Polo... In India!

Polo is a team sport played on horseback. The objective of the game is to score goals against the opposing team. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposition's goal using a long-handled mallet. Polo is played at fast speed on a large grass field up to 300 yards in length.

There are a number of different forms of polo, as there is with many sports. However, the traditional seven-a-side game of polo was derived from one of the seven states of India - the state of Manipur in north east India. The city of Imphal is the capital of the state of Manipur. Manipur is surrounded by three other Indian states and another country - Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south, Assam to the west and the country Myanmar to the east.

There are four major river basins in Manipur. The Barak river is the largest river in Manipur. It originates in the Manipur Hills and it is joined by a number of tributaries.  The Manipur river basin has eight major rivers. All of those rivers originate from the surrounding hills.

Almost all of the rivers in the surrounding area are in their youthful stages and so they deposit their load in the Loktak Lake.

Manipur can be classified into two very distinct physical regions. The first is an outlying area of rugged hills and narrow valleys. The second region is the inner area of flat plain. Not only are these two regions distinct from a physical point of view, but they are also distinct with regards to flora and fauna.

The soil can be divided into two broad types. The red ferruginous soil ,which is soil with iron oxide in it, in the hill area and the alluvium soil, loose and unconsolidated soil, in the valley. On the plains, especially the flood plains and the deltas, the soil is quite thick. The top soil on the steep slopes is very thin.

The vegetation in Manipur consists of a large variety of plants ranging from short and tall grasses, reeds and bamboo to trees of various species.

The climate of Manipur is greatly influenced by the topography of the hilly region. Manipur is wedged between hills on all sides. It usually enjoys an amiable climate but sometimes the winters are chilly. Snow sometimes falls in some of the hilly regions. Kind of like Ireland, the coldest month is January and the warmest month is July. The state is hit with monsoon rains from May until the middle of October.

Night view - City of Imphal, Manipur India.

Australian football... in Australia! :L

Melbourne is located in the south-eastern part of mainland Australia. It is within the state of Victoria. Melbourne is built on lava flows to the west, mud stones to the east and sand accumulation to the southeast along Port Philip, which is a large bay located in Melbourne. Port Philip is the largest bay in the state of Victoria and one of the largest bays of inland Australia. The southeastern suburbs of Melbourne are situated on the Selwyn fault, a discontinuity in the volume of rock, which transects Mount Martha and Cranbourne, two suburbs in Melbourne.

Melbourne extends along the Yarra, a river on which Melbourne was established in 1835, towards the Yarra Valley and further towards the Dandenong Ranges and Yarra Ranges.

Melbourne has a moderate oceanic climate and is very well known for its changeable weather conditions. These changing conditions are mainly due to the location of the city. It is situated on the boundary of the very hot inland areas and the cold southern ocean. The temperature differential in the Spring and Summer months can cause very cold fronts to form, resulting in all sorts of severe weather from gales to thunderstorms and hail, large temperature drops and heavy rain.
Port Philip is often warmer than the surrounding oceans. Narrow streams of heavy showers can affect the same places for a long period of time while rest of Melbourne and its surroundings stays dry.
Melbourne, like Ireland, is very well known for having "four seasons in one day". This name has been given to Melbourne because of the quick change in weather conditions every while.

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Baseball... in America!

Baseball is a bat and ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal of this sport is to hit a thrown ball and score runs by touching four bases that are lined out at the corners of a ninety foot square or diamond. Baseball is very similar to the traditional game of 'Rounders'.

Baseball first began in America in 1791, in Pittsfield Massachusetts.


Pittsfield is the largest city in Berkshire County. It is also the county seat of Berkshire County.Pittsfield is an in-land city. Lanesborough is North of the city, Dalton is to the east, Washington is southeast, Lenox is south of the city, Richmond is southwest of the city and Hancock is west of the Pittsfield. Pittsfield is located 135 miles west of Boston.

The city of Pittsfield lies on the confluence of the Housotonic River. This river flows south from the city towards it's mouth at Long Island Sound. Pittsfield lies between the Berkshire Hills to the east and Taconic Range to the west. From 1932 to 1977, this river was contaminated with PCB pollution. These discharges of pollution came from the General Electric plant in Pittsfield. Although water quality has improved in the past few decades, the water is still not clear of the PCB pollution.

The west of the city contains Pittsfield state forest. This forest is great for hiking. It has cross-country skiing trails, camping, picnic areas and a swimming beach.



Pittsfield, Massachusetts.



Baseball... in Cuba! :)

Havana, the city in Cuba, in which the first baseball team was formed, lies on the northern coast of the country. It is just below the Florida Keys, where the Gulf of Mexico joins the Caribbean sea. The city extends south westerly from the bay which is entered through a narrowed inlet. Here, the city divides into three main harbours.

The Almenderes River flows through the city from south to north. This river enters the Straits of Florida a few miles west of the bay. The Almenderes River is forty five kilometres long and it acts as a water supply to the city of Havana. Several industrial plants line the banks of the river, like construction plants, food production plants, breweries etc.

The city lies on low hills which gently rise from the waters of the straits. The straits are the channels of water that lie between two land masses. Within these hills is an elevation of 200 feet. This elevation is a limestone ridge that slopes up from the east and reaches its highest point in the heights of La Cabana. This is a site of colonial fortification.

Havana, like most of the country, has a pleasant tropical climate all year round. This climate is tempered by the island's position in the trade winds and by the warm offshore currents. Rainfall in Havana is heaviest in the months of June and October. There is little rainfall from December through to April. Cuba is occasionally struck by hurricanes. Havana is one of the cities in the country that is less likely to be damaged.



City of Havana, Cuba.



