TY recap

This has been the best school year of my life. I have learnt so much life lessons and learnt so many new skills such as gym work, scuba diving, cpr and many many more I am so thankful I go to such a great school filled with such amazing opportunities. I visited so many places, I even travelled to a continent I had never been to, to help others. I am a completely different person to who I was at the start of the year and I am blessed for the opportunities I have. I would recommend st. Gerard's TY program to everyone it is truely fantastic and I have learnt so much

Business

This year I made the hard choice of taking on business the reason why I am making a post on this is because I didn't do it for junior cert and it is quite a large subject to take on without experience.

I have mr.kelly as my teacher and he is brilliant he gives good and clear explanations of what is going on and how to do things. He made sure I was comfortable and understood everything that was going on. This is already one of my favourite subjects and I am looking forward to seeing how it goes from here on 

French exchange

This year I took part in the French exchange program along with many of my class mates. I took two students as I felt it would be easier for them to communicate as they could help each other and so it isn't as awkard for them. My two students were called Maximilian and Yann. Each day after school we would bring them bowling, shopping, putch and put and many other activities. The two students were extremely rude to be perfectly honest but over all it was a good week

TY sport

This year for sport I gave up rugby as I don't find much interest in it and don't enjoy it. I have picked up muay tai which is a form of kickboxing and I have started going to the gym. This year in school sports I have done foot ball and Gaelic football which was completely new to me. I thought I wouldn't appriciate Gaelic as I have never played it or had any interest in it but I turned out to love it. Next year I will continue to do gym work and muay tai

New modules

Since I have returned to school I have been assigned new modules. They are sex ed, media studies and computers. Although I have missed most of these modules I have been here long enough to watch one of my all time favourite films ever in media studies and that is good will hunting. I wish I was here longer to really experience these modules.

Dcu open day

DCU was defiantly my favourite open day that we had the privilege to go to. Although the campus wasn't as big and spread out as manooth it has a better spirit to it. The rooms were all new and well built and the students attending the collage all seemed so upbeat and happy and reslly gave a great feel for the university. This trip would make me keep my options towards dcu

Scuba diving

Scuba diving was very weird and different for me. It was an experience I'll never forget. It was fantastic ! The idea of being able to breath underwater was a fantasy of mine and it became a reality. Taking my first breath underwater was nearly a shock, I was so amazed at how easy it was and how naturally it came to me. We were given signal signs like 👌🏻(you are good) 👆🏻(indicating to go up). It was a terrific day out for all and I will be doing it again with out a shadow of a doubt. 

Biarritz class life

Class life in France was excellent we had 4 hours of class Monday to Friday starting from none o clock. We had a 15 minute break and that was it. There were excellent facilities and we were supplied with our own pens and copies. I received a certificate at the end of the three weeks as proof I worked to my full ability  

Biarritz week 3/ summary

Biarritz week three/ summery 

Our last week was a head down week, everyone was trying to learn as much as possible and create as much memories as possible. I went surfing twice this week and I also received a certificate on my French improvement which I am very proud of. Over all this has been the highlight of my year and I honestly hope I will be able to Return.   

Biarritz week 2

Biarritz week 2

The second week when we had all settled in we had already made friends with locals and fellow Irish students who had signed up for the same thing as us. Then when we had an unexpected arrival from our school friend Lara who decided to join us. It was a nice surprise and was good to share our amazing experience with her. 

We all loved experiencing the shops and beautiful village roads and the natural atmosphere in Biarritz was extraordinary. My French was improving rapidly and I was very happy with how much I had learnt.
Personally I found I learnt more out and about conversing with the locals then I did in class as you had no options, if you wanted to make friends and talk it had to be in French

Biarritz week one

Biarritz week one 

This year the highlight for me has definitely been my trip to Biarritz, I learned so much here, I originally went over to learn French and that's it but I ended up becoming more responsible and learning more about myself in three weeks then I had ever known. 

