Xtreme Activities!

For our last TY activity together, we went to do Xtreme Activities. It was really fun and I had a great time. We did all sorts of things. From zip lining to scary obstacle courses.

My favourite activity was the obstacle courses. They were high up and so it was a bit intimidating to look down and see how high up you were. At one point, I felt like I was going to scream because I didn't realise my fear of heights. But then I realised that I was attached to the rope and I wouldn't fall, so that helped ease my fear. We did the second level and the third level. The third level was even higher than the second one which I thought would have been more scary but in fact it was more fun.

We also did rock climbing, trust excercises. The trust excercise was when some of us had to hold a rope attached to a person and make sure they didn't fall off. Others were doing the actual activity. They had to stack plastic boxes on top of each other in 10 minutes and see how high they can get. It was funny to watch them because some were screaming that they would fall off.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend the whole day there. We had to leave at around 1:30. But we got to go to Liffey Valley for our lunch.

It was a great day.

 

Scifest Part 2

Due to the fact, our group got through to the next round of Scifest, we were invited to go to Scifest which was being held in the Tallaght IT University. 

When I walked into the building, I was overwhelmed by all the schools in the building. I went to go to the notice board to see where our group was going to set up. Our number was 111. We had some troubles trying to actually find our spot but after a few minutes of wandering around, we found it. We went to hang up our posters and not even minutes after we did, our first judge came to our table. I was super nervous and I messed up a bit on my words. But when our second judge came, I was more relaxed and our group said more than we did at first. Sometimes, we had difficulty on deciding if it was a judge coming to us because the judges weren't labled, so it was hard to tell which one was a judge or not. Some teachers came to us and I thought they were judges and I ended up laughing about it because they would assure me, they weren't. 

Unfortunately, our group didn't win any prizes but luckily one of the students in our school did. The whole experience was worthwhile and I'm glad I got to participate. 

 

 

Retreat

On 13th May 2015, St. Wolstans had a retreat in the Maynooth University. At first, I thought that this trip would be boring and I wouldn't get anything from it. This is due to the fact that the last retreats we had, I didn't enjoy myself. But when we started the activities, I found myself laughing, taking part and actually having fun.

Our first activity was we had to link arms as tight as we could and four girls in the middle would try to break our arms apart. I was determined to win it. I held as tight as I could, hoping the bond wouldn't break. I was pulled and at one point I was scared that my jeans would be pulled down.



me and my partner won at the end and I was really proud of myself.

We did another activity which involved getting into certain numbers of groups. Sadly, I didn't win this one but it was entertaining to see the others play.

After we did the physical things, we sat down and had some deep conversations. We got into groups and were given a topic to discuss. Our topic was about; "If you could change one thing about your parents/caregiver etc, what would it be?" There also topics like "who has it easier boys or girls", that one took agesssssss.

Overall, it was a great experience and I hope to do something similar to that in the near future.

Swim A Mile, With A Smile :)

On Wednesday 6th 2015, we went to the National Aquatic Centre in Blanchardstown. It was a fun day. The swimming pools were huge and it was a same that we couldn't go on the slides or tour the place around. I know I'm going back there.

We had to swim a mile and we had a choice if we wanted to do it by ourself or get into a group. I felt like I couldn't possibly do 64 laps by myself, so I got into a group. When my group was finished swimming our first mile, we decided to swim another one.

I love swimming but I really need to work on my swimming skills. I was like a snail swimming. Everyone was passing me and I was there trying to catch my breath after every second like a dog. The water was only a meter deep.... And I was told that I was splashing the water like a seal.

After we finished with our swimming, we were brought to the Blanchardtown shopping centre. We had our lunch there and spent the rest of the day walking around.

Hip Hop

Every Sunday, we have hip hop class. Right now, we're learning a dance for our TY night. The song is a mash-up of "Break Free" by Ariana Grande and "Run The World" by Beyonce. I enjoy the dance classes because its a new thing to experience and its fun dancing with your friends and just mess around sometimes.

The dances itself are easy enough to learn. There are times where I have to repeat the dance step or make a mistake, but overall the dances are pretty easy to learn.

Spanish Quiz

This event was so unplanned for. Our Spanish teacher, came up to us in the morning and asked if we would like to participate in a Spanish quiz in Dublin on that very day. I was thinking, its TY, take a chance and do something different, so.... I did.

At 5 o'clock, we all met up at the school and went on a bus heading to Dublin. On our way there, we stopped by the school KH. I had no idea they were coming with us, which was also another thing that was unplanned for that day. I felt a bit intimated though, because KH won last year and I just literally signed up on the day, not ready at all. But ah well, YOLO right?

