Gaisce Hike!

30 of us TYs headed off to Kippure in the Wicklow Mts. to partake in our 25km hike which we needed to do to complete the President's Bronze Award. We were so excited and had bags full of food to last us a week even though we only went for one night. This was another challenge we were willing to take up! When we arrived we dumped our bags in our houses. I was in house Gryffindor! We then set off on a 13km hike for the night. After the first km i was wrecked and I reckoned we had just about covered half of the trek. I was soon disappointed to find out we had another three hours to go. We hiked through fields, forests and very wet bogland. We crawled through a 5000 year old tomb which used to be used as a meeting place. I for one would definitely not like to hike up to the top of a mountain everyday just to hear all the news.

The night in the house was one to remember. We stayed up all night, making ourselves dinner and brownies, and watching High School Musical and some other cringey movies.

Next morning we were woken at 8 o'clock and set off on another hike of 12km hike. We were a lot quieter that morning than we had been the previous night. We were all so tired and the cold was certainly a shock to the system. The second day was more uphill with a lot more wet and boggy land. At the end of it all it felt like such an achievement to have completed 25km in just two days! It was such a fun weekend and I'd love to do it again!

Swim A Mile With A Smile

Yesterday all of Transition Year took part in the Ian Daly Swim A Mile With A Smile. It was one of the highlights of the year so far :) Ian Daly was a local boy and my friend Eimear's brother. He was diagnosed with a brain tumour at a young age and after much fighting, unfortunately he died. He loved to swim so the Ian Daly Swim a Mile With a Smile was set up. It is a sponsored swim to raise money for Crumlin Children's Hospital where he was treated and Barretstown.
I swam a mile with my friend Niamh, and altogether us TYs managed to swim over 40 miles altogether, beating the previous record of 25 miles. We all did the best we could and it was a really enjoyable day for everyone. Hopefully we managed to get a lot of sponsorship too to help out :)
Thanks a lot to Brian and Laura Daly who do so much work to organise everything! We loved it :)


Click here for Swim A Mile Website

Around the World in 365 days

In geography class we did projects based on our 'Arount The World' Trips. It was a really fun project to do because I got to learn a lot about different countries that some day I'd like to visit. We had to present our projects to the class, so here is a slideshow of one of the countries I chose to visit, Dubai.

Jitterbug

Last night was the school's annual music night. For the last couple of weeks we have been preparing to perform Wake Me Up by Wham! in music class. We did lots of practise and then even before the show when everyone had arrived we ran through it a few times to make sure we got it right. No offence to anyone, but we all know our class isn't very musically gifted, so we decided to just go out, try our best, and most importantly have a bit of a laugh. (Easier said than done when you walk out to a full house and the music doesn't start..) We managed to get through the song pretty good though and it was such a relief walking off stage that nothing went wrong! :) And well done to other TY classes Eriú and Banba too! Their months of preparation really payed off and they were brill singing Shake It Out by Florence + the Machine :)

Catch Up!

So mid-term was good, I lazed around, visited family, hung out with friends, went to Time (a disco) etc, etc.. I came back to school on Monday morning feeling relaxed and was looking forward to getting back into routine. However this past week has been anything but routine! Emotions/feelings of the week include: Happiness, Anxiety, Excitement, Stress, Ecstatic, Exhaustion, and like a dream!


Only in TY!...
Monday: Did teddy rolls in PE, handed in a 4 page essay in English, had bank bant for the rest of the day :D
Tuesday: Designed b-e-a-utiful jewellery in Art based on a deep inspiring concept (of which I'm still waiting to find out), ran around the school for a while dressed as a Super Hero, and watched a french movie/slept with my eyes open :Z/ate lollipops :)
Wednesday: The day of the long-awaited Mini Company Competition! Illuminate was short-listed! :O
Thursday: It's hard to believe that anything really happened that day or if I imagined it all! Read all about our bank launch day here with The Original Rudeboys and Johnny Doyle!! Us Illuminators also found out we got through to the Kildare County Final for the mini-company competition! :D
Friday: "Please support Lollipop Day for the Oesophageal Cancer Fund!" - Never said a single phrase more in my life! We sold lollipops and badges in Dublin City to raise money for the Oesophageal Cancer Fund. It was also a great day :) Lollipop Day Website

 

I'm absolutely buzzing for next week now too! I'm going to FM104, a huge radio station in Dublin, for work experience! I hope I will get to meet lots of famous people and do fun things there :D