Wednesday 23 May 2012

Geography Project - Part 2 of 5 - First Stop - Beijing!


So from the topic of cycling I was brought to Beijing! Did you know that there are about a billion bicycles in the world, and that over half of them are from China?! That’s probably where that song ‘9 million bicycles in Beijing’ from Katie Melua came from, although '9 million' might be a bit of an exaggeration!

So here's a little information on the city of Beijing!
 I discovered that Beijing is capital of the People's Republic of China, and it is the nation's political, economic, cultural, educational and international trade and communication centre! (deep breath!) . It’s located in northern China, near the port city of Tianjin and it’s partially surrounded by Hebei Province. It’s also one of the most important transportation centres of China and most popular way of entering the country.

Beijing is one of the six ancient cities in China, has been the heart and soul of politics and society throughout its long history and as a result there is a wealth of discovery to intrigue travellers as they explore the city's ancient past and exciting modern development. It has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, with about 140 million Chinese tourists and 4.4 million international visitors in a year.
One of the most famous things about China is the Great Wall, which can be seen form space, and goes through Beijing.

You haven’t been to Beijing if you haven’t watched a Peking opera, and it’s one of the most important aspects of Chinese culture. Peking opera is a combination of songs, dialogues, fighting, acrobatics, and more. Even if  you don’t enjoy it,you can’t deny that it’s one “unique” show.
When you order in restaurants, don’t expect to receive a dish just enough for yourself because food in Beijing is served family style and meant to be shared! More food in my book is always a plus!




Tuesday 15 May 2012

Geography Project - Part 1 of 5

So picking up where I left off last time, I've been looking up cycling and bikes, as part of national Bike Week, and this blog post is part 1 of 5 instalments, where I'll be linking different things round the world, so you can see just how much of a 'small world' it really is! I have to say it’s really interesting so far! 

Here's some random Bike and Cycling facts just to entertain you and educate you! :

  • There are about a billion bicycles in the world!
  • The first bicycles were made without pedals. 
  • Cycling burns 600 calories an hour.
  • Twenty bicycles can be parked in the same space taken up by one car.
  •   In China, bicycles out-number cars 250 to 1.
  • The longest “tandem” bike was over 20 meters long and it seated 35 people. It was recorded in the history of dumb ideas as a prime example.
  • Maintaining a bike annually costs twenty times less than maintaining and riding a car.
  •  
  • In Tokyo, a bicycle is faster than a car for most trips of less than 50 minutes!
  • Lance Armstrong was an American cyclist who after suffering from testicular cancer, went on to win the Tour de France not once but 7 times!




Tuesday 1 May 2012

Run Forest Run! Wait scratch that - try cycling!

Last week was Bike Week in Ireland, to try to promote cycling as a fun, healthy low cost , environmentally friendly way to get around. So when Mr Kiely came around asking if we wanted to put our names into a draw to win a bike, I didn't really think much, because I never (really never) win stuff like that! So at the end of the day when 3 other names and my own was called out I was so surprised! Just shows - it doesn't hurt to try! We get to keep the bikes for 6 months, and use them as much as we like! We were presented them last Thursday and yesterday we took them for a spin to Castletown House with Greenschools. Just want to say thank to Mr Kiely and Greenschools for all their hard work, and congratulations to them as they were recently awarded with the school's 4th green flag. So seeing as we have come up with a topic for our Geography project, where we will be picking a subject and linking it to different places around the world, I thought I'd pick cycling because it's such a worldwide sport and I wanted to find out more! It seems really interesting so far - for example do you know that Lance Armstrong had cancer before winning the internationally famous 'Tour de France' for 7 consecutive years? I can't wait to get started!