Day two of complete success! :D

So today was the second day of the West Leinster Schools Athletic competition in Santry. Even though the weather was not as good as Tuesday, we still had an enjoyable and very successful day out in Santry.
Like Tuesday, we took off to Santry on the bus at around nine o'clock. On Tuesday, we didn't get seats in the the stand but today we did. We were lucky to get these seats because at stages throughout the day there were a few light showers of rain.
The day started well, continued well and finished well. Nearly every girl that competed got points for the school and there were plenty of individual medals to be had as well. Our school, for the second year, won the overall best girls school trophy. We also won the overall minor and junior cups. We got second in the senior category. We were all delighted with these fantastic achievements.
We weren't able to stay in the complex to receive our trophies because quite a lot of us had to get a vaccination back in the school at three o'clock.
One of the p.e teachers had driven to Santry so he was able to wait and collect the trophies.
As you've probably guessed it was a great day of success, excitement and enjoyment. Thank you very much to our p.e teachers who put in so much time and effort for this great event.
Here's to claiming the trophy, and more, again next year! ;)

Niamh! :D

'As graceful as a swan' :)

Today, after our great "Easter Feaster" that we held for class Emnet, we went to see a ballet show in Belvedre College, Dublin. The Irish National Youth Ballet Company were performing at the college. One of our own TY students, Hayley Cunningham, and a third year student from our school were both performing in this show.

The show was amazing. They put on three pieces, with an interval between the second and third piece. Hayley was in two of the pieces that they performed. There were five boys in the show also. They were brilliant. It was great to see that they were enjoying it just as much as the girls were enjoying it. The ages of the show performers was varied. There were young boys and girls and then there were older boys and girls.

Hayley wasn't aware that we were coming to see her so I think she was quite surprised when she came out to us at the end of the show. She had a solo part in the show which was absolutely fabulous. She was so graceful and elegant up on the stage, along with the other performers.

Ballet wouldn't be my first preference of entertainment but I must say that I really enjoyed today's show and I was very happy that we were there to support Hayley.

After the show we got back on the bus to head home. We stopped off in McDonald's on the way home for about twenty minutes as well.

Thank you to our TY co-ordinator, Ms L and our school principal, Ms B, who accompanied us on this outing to the ballet show.

Niamh! :D

Party pay back! :P

Earlier on in the school year, just before we broke up for the Christmas holidays, class Emnet prepared a lovely breakfast for all of us in class Amina. We were very thankful for what this breakfast and so we decided to make it up to them this morning.

We did this by inviting them to our "Easter Feaster"! :)
Last Monday, we decided to host this party. We assigned different tasks to everyone. Some people baked food while others bought jellies, bars and soft drinks. We had sooo much food when we set up the table this morning in the library.
We took about ten or fifteen minutes to set up and then we sent for class Emnet to come down. They all got a plate with the food along the tables and they sat down to eat it. We had the tables set out in a way that everyone was included and was able to chat away to others that weren't beside them.
When all of Emnet were sitting happily with their food, our class went up to get some food as well so that we could join Emnet. Everyone was chatting away and munching happily. We had some music playing softly in the background.
Before we started cleaning up, we raffled off three small lindt Easter eggs to class Emnet. They were about to go back to their class to let us clean up, but before they did they presented us with a lovely "Thank You" card as a token of their appreciation for our party. 
Most of the food was eaten.. "surprise surprise!" :L However, there were a few things left over so we decided to pack the leftovers into peoples' lunchboxes as we were going to be at a ballet show later in the day so the food would have been eaten then.
We got everything cleaned up pretty quickly.. the Emnet heads weren't very messy! When everything was back in place in the library we waited for the bell to go for break time. We were all really happy with the way things went. Emnet enjoyed themselves really well.

 

Niamh! :D

Don't give up and try your very bestest! :)

Okay, so today was the first day of the West Leinster Schools Athletics competition in Santry. This is an annual event that takes place just before or just after the Easter holidays every year, depending on when Easter falls.
Our school always tends to do exceptionally well at this event. There is a great demand for athletics in our school and so we never have trouble trying to find numbers for different events. In actual fact, there is so much demand that we tend to have to take part in trials for some of the events.
In Santry, you can only take part in a maximum of two events and a relay. This rule is there to allow a variety of people to enter each race or field event.
We took off this morning on the bus at around nine o'clock. The weather was nice so it was looking to be a good day. It was a good day. Actually, it was a brilliant day. We brought home seventeen medals, a mixture of first, second and third place. Lots of the girls finished in the top six for many races and field events which means they get points for our school. The first place gets six points and the sixth place gets one point. Regardless of how many points you get for the school, every point is a contribution towards the overall trophy which St.Wolstan's proudly claimed last year.
Mount Sackville had won this trophy for the "overall best girls school" for the past nine. St Wolstan's didn't let them take it for a tenth year! We are aiming to win the trophy again this year and so far everything is going good for us. We will know on Thursday who wins the trophy.
We got back to the school this afternoon at about quarter past three. Every single one of us was absolutely exhausted after a long day in the warm sun. None of us had books or uniforms so we didn't have to go back to our last class if we didn't want to. Instead, we all went into the hall and lay on the high jump mats. Some of us even went as far as falling asleep for the forty minutes we had before school ended!
Overall, it was a fun, enjoyable and successful day out in Santry. A big thank you to all the teachers who gave up their time for training us for different events and especially to the two p.e teachers who trained us for events, accompanied us today and will accompany us on Thursday.

