and we finally got the chance to perform it before the judges. It went really well and we were really proud of ourselves. Unfortunately we didn't win anything but we found out we were only two points off coming third. The choirs who did win deserved the prize very much.

Hockey Leinster Final

On Monday, the junior hockey team, which is made up of third years and TYs, including myself, played our Leinster Final against Skerries. It was held in the neutral ground of Three Rock Hockey Club and the other TYs and minor hockey teams came to support. We were all very nervous about this match seeing as it was the final and the last time we played Skerries we had lost and suffered a few injuries (including a broken finger). As a result we did not play our best, but we fought well and unfortunately lost the match. Although we lost, we were all very proud because no hockey team in St. Wolstans has ever made it to that stage in the competition before and we were the first team to do it in the 60 year history of St. Wolstans. Overall I think we did very well and we are still yet to play the Northside league, which we are very confident about winning.

Selma

On Tuesday 10th of March we went to the cinema in Liffey Valley to see "Selma", the film about Martin Luther, as part of our History course. We filled our arms with popcorn before heading into Screen 7. The movie was very good and had great moments of tension and a great soundtrack and I learned a lot about the American Civil Rights movement.

Lá Glas

Today, because of St. Patrick's Day next week, we have a non-uniform day. Everyone is wearing green to commemorate St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. At lunch we will have a céilí and judging for the best dressed competition. There are farmers, sports players and "irish mammies" wandering around the school. It will be be a tough competition. Overall this is a fab day filled with patriotic pride for Ireland as a country.

Well that's all for the moment x

    

Winning Things?

Last Saturday, I was part of the Junior Hockey Team in our match against St. Andrews. It was a play off match and whoever won was going to get into the Leinster quarter finals. The match was very close. We drew the match, so there was ten minutes extra time, five minutes each half. We also drew that. Then it went to penalty flicks. Our goalie was quite wary of these as she had never had to defend penalties before. She did very well and we drew these penalties too. Then it came to sudden death penalties. Our team went first, with Roisin coming up to the mark. She scored the goal and now all that needed to happen was for Susan to save the other teams penalty. We were all very anxious to see if she would succeed. As you can probably guess from the title of this post she saved it! We returned home, triumphant quarter finalists.

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On Monday this week we found out the results of the drama competition we had entered in the Mullingar Arts Center. I wrote about this experience in my last post. Ms Guilfoyle rang up the organiser and after a few tense moments we found out that we had gotten through to the finals in Cork! I was so proud of our drama group and we did so well.

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Yesterday we had our mini company school finals. Our presentation went well. Everyone in our group spoke clearly, looked confident and remembered all they had to say. We waited for a few hours for the results and unfortunately we didn't get through to the county finals but we won best marketing plan for our costumes, leaflets and various posters. We were all very proud of ourselves and very relieved, because in fact we did not want to get through. All is well :)