Monday 30 April 2012

Never Let Me Go


The book I read for this review was Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, and I really enjoyed it. We see it through the eyes of Kathy H., who is thirty-one years old and introduces herself as a ‘carer’ who works with ‘donors’.  Her story begins some years earlier when she is a student at an institution called Hailsham, and the first chapters detail her friendships with a girl named Ruth and a short-tempered boy, Tommy, who is often teased by the other students.
Hailsham seems rather like a boarding school, but there are some abnormalities, that made me pause and wonder, adding an air of mystery to the book.  The students never leave the school or speak of having families, and they are sometimes visited by a woman known only as Madame, who chooses some of children’s artwork for her ‘gallery’. Then one day, a teacher reveals to the students what it is that distinguishes them from other people.  They are in fact clones who have been created in order to provide donor organs.  Once they have grown up, they will begin to donate their vital organs, and consequently they will all die young. This gave the book an air of mystery and tragicness, as it wasn’t spelt out, rather picked up and deduced after a number of chapters and kept my in suspense and curiosity all the way through.. This made Never Let Me Go a very interesting read which I would highly recommend to others. The fact that the book deals with such a strange and unheard of issue gave it uniqueness, and it dealt with in a very fresh and, in my opinion, almost factual yet compelling and emotional voice which is so unlike anything I expected. The children were sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe that they were special and that their well-being was crucial not only for themselves but for the society they would eventually enter, which I suppose must have cushioned them from the unearthing of the truth.

In spite of this revelation, the students continue their lives without too much upheaval.  When they reach the age of sixteen they leave Hailsham and go to live with older students in an establishment called ‘the Cottages’.  They are now free to travel in the outside world, and have greater independence.  At this point, Ruth and Tommy form a relationship.

Kathy leaves the Cottages to become a carer, providing support to donors as they give up their organs.  It is assumed that she will soon become a donor herself, but she continues to be a carer for longer than most of her peers.  This means she is able to care for both Ruth and Tommy through their donations. So, as her friendship with Ruth is rekindled, the feelings that long ago fuelled her adolescent crush on Tommy begin to stir, and Kathy remembers their years at Hailsham. She describes happy scenes of boys and girls growing up together, unworried, – even comforted–by their isolation. But she describes other scenes as well: of misunderstanding, that hints at a dark secret behind Hailsham's nurturing cover.
The story is told with the aid of hindsight, as Kathy look s back on her childhood, and it was very compelling to see the three friends when facing the truth about their childhood, their lives now and the slim prospects of their future. 


Before her final donation and her ‘completion’, Ruth suggests that Kathy becomes Tommy’s carer.  She also advises her to form a relationship with Tommy, saying that she always thought they should have been together, and suggesting that if they are in love then there is a possibility they may be granted a deferral in their donations.  Watching the effect of this one sentence, and the hope it gave through out the novel was moving, and although I was silently cheering for it to work out, I feared for the final chapters.

Kathy begins to care for Tommy and a strong relationship develops.  This was one of my favourite parts of reading Never Let Me Go. Watching Tommy and Kathy fall in love, but fearing that it could not last, in the surreal situation that they were in. It was very conflicting and compelling and it really appealed to my sympathies - like reading Romeo and Juliet as they fall in love but knowing the tragic ending, and I feared that Never Let Me Go could have a similarly crushing finish.  By chance, Kathy sees Madame and discovers where she lives.  When she tells Tommy about the possibility of a deferral they decide to visit Madame and request it from her.  They travel to Madame’s house and find her with the Hailsham headmistress, Miss Emily.

But when they ask about the deferral, they are told by Miss Emily that there is no such thing.  She also explains that Hailsham was intended as a place where the clones could be educated and cultured; some had even tried to prove with exhibitions of the donor children's art that they were 'fully human' and should not be treated as medical resources.  However, places like Hailsham no longer exist and cloned organ donors now have soulless existences in ‘vast government homes’.
Grace D’Arcy
Shortly after this meeting, Tommy completes his donations and Kathy prepares to become a donor herself. I think that Never Let Me Go was an astonishing book. The irony of Hailsham trying to prove that the clones were ‘fully human’, while Tommy, Ruth and Kathy struggled through an emotional battle that no humans have had to deal with was tragic. I really enjoyed the haunting story of friendship and love, and their struggle to maintain their identities. The author raised so many questions with the moral dilemma of clones, and the hypothetical situation stayed in my head long after I left the book down. The effects of humans playing God, and scientific advances were what the author Kazuo Ishiguro  debated throughout the book, and in my opinion he left the issue unresolved at the end, leaving it with the reader to deliberate, which was very effective. I strongly recommend thid book to anyone who may ask, for a story of haunting love and friendship, in a sometimes hopeless situation.