Morton Stadium Santry

Niamh! :D

Picture Source: interviewloi.blogspot.com

Through Glendalough we trek! :D

On Tuesday, April 5th, we had our Ty retreat down in Glendalough, Co. Wicklow. It was yet another great day out with my class. This was a new experience of retreat for all of us. For our first three retreats, we were indoors and we did quite a lot of talking with the retreat instructor. We also stayed pretty local for our first three retreats.
For our Ty retreat we went down to Glendalough for the day. We walked the whole way around the two lakes, taking in quite a lot of information about St Kevin, along the way. We had a lovely guide with us who was very very friendly and patient.
We were allowed to talk to each other for some parts of the walk but for other parts we had to stay silent so we could think about our lives and reflect on anything that we wanted to. There was one part of the walk that was tough enough. We had to walk up hill.. for a good while! We were walking up to the start of the big waterfall. It was worth the trek up though because the natural-ness of everything was magnificent.
When we made our way back downhill and everyone was together, we sat for lunch in a picnic area. There, we talked about different things with our friends while enjoying our lunch after the long walk around.
After our lunches, we took off again to finish the circle of the two lakes. We were really lucky with the weather. At some stages it was even too warm and we had to take our jumpers off! The scenery around Glendalough is absolutely fabulous. I would recommend for anyone to travel to Glendalough because it's just beautiful.
When we had completed the full circle of the two lakes, had taken in everything we were told about St Kevin and had stopped to look at the remains of the monastery, it was time to head home again because we had to be back for the end of the school day.
As tiring and all as the day had been, walking in the warm, heavy air, it was an extremely enjoyable, calming and refreshing experience that I personally got lots of benefit out of.
Thank you to our religion teacher Ms K B and the school chaplain Mr K for accompanying us on our Ty retreat.

Niamh! :D

Jabba Jabba Jembe! :)

On Thursday, March 31st, we had an absolutely brilliant percussion workshop for the whole day. A man called David came in to give us the percussion workshop. He has his own company called "Jabba Jabba Jembe".. yes, it is African!

David told us a lot about his trip to Africa and how he brought his music teachers back with him to Ireland to live with him for a while. He brought back numerous African percussion instruments. The dominant one is the jembe. It's like a bongo.. but it is not a bongo and he made that very clear to us!

When he arrived at the school, we saw that he had brought his dog with him! His dog looked like what he described as, "a stretched jack russell"!!! The dog was so cute and is named "Challey". It is an African name. Challey was running outside for a while before we started the workshop. We all had to help David to bring in the jembes and other instruments. Challey was put in back in the van for a while so he wouldn't run off on David.

When all the covers had been taking off the jembes and everyone had some kind of instrument in front of them, we got stuck into the percussion workshop. We were only into it about five minutes and I already knew it was going to one hell of a fun day! We got to learn lots of different African beats and rhythms. It almost felt like we were actually in Africa!

After a while, he showed us a few videos on youtube of how the different instruments are made and used over in Africa. When we were finished watching the videos, we swapped around instruments and we learned a different percussion routine just before lunch.

After lunch, we did some more work on our routine, before we had it all learned and Ms L recorded a video of us playing away!

This workshop was such a good experience and it has made me want to go to Africa for a musical point of view. We had great feedback from David and he told our music teacher, Ms G, that we all great rhythm!

Niamh! :D









Challey!



I think I'll stick to Irish Dancing!

On Friday, March 25th, for our Irish class after lunch our teacher Mr S decided to show us a bit of the old style Irish dancing, Sean Nos dancing. Sean nos dancing is a more casual style to the traditional Irish dancing. The moves are a lot more free flowing. Mr S put a video from youtube up on the board so we could hear the Irish music and follow the sean nos steps. The dancing was a great bit of craic, especially given it was second last class on Friday afternoon. Even though the sean nos dancing was fun to learn and very enjoyable, I found it hard to grasp because I do Irish dancing myself and it is a lot stricter from a carriage holding point of view. For sean nos dancing you are given the freedom of using your hands and dancing on the flat of your feet, whereas for Irish dancing, you have to keep your arms straight down by your sides, your feet must be crossed and you have to dance up on your toes. As much and all as I did enjoy the bit of sean nos dancing that we learned, I think I'll stick to Irish dancing! :) Niamh! :D

The Galleries of Dublin! :)

On Thursday of last week, we took off into town for the day with our two English teachers Ms B and Ms G. We went in to see a few of the galleries and museums in the city. We went to the Yeats Museum, the National Museum of Ireland and the National Art Gallery.

It was such a great day in Dublin with all of the TY students, especially with the sun shining down on Grafton Street at lunch time! My class, Amina, went to the Yeats museum first while the other class, Emnet, went to the National Museum of Ireland first. The Yeats museum was very interesting. We were given an insight into the life of W.B Yeats. We got to see lots of his belongings and pieces of work which were left behind after his death. The tour guide was also a great help and was very clear so you could understand her extremely well. I feel that this is always a good help rather than someone boring who you cannot hear properly!

After the Yeats museum we swapped over with Emnet. They went to the Yeats museum while we went to the National Museum of Ireland. We went to this specifically to see the bog bodies but we got a small tour of the stone age and bronze age before we saw the bog bodies. The bog bodies were very very interesting. It was incredible to see such detail left in the bodies after so many years.

When we were finished in the National Museum of Ireland, we all went for lunch. We were given an hour and a half for lunch to go wherever and do whatever. We were really close to Grafton Street so everybody headed there to buy food. Most people went to McDonalds. I absolutely despise fast food places like that so I went into the foodhall of Marks and Spencers and I bought myself a delcious pasta salad with a slice of carrot cake for after! :)

Most of the girls took themselves and their lunches up to St. Stephan's Green to sit in the sun and eat. The rest of us stayed around the Grafton Street area and we ended up getting free make-up samples from BT2!

