My Transition Year Experience.

There is only like 2 weeks left in school, so that means TY is nearly over :( There is so much I want to say about TY, it has just been such an amazing year for me and my life will never be the same again. If we had our way I'm sure most people would do TY again. TY was definitely an experience, one I'll never forget. Throughout the year i have tried things that I would never even dream of doing, I learned a lot this year and we did a lot more work then any other year in the school! Some things that I have learned and done in TY has changed my perspective about where I want to take my life and what I want to do.

Since the year started I thought from the very beginning that TY was just amazing, even though I got stressed at the end because of the projects which I sort of expected, it has been the best year of my life! I finally know what I want to be when I'm older thanks to my work experiences. But it can be hard in a working environment and I think it's fair to say that I'm ready :)

Ever since the start of the year Mrs. L kept telling us to be blogging about our TY experience and now I know why. When we leave school and in years to come when I think about my school days, I can always just come on to this and read all about it because to me it's not just a blog, it's my memories.

Mrs. L has just been amazing and I want to thank her for all the opportunities that she has given us and she has helped me so much. I was on the fence for so long in 3rd year about whether I should do TY and now I am so glad I did. If I didn't I would be studying to sit my Leaving Cert. whereas in TY we sort of had a year off from the hectic studies and got to learn new skills. Right from the very start Mrs. L has helped me achieve great things and she doesn't just treat us as students because we were all friends in TY even though there was some rivalry going on between Amina and Emnet :) Without Ement we would be nothing.

Throughout the year I have made new friends and I just know we will be friends forever thanks to TY for the tasks put in front of us. I have done so many things in TY and I just can't put them down because they were just amazing, like Carlingford, I mean before that I wouldn't even dream about hiking up mountains but I did. I can take all of these memories with me thanks to Mrs. L and to all the other teachers who pushed us for the entire year to do the best of our ability. Without them we wouldn't have all this knowledge, I always thought that teachers taught because they had to but know I know it's because they want to and I admire them for that. Cheers Guys :)

I will keep all of my TY experience in my mind and on my blog forever and I wish every year in school was like TY because it is just a once in a life time experience.

Amina and Emnet on La Glas.

Beady Bits Mini-Company

Amina on La Glas.

Class Amina meeting Oisin MGann.

Cheescake and the Queen

Yesterday in school apart from doing our religion test we were also cooking. I was going to be making Light Strawberry Cheesecake which I'm not a big fan of but what the hell. I was actually in Pastoral Care which is like SPHE and Ms. KB said we were going to watch the Queen instead because she was coming to Ireland for the first time and it was the first time a royal monarch came to Ireland since we got our independance like 60 years ago or something. So it was a really big thing because it was history. The bell went and some people said including Stephanie that we refuse to leave untill we see her get off the jet. We did anyway we saw her and she even wore green :D we left after that because when we got to Home Ec we were late and we asked Ms. McA could we watch her like live on RTE Player and she said yes, so while we were cooking we were watching the Queen take a tour of Dublin and meet Mary McAlease.

We made our cheescakes anyway and we had to come back at like 4 to collext them because they had to set, but when I went to get mine it wasn't set because I had a lot of ingredients so it was a big cake. When I got home I put it in the fridge for like the rest of the night and today it looks fine.

Here are some pic of what my cake looks like:

Religion Test

Yesterday in religion we had our test, but it wasn't really a test because Ms. KB already gave us the question so that we could prepare for it; good woman yerself :D Anyway we were all given like an A3 piece of paper and we had to divide it into 4 sections, 1, 2, 3 and 4 and in them we had to choose 2 films that we watched during this year and sort of describe how there's conflict in them. In the first section, you had to put like key moments of the films and how they showed conflict, in the second section you had to put words that came to your mind when you saw the films, in section 3, you had to pick a symbol from each film and say why the director chose this symbol and why. In the forth and last section we had to put collage of pictures that represent the movies so I got loads of pictures of the movie and some other ones and just stuck them all on. By the end of class my poster looking deadly :P