When we arrived at the place, we saw other schools and everyone looked like they knew so much Spanish. We sat at our designated table and got ready for the quiz.

the quiz itself, was also unplanned for. I thought the quiz was general Spanish, but no. It was totally different. I felt so unprepared and a bit bad about myself. But I tried to lighten up my mood and think of this as a fun quiz and not think too much of it. I ended up enjoying the quiz even though, we weren't the best but fortunately, we weren't the worst either. We got a lunch break and got free crisps and a can of drinks. I enjoyed that best. A girl gotta have her food.

KH ended up winning. The way back home was pretty fun. Our bus turned into a party bus and we got pizza on the way back.

The whole experience was quite lovely.

Gaisce...

In order to get our Gaisce bronze award, we had to complete our record sheet of activities and to go on the Gaisce trip. On Friday 24th 2015, St. Wolstan's 2015 TY group went on the Gaisce trip in Wicklow. We had to bring our food to cook there so everyone came in with big bags. It was quite heavy on the shoulders and the back, I must say. We left the school at around 2 and arrived at the Kippure centre (the place we were staying in) at around 3. We were assigned to our houses and went on the hike straight after. The hike was 13km. It was actually not that bad. The weather was pretty good and not too much rain. The mountains were hardest in my opinion. But when we got to the top, the view was amazing and truly breath-taking.

After the hike which took around 6-7 hours. We went to our houses to cook our dinners for the night. The group I was in, decided to cook enciladas and carbonara for dinner. That's when our home ec skills came in handy. I didn't stay up super late. At around 12;30, I went to bed. I was completely knackered. I set the alarm for 6:30, but I didn't get up till 7:30. The bed was too warm to leave. 

We cooked our breakfast which consisted of eggs, bacon and toast. Our meeting time was 9 and it was already 8:30 and we still weren't ready. We were running all around the place. We did our activities first which was really enjoying. We did abseiling, the leap of faith and archery. The abseiling was a bit frightening in the beginning. We had to stand at the edge of the wall and slowly start walking down while staying in a certain position or else we would of hit ourselves on the wall. The leap of faith was my favorite because we had to climb this really tall wooden post and when we got to the very top, we had to stand up and then jump. Our life was in the hands of other team members. I don't know about you, but I was scared as heck. Also archery was pretty cool. I got a shot close to the center, which I was very proud of. 

After our activities, we got a break for 15 minutes before our second hike. Our second hike was 12km and it lasted around 5-6 hours. It. Was. The. Worst. 

We were practically walking in a snow blizzard. We were all freezing and soaking wet. We walked through every pathway you could think of. We walked through spiky, pointy trees, rocky roads, boggy land, boggy wet land, boggy ice cold, wet land and a snow blizzard. I even saw some girls start to shed some tears. I wanted to quit so bad but where would I go? We were in the middle of no where. 

I don't regret walking that 25km hike though. It was a big accomplishment for us and I was pretty proud of myself of doing it. Although my body was aching, I feel like I can do anything now.

My First Driving Lesson!

On the 14th April 2015, Class Belle, got the opportunity to have a driving lesson in the Leinster Driving Campus. When we arrived at the area, you could see the driving course and some of us were very excited and some were not so excited...

One of the members of the campus told us to get into groups of three and two. Fortunately, I got into a group of two which meant more time to drive. We got to pick a car we wanted to drive in and a few minutes later, our instructor arrived. He was a kind and humorous person which helped while we were driving because there was no pressure.

My driving experience to say the least, was fun. I wasn't the best but I also wasn't the worst. I learned a lot of techniques and tips when driving. There was a prize at the end for the most improved driver and that person was to get a free driving lesson at the campus. I was very eager to win but unfortunately, I didn't. I t was alright though, I still had great fun.

After our driving lesson, there came the theory part. We went back into our groups and we did the theory quiz. It consisted of 40 questions. We were informed before that normally before taking this test, a person was to study around 700-800 questions. The person was to learn all of the questions off by heart in order to fully pass the test. My team, however only got 34 out of 40. Then we got to do this fun game where we had to make up the most funniest sign we could think of and try to make as much people to laugh. It was quite funny.

My experience overall, was amazing and I hope to go back again.

 

Green Day

On the 13th March 2015, we had our annual 'Green Day'. Everyone was to come in wearing something green. Anything at all, be it a hairband or sparkly shoes. We were to also donate 2 euro to charity. It was a fun day for a good cause.

At lunch, there was a little show at the courtyard. I saw girls Irish dancing and it seemed like great fun. Everyone was cheering and overall having a good time. 

If you walked around the school, you would see different types of unique costumes. I saw leprechauns, fairies, soldiers, football players, farmers and many many more. The school was all green, literally. 

Selma

On Tuesday 10th March 2015, the whole of transition year went to go see the film 'Selma'. We went to the Liffey Valley Vue cinema to see it. The history teachers thought it was be a great way to let us learn more about the Civil Rights Act.

We left the school at around 12:30. When we got to the cinema, everyone raced to the cashiers to get their snacks. You could just see the line packed with students from our school. After we got our snacks, we went and watched the movie.