After lunch, we all met back at the gates of Dail Eireann. When everyone was gathered up, we headed for the National Art Gallery. We took the long way around to it, but it was nice and sunny so we didn't mind. In the gallery we were split into two groups once again - Amina and Emnet. We were taken around the gallery to some of the different paintings. Each painting that we looked at was explained to us clearly by the tour guide. It was a really interesting tour. I really enjoyed it.

After the tour in the art gallery, we headed for the bus to go back home. The bus home was good fun. It was a great day out and thanks again to our English teachers, Ms B and Ms G.

Niamh! :D

Picture Sources: daithaic.blogspot.com

roomsindublin.com

houseoflochar.com

Fitness test.. In the sun, after eating Pancakes?! Naaaah! :L

On Tuesday, for PE class we took part in a fitness bleep test. We did this test to help three of the girls in our class with their science project. I didn't mind taking part in it except for the fact that we had to do it outside on the astro and it was really warm outside. Another thing that was making me reluctant to take part in it was because I had just eaten the Pancakes we made in Home ec and they hadn't gone down too well! We started the bleep test anyways. As time went on people began to drop out. In the end there were five of us who were still going. Then there were four.. We were on round 7, so we had been running for roughly seven minutes straight. At this stage I could feel the pancakes. They weren't happy! :L On the third bleep of round 7 I had to pull out because those pancakes really were going to come up! I lay flat on the ground trying to cool down. It wasn't working though because the air was so heavy. I got some water and poured it all over my face.. it felt SO good! When everyone was finished, we got ready for the next class. Next week we're going to be doing another kind of fitness test for the girls as they are testing each type of fitness test to determine the best one! Niamh! :D

Pancake Tuesday.. Well, two weeks later! :L

For pancake Tuesday, we were suppose to make pancakes in our double home economics class. Sadly, we didn't have double home ec that day. Our teacher, Ms McA, told us we could make them the following week. Again, we weren't there for our double home ec class the following week. On Tuesday, we all brought in our ingredients for pancakes. Our teacher hadn't told us we were going to be cooking but just in case she allowed us to, we had the ingredients with us! Class Emnet had their percussion workshop on Tuesday, so there were only a few of us in home ec. We were supposed to move on with the theory for our summer tests but seeing as there was only half a class, we were allowed to make the long awaited pancakes instead! Pancakes are really easy to make, but, for some strange reason, mine and Chloe's pancakes didn't turn out so well in the beginning! We made about four ridiculously bad pancakes. We kept trying and trying until we got them right. In the end, we each got one perfect pancake. This was satisfactory for me! Niamh! :D

Summer feeling, without a doubt! :D

On Wednesday, we had one of the best days yet this year. You won't believe that we didn't leave the school! We were in school all day long, but it really didn't feel like it! The sun was shining for the whole day and the heat was incredible, considering it is only March! Our double class of P.E and lunch time is what made the day feel so summery. For double PE on a Wednesday, we usually do rugby with two coaches from Barnhall R.F.C. They couldn't make it this week though so we did PE with our teachers Mr L and Ms O'C. We were outside on the astro pitch for the double class. We played a game called "Capture the Flag" for the first class and then we played rounders for the second class. Both classes, Amina and Emnet, were together for the whole double. This was another huge advantage to such a great PE class because the two classes are usually separate for other activities in school. It was really nice to mix with them. After an amazing double class of PE, we were all absolutely ROASTING! Lunch was straight after PE so we all decided to make good use of the lovely day by sitting outside in the courtyard. It was really good fun and very enjoyable. We only had two classes after lunch, which were both good aswell. Wednesday really was a good day in school! Niamh! :D

Cutting Radishes.. and fingers! :/

On Monday, we did an exciting Science experiment. We were testing the reaction of the enzyme in radishes at different temperatures. We had to use safety goggles and plastic gloves, as usual. The reaction of the radishes with hydrochloric acid, washing up liquid and buffer created foam. The higher the temperature, the more foam created and the faster it rises up the graduated cylinder.
To begin with, we had to chop up the radishes into small pieces. Chloe had that job. I had to get the liquids for making the reaction.
When I had all of the liquids measured out and ready to pour, I was just waiting for Chloe to finish chopping the radish. For some very strange, completely unexplainable reason, I decided to just grab the pieces she had already chopped while the scalpel was still chopping the rest of it.
What happened next?! My finger went straight under the scalpel.. the rest is history! Nah, I'm just messing! MY finger is still intact with a small cut on it.. nothing to panic about!
Note to self: DO NOT put your finger under a scalpel again!

Niamh! :D

La Glas.. Another successful day of FUN! :D

On Wednesday, 16th of March, the annual La Glas was held by the prefects in the school. Each year group was, as usual, given a theme for dressing up. Transition year were given the theme of "Aer Lingus". In the beginning, when we heard what our theme was we weren't too pleased. We didn't know what to do for this theme.

However, we made a fine aul job of it in the end! :L

On Tuesday night while we were waiting to go no stage and on the bus journey home we all chipped in our different ideas to produce another great performance! A few girls dressed up as cabin crew, two girls + Ms L dressed up as pilots, one girl dressed up as an air traffic controller and everyone else were passengers - business people, tourists etc. Myself and Davina dressed up as Batman and Robin. Now, I know what you're thinking; Batman and Robin?! What on earth has that got to do with Aer Lingus?!