3rd Last Week in School

We are now into our 3rd last week in school and people are starting to realize that this years nearly over :( All in all that's not getting people down because we have got our TY night in like 2 weeks and that's what we are all looking forward to. We have already started planning what jobs people will be doing, we are doing dancing and singing and much more. But we still have tests ahead of us. On Monday that was the deadline for us to hand in our end of the year history projects, I was really happy because I worked so hard on it and was proud of it but some people forgot to print it off and they all know who they are :L Nothing really happened on Monday apart from working on our religion exam which Ms. KB gave us the question to on Friday i think, so we had this class to figure out what we were going to put in it. I think I spent the whole class listening to Siobhan as she was explaining it to me :)

Sports Day

On the 11th of May 2011 St. Wolstan's had its Sports Day. We didn't know when it started so we all just went to class as normal but we had 2 classes, English then anoher lunch! At 9:05 in history, Amina had our test on the French Wars of Religion which went ok, we really want to do it because it was sports day but we did anyway. At about 12 o'clock everyone went out to the banks during our second lunch to get a good spot. I was with most people out of Amina and we were in a perfect spot; on the edge of the bank where the music was. There was a lot of things to do on the football field including: Shot Put, Relays, Long Jump, High Jump, 3 Legged Race and for the first time we had a slow bicycle race. I didn't really do anything because I'm not a sporty person but I didn do the High Jump which was fun. There was also like a stand where they were selling ice creams, so I had to get one and it was yummy. :) Nearing the end of the school day as always the 6th years had a game of rounders with all the teachers. Every year everybody looks forward to seeing the teachers playing rounders because it is always so funny. We all went home as normal at about 3.30 and kept in mind the funny moments of the 2011 Sports Day. The only thing that was bad about the day was that it was breezy and rainy, but that didn't get anyone down because we all just danced along to the music and had fun and we can't wait till next year :)

Sci Fest

On 10th of May all of the TY's Head off to Tallaght to take part in the sci-fest science competition. I was in a group with Roisin and we sort of adopted Aoife B into our group because her science project didn't get accepted. :(

At the start of the year at the young scientist competition me and Roisin's project didn't get accepted because we were too good :L but we have been working at our project so we got accepted this time. At the young scientist competition only one group got through so this time only one group didn't get through so we were all happy. Me and Roisin we struggling a bit because a few day before we hadn't even got our poster done so we were running around , trying to get it finished on time. We did anyway so we were all happy. On the day of Sci-fest we would be leaving the school at 8 o'clock which was a bit early seeing as the competition started at like 10. But when people arrived at like 7:45 they looked really awake but some others didn't including me because I had to drag myself out of the bed at like 7:30 and got there like just in time. We were only on the coach for like 30 minutes and when we arrived at I.T.T we were told by one of the organisers where we would have our stand. Me, Roisin and Aoife we were in the Staff Room on the second floor. We got a book and a free goodies bag as well. We got like pens and badges and a furry sticker thing :)

When we got upstairs, we were a bit confused because we weren't sure whether we had to share a table with another person or not and the board behind us was shared as well. When we were all settled the like chairman of the competition had all of the contestants from all over Ireland standing around a balcony and he just sort of explained what the plan was for the day and when lunch was. Over the course of the day me and Roisin got interviewed by about 7 judges. Roisin did most of the talking because I get really nervous when I have to talk :P

Lunch was at like 12.30 to 1.30 so we all went down to the cafeteria which was huge and got like muffins and drink and stuff. We then went around looking at the college and some of us got lost including me. We also went to shows in our groups. We had tickets to go to like chemistry shows but we only went to one. In the first one there was 3 guys and they just sort of showed us these cool chemistry experiments. They were setting fire to helium balloons and spilling liquid nitrogen all over the place. It was completely safe unless you actually touched it, but when he spilled it, it changed from a liquid to a gas in like less than a second. It was so cool and he explained everything in so much detail so it was easy to understand things. The picture below shows Liquid nitrogen changing from a liquid to a gas.