The movie was about an hour and a half long and I liked to be honest. It really opened my eyes to what happened not very long ago. The ending was the best part. Things were starting to look brighter and Martin Luther King did one of his inspirational speeches.

                               

Our Drum Session

The drum lesson was great but my hands were aching by the end of it. We got to play on these bongos and some were big, some were small. Each drum had a beautiful design to them and it was hard not to look away.

Dave, our instructor was really cool. He gave us these cool rhythms and rhymes to sing when we were playing and it helped when trying to keep the beat. My favourite one was "catch the fish, lets go catch the fish".

Whenever we played the djmebe (the african drums), the whole room would be filled with the sound of our hands banging on the drums. I bet you could hear our drum playing all the way in the other building!

Overall, it was a fun experience.

                                             

SciFest

On March 6th 2015, St. Wolstan's Community School held the Scifest Event. All the transition years had projects to present and I was very excited to present mine.

My project was "The investigation into the affects of retention of information amongst teenagers". In all honesty, I actually enjoyed doing the project. Yes, it was stressful and time pressuring, but in the end it was all worth it.

When I was presenting to the judges, it was no surprise I was nervous as heck. I even broke the scifest wistband that was given to the group. Although, by the time the second judge came to our table, the nerves were beginning to go away and I felt that we presented our project very well. I was proud to be doing this topic for our project. It made me learn a lot and I can use the information I found out in the upcoming future.


When the judges were finished judging, other school years came into the hall to look at our projects. A few came to our table and they asked us a few questions. We gave them tips on how our information would help them with exams and studying and I hope they learned something from our presentation.

At around 3:00, the results were being announced. My nerves started kicking in again and I prayed we would get through to the next round. And we did! Woohh!!

When they called out our project, I was so surprised, happy, shocked all at the same time. It took me awhile to stand up and stand with the rest of the winners. I couldn't stop smiling. I was a great feeling to win something for your hard work.

 

Mini Company Presentation Day

After months of planning and organizing, we finally get to present our mini company ideas. Although, it was a stressful moment. You had to get your book report to perfection, make sure you products weren't damaged and you had to speak to the judges while you r whole year group was watching you. That isn't scary at all (note the sarcasm). 

At 9:05, everyone was to go to the hall and set up their mini companies there. I was very nervous to present because once again, I was to talk to a crowd. There were two judges and one of the judges was a past teacher in the school. #ShoutouttoMsLeahy. The two judges came around to all the stalls and looked carefully at each of the products. 

The it was time for the presentations. The first few groups were to speak to the judges while us, the year group, watched them. But luckily, everyone was too noisy so they moved the judges to the library which meant you could present in private. When it came to our presentation, my heart was in my throat. I got the nerves when I started speaking and stuttered a bit. Fortunately, I got through it without too much stress. 

Mini Company was a great experience, and I am glad I got the opportunity to take part in it. 

Briery Gap

On January 27th 2015, the whole of transition year went to Mullingar for the Briery Gap competition. We were all excited and nervous to present our plays to an audience. After registration, we headed off. 

We were one of the first schools to arrive, so we got to tour the place. We had our own dressing rooms and it made me feel like I was in the 'High School Musical' movie. I was very anxious to start the play and I was hoping I didn't mess anything up. I had a small part in the play but I still wanted to give it my all. 

When it was time to go on stage, that's when my nerves kicked in full blast. I seemed very calm but inside I was dying from fright. I wasn't used to performing in front of crowds, be it small or big. I had stage fright, to say the least. Luckily, it went alright in the end. I didn't forget my lines or got sick on stage. I was happy I tried something new and faced my fears. 


For the rest of the day, we watched the rest of the plays. Some were good, some weren't the best but overall, I enjoyed the range of different plays. 

At around 3:30, we headed back to the school. Some of us came back feeling defeated. The judge's comments weren't exactly what we wanted to hear. Fortunately, our teachers boasted our confidence up and assured us that we did great. 

Young Scientist Exhibition

On the 8th January 2015, Transition Years went to the Young Scientist Exhibition. One group in our year took part in the exhibition and their project was on "Ideal Studying Conditions". 

The event was held at the RDS Arena. The place was packed to say the least. It was filled with interesting and unique experiments. I walked around and got to see alot of the projects. The Selfie one was my favourite.  

The was a fun filled one and I hope I will get to go back again soon. 

The Elf Musical

The whole Transition Year went to the Elf Musical. It was an event mostly everyone was looking forward to. The musical was held at the Bord Gais Arena in Dublin. The arena looked big and fancy. Our seats were at the very top on the second floor of the arena. So the view was good. 

The musical overall, was very enjoying. The singers were fantastic, the acting was great and all the stage changes, music and backgrounds were amazing. I even singed along at times. I really had a fun time.