Well, here's how it went:
Leah had made a cd with different background sounds on it. The first was an announcement bell, like in the airport. When this sounded, all of the passengers lined up and one of the cabin crew members checked tickets and passports etc. Then, a warning sound went off. Two of the cabin crew were under cover terrorists. Everyone jumped down onto the ground screaming, while the terrorists tied up the three pilots. While all of this was happening, myself and Davina were hiding behind the crowd. Then, all of the passengers made a "Sssshhh" sound and they pointed towards where myself and Davina were hiding, making the crowd turn to look! The theme tune to Batman came on and with that, Batman and Robin jumped into the centre, saved the pilots from the terrorists and tied up the terrorists!
It was such a fun act to do and we had the judges of the parade laughing the whole time, along with everyone else! I think everybody really enjoyed our act.
Before the parade of classes though, there was an Irish dancing performance. Me, being an Irish dancer, was asked to dance. Anyone that was dancing lined up and took their turn to do a step. Again, everybody enjoyed thaat also. For the last ten minutes of lunch everyone danced around to ceili music enjoying themselves and the Irish culture.
It was another fantastic day, especially for us TYs with our outstanding performance!

Niamh! :D

An audience with an age gap! :)

On Tuesday, 15th of March, the two Transition year classes spent the day and most part of the night at the convent in Glasnevin, Co. Dublin. We went to the convent to take part in the "Margaret Aylword Drama Presentation". Margaret Aylword was the founder of the Holy Faith Sisters in the 1850's.
We used the four English dramas that we had already performed earlier on in the year for this drama presentation. We were lucky that they didn't have to altered too much to suit the event and the audience.
We had had a dress rehearsal the week beforehand with our former chaplain, Sr. S. Sr. S is also a Holy Faith Sister and is now based in the convent in Glasnevin, which is why our school has such a strong connection with the Holy Faith Sisters in Glasnevin.
We left the school at break time on Tuesday morning, with bags, props and actors in toe! We boarded the bus and took off, knowing that we'd be returning late that night. Everyone was excited.
When we got to the convent, we were greeted by Sr S. It was great to see her smiling face once again. We went into the convent grounds and were guided to the school hall. There was already one of the other schools there practising on stage. We had to wait our turn for our first rehearsal on stage. While we waited we chatted quietly amongst ourselves and watched the other rehearsal on stage. Soon, it was our turn to practice. The first rehearsal didn't go soo well, with props being slow to be brought on etc. Fortunately, we had plenty of time to get it right as the show wasn't starting until 8 o'clock in the evening.
After the first rehearsal, we were allowed to leave the convent grounds to go and get food in the shop or coffee shop. When we came back, we sat in the school yard, eating, talking and having fun. We were called back in after a while to get ready as our next rehearsal was a full dress rehearsal. This rehearsal went quite well. Everyone was more prompt and more confident. There was still one slight problem though, we weren't talking loud enough on stage and considering there was going to be an older audience to before, this wasn't good! Voice projection improvement was needed!
We headed outside with the man from our drama workshops. We walked away from the surrounding buildings, onto one of the pitches. Here, we practised projecting our voices! It went well. The fresh air made opened up everyone's mind and all of us were feeling a lot better and less stressed and less nervous.
We were then informed that we would be getting pizza for a bite to eat. Everyone was so happy about this. When the pizza came, there was even more excitement because it was from the one and only, Dominos! My favourite! We sat around the whole and munched away contently. After the pizza we went out for a walk one last time.
This time, we met a Holy Faith Sister on the grounds. She asked us would we take her dog, Chinky, on a walk for her. We were more than happy to do so. So, off around the grounds we went with Chinky amongst us all. We had great fun and laughs before we went back in to get organised.
Everything was set to go, we just had to wait for our audience! We got dressed up and done up in plenty of time so we wouldn't be rushing at the last minute.. as usual! At about half seven the hall was filling up quickly. The nerves began to kick in. Our present chaplain, Mr K and our school principal, Ms B both came along to watch and support us. There were four schools performing. Our school was third to go on stage. While we waited, we planned what we'd do for the annual La Glas theme day which was taking place the following day, Wednesday. We got that sorted out pretty handily.
Our time came to go on stage. Everything went extremely well on stage. Our projection was great according to a few of the nuns that were talking to us afterwards. At the very end of the drama presentation, when all four schools had completed their performances, one of the Holy Faith Sisters got up on stage to thank and congratulate us all. As a token of their appreciation for our great performances, we received a fabulous piece of genesis for the school and we each received a book about the life of Margaret Aylward.
We cleaned the hall and gathered our belongings. At about a quarter to ten we headed for the bus. The bus journey home was good fun. We talked about the day and how well everything had gone for us. It was a really worthwhile day out and ,yet again, another great bonding day.
Thank you for all your hard work and effort Ms B, Ms G, Ms C, Sr S and Ian.

Niamh! :D

"Get up and go" - Minco Competition! :)

Today, we took part in another mini company competition. This time the venue was at the Red Cow hotel in Dublin. We were competing with both Kildare and Dublin schools. There were only four groups from our school this time. The other groups were taking part in the final of the competition from the last day in Clane. Their competition was held in Naas.

Our mini company teachers, Ms. E and Ms. L had to accompany the girls in the Kildare final, so our TY coordinator, Ms. L, kindly accompanied us to the Red Cow. We didn't start off on a great note, with no bus to take us to the venue! The competition was starting at ten o' clock so we needed to be there for half nine at the very latest. Unfortunately, we didn't get on the bus until half nine which meant we were going to be rushing to get our stands ready for judging.
Despite this 'kerfuffle', we got there safely and we got our stands set up on time for the judges. Our groups were divided into three. Two A's, two B's and two C's. The A people were the first to be interviewed, while the B people went around to other stands and the C people went into another room to talk about the development of their mini company. This rotated around over a period of three hours so as everyone got a chance to do each task.

At one o'clock, we took a break for lunch. This also had to be rotated as two people had to be at the stand the whole time. The rotation worked well for our group. After lunch, the categorical prizes were given out. There was a first, second and third prize in each category. They were called out in reverse order. My mini company group came second place for the innovation award. Some of the other groups in our school won prizes as well. After these were given out, the four businesses through to the national finals were called out. "Green Hero" from our school made it through to the final.