When it was nearing the end of the day at about 2, we had to go and take our posters down so we could go to the awards ceremony. St. Wolstans won like 4 or 5 awards and me and Roisin were one of the groups. Our project "How different foods affect the Larynx" won 1st prise in the Physics intermediate category. We were so happy and we got our picture taken in front of everyone and we got two 15 euro vouchurs. We weren't excpecting to win but we were happy we did. All in all the day turned out to be a very good day and I really enjoyed it. Well done to everyone who entered, won and participated from all schools. :) Me and Roisin accepting our prize :)

Count on Me

In music we have been trying to come up with a song that Amina could sing at TY night but we just can't think of anything. We also had a new teacher on the 9th of May, her name is Melissa. Like halfway through music class the other TY class, Emnet cam in and told us the song that they would be singing on TY night. It is called "Count on Me" by Bruno Mars. We listened to it and we fell in love with the song as well, so we asked Emnet could we sing the song with them as a big group and they said yes so that is the song we will all be singing on TY night. Melissa then played the song on Youtube and we listened to it and sang along with it like 3 or 4 times. It is a really good song and sort of reflects how we all got along in Transition Year, a real sort of friendship song. Here have a listen:

Geography Project on Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez was born on the 24th of July 1969 in the Bronx, New York. Her nickname is J.LO and people recognise her all over the world by that name. She was brought up by her Puerto Rican mother and father; Guadalupe and David Lopez and she has 2 sisters; Lynda and Leslie. Jennifer was raised a Roman Catholic. She is an American actress, singer, dancer, record producer, television personality, fashion designer and television producer. She began her career as a dancer on a television comedy called "In Living Colour". After subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in an 1995 action-thriller "Money Train". Her first leading role was in the film Selena, where she earned an AlMA Award for outstanding actress. Since then she has stared in many filsm like; "The Wedding Planner", "Maid in Manhatten" and "The Break-Up Plan". Jennifer came into the music industry following the release of her debut studio album "On the 6" which contained the number one hit single "If you had my love". Her second album "J.LO" was release on the 23rd of January 2001 and the lead single "Love don't Cost a Thing" was her first number one in the UK. Also in 2005 she released her forth album and the lead single fot that was "Get it Right" and that was her second number one in the UK. In 2007 she released 2 albums including her first full Spanish-language album "Como Ama una Mujer", her album was number one on the US Top Latin Chart for 4 weeks. The lead song "Que Hiciste" was the first Spanish video to peak at number one on MTV's Total Request Live Daily Countdown. From the music business she has recieved 2 Grammy Awards, 2 Latin Grammy Awards, and estimated sale of 55 million records worldwide. In 2004 she married Marc Anthony and in February 2008 she gave birth to fraternal twins; Emme and Maximillian. She now lives in Brookville, New York on Long Island with her family and her mother. I also talked about the countries that relate to her and the geography of them. Check it out on my googlemap at http:maps.google.ie/maps?hl=en&tab=wl.

Back to school!

On Monday the 2nd of May we didn't go to school because it was a bank holiday so on Tuesday the 3rd of May we were back in school and nothing really really happened apart from doing my car in Technology which was alright because I was just marking out on a piece of like metal. In Pastoral Care we watched some more of Gran Torino and then in Religion we watched the end of it and it was so sad because Walt died to save Thao. :( In Home Ec we were supposed to be cooking but I didn't know anything about it so I didn't really make anything, I just went around and helped people and helped tidy up. On Wednesday the 4th of May we were supposed to be having a history test but because Ms. McH is so nice she let us have it on the following week because she thought that we forgot about the test and we wouldn't be prepared for it. Over the next few days there will be exams going on for the first and second years. I remember when that was me and I would get so nervous about failing but that's all different now, Most people now are just studying like all the time and for the girls doing their junior and leaving cert, I just want to say that you's will do great. I think in the next few weeks I will be doing my exams as well but it wont be like a proper exam, it will be like projects that count for 60% of our overall marks! If only every year was like TY.