Friday 27 April 2012

♪ ♬ Im so excited! And I just can't hide it! ..♫ ♩


Well everyone in school right now certainly has 'That Friday Feeling!'. Today at 3 o'clock, around 30 of us are heading off to County Wicklow, to do our Gaisce hike. For those of you who don't  know what Gaisce is - It's called the Presidents award, and we have to do a certain number of hours of community involvement, physical activity, a new skill and an adventure hike, and then we receive an award. Well we have all the hours of activities are done so now it's time for the adventure hike!

We will be staying in Kippure Lodge in County Wicklow. The place looks really comfortable, and I'm so excited! Except for one thing ...........for the past couple of weeks I have been so excited about the food and staying overnight and packing and everything, I kind of overlooked the fact that we'll be hiking up a mountain for 25KM!! Oh lordy. From reading all the other blogposts I have done, you might have guessed I'm not great at hiking, or anything that comes in the 'excercise' category! Never fear though - I have a plan. Yesterday Elizabeth and I went shopping , and filled a whole trolley (no exaggeration) of sweets. So hopefully I'll be so hyper on jelly's and chocolate and everything that I wont even notice walking 25KM! Thats the theory anyway! (Let me tell you it was no mean feat to carry all those sweets into Celbridge today !They filled 2 suitcases! All thanks to Elizabeth who  lugged them all the way into school this morning! - Well done).
Anyway best be off,
Wish me luck!

Thursday 26 April 2012

Eiru Retreat

Last Tuesday, all of class Eiru piled into the bus and headed off .....(wait -  is it just me or does it seem like nearly every one of my blogs starts this way? - We actually have such a good time and go on so many trips!) Anyway, so we headed off to Glendalough in Wicklow, for our class retreat. An hour later, we pulled up in Glendalough (after passing through the town of Laragh - which my friend  Laragh got very excited about), so I'm currently on the hunt for a town named after me but no such luck! Well a song is something I suppose! Anyway after getting off the bus we (silently) explored the place where St Kevin had lived, and we walked around the mountains. It was a really peaceful day, and I really enjoyed it.
Best be off,

So I officially swam a mile!


I'm quite proud of myself right now. Last Friday, we all headed off on the bus to the National Aquatic Centre, in Blancherstown to take part in the Ian Daly 'Swim a Mile with a Smile' Challenge. We were greeted by Brian Daly, Ian's Dad, who welcomed us and wished us luck. We quickly got into our groups and went out to the pool to start. I was quite nervous , but once we all got in we were fine! I didn't drown, which for me is great achievment in itself, and everyone really pushed themselves to swim as much as they could for the great cause!

 Everyone got into the spirit of it, and although we were all exhausted we were all really happy with ourselves! Afterwards, we weren't exactly in a great hurry to get back to school, so we wandered around Blancherstown for a while, then we headed back on the bus (before being warned by the teachers to 'hide our shopping bags so it looked like we did something productive today'). I have to say it was one of the best parts of TY so far! (I know I 've said this about nearly every trip so far butI really mean it for this one!)

If you want to read about the 'Swim a Mile with a Smile' Challenge, click here :) http://swimamile.webnode.com/

Thursday 19 April 2012

Swim a mile with a smile :)

I don't know what it is about Transition Year but we seem to be doing so much more excercise than I've ever done before! There was Bravforce, the Carlingford aventure weekend, and fast approaching this week is the Ian Daly Swim a Mile with a Smile :) ( too fast for my liking to be honest). The title pretty much explains it all, but basiclly we are going to swim a mile (yes a mile) for charity, and raise much needed awareness and funds for the cause.

 Ian Daly was a little boy who , from the age of 9 suffered from cancer, and eventually died. He was a great swimmer, and all the way through his sickness he was cheerful and optimistic, and the swim is basiclly remembering him, and raising money for organisations that really helped him through his illness. The money will be going to 2 charities - Barretstown , and Crumlin Hospital, both of which really help kids when they are going through such difficulties, and I plan to raise as much as I can for the cause. :)

 I'm full of enthusiasm , but I 'm kind of apprehensive for the actual swim - I mean I haven't swam properly in aaaages. A mile swimming is the same as 64 lengths of your average swimming pool, which doesn't sound so bad, but bearing in mind that we dont have much time, and there will be about 80 of us in about 3 lanes,all swimming at the same time,  and that the pool is going to be about 7 foot deep, then I think it's going to be quite a challenge! Still it's a really worthy cause, and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. I'll let you know how I get on - but don't hold your breath - my arms will probably be so tired I won't be able to do anything for a week! (actually that excuse might get me out of a lot of work - hmmmmm).  Anyway - best be off :) Oh but if you want to have a look at the work that Barretstown does - click HERE, it tries to give kids who have been sick , and stuck in hospital for months, a fun experience, so that they can play like kids again. It caters to all of Europe , so any funds raised are much welcome.