After the prize giving, we had to pack away all of our stuff and clean up after ourselves. We had a really good, fun and enjoyable day out. I think Ms L did too, especially because she isn't a mini company teacher, so all of this was pretty new to her! :)
Thank you Mrs L for taking us out.

Niamh! :D

Back to primary school I go! :D

On Monday, I began my second week of work experience for transition year. This time, I'm doing my work experience in Aghards National School. This is the school I attended during my primary school years.

I chose to go to a primary school for this week as I wanted to do something different to my last work experience and I also wanted to get an insight to primary school teaching. Before I went into the school on Monday morning, a primary school teacher wasn't ranked very high on my list of possible careers. However, after the first two hours of being there, it shot right up the list!

I've always wanted to do something medical, but, after spending three days in a primary school (not as a pupil!) I'm kind of, sort of, liking the set up of primary teaching. The career has a lovely environment attached to it. I love helping people, especially younger people. I'm so thankful that I did transition year because I can now see that I would be suited to a teaching job.

This week is a very busy week in the school as the annual readathon assembly was taking place. It is a really good week for getting experience because there is loads to do around the place. On Monday, I was given my timetable by the vice-principal. My timetable was quite varied. I was helping decorate the hall for the assembly, I was helping the junior classes with shared reading, I was supervising classes while the teacher was out at a meeting and I was on yard duty etc.

I was kept busy throughout the whole week, which I loved. All of the teachers were very friendly to me, especially the ones that had taught me in previous years. I thoroughly enjoyed my week of work experience in Aghards, more so than my first week of work experience back in November.

Transition year is a great opportunity for people to do work experience. It has really helped me in deciding what I would like to do when I leave school.

Niamh! :D

Picture Source: schooldays.ie

"Sometimes in April"-The Rwandan Genocide.

On Friday, 18th of February, the last day before mid-term, we watched the movie "Sometimes in April". This is a movie about the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. There are two words I can think of to describe this movie. Those two words are horrifically devastating.
As I watched this movie, the feelings that went through me are indescribable. The movie makes you both sad and angry.
Unfortunately we only had three class periods to watch the movie so we didn't get to watch it to the very end. We finished it off in religion class when we came back after mid-term.
As a follow on from the movie and as a case study on genocide, we are doing interviews, taking notes and writing blogs. The interviews are with the characters from the movie who survived the genocide.
Watching this movie has made be reflect hugely on war and conflict, especially in the developing world, where they really cannot afford it. I would loved to have been there, in 1994, to try and help stop the genocide. I would have done anything to prevent such devastating scenes. Unfortunately though, I am only one person. However, I would like to do some campaign in an effort to prevent genocides happening today. It may not happen with the click of a finger, but hopefully, someday, I'll get around to doing it.
I would recommend the movie strongly, just so you too can see what happened in Rwanda in April 1994.



Niamh! :D

Picture Source: en.wikipedia.org

Minco Competition! :)

On Thursday, 3rd March, we took part in our first mini company. The competition took place in the Clane Gaa Club hall. The competition was only inclusive of schools in the North Kildare district. There are nine mini company groups in our school.

We left the school first thing on Thursday morning. The bus journey was not long at all. When we got to Clane we only had a short amount of time to set our stands up, as the judges were starting at ten o' clock. It took us a while to get our board set up as our board was one of the older ones, which aren't as straight forward as the new ones. Luckily though, we had some of it prepared from the day before in school, so it was just a matter of clicking all the boards together and designing it with our posters, pictures, information etc.

The teachers had to leave the hall when the judges came in to the hall. Each group had an interview with one judge. It was quite nerve wracking when we were waiting for the judge to come around to our stand. A female judge interviewed us. When she came around, we each introduced ourselves and explained what our mini company was, before she started asking us questions. We had a good interview with her. We were able to answer all of the questions well with no hesitations.

At the very end of the judging, we were asked to start packing up our stands and equipment before they announced the companies that had been short listed for the kildare Final. We got everything packed up and put back on the bus in matter of minutes. We came back in to hear that six groups from our school had been short listed. The final decision was going to be made later that afternoon and an email would be sent to our teachers informing them of the judges final decisions. My group wasn't one of the groups that was shortlisted from our school but we were still happy with how well we had progressed with the company.

We got back to school just before lunch. Lucky for us, the school was off at lunchtime for a staff development day, so we got to go home after a few minutes.

Later on Thursday evening, the message was passed on from one girl to the next about the groups that got through to the final. We had four groups from our school; The Spoover, Knot a Problem, Baby Cakes and The Just Desserts.

I am really delighted for these groups as they are all four amazing set-ups. I wish them the very best of luck in the Kildare Final on the 14th of March.

Niamh! :D

Dress Rehearsal! :)

On Wednesday, we had a full dress rehearsal of our plays. We got the last two classes off lunch to do this.
We have been entered into the Margaret Aylward drama competition. Sr S came back to the school to take a look at all of our plays to see if they were suitable for the competition. I think she was quite happy to let all four plays go forward into the competition. We ran through each play quite briefly just so that we had enough time for Sr S to get a taste of each one.
I feel we performed our play "But You Didn't" very well, considering we havent been practicing it since the Briary Gap competition in Mullingar.
The Margaret Aylward competition is taking place on Tuesday 15th March in the evening time. Hopefully we will do well in this competition.