Easter Holidays

Over the next 3 weeks I wasn't in school because I went to America so I didn't really have an Easter and not one single egg. I got back a few days before we started back school for term 3 but I slept for most of that. Not really much to say in this post :P

Glendalogh

On the 5th of April 2011, class Amina were off to Glendalogh for a retreat. Mr K. and Ms. KB were going with us. We left at like 9 am and it took us about and hour and a half on a coach. The bus driver was so nice that he stopped of at a shop so we could buy food and sweets. When we got there there was like a lot of buses arriving with like other schools and the funny thing was, there was a bus that contained like old people in like their 70's and Mr. K just went quickly move out of their way even though they were like a mile away and Niamh P just goes "Oh better move quick" and we all just started laughing because they we walking so slow. We then got brought to this field where this lady talked to us about the formation of Glendalogh and then we all did like a form of dancing but she was talking about the sky and the earth and Staphanie was breaking her heart laughing and seeing as she was beside me I started laughing and I nearly fell to the ground because once Stephanie starts laughing, she does not stop. We then went on a walk to like a well, where the lady started telling us about the history of it and people thinking it was holy and stuff. Before we left Mr. K asked me to cut off 60 peices of wool and i asked why because it was so random but he wouldn't tell me. Then I found out what they were for. The was a branch of a tree that was used for people to make wishes by tying a piece of string or wool onto it, but it was chopped down so we were all sad we didn't get to make a wish. :( It was really a walking retreat because we then went off on another walk but this one was just to no where, we then got to like stairs which was weird, we then looked up and it looked like 500 steps and Mr. K was just like "Come on!", We were all soooo tierd and I was like being dragged up this mountain by Mr. K. About 20 minuts later we got to the top and we sort of did a U turn and we headign to go back down the mountain and we were all like "What!" The lady brought us over to the edge of the top and we all just sat on this big rock and told us a story and then she was like the person who founded Glendalough, was like arrested because he was like a priest or something and where we were sitting he was in jail there. Some of us got up in like shock because it was no bigger then a wardrobe. We then walked down the mountain and back towards the starting point to get our lunch, that lasted for like 30 minutes and i had a lovely hot soup. (Yum!) We then went on another walk to like no where and we came across some sheep and we fell in love with them but Mr. K said that Ms. B would not allow us to keep them in the school. (Aww), We then got back on the bus and it took us an hour to get home. We then went into the hall and begged Mr. K to let us get off early because it was like 3:40 but he said no. :(

Music workshop

On the 31st of March, we were going to have a music workshop and was so looking forward to it because it would be really fun and someone was coming in as well. Only thing was seeing as one of my brackets came off my mam had organised for me to go to the hospital to get it put back on so I had to leave right before the workshop started so I was dissappointed that I missed the Music Workshop and I didn't even get the bracket put back on my dentist just cut the wire and kept the bracket. I'm sure we'll have another day where I can be there for a music workshop.

Music Night

It's the 30th of March, the day on which our Music Night is on. The pressure is on because we have to make this performance brilliant because all of our parents and friends will be in the audience. We had music class today aswell so we went into the hall to practise again and we sounded really good so that put us all in a good mood for the rest of the day. When I got home, I had 4 hours untill the show, so I went to bed and then practised the song again no doubt when I woke back up at about 5 I had dinner and then got ready for the show. The teachers said wear nothing too low cut or short so I wore my favourite black dress and a cardigan and pumps. I was wooried about one thing, I had just got braces on that day and was worried that my mouth would be too sore to sing but we were going to find out. We had to pay for tickets if we wanted to see the whole show, most people out of my class didn't but I wanted to see all the acts. We were in the second half so me and my mam saw all the acts in the first half and I have to say , the talent that my school has is just amazing, there was people singing, dancing, playing instruments etc. And everyone was amazing. When the TY's were up I had to walk on the stage first but I was grand even though I have as much confidence as a squirrel. We sang our song, I was grand and everyone clapped afterwards. There was only one problem, while I was singing one of my new brackets fell off.