Thursday 29 March 2012

French Exchange :)

One of my aims at the start of TY, was to improve my spoken Irish and French and stuff like that. Well that hasn't really worked out for me so far except I am now much more 'culturally sophistacated' after all the french movies we've been watching in class :) ). So during the summer I'm heading to France on an exchange. Sounds good? To be honest I'm kind of terrified (slight exaggeration - I'm a bit nervous), but seriously - the prospect is a teeny weeny bit intimidating, I'll be in a foreign country, attempting to speak in a totally different language for 2 whole weeks!

If any of you have read my blog that I did in french for the blog challenge, then you should realise that I am terrible and can barely string a sentence together. And if you thought that blog post was half ok, then I should probably tell you that I had like 4 google translate windows open when I was writing it, and 'phrases' dictionarys and stuff like that. At one point I even typed in 'how to say ................ in french' into Google! I was desperate. And for those of you who haven't read that blog post yet - get with it! God!

The good news is that my aunty lives over there, and she speaks fluent English! (that's actually how it was organised in the first place).  I get to go to a french school for a week ,so it should be pretty interesting to see what a french school is like compared to an Irish school. The school I'm going to happens to be a mixed school as well, so you know - I could do a bit of comparitive research into that as well - you know ! ;)  Also when my penpal wrote to me she said 'the boys in the France are very cute. They are stupid but very cute'. Tha't not really such a bad thing!
I better go - Au Revoir :)

Wednesday 28 March 2012

♫ Well I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I dont ♫

The whole school is buzzing right now  beacuse ................... its Music Night tonight! For those of you who must be living under a rock or, more forgivably but I can't understand why, because Wolstan's is the BEST - you go to another school or live in a different country, (deep breath), Music Night is when all the music classes and other individual or group performances show pieces they have been working on. Our class is singing 'Shake it Out' by Florence and the Machine, and it's so upbeat it puts me in a cheerful mood every time I sing it! on the down side I have had it stuck in my head for the last 3 months :P (yes that's how long it took us to learn it - I know, I know).

I can barely type with all the noises around me - better sign off :)
Slán abahaile

Tuesday 27 March 2012

Blog Challenge - a post in another language!

First of all I'd like to thank Google Translate for helping me with this blog post - I couldn't have done it without you. En fonction de Mrs L, nous devons ecriver un blog dans un langue étrangère, alors – Allons-y.!  Au début de l’année de transition j’ai pense que je oublait tout de mon travail scolaire mais il n’est pas vrai de tout! À vrai c’est l’opposite parce que j’ai plus de temps reviser et preparer pour le Baccalaureate  l’an prochain.  J’ai vraiment apprécié les experiences different que sont disponible au cours de TY mais maintenant je suis un peu prêt pour l'année prochaine, parce que l’année dernière j'ai été horrifié  à l'idée de le Bac! TY était vraiment le meilleur occasion dans tout le temps. Si quelqu'un n'est pas certain, je recommande fortement! Et maintenant, je pense que ‘le challenge’ est complete.

 

À Bientôt

I love brownies! yum - wait not that kind .........

Guess where I'm going! This Saturday I'm off to Trim, County Meath, as part of Brownies. I'm doing it for Gaisce, the presidents award, where we have to do a certain number of hours of sport, a new skill and community involvement. To be honest I can't believe volunteering with Brownies qualifies as 'community service' because it's so much fun! The kids are around 8 and 9, and we do songs, dancing, arts and crafts, drink hot chocolate, and this weekend there's a small chance of a camp fire! (I had to put the words 'small chance' in there, for fear I get my hopes up).
The hour and a half just flies by! In fact twice already I have missed my bus home because I didn't want to leave! (well that and the fact that you never expect a bus in Ireland to be early or even on time :P ).

