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.