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 :)

♫ 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

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

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)

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!

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

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!

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! :)

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…