You see, I never did Brownies, or Scouts or anything like that when I was little, so it's all totally new to me. If you told me a year ago that I would be going on a Brownie trip I would have never believed you. I had no clue about the Brownie code, or the guide law, or the Brownie hand shake, but I have to say I'm really enjoying it. (I hope I'm not revealing top secret Brownie information here). I'm not quite official yet - I haven't been enrolled into it yet or anything, or got a uniform, but they're all really friendly, and they've made me feel right at home. Heres the link for the Irish Girl Guide website if you want to learn more about it. HERE

I better go now as it's nearly lunch time and all this talk about Brownies is making me hungry (I'm talking about the chocoalte kind here - not little kids)
Bye

Friday 23 March 2012

St Patricks Day ♣ Lá Glas

So, last Saturday,the 17th of March was St Patricks Day! To celebrate it in school we had 'Lá Glas', which in irish means 'Green Day'-(dont wanna be an american idiot, na na na na na na na na na na). So everone in the school dressed in green, or as irish characters, irish symbols, irish dancers, irish football players , you get the idea. Everyone contributed €2 and all themoney raised will go to 'The Red Cross' & 'Alone'. At lunch we all had a ceile (irish dance), it probably would have been like a disco to the people in Ireland a hundred years ago). Prizes were given out for the best outfits and it made a real change to see everyone in green instead of the normal maroon uniforms! Thanks to the prefects who organised it all :) well done

Look below for pictures from ceile at lunch :)
(pictures sourced from www.stwolstans.ie)

Wednesday 21 March 2012

Internet Safety Talk

Last Week, before we headed off to the Braveforce assault course, we listened to a talk telling us about all the internet risks, and ways to use the internet safely. I have to say it scared the bejasus out of me! I walked out of that room terrified that there was a group of conspirators, hacking into all of my internet and computer history, plotting to use all of the information against me. Any readers - don't let this give you any ideas! So apart from being completely terrified after, I have to say it was really helpful. You know the way you hear the stories but you always think 'it will never happen to me'? But after the talk I realised that it can happen to anyone unless you’re careful, and it’s not a good idea to just bury your head in the sand and hope nothing happens to you. You know what they say ‘Prevention is better than cure’! The man who gave the talk (I feel awful but I can't remember his name - we'll call him Paul), gave us a lot of helpful hints, to help keep you safe on the internet, which I will try my best to remember for you now:
• Try putting a sticker in front of your webcam when you’re not using it because it’s possible that they can be hacked without you knowing.
• Don’t have the same password for multiple online sites, as this makes it very easy for someone to access your online information.
• Try making your password more complicated by alternating between CAPITAL and normal letters, and ch4nge ťhĕ $УьǾŁş ¥Ǿu u$e as well, to make it trickier to hack.
That’s all for now, see you soon!

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Braveforce

So the assault course last week wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - it was actually pretty good! St Wolstans mangaged to come ...last .. in the race but - wait for it ! Out of the TY students (there was 70 of us) I surprised my self by being in the first 10 back! Maybe those frantic gym sessions in the days before the race did pay off? Who knows. And anyway - (pause as I defend St Wolstans proud sporting honour), the other two schools who took part were training for it for weeks in advance. They drove up in their minivan. with all their fancy running equipment, doing their stretches, as all of the Woolies (that's us) chatted and laughed. AND they practically cheated by picking about 7 brilliant athelets from each school instead of letting everyone in the year compete. Anyway I will not name and shame the other 2 schools competing - partly because I'm nice like that, and partly because I can't remember the school's name anyway :)

So after hosing each other off ( they didnt provide showers :P) and drying off , we somehow managed to change out of our wet clothes (to this day - I have no idea how I manged that, my arms and legs were do tired I could barely move). I gulped down a plate of chips and chicken nuggets to warm me up. The bus on the journey back was so quiet compared to that morning. Everyone was resting quietly - we hardly had the energy to talk! Of course that night facebook was covered with photos of us trekking though mud and water , looking very attractive, but, by some miracle (and probably due to me warning my friend Shauna, the photgrapher for the day, not to take any of me), not many photos of me were tagged! (Thank you Shauna - forever grateful).