Niamh! :D

Italian Desserts! Delicious! :)

On Tuesday, myself and Chloe cooked our final dish of the Italian cuisine project. We had already made our two savoury dishes before the mid-term. We had to make a sweet dish. The dish we chose to make was quite quick and easy to make so we were able to make another dish along with it.
We made a Tiramisu and Struffoli. They were both so simple and easy to make. Struffoli are basically fried balls of dough covered in a honey and sugar syrup. We didn't like the honey and sugar combination as it was way too sweet. Instead, we melted chocolate and pour that over the struffoli.
The tiramisu was made in about ten minutes. We dipped sponge fingers into espresso, combined the ingredients for the cream topping, put it on top of the espresso sponge fingers, sprinkled it with chocolate and minstrels and let it set in the fridge.
The two dishes were delicious!

Niamh! :D

Poland, here I come! :)

On Tuesday, 1st March, the draw for Poland took place in the hall at lunchtime. Ms K.B, Ms L and Mr K were all present.
Forty names were pulled out of the draw for going to Poland. Along with these forty names were another fifteen to go onto the waiting list. My name got picked out of the draw as one of the forty people who definitely got a place. I was in shock when I realised my name had been pulled out. At first, I didn't even hear my name being called because I never get picked for anything! I'll never be able to say that again! :L
A good few of my friends have been chosen to go on the trip as well. There are also some of my friends on the waiting list, which will hopefully mean that they will get to come along too.
The deposits have been paid.. so, next stop, Poland!

Niamh! :D

John F. Kennedy!

On Monday, 28th of February, we had to make our final decision on the topic we are going to research for our end-of-year history project.
I was finding it really hard to decided what to do because there is such a wide range of historical topics that are really interesting. In the beginning I was going to do something about the GAA. I then changed my mind to studying a person in history. I narrowed my options down to Micheal Collins, Eamon De Valera and John. F. Kennedy. I struggled big time in trying to choose one out of the three. I was interested in studying each of them. There is so much to write about each one of them.
I eventually went to my history teacher Ms. McH to ask her for some help in picking. She told me that she has read books on all three of them and if it was her, she would choose to write about J.F.K. I decided to go on her decision, giving that she is a leaving cert history teacher!
So, now I am researching all about J.F.K and I am really happy with this decision. He had a very interesting childhood and a more interesting life as soon as he was inaugrated as President of the United States.

Niamh! :D

Picture sources:

De Valera-irish-family.net, Michael Collins-irish-family.net, JFK-showbiznewsblog.com

Cross Country - Leinsters!

On Thursday, 17th of February, the Cross Country Leinster Championships took place in Santry, Co. Dublin. We had three teams running from the school. The maximum number of girls on each team was six. We needed three girls to score for points-first three home. The first three teams in each race qualified for the All-Ireland Chaampionships. Also, the first fifteen individuals to cross the finish line, qualified for the All-Ireland Championships.
none of our three teams qualified but we had a great achievement with one of our second year girls qualifying for the All-Irelands as an individual.
The weather was nice but it was freezing cold out. The track wasn't in great condition because of the rain we had had a few days beforehand. This made all of the races very difficult.
It was a great day overall, each team and all of the individual runners had plenty of support from the other girls along the side of the track.
This was the last cross country race of the year for most of us, apart from our All-Ireland qualifier. The Santry schools competition will begin the week before Easter. Training for all events in Santry is ongoing at the moment after school everyday. Our school always does very well in Santry, so fingers crossed that we do just as well or better this year!

Niamh! :D

Imagination is the key! :)

Yesterday, Wednesday, our first two classes were spent with a story writer and illustrator in the library. Oisin McGann was the name of the writer/illustrator that came in to talk to us.
He was a really nice and upbeat man. He talked to us about how to become a good writer. He gave us tips on how to start off writing. He started off by telling us that the most important thing when writing is to write every idea that you have down on a piece of paper. Oisin told us that he always has a notebook and pen in his pocket. He also told us that he leaves a notebook and pen beside his bed every night because sometimes he wakes up with an amazing writing idea during the night, but if he doesn't write it down, he will have forgotten it the next morning.
He began to tell us about how he comes up with ideas. He told us that sometimes you can look at something so simple but by using your imagination you can turn it in to something amazing. He used the example of looking at a shoe! He came up with a fabulous story about how a small shoe used to cover your feet during the day turns into a blood-sucking creature at night time. Now come on, is that good use of imagination or what?! :L
After that wild story, he showed us some of his already published books. He gave us a little insight into what some of the are about. In my opinion, Oisin McGann has a great sense of imagination but his style of writing s a tad weird for my liking. That's not to say that he isn't good, however. He really is good a grabbing peoples' attention.
When we were coming near the end of the workshop, Oisin took a slightly different route from writing and he began to draw us a picture based on one of his books that he had just explained to us. It was absolutely amazing to watch the drawing appear on the blank piece of paper. When he had finished drawing the picture, Oisin signed it and presented it to our class for a keepsake. We all jumped into a picture with him holding up the illustration.
Oisin's workshop was really good fun and I liked how it was a different way of learning about journalism/writing/illustrating.

