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.