When we first arrived it was just Morgan, Ryan, James, Conor , Ben, Tommy and Mia which is such a good group as everyone gets on perfectly. My French before I went was beyond terrible to say the least so I was quite nervous about going. When we arrived it was the weekend and the sun was shining so we arrived to out house and went straight to the beach and explored our new home. Biarritz is beautiful to say the least. We attended an international school lectured by a lovely man named Thierry. I found it very hard to keep up with him at the start but as my French progressed the easier it became. The first week was basically just settling in and getting used to our new daily routine.  The highlight from the first week was defiantly seeing the beautiful scenery for the first time

Last modules

Recently I finished doing three modules: CSI, leadership and Chinese.

Each of these subjects are very different from one and other which I find good as it was a change up every class. Personally I loved Chinese and CSI. Chinese I loved because i love learning about different cultures and Asian culture is just so different from ours its rediculas. CSI was great I love looking for evedise and trying to workout how and what happened in situations so this for me was brilliant.

I wasn't too fond of leadership and I really don't have a reason why I just wasn't.

Organ donation talk

On Thursday the 12th of May had a great talk from a man called John Whelan. I found this talk very inspirational and to my surprise very relatable as John talked a lot about kidney transplants. And how living with one kidney benefits him as he had kidney failure. The reason why I can relate to this is because I was born with one kidney. So when the word kidney was said my attention rose automatically. The talk was fascinating and I couldn't stop listening. Truely inspiring

First aid

Recently I took part in a first aid corse. It was so amazing for the school to have this corse as it is so expensive to usually take part and hard to arrange but the school did it all and made it so easy too! We had three days of class and one day of tests. The class days were very interesting we learnt everything from cpr to how to tie a sling. I feel as if I am doing the world good by learning these small tasks as one day I could end up saving someone's life using them. 

Trocaire talk

Today we got a talk from a women called Anna Molon, this was a very interesting talk because she talked about all the great work that trocaire do in Africa and improving the lives in Africa this was a very interesting talk because I could relate to what she saying about the children and the people over their because I had recently been to Ethiopia and it was very much the same. I really enjoy listening to these talks because if it wasn't for charities like this all over the world poverty and homelessness in countries like Ethiopia would not even be at the small level they are at today 

Garda talk

Today we had a talk from our local Garda his talk was mainly focus on teenagers use of drugs. The speech was very upsetting as it is an actual reality today. He told us many stories and all his knowledge on not just teenagers but adults problems with drug use and the effects. The problems related with drug use is unbelievable and needs to be stopped. 

Carlingford

Carlingford Adventure centre 

This was my highlight of the year at home. The facilities where are incredible I really enjoyed every single moment here. They had it all from water sports to zip lining. My favourite part of this experience was definitely the high ropes. I would have enjoyed the water sports except the weather is simply too cold. I shared a room with Ben Edward Morgan Jack and Conor. I really enjoyed the free time we were given in our rooms it gave us a good chance to relax with our friends. Overall it was an incredible journey and I would recommend it to everyone and anyone. 

Module update

This term we had art apprication, architecture and finance. Architecture was by far my favourite I didn't particularly enjoy art appreciation. I found it quite boring as I don't have a large interest in art. In architecture we watched a video on a skyscraper being made in Dubai it was absolutely extraordinary. This class gave me a great interest in architecture and made me consider doing it in the future. 

Finance was a great class which I enjoyed throughout. We had a project to book a skiing holiday for for the cheapest price, in result it was a lot cheaper than I thought.

Musical

This year our school did grease for the school musical and it was brilliant! Although I had a very small role due to my lack of singing and acting skills I tried my best and was involved in two dance acts. Rory Thomas and Esme Honan played the leads and both gave it their all. The costumes were all fantastic.

If I was to do it again I woukd have tried to get a better and bigger role but I am still happy with what I achieved 

Art gallery

Today we visited the national art gallery. I have very mixed opinions on this trip. I enjoyed seeing all the acritically claimed art but there were some that caught my eye and not in a good way. There was a quite a few paintings done by Picasso that rather shocked me, not on how great they were but how much they lacked compared to what I expected. A few blobs and lines with confusing shapes is not what I would call art but I amnt a professional I guess. There was some absolutely stunning pieces there that really took my breath. I couldn't comprehend how someone could actually paint what was in front of me.

Chinese project

Chinese project 

I chose food for my Chinese project, it was interesting to see the difference is what they would consider normal food in China compared to home. Most food they would consume would be fish mixed with vegetables rice or noodles, not spare ribs like you see in your local Chinese. I did a PowerPoint presentation for this and scored a c+

Museum trip

Today we visited the national history museum in Dublin. I was very surprised at this trip simply because I wasn't too great at history for junior cert, but when I had a look around I remembered and recognised so many different things and it was a truely magical moment to reminisce upon what I had learned from 1-3 year. I learned a lot here on this trip and we also filled in a survey at the end so we could get s chance to look for things and really learn something which was great. I would defiantly reccomend this trip to anyone 

Martial arts/ self defence

Martial arts 

This was my favourite corse of the year by a mile. I love combat sports and part of this corse targeted that area. We learnt lots about self defence, strikes against pads and takedowns. I loved this so much as it was so enjoyable for everybody and nobody seemed to be gloomy about taking part. My favourite part about the corse was defiantly the kicks against the pads as it was so entertaining watching people attempting to do the kicks. 

I would highly recommend this corse to anyone as self defence is something every single person in this world needs to know a bit about.

Public speaking exam

The public speaking exam was defiantly a test of your ability to preform a speech in front of an audience without fail or error. I was very nervous entering the room for this exam, not that I wasn't prepared but it was the only exam I had been in since my junior certificate. I talked about human rights and stretched from the historical moments of Martin Luther King to Emma watsons speech for the un about women's rights. I scored 78% in the end 

Earths edge

Earths edge was my favourite talk of the year. I loved hearing about all the amazing stories the people who went had. I love the idea of outdoor activities and water sports and I always adore travelling so for me this was the perfect thing to get my attention. The company has lots of trips planned and if you are able to raise enough money anyone can go and experience the journey of a lifetime. Personally the only reason I didn't go was because I already had other trips planned out before hand but it is something I would defiantly consider doing on the future 

Biology project

I did a project on lions for biology. I found this project fascinating. I actually got the idea from my project from a chocolate bar 'lion' . In this project I covered everything from different types of lions, their natural habitat and many other things. I learned a lot from doing this project mainly the amount of species there actually are. I think they're built is particularly basaar. For an animal that weighs from 120-190 kg to run at the speed it does. I find learning about other species is rather interesting as we simply cannot relate to most of what they do. This was an incredible project and I am happy I did it.

French idol

For this project I did stromae a singer/ hip hop artist from etterbeek Belgium. In this project I talk about his past, a few of his hit songs and his music. I loved doing this project as I learned so much about an artist I am quite fond of.

First term modules

First term modules 

Pottery health and public speaking were the projects I was given for my first terms modules.

Personally I didn't enjoy health as much as I had predicted. Not to bad mouth the class but out of this term it was my least favourite subject as it was the least challenging. Pottery was the most enjoyable in my eyes as it was such a creative and yet challenging experience for me as I am far from being a talented artist. We made plates with our names, animals and other fantastic pieces. Mr. O Connor was very entertaining and gave us all a full experience as the life of a sculpture.

Public speaking was by far the most challenging but I honestly enjoyed it so much, although it may be daunting standing up In front of a crowd and speaking this subject helps you overcome that. In the exam I ended up scoring 78%.

Ethiopia summery

Ethiopia was most life changing experience of my life, I think I learnt more about myself there then ever and I have memories I will hold into forever. Since Ethiopia I feel I have changed as a person and I highly recommend everyone and anyone to go

ETHIOPIA DAY 6

Etheopia day 6

His was rather different day for us, after we arrived back in the capital addis after a week of no meat all the men raced to the restaurant and ate till they physically couldn't eat anymore. It was rather disgusting being honest but the most enjoyable meal of my life. Later that night we were treated to dinner in the ambassador house. We arrived at 7:00, it was a large villa surrounded by slums. Although the house is beautiful I don't like the idea of having it in the middle of the slums right in the view of many people who have nothing.

ETHEOPIA DAY 3-5

Day 3-5

The reason I am doing these three in one post is because they were all linked to the same thing...the day care centre.

Every morning we rose out of bed early to a carb filled breakfast as we couldn't eat meat. And headed to the day care centre. The day care centre was for children between 3-6. The children were unbelievably cute in their blue cloaks and greater up with flags and a song and all the children dancing. The facilities here were actually amazing and seeing all the little kids happy really makes you feel one hundred times better. We built a patio for the children to be collected from, we cut the grass and we planted crops for the daycare centre. We played with the children which was great fun, seeing as we were white it was so weird and new for them, they had never seen people with blue eyes and were fascinated by it. Saying good bye to the kids has so hard but seeing how happy they were made it worth while.

On our last day at the day care centre we gave all the children new clothes and washed them and we were told most of the mothers cry when they see their son/ daughter on their new outfits. This for me was the highlight of the trip. 

ETHEOPIA DAY 2

Day 2
After an absolutely incredible first day it was time for us to leave the magnificent Radisson and the city of Addis Ababa. We woke at six am to catch out early flight to Adigrat. Personally I felt as if I experienced more here as it was further for common technology and other countries influences. It took three hours to drive to the hotel from the airport but the drive was more entertaining then imaginable we got to see alot of the countries mountain ranges and other beautiful scenery. We visited a church that was 5000 years old, it was extraordinary to say the least. 

We got a real sense of poverty when we arrived in the area of the hotel it was very fun down but it made us realise the main reason we were there, to help.

ETHIOPIA DAY 1

Ethiopia

This was the most eye opening journey of my life and since I have too much to share for one post I shall do a day by day post 

Day 1
I travelled with my father Cian along with 45 other Trekkers in the support Africa foundation. On Friday we all met up at 4:30pm on terminal 1. Our flight took off at 7pm and we were in for a rough long flight on Ethiopian airways. The flight was overnight which was key as we could all sleep to pass the time. We arrived in Addis Ababa where we were faced with a hour long queue filled with problems with passports. So it was really till after that we got to experience African culture. We got a bus to our hotel and immediately realised many differences, there were guns everywhere and instead of having a boot in the car there were ropes and you tied your luggage to the roof. After we arrived to the luxurious Radisson  hotel were we were treated with juices and a delicious buffet.  We relaxed for a hour before we hit the road to look at two schools in the area. It would take the kids walking hours to get there and the facilities were poor to say the least but it was all they had.

Later we went to another school where we met locals and ended up sharing bread with them and danced together. 

Simon Harris talk

The Simon Harris talk was defiantly a talk not to miss. The talk started with an introduction of who he is and where he's from, that party he works for etc. But quickly we were given a glimpse of the life as a T.D. He shared his view on the recession and what he has planned to help Wicklow as a community. He has an interesting view on childhood obesity mainly in  greystones, the reason for this is he is outraged at the idea on a McDonald's opening next to many main schools. "Children tend to not care what food they are putting in their bodies" 

He explained parents are furious about this idea aswell. Personally I believe what he was saying was very understandable and I too believe it is ridiculous. 

Business project

Business project 

This year was my first year doing business and I have enjoyed it so much and I am thrilled to see where it will take me next year,

This year we were given an assignment, an interview with an entrepreneur. We were given a list of questions and had to interview the person. The questions included things about the persons background, tuff decisions they had to make and challenges they had to overcome. I chose a family friend of mine and asked his about how he got into advertisement and what make him decide he wanted to set up his own company. The whole experience allowed me to see someone I knew so well in a completely different perspective. He assured me being the boss isn't a walk on the park it is filled with giant obstacles eg. Letting his workers go. Overall it was an incredible conversation to have and an enjoyable project to take on.

Steer clear driving corse

Steer clear

In this post I am going to review the steer clear driving corse I did. I found this corse remarkably useful and interesting, lectured by a phenomenal driving instructor we were brought through everything from the rules of the road to how to change a tire. I found this beneficial as I shall be sitting my theory test in about a years time. I would highly recommend this corse to anyone thinking of learning to drive it is by far the most obvious choice if you want to succeed in driving.