Wow i feel like a college student!

So last week I had the week off school so i could go to DCU on a work experience placement. I worked in the sports department, here i attended fitness classes, got to work the events and even got to fit in some extra training too!
My first day was...eventful! I left the house at 7:50 to catch the 8 o clock bus, all ran smoothly enough until i was on my second bus out to DCU. See i got kinda distracted by my phone and just those 'first day' nerves, and next think i know i was outside IKEA!
Frantically i asked the bus driver where i was and how to get back to DCU, he told me that my stop was about 10 minutes back and he laughed. Then gave me the bad news that, that was the last stop and i had to get off ....
'you can't leave me here' i said almost in tears...but he explained that there'd be another bus back the opposite way in 10  minutes.
So when i finally got there, i was still 15 minutes early! How?!
Thankfully the rest of the week went pretty well, but i did feel kinda bad when some of the old women weren't struggling as much as i was with some of the classes...

And we're back ..

So after a great Christmas break, we're back in school and busy as ever!
We've had so much going on, i've had no time at all! Oh how i miss lounging around the house with 'nothing' to do!
We started off with our trip to the RDS, here we visited the BT Young Scientists Exhibition. Looking at the projects was really interesting, and they gave me some ideas for my own science project! Mrs L gave me the daunting task of doing an interview for Radio TY with one of the finalists. So we approached this group of students, who had quite an interesting project on the topic of sports science..
So we went away to do our intro, after they had agreed to speak to us, but when we returned they had ran away!
We were more careful with our next group, and didn't let them out of our sight at all!!
After the excitment of Thursday, came Friday! The junk kouture fashion show!
Junk Kouture was our home ec project for last term, we had to design dresses our of recyclable material..
It was quite nerve racking walking up and down the 'catwalk' especially when i'm not the best in heels!
My dress was called 'clockwork princess'. We made it out of polystryene and an old bed sheet, it looked pretty cool in the end:)

I'm really looking forward to this term, i'm sure we're gonna be really busy!

Book Review - My Sisters Keeper

'My Sister's Keeper' by Jodi Picoult.

I absolutely loved this book! It kept my attention from start to finish, although because us Ty's are so busy, it's taken me a while to get through it!
So the main character's name is Anna, who is the sister of Kate, who has leukaemia. But Anna is no ordinary child, she is special. Created especially to save her sister's life.
Anna is most defiantly the character who stands out to me most, i admire her courage and confidence throughout the whole book.
Anna takes on a challenge that no other thirteen year old would even imagine, she sues her parents, for the rights to her body. Crazy right? No.
She is sick of spending her life in hospitals, undergoing surgeries, transfusions and injections, she wants to be a normal child. But in achieving this, she is putting her sisters life in grave danger, which will undoubtedly result in death. What would you do?
This story poses the question, 'Is it right to use one child, in order to save the others life? Does that make you a bad person, or a really desperate one?'
The style of writing, and use of descriptive yet not complicated language makes this book quite an easy and enjoyable read, but i do warn you, have the Kleenex at the ready! As it is a tear jerker!
Overall i really enjoyed it, and i admit to seeing the movie first, but can confirm that the book is far superior! And i will defiantly be trying more of Jodi Picoult's books over the holidays!

National Athletics Awards

Wednesday the 20th of November, well what can I say..It was AMAZING!
As part of my work experience at AAI, I got to go along to the annual national athletics awards! The day started with arranging the dining hall, before all the guests arrived, and after a few phone calls with people wanting to change who they were sitting with, we were all set!
When all the guests started to arrive, i was set the task of 'meet and greet' and to show them to their seats. It was such a great experience, i got talking to Laura Reynolds, Ronnie Delaney and Rob Heffernan!

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Art, History and all about Yeats

Yes you've guessed it! A TY trip!

So we went to town, on our English trip, to the national library to see the Yeats exhibit. So we say, may as well visit the national history museum and the national art gallery while we're there!

The art gallery was my favourite part of the day, I've such an interest in art and i really enjoyed taking some time out just to browse around the great Irish and European art on display.

In the history museum we got to see the bog bodies that inspired a lot of Yeat's writing, it was interesting to see how well the bodies were preserved, but not a good idea on a full stomach!

But i must say, the best part of the day was our trip to Mc Donald's and Starbucks! Because everybody deserves a treat every once in a while:)

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This was my favourite painting by Jack Butler Yeats, I love how you have to stand back and really look at it to try and get your head around it, I liked how it more focuses on the use of colour and basic shapes instead of loads of small detail.

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This is an example of what we saw in the bog bodies exhibit, I thought it was really cool how they were preserved, but it was also kinda sad, just thinking that the body was once a person..

Working Girl

My first day at work experience was most defiantly one to remember! It was such a good day .... after i got there of course..

We left the house in plenty of time, only to find that the M50 was completely blocked off, at this point i was approaching breaking point with my nerves, but thankfully the people at AAI were very understanding and still greeted me with welcoming smiles when i arrived an hour late!
Athletics Ireland is a busy place, i really didnt expect to be so busy! And by the end of the day i was ready to sleep! I can safely say that i'm happy enough in school, at least for another while. The world of work is so exhausting D:
Although, in saying that i am looking forward to the next couple of wednesdays:)

Carlingford Banter

Laser Combat

On the 16th and 17th of September, we headed out to Carlingford in Co. Louth. While there we played laser combat, went kayaking, ran around like giant lollipops (body zorbing). It was so cold, even the showers were freezing:o,  but such an amazing experience and time to bond as a year group. We had plans to stay up all night, but after our first day of activities, we were lucky to still be functioning after 11! I can safely say that this is going to one of my best memories of TY, hopefully there will be loads more to come!

Kayaking:)

 
Body Zorbing at Carlingford:)