School in Spring

On the 28th of March we were in Music class and we went to the hall because over the past few weeks we have being rehearsing for our Music Night we were will be singing "Mama Said" by Dionne Bromfield. We are all very excited and can't wait to sing in front of our parents and friends. Ms L. was there in the hall with us and helping Ms G figure out where we would be standing and how to project our voices. There was other groups practising before us, like a jazz group singing and dancing and Ms. C W. was the choreographer and they were brilliant so we couldn't wait to see them perform on Wednesday Anyway we'll see how our song turns out on the night.

Talk about Bicycles

On the 25th of March 2011 all TY's had to go to the Demo Room at 9:05 for a talk about bicycles instead of Science and Technology. It was actually really interesting how other countries use bicycles every day because their roads are too narrow for 2 lanes of traffic. We also learned that if use bicycles we are helping ourselves as well as the planet. I can't remember the guys name that did the presentation but he was from the Kildare County Council. I think people like him should come in and tell us the importance of changing our routines to help the planet.

English Day Out

On Thursday the 24th of March all of the TY's were off to town to go to the Yeats Exhibition and to see other museums as well. We left at like 9:30 or something and got on the bus which brought us into town and Ms. B and Ms. G cam with us too. When we got there Amina and Emnet were split up and brought to different places because there was too many people in the one group. So Amina got brought to the Yeats Exhibition first and Emnet went to the Bog Bodies, after about an hour we switched to go to the opposite. The Yeats exhibition was good and we learned a lot about him and his family. After we had been to the Bog Bodies we thought they were good as well and it wasn't like an actual full body just like parts of it so it was a bit disturbing looking at them. Then we went to like this other museum that is right beside the Dail and that was fun as well and after we were given like 90 minutes to go into town to get lunch and stuff. I went with Patricia and we went to McDonalds and after that we went looking at shops and it was fun just walking around town. The day turned out really well and the sun topped it off :)

History, Fun and Music

On the 23rd of March it was an ok day because it started off as normal. I was in History and my teacher Ms. McH wanted me to stick quotes onto a bigger sheet of paper instead of doing work. Not that I didn't want to do work but it was fun because it took up 2 classes and there was a lot involved whether it be cutting, gluing or sellotaping. I was even excused from Spanish because I offered to stay and finish it and she was so happy that she even gave me a good note. Cheers Ms. McH When we went to the PE changing rooms just like any other Wednesday, our teachers Ms. O'C and Mr. L said that our rugby coaches Tom and Ross couldn't make it so we all went outside where our teachers said that we would be playing games instead. The 2 classes were together so it was a lot more fun. We first played this game where there was 2 teams and 2 flags and we had to run to the other teams goal and try to get our flag and bring it back to our side without being caught. It was fun because a lot of people got caught. The second game we played was rounders, and we all love a game of rounders. We all got so competitive and really getting into it and 3 people got hurt because they were trying to run to home point and slipped on the all weather pitch. It turned out to be a good day and made everyone feel better. Next up was Music and we have been learning our song for a couple of months now and we went to join the other TY class in the library so we could work on harmony's. Nobody was really getting into it but me, I love singing that song because it's such a happy song and makes everyone feel better so I just can't wait to sing it on the Music Night next Wednesday. Ms. G and Ms. O'R are really pushing us to make our song sound amazing and they are really good at helping us with the harmony's.

Pancakes & Technology = Great mix

On the 22nd of March 2011 we were going to make pancakes but the teacher didn't even know because we were supposed to be cooking last week but we were in Glasnevin doing our play so we all thought it would be postponed. So seeing as everyone had ingredients she sort of had to :L I couldn't really flip them but I tried and they looked like they were gonna fall out of the pan so I stopped. I was able to make 3 and with simple ingredients they turned out ok :P We didn't even make them on Pancake Tuesday because we were on Work Experience. Hopefully we will be able to make pancakes again because they are so easy to make. As well as that Mr. W has given us another Technology Practical assignment. He gave us a piece of blue plastic about the size as envelope and he said that we were going to be making a car or something out of it. How we are going to do that I do not know but he's the teacher so he must know what he's doing :L So we have started marking out were we have to cut and to make it into the shape we want it and were still not finished and Technology is getting really complicated but I don't really give up because it's so fun making stuff out of plastic. After I finish marking it out I will be drilling holes into it and then sawing it and then filing it so it's not that hard but it just takes so long to do, this could take at least a couple of weeks because we only have like 3 classes a week.