Niamh! :D

To Croke Park we go! :D

Today, 14th February, all of TY went on a history trip to the GAA museum in Croke Park. I was really looking forward to this outing seeing as I am a big fan of the GAA.
We left the school at around twelve o'clock mid-day. There were two buses to take us to Croke Park. There was a big 52 seater and then a smaller 18 seater. I went on the 18 seater. Ms McG and Ms McH were the two accompanying teachers on the trip. Ms McG came on the mini bus with us.
When we got to the museum we were greeted by our tour guide. He was a really friendly man. By the sounds of things he has been working there for quite some years now. We went into a meeting room first of all. We were shown a twenty minute video on how the staff, stewards and gardai prepare for match days, especially All-Ireland Sundays in September.
The video was really good, it showed everything that goes on behind the scenes and in front of the scenes on match days. After the video, we followed the guide out to the bus tunnel. He explained everything to us about where the team buses drive in with the teams. We went into the players lounge to see where the teams go after a match for food and drinks. We then walked across to the dressing rooms. We sat in the dressing room that Tipperary used for the 2010 All-Ireland hurling final. The jerseys from each of the thirty two counties plus the London and New York jerseys were all hung around the dressing rooms on display. At a higher level to the rest of the jerseys, were the four All-Ireland Champion jerseys. Cork-Football, Tipperary-Hurling, Wexford-Camogie and Dublin-Ladies' Football.
After the dressing rooms, we headed out and around the stadium. I even stood on the edge of the grass! Myself and Stephanie, Leah, Chloe and Jessica headed up to the Ard Chomhairle stand to see what it was like to be the All-Ireland winners! Everyone then came up to join us! We sat down along the most important row of seats. The tour guide talked us through each stand and explained the historical significance of each one. We then went up to the very top of the upper tier - not a good idea for people who are afraid of heights!!! :L After that trip, we went back down to the middle level of the stadium and we were shown the premium boxes.
When the tour of the stadium was complete, the guide took us down to the museum and showed us around there. He then took us upstairs to where we could play different games associated with the GAA. They were so much fun! :D
A few of us grabbed a bite to eat in the coffee shop before we headed back home on the bus!
I had a really great day out and I think everybody else did too.

Niamh! :D

Trip to Poland.. Maybe! :D

On Thursday, we were informed about a religion trip that has been organised for the students who will be in 5th and 6th year in October. The trip will be to Poland, for four days during the Hallowe'en mid-term break.

Mrs L and Mrs K B are the two religion teachers that have

organised this trip. Even though it is religion based, there is still a really, good fun aspect attached aswell. We were given an application form, an page with information on the cost of the trip etc and an itinerary of the trip.

After an early morning flight to Poland, we will have a guided tour of Krakow including the old Town Square, University Distrtict, Wawel Hill, Kazimierz and the Jewish Quarter, Shinders factory. We will have an evening meal and then we will be given some free time to explore the old town square.

The following day we will have breakfast before going on an excursion to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp with on-site guide. We will return from the concentration camp via Wadowice, the birth place of Pope John Paul the second. We will have a meal again. Then we will be given time to go shopping at Krakow Plaza.

On the third day after breakfast, we will visit the Wieliczka Salt Mines. In the afternoon we will visit the Galicja Museum. Here, we may possibly get the chance to meet with some of the Holocaust survivors. Later, we will eat and then we will have a three hour session at Park Wodny waterpark.

On the fourth day if we have time before our flight, we will do some last minute shopping after our breakfast. We will then head to the airport and head back home.

This sounds like a really adventurous and fun trip.. let's not forget educational! I would absolutely love to go on the trip. There are so many others who would love to go aswell. Unfortunately though, there are only spaces available for forty students to go on this trip. The names of all applicants will have to be put in a hat and chosen at random if there is a huge demand, which I'm sure there will be.

In a way, some of us have an advantage. This is because quite a lot of the Leaving Certificate students will probably not put there names forward. Also, any of the girls who were lucky enough to go on the trip to Paris in second year, will not get first preference. If their names' are pulled out, they will go straight onto a waiting list.

My fingers a crossed on the double in the hope that my name will be picked to go on the trip!

Niamh! :D

Minco trip to town! :D

Yesterday, Wednesday 9th of February, myself and the other five girls in my TY mini company group took a trip into Dublin. It wasn't just any old trip to get off school though. We had a busy schedule ahead of us. We had to get the photographs taken that are needed for our hair and beauty book.
On Tuesday evening, we went through all that had to be done. We made out a checklist to make sure we wouldn't forget anything for the photographs being taken.
We set off on the bus into town at half nine in the morning. It took a while for us to get in there with all of the morning traffic. We got off the bus at heuston station and we headed for the NCAD on Thomas Street. We walked from the bus stop up onto James' Street. It was a straight walk down from James' Street to Thomas Street. We stopped off in a shop to get some food to keep us going until lunch time. Before we knew it, we were at the college.
We went inside to the college and we waited in reception for the student photographer who was going to help us with our mini company assignment. Katie was the name of the girl. She was such a lovely and friendly person. She had the photography studio booked for us from eleven in the morning until four in the afternoon. Katie brought us upstairs to the studio where we got ourselves organised and got cracking on the pictures straight away.
We had a list of running order set out for ourselves so we knew what was going on the whole time. We were working really hard and busily right up until one o'clock. We went for lunch then, We had an hour for lunch.
For the hour, we took off out of the college and we went to an amazing restaurant with delicious food called "The Food Gallery". Some of us had soup with brown bread, including myself. Some of the other girls had ham and cheese sandwiches.
After lunch, we got back to the studio in the college and we got everything finished that was on our list. At the very end of our studio session with Katie, we had a good laugh taking group pictures for our cover page of the book. We made them as casual and as fun looking as possible. For the very last photograph, Katie got her lecturer to take a picture of the six of us, herself and her friend, who had been helping her out for the day with us.
We gave Katie a card with a little token in it for herself, to show our appreciation for the time she gave up to help us. She told us that she would get them emailed out to us by this weekend.
We left the studios at around a quarter past four to catch the bus that was leaving Merrion Square at twenty three minutes past four. We got the bus from along the quays.
While we were walking to the bus stop, we came across a blind man trying to cross the road. We helped him across and then we got talking to him. He was going to the bus stop aswell to get a bus. We waited with him and chatted to him until his bus came.He was really thankful towards us for our help.
It was a really worthwhile and beneficial day out in town for Minco.

Niamh! :D