BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition

On our first day back at school after the Christmas break we went to the RDS where the Young Scientist Exhibition was on. We left the school on a bus at around quarter past nine and it took about an hour to get to the RDS. We were singing songs as per usual on the bus. When we got there I walked around looking for my friends from the boys school and they weren't at their stand so we just walked around for a bit. I was really stupid that day and didn't have any breakfast and I didn't bring lunch either so I was starving and wanted to go get food. We went to the food court place and there was loads of trailers like Eddie Rockets and Chippers and stuff. I didn't bring a lot of money so I ended up buying curry chips. After we ate we went back into the exhibition and walked around, not really paying attention to what we were looking at to be honest. We just walked around like we were looking for something but we all knew we had no idea what we were looking for. Basically we walked around for the whole day looking for free stuff which wasn't very successful.. I got a ruler..
So yeah I didn't really look at any of the projects I stayed with the lads I knew for a while talking to them. I was pretty bored it was a really long day. It's good though...sort of
Byeeeeeeee

Charity Ball

          SICKLE CELL CHARITY BALL
A 6th Year student from Kings Hospital School hosted a TY charity ball to raise money for SCSI, Sickle Cell Society of Ireland. On the day of the ball I went to get my hair done at 10:30am. I got my hair cut, layered, and curled for the ball later that night. The hairdresser put tight curls in my hair but they would be lose by the time I was leaving for the ball. As I was walking out of the hairdresser's house it was raining and I really didn't want to ruin my hair so I ran to the car as if I was Phoebe from friends, if you don't know what that's like it's basically a new born horse trying to run...  After that I went to the Abbey Beauty salon to get my make up done, the girl was really nice and she was really good at eye makeup. Thank god for that because I didn't want to go to the ball with eye makeup that made me look like I went 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. But she did a really good job and gave me fake eyelashes too. I was so excited to get dressed up because I had bought a dress from Lipsy and I couldn't wait to wear it!
I got ready in my own house and then went to Lauren's to get pictures with her and Laura. We got loads of photos and then her dad dropped us to the hotel. Her dad dropped us off beside the main entrance of the hotel which was really embarrassing because there were loads of people there that we didn't know. We had to walk around the back of the hotel to get into the ball and I was in heels and the ground was cobblestone. I was terrified I was gonna go flat on my face. We walked through the door and there was a big enough room with round tables and chairs. There was a chocolate fountain, candy cart, candy floss stand and a christmas tree in the corner. The night was really good but I got a bit bored after a while from sitting around. They turned off the music at half twelve even though on the ticket it says that it ends at 1:30. So I had to sit around and wait for my Dad to come and collect me. 

Baking Christmas Cakes!

                                      MERRY CHRISTMAS
In my Home Economics class I baked a chocolate biscuit cake and decorated it with fondant icing. It was really fun to make this cake and it was soooo delicious!

 Here is the recipe if you would like to make it yourself:
http://odlums.ie/recipes/chocolate-biscuit-cake/

Maths Quiz With Salesians

On Friday 16th October Salesians College journeyed to our school hall for an exciting Maths Quiz! We started our Friday morning normally by going to class and having our break. We were supposed to go to the hall to help set up but I was in my own world and forgot. I went to Irish class with Lauren and sat there wondering where everyone was and then realised that the whole of TY was down in the hall. We carried tables and chairs into the hall and assorted them into 16 groups of four students. Each table would have two girls and two boys. When the boys arrived we were all given a sheet that would be the icebreaker. Then we lined up girls on one side and boys on the other. We were given numbers and we had to match our groups together. At first when the two boys introduced themselves it was really awkward and I didn't know what to do... But then thank god they started handing out the sheets with the maths questions on them so I could just keep my head down, do the sum and avoid eye-contact because I was so embarrassed. Our team wasn't that bad at maths, I mean we got a few wrong but we did well. A few of my friends were there from the boys school and two of them were on the winning team. It was really fun but I didn't win anything in the quiz...