Monday&Music

On Monday the 21st it was sort of a slow day because nothing really happened apart from the usual. Last Friday Ms. McG came into my class during IT and talked to us about 5th Year ECDL. She was saying like what we would be doing and what you can get out of it. It's €150 but Ms. McG was saying that if you did the course privately you would have to pay like €500 so she said that it's better to do it in school. You had to pay a deposit of €50 by this Friday so I brought mine in on Monday and the other €100 will have to be paid in May. We also had Music today and we went to the library to join the other TY class: Emnet. The reason why is because on Wednesday the 30th we will be having our Music night in Woolies, should be a good craic because well of course us TY's are singing Mama Said by Dionne Bromfield. So we were practising our harmony's today and we actually sound really good, ah well we'll find out on the 30th.

Lá Glas

On Wednesday we had our annual La Glas, it's usually the day before St. Patricks Day. On like the Monday we were told that we have to dress like air hostesses and tourists. So I decided to wear my schoolbag really high and wear suncream on my face and wear sunglasses. Most people did that as well but Ruth and Chloe dressed up as pilots and they looked great; Ruth even had a pilots hat and shades. A lot of people came in dressed as tourists and everyone just looked really cool. It happens we were in English and Leah from the other TY class came in and said that her class was going to come in to get pictures of all the TY's. We then all started laughing because Ms. L walked in and she was wearing a suit as if she was a pilot and it was so funny because of the way she walked into the room. We took loads of pictures and at one stage Ms. B had to take pictures on like 8 cameras. We were all so excited because Leah and Ailbhe had planned a little scene that we could act out in the courtyard. We were in Irish and Leah asked could 2 people volunteer to be Batman and Robin, Niamh P and Davina sort of, volunteered to be them. :L

A few minutes later they arrived back into the classroom all dressed up and the whole class and Mr. S could not stop laughing because they looked so funny.

I couldn't wait to go out to the courtyard and for everyone to have fun but we had to get past double rugby first, that was a downer for some people but I wasn't gonna let that stop me. Near to the end on of our instructors Ross showed us the weird dance thing they do in New Zealand before a rugby match. We sort of bribed him into seeing as he is from there. When the bell rang we all ran to the3 courtyard to get a place so we could see everything. My friend Jeanne came along and sat beside me and when I told her that my class were in the ceili she just started laughing. When everyone was outside there was about 5 people who were going to do some Irish Dancing and Karen was 1 of them so we were all cheering her on. The music was very load and me and Jeanne were right beside it!

There was 6th years in control of the mic and music so they introduced all the years and the representatives came walking out and showing off their costumes to the judges. The judges were Mr. S, Ms. H, Ms. W, and Mr. O'C and they were all smiling when they seen everyone who took part. When they called the TY's we all just got up and started walking around acting like people in an airport, nobody knew what was going on but that was the fun of it. Seeing as Ms. L was the main pilot she was the one who got tied up by the bad guys and I could see the judges faces and they couldn't stop laughing. In the end everyone was cheering and we were all so happy that we pulled it off.

After everyone got up and started doing some Irish Dancing and then Mr. S and Mr. O'C came over and took me and Orlaigh's hand and started dancing with us, it was so funny and Orlaigh was laughing because I was in bits laughing and then the funny thing was that Mr. O'C tripped over a schoolbag and he was pulling me down as well but we got back up and kept dancing and laughing. All in all it was a funny day and the TY's got 8 Easter eggs so we spilt them between the 2 classes and got 1/4 and egg each. :L