Mini Pilgrimage and Bowling!

   On Wednesday we had a busy day. In the morning we got the bus to Kildare Town. When we arrived at the heritage center we were split into two groups. My group stayed outside and Mr. Kerrigan talked about the  the torch outside the heritage center  We then went in to the center and  watched a documentary on the history of Kildare Town. After the documentary we walked to St. Brigid's cathedral. It was there she had founded her original cathedral. Since then it has been rebuilt and is now made of stone. We went outside then to look at where the fire used to burn to show that it was a monastic settlement. Mr. Kerrigan told us then that if we walked around the round tower backwards 7 times we would see the man we will marry in our dreams that night, unlucky for me I don't remember my dreams! We got back on the bus then and we got off at the Japanese Gardens, we walked to a well where we said a prayer. 
  After our mini pilgrimage we went to Whitewater Shopping Center where we had our lunch and then we went bowling. Surprisingly, I won the bowling on my lane and I even got two strikes! :)                         

Retreat

    Last week our TY year went for a retreat in Tallaght. When we arrived at the retreat centre we arranged ourselvers into groups of people that we were comfortable talking with. It was a good opportunity to stop and refelect on our lives and to get to know each other. I really enjoyed the day :) 

Last day of work experience

   Last week was our last day of work experience. I really enjoyed my time in the cafe so I was sad to leave.  I'll miss everyone I worked with, they were all so nice and helpful! I gave the manager a card and a box of chocolate which she really liked. I hope I can get a job there in the future :)

Scifest

  On Friday morning we had our Scifest competition. We have been working on our projects since September so it was good that we could display our work. Our project title was "Do Sporting Activities affect your Academic Performance?"We found out that sports reduced your stress levels and in the long term it would improve your academic performance. When the judges came around we had to explain our idea and results. In TY we had to present many things (e.g. Mini Company) so I was less nervous talking infront of the judges because of all the practice I have gotten this year. Here is a picture of Cliodhna and I at our poster.

Choir Competition

    Last Friday the choir went to Wesley College for a competition. We performed the song "Caresse Sur l'Ocean" from the movie "Les Choristes" and I accompanied on the piano. When we arrived at the school we were shown to our room so we could practice. We were all really nervous as we were going on first. Luckily there were no mistakes made and we were really happy with our performance! After we had performed we sat down to watch the other choirs. We were amazed at how good they all were. Some of the choirs had toured Germany and other countries, performed on the radio and had to audition to get a place in the choir. The standard was very high. When the winner was announced we weren't surprised that it wasn't us but we were still happy that we performed so well. Later on when we were in the cafe we found out that we got 82 points out of 100. We were really pleased because the winner got 86 points and we would have come third place if it was announced.  Overall it was a good day :) This is the singers from the movie performing "Caresse Sur l'Ocean" 

Darfur Genocide

  In religion we were assigned a project to on areas of conflict. My group chose to do our project on the Darfur Genocide. Darfur is located in the west of Sudan.The killings began in 2003 and continue today. The genocide is bring carried out by a group of government armed and funded Arab militias known as the Janjaweed. Their aim is to ethnically cleanse the Islamic region in the Darfur region. This genocide is similar to the one of the Jew and so far 400,00 people have been killed. The Janjaweed destroy Darfurians  by burning villages, polluting water sources, murdering, raping and torturing civilians.