Even though my legs were numb with the cold and my arms were covered with bruises I have to recomend Braceforce as a day out. I t was one of the best days of TY so far, we had so much fun and we all slept well that night! Besides I'm feeiling pretty chuffed with myself for being able to complete the course!
I I always hate this part of the blog - where you have nothing left to say but can't decide how to sign off! So I'll just bid you adeiu. Bye for now :0

Tuesday 13 March 2012

left right left right

So,the big day that I have been dreading and eagerly anticipating is almost upon us. Tomorrow we are heading off to Braveforce - an adventure centre in Meath. This is no ordinary adventure centre though, oh no.
First of all - its a RACE! With other schools - the worst opportunity for humiliation and diasaster that I have ever seen.
Second of all - I am at zero fitness level at the moment, so running, jumping, climbing doesn't really sound like a recipe for success.
Third point - It's a race with other schools involving running jumping climbing!
I looked up the website http://www.braveforce.ie/ but that didnt really do much to calm my nerves. Hundreds of pictures of people wading through freezing water pits, and jumping from high wooden structures, only held to ground by flimsy ropes that could snap ANY MINUTE! And the consent form isn't exactly encouraging - I quote 'all water obstacles will have a very low water temperature. If you enter the water too fast this may possibly result in shock.'
Fourth point! It's run by an ex army seargent and there will be people there to 'encourage us to finish the race' ie. scream at us as we run. Oh joy.
So recently, to prepare me for tommorrow I have been going to the gym every night, so I'm not coming over the finish line a couple of hours after everyone else. But at this stage if I lived in the gym I really dont think it would make much difference!
Wish me luck ! .... I'll need it!

Thursday 8 March 2012

get yer lollipops! 3 fer a fiver!

Lollipop Day

(I apoligise in advance for the mixed up order of my blogs, they're not exactly going by date)

Friday the 24th February was Lollipop Day, so all of Transition Years piled into a bus and headed into Dublin. When we arrived we all ambled up into the Powerscourt Shopping Centre where we collected our buckets and balloons , and of course lollipops! We were given a map and we all separated into groups and went to the point we were supposed to be collecting at.

First of all, Lollipop Day is in aid of oesophagus cancer, It was set up to fundraise and increase awareness about oesophagus cancer, because not a lot of people are aware of the symptoms and how to prevent it. Often by the time the cancer has been diagnosed, it is in the very late stages, and is more difficult to treat. Heres a link to the official website, so you can read up about the disease and ways to prevent it. http://www.lollipopday.ie/
One of the things I learned from participating in Lollipop Day is that a major indication is a feeling that you can't swallow, and severe weight loss in a short amount of time, so if you can recognse any of these syptoms yourself, mek sure to get checked out by your GP. During the day, a lot of people who supported the cause told us of their relatives or family members, who had suffered from the disease. I felt awful and that I couldnt do anything to help but I realised that if anyone reads this and gets checked out, then this could be my way of helping, preventing oesoghagus cancer by raising awareness!

All in all, it was a really enjoyable day!
See you soon! :)

Friday 2 March 2012

Work Experience!

So this week is our work experience! I am typing this from the office of ‘Osbornes Solicitors’ in Naas, Its completely different from my last work experience placement where I was cooking and gardening, using my hands and getting mucky, but I have to say it’s been really great so far. Yesterday we went to a courthouse and I saw all the cases for the day , which was really interesting !

As I sit here at my desk , typing at my computer in my little open office cubicle , I actually can’t see what everyone complains about when they say they wouldn’t like to work in an office ! I really enjoyed this week. :) True I am now an official expert at the photocopier and I have stapled more documents this week more than I have in my whole life, but on the whole it’s been really enjoyable! I got to see what life as a solicitor would really be like – the court cases and the clients’, and trying to see justice done , and then the other side of it – the filing and the documents (which is all unseen in all the law programs on TV, by the way – not very realistic)..

I thought that by the end of the week I would have a better clue as to what I want to do when I’m older but all it’s really done is make me more confused, as now being a lawyer seems to be a really good choice! The only thing I’m actually sure about, from doing my work experience, is that it’s great to work anywhere where the people are friendly and nice. In my opinion I wouldn’t mind where I work when I’m older, as long as I have that.