HOWEVER, I did win musical statues after though and I got a packet of sweets so I was chuffed

First Aid Workshop

A few weeks ago, before work experience started, the TYs went to the school library and took part in a First Aid Workshop. It was a Wednesday and TYs have no classes scheduled for Wednesdays so we usually have an activity that day. All of class Lagarde gathered in the library were greeted by our First Aid instructor Gary. I think it's safe to say that he was extremely 'punny'. For example, he was introducing himself when my friend Lauren suddenly screamed to me "there's a massive spider on your head!" She whacked me over the head and the spider fell into the middle of the circle we were sitting in. Gary picked it up wuth a piece of paper and put it outside. He came back in and said "I don't know how to give CPR to a spider but you can look it up in a web.." The whole class laughed and he kept on saying puns throughout the whole workshop. -_-

We learned lots of really helpful things from 'Gaz'. He taught us CPR on dummies and how to put people in the recovery position. It was really helpful because we learned how to react in dangerous situations like if someone is choking like a person, baby or even yourself, we now know what we need to do.It was particularly helpful for me as I have two godchildren who are younger than 1 so I babysit them a lot and I am more confident knowing that I can trust myself to react in dangerous situations. I think it was really helpful and I personally think that every TY year should do this                                                             because it gives you more confidence.

TY Carlingford Trip

On 17th September we left the school at half nine and began our journey to Carlingford Adventure Centre in Louth. We were on the bus for an hour and a half, singing , chatting and having the craic. We were all so excited and anxious to see what kind of activities we would be doing. I think that we were all hoping that we wouldn't be the first group in the water because it was freezing outside! When we arrived at the adventure centre we were brought to the sports hall and we were split into two groups. Of course... my group was the first in the water! We got our water gear and left our bags in the storage room. We walked down to the boating area and we were given our wetsuits. They were cold and wet. I was not looking forward to this. We got changed and I don't think anyone's wetsuit was actually the right size for them. Mine was huge. Which meant that the water would feel colder for me. At the time I was suffering from a really bad chest infection and I wasn't particularly keen on leaping into the water. We got into our boats and paddled out to a little dock in the middle of the water. We stood on it and some people jumped off, doing flips and crazy stuff. Each of them complained about the temperature of the water but then carried on jumping in and out of it. I hung in the background because I didn't want to get my hair wet and my chest was very sore so it would have got worse.  There was a speed boat that took us in groups of six out to a trampoline where we played games and jumped off it and it was just a good laugh with the girlies. We them paddled back to the changing rooms where we got changed but some of the girls forgot to bring a spare pair of shoes with them so they had to walk back in their drenched shoes.

When we got back we were given lunch, I was expecting soup and a roll... no. We got chicken goujons and chips and beans. I was so surprised. The portions were great too as we were starving from our bus journey. After lunch we went to another activity Laser Tag with the lads from some school. All the girls were screaming asking if they could play with them. I looked like death so I kind of just hid in the background until we started. The laser tag area was huge, it was in a forest and my team won both times. After laser tag we went back to the centre and had dinner and got our room keys. We went to our rooms and had showers and got changed. We then had our night activity which was walking around holding a rope...blindfolded. It was hilarious. We had to follow each other using a rope while the leaders scared us putting grass in our face and screaming in our ears. The group divided towards the end so the first half took off our blindfolds and waited silently to scare the others. As they reached the end and were talking their blindfolds off we all screamed really loud and some of them collapsed to the ground.

I think I had a six pack by the time I was finished laughing at them. We walked back, singing songs from recent charts and hits from movies like Greece and yes...High School Musical. It was really fun.
When we got back to our rooms we got into our pyjamas and some went to the curry shop and the chipper. We chatted until around 2 or 3 in the morning and finally fell asleep getting a total of 4 hours in bed. But. SOMEONE FORGOT TO TURN OFF THEIR ALARM! So we got and hour less than everyone else. Thanks Joy!  We got up, dressed and went down for breakfast. We then went to Challenge Island where we had to complete challenges and figure out a maze that was pitch black. It was horrible. For every time we completed a challenge we got some gems. We went zip-lining too and then went back to the centre and got ready to go home. I slept the whole way... Carlingford was really good, I thought it was great. I had loads of fun with the squad. Thanks Ms. Leonard!