Opera :O

Last Tuesday we went to ....don don don wait for it - 'THE OPERA'. Exciting stuff no? We saw it in Rathmines Swan Cinema and it was streamed from the Met Opera House in New York. The opera we saw was Don Giovanni - Its a story about a man who travels all of Europe 'wooing' women, causing them to fall in love with him , and then he's off travelling again, leaving them heartbroken. After 4 and a half hours of ear shattering music we all stumbled back through the cinema doors, to get onto the bus again! I actaully thought it was really good , I just would have prefered it if it was a bit shorter. It had english subtitles at the bottom of it, so at least we had some clue what was going on! There was an interview halfway through with some of the singers, and one of them said they have been singing that role for the past 8 years which I thought was really cool , so they go around the world , singing that role internationally, and they kind of feel that they own that role which was really interesting! :) I really enjoyed the day :)x
anyway I better be going
Blog you later :)

And the winner is ........

I want to nominate Caitriona Eves for her amazing blog, that are always so funny, and also for being such an amazing friend! love you x

Read her rhyming blog about work experience here!
http://tienies.blogspot.com/2011/11/neven-heaven.html

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its off to work we go!

Well last week we all went off to work experience! Apparently the school was really quiet for the week without us TYs tearing around the place! I was working in Ballymaloe Cookery School and Restaurant, with the Irish chefs, mother and daughter Rachel and Darina Allen. It was really cool to see her in the flesh , and I saw how hard she works to be where she is. It was really eye opening. I got to cook lots of new recipes, and best of all I got to taste it which I loved! yum :) If anyone has any interest in becoming a chef or just likes cooking theres a 3 month course at Ballymaloe, where you learn everything from milking a cow to making puff pastry from scratch!
After spending the week there I'm dying to go back, (but I better start saving as its kinda pricy!) I'll try drop a few hints in time for Christmas! :)
I think the best part about work experience was how genuinely nice they were to me, it's a family run business and it was really good to see how all the family were involved - from working in the kitchen to the office. When I spoke to one women, she said she had worked there for 39 years - which was really nice to see! There was also a lot of young people worked there too and it was really fun!
If there's anyone who would like to go there for work experience aswell - I would recomend it! They treat you really well and they show you all areas of a career in food!

TMI - TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!

So much has happened since I last posted so this post is going to be overloaded with whats been going on! I'll try and make it somewhat understandable :)
- in art we're working on jewellery making, and it's supposed to be based on harvest and halloween festivals, we're using wire and paper maché!
- in geography we're still doing our round the world trip so we have to work on our presentation so im looking at mexican dishes to cook for my presentation in class! any suggestions?
- in science my group failed to get into the BT Young Scientist Competition :( but we've set our sights on Scifest instead that we can enter our project into :)
- in english we're reparing a drama, so right now we're writing the script and then we'll start to act it out
- soon we'll be going to the opera, :L Don Giovanni , hopefully it will be good , i went to the opera once before , but i was like 4 so i dont think it counts :)
- in Home Ec we're creating an outfit from a plain white t shirt and trousers, the colour is black and white so we're doing half a bride and a half a groom in one outfit !I'll post pictures when its ready

- and most importantly next week its WORK EXPERIENCE! I'll be working in a restaurant / hotel called Ballymaloe House and I cant wait to see what life as an actual chef is ! Im so excited !

So as you can see Im pretty busy, you can see why i haven't blogged in so long!!
hanks for reading :)

thats so awesome bláthsome!

Last week, we all headed off to Newbridge to take part in our minicompany workshop. By the end off it we were all really stressed out - the Director said that next time she sees us we have to have our product! :L :P
So we have tons of work to do - our product is a removable portable pocket that holds all your essentials. We FINALLY decided on our name - Bláthsome! Bláth is flower in Irish, because there's a flower that clips on over it, and the 'some' as in 'awesome'. Anywho Orla the director gave us tons of marketing strategies and tips and it was a really good day :)

cool pics :D

Anyway my last post was kinda serious so here are some really cool photos of food:D

Have to say - so proud of myself right now for figuring out how to upload a picture (and for taking these amazing photos !)
Anyway - Im gonna go get a sandwich :D
LATER XX

BLOG ACTION DAY !

i love food , the topic of this years blog action day. in fact - right now im munching on a bar of chocolate :D . i love cooking, and sharing food with friends, but a lot of people arent as lucky as that.
Last week we had to do a project on the Milllemium Development Goals, and I learned that there are 900 people in the world living on a dollar a day - around the price of a bar of chocolate, (putting away my bar of chocolate guiltily and wiping my face! :L jk)
But seriously - there are people who have to spend 80% of their income on food, yet in the 3rd World people spend that dollar on a snack, without a second thought.
Hmmmm - this topic has already got me thinking about how unfair that is. There are so many different attitudes towards food - for some, its something to share, for others - it's something they have to spend all day worrying about how they will be able to put the next meal on the table, and for others, its something they feel guilty about after eating.
Its so weird to think how unequal the world is - on one hand there are people obsessed with food and eating disorders and diets and on the other hand there are people starving, who would do anything for a good meal.
Anyway - thanks for reading this, i learned a lot
til next time xx

This *monkey* is bananas - B-A-N-A-N-A-S! :)

This week we're preparing for our fun walk, in aid of charity, so each year is given a colour and every class makes up a dance for it- TYs are yellow so all of Eriú chose to do bananas. Anyway we have to do a banana dance *peel banana peel peel banana!* and we're using every class we can to try and practise! We're in IT rote now and we're not allowed practise til everyone does a blogpost and says 5 things to do :) here goes!

THINGS TO DO
-practise fun walk dance !:D
-organise work experience (yesterday me and my friend decided to apply to the army - ATTENION - LEFT RIGHT LEFT! )
-bring in bananas to bribe the judges of the dance competition - full of pottasium ! lol
- finish my speech in religion on the Millemium Development Goals :L (due yesterday)
- LOVE SHANNON <3 (she told me to write that)
- finish our fashion project - we're doing a bride and groom theme - all in 1 outfit !:)
gotta go :) x

HASTA LA VISTA BABY!

Well I'm off to mexico! Adíos! Not really - unfortunately! It's the geography project we're doing atm - we plan a 'round the world trip. We have to visit 2 second world countrys, 2 third world and 2 first world! First stop: Japan. One problem - i hate sushi, although that shouldn't matter as I'll only be experiencing it from the comforts of the computer room!Well IT class is over so i gotta go
Slán :)

Results !

On Wednesday, after coming back from Carlingford we came in to school to get the results of the Junior Cert - I was really nervous and my hands were shaking so much I could barely open the envelope! Surprisingly I didn't do as badly as I thought I would have,  and after every one stopped jumping around and hugging and crying, we headed out to celebrate! (I know we're not allowed mention names but congratulations to a certain Elmhead who recieved AMAZING results!) After our night out and all the excercise we did in Carlingford we could barely move on Thursday morning so when the time came for pilates we all just took a little nap on our mats! Now that the exams aren't hanging over our heads we can really enjoy our year!
Cya next time xx

Carlingford ;D

Carlingford was brilliant! It was so worth getting up at 6 o clock in the morming! We got on the bus at 7 and set off - we startd with team building activies and then we were given these really flattering (not!) army uniforms to put on and we climbed up a huge hill to play laser tag in the forest! We were seperated into 2 teams and we were given a mission to carry out! We all got really into it (I think wearing real army uniforms helped) and really competitive! We were all exausted by the end of the day but we all relaxed by the fire , singing and stuff. They gave us really nice food too - I'm surpised I didnt burst!The next day we trekked up the huge mountain to go abseiling - a very frightening experience! I was only about 3 metres off the ground but I was terrified!We all headed home muddy and tired and in wet clothes but we were really happy with ourselves! I want to go back !
Cya next time!

:)

Yesterday, our class Eriu (still have no idea how to spell it!) had a socail development class which was really cool, we all got to know each other and bond. We started off telling each other our embarrassing stories (some more embarrassing than others!) and then we drew posters, and got divided into groups by personality types.
Apparently I'm a Sanguine - colour yellow , AKA 'Crazy Cows!', We waved out the window at Johnny Doyle. a 'famous' footballer, but I've never heard of him before! ;L
Then today we had Pilates, (which I can barely walk after), photography and Charleston dancing (the 1920s music is stilll stuck in my head!).
And this time 4 days all of us TYs will be in Carlingford canoeing and climbing and whatever else we do there! It's gonna be great :)
Lovin' TY so far

TY so far!

Hey, I'm Grace.
This is my first ever blog and I'm really looking forward to it!
TY has been great so far, we have got loads of  fun stuff lined up for us , like every Thursday we have photography and Charleston dancing and pilates (which was really tiring but so fun !) Then we've got a fashion project to do, where we design an outfit from a plain t-shirt and trousers! I was really excited to hear we're going to be doing a musical this year too - The Sound of Music! I want to get involved in that but maybe I'll just work backstage or something - I wouldnt want to kill anyone with the sound of my singing!! Next week we're going to Carlingford, which will be amazing :D I think what I like best about TY so far is that every day is different and its never boring ! This year is going to be awesome :)
That's all for now!
Grace xx