That’s all for now! Talk to you soon ……

P.S - It's funny how whenever I'm actually typing this it seems WAAAAAY longer than when I actually publish it :) hhmmmmmmm, makes you wonder ;)

Minicompany Judging !

The day that we had all been dreading for months had finally arrived ……. It was the day the judges from the Kildare Enterprise Board came to look at our Mini-Company projects. The few days previously had been pretty hectic, but on the day we managed to pull it all together! Here’s how it all happened…….

Step 1 – A Product: Our idea was to make a fashionable pocket, designed as a bracelet you can wear on your wrist when you are out and about to hold all your essentials. Literally like 2 days before the judging we had managed to get our product (after months of looking in China and Hong Kong and God knows where else for a manufacturer to make it for us , it actually happened that a women in my home town of Clane was able to produce it for us!) So the day before the judging I went to pick it up. I was really happy with the way it turned out – it looked really neat and professional.
Step 2– Packaging; the packaging company (also in Clane) had actually closed for the day so we used card in our logo colours to make up boxes. We weren’t really happy with this but we knew it was only a temporary measure until we were able to get professional boxes.
Step 3 - the judges were going to ask us about was our selling points so we went around the school, showing our product, and taking orders. Then several shops in Clane expressed an interest in our product, after we explained our idea to them and they provisionally agreed to sell our product for us!
Step 4 – Our stand for the day: We got a poster made for free very kindly by a girl in our class (thank you Aimee! :D ), and on the day we were busy blowing up balloons, untangling fairy lights, displaying our business cards, hanging our poster, for our stand. Considering we had had barely anything done the week before, I have to day it looked pretty good on the day. We all wore black instead of our uniform, as we thought this looked more professional, and we wore badges with our company logo on them.
Step 5 – the Presentation: When we were called we approached the judges nervously and we went to shake their hands (after a moment of awkwardness where one of them was writing, looking down and did not see my stretched hand :P). Anyway we started off by explaining our idea and then I ‘opened the floor to any questions you might have’. One of the judges said that although the product was really good – apparently it has ‘no weakness’!, she would like to see better packaging (see step 2) and more volume (we only had one sample to show them on the day). We took all their suggestions and comments on board and then we returned to our places, feeling that it went OK.

The Result: that day they announced that 3 groups were shortlisted, and we were one of the three! We ended up not getting through but we were really pleased to get acknowledged like that and we plan to enter our product into as many competitions as we can! Anyway I was happily surprised at how we pulled it all together on the day – just shows that sometimes a little pressure can be good! You’ll see us on the cover of FORD magazine yet…
Watch out world…

Thursday 9 February 2012

Visit to St. Brigid

Yesterday we all went on a pilgrimage to Kildare town, which is associated with St Brigid. A few days ago , on the first of Spring was St Brigid's day, and in religion class we were researching and preparing for our trip. First we all visited where she had lived, and churches she had set up. Someone said that she deserved to be a saint after we saw where she lived because she was able to put up with the freezing cold! We learned of her influence all over Ireland and how people came from far and near to see her. We heard many of the legends associated with her. An example of such a legend was where she asked the King of Leinster for some land so she could build a church. The King replied that she could have as much land as her cloak could cover. THen when she 'laid her cloak upon the ground' , the cloak grew so large that it covered firlds and fields. We saw this land as we travelled to Kildare town. Today it is known as 'The Curragh' and it is used as a military training centre and a racecourse.

At lunch time we all went and got a break, looking throught the shops in the village.
Lastly, (and this was the part we all enjoyed most) was going to the well of St Brigid. The rain had cleared up and the sun began to shine. We had to walk through a wood to get there, and we could see all the flowers growing after winter. We all felt like this was the part that was most connected to St Brigid, instead of reading her history in a draughty church !. We all sat by the stream and chatted and realxed.It felt like spring was reallly begining!
We all really enjoyed our trip - reallly relaxing and much better than expected ! :)

Friday 3 February 2012

BRAPE

well that last post was something i like to call BRAPE - like frape but on blogger - by my lovely friend niamh. Althought it is true - i do love her

I love Niamh so much !!!

well as you all know Im a big fan of my friend Niamh and just wanted to dedicate this to her luffff yhhhhuuuuuu xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox