Two Days Away

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So last Monday and Tuesday, my days were spent away from home, in the smallest county in Ireland - County Louth!
  At 7am on Monday morning, the whole Transition Year group met and got on a bus, before heading off to Carlingford Adventure Centre.

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  When we arrived at the centre, we headed straight into our first activity: laser combat! I had such good fun playing sniper and 'drop and rolling', and I really enjoyed killing people... is that a bad thing?
  After having lunch and getting our rooms, we went out again and played some games on the challenge course. That evening, after some time to ourselves, the group was taken out on a night walk in the dark! We played games where we were blindfolded, and to our surprise we ended up being given a scare by some of the instructors!

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  After very little sleep, we were out again early on Tuesday morning. We tried to complete a maze in the dark, did archery and body zorbing - I had such a good time even though it was wet and cold! 

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   After lunch, we headed out on the water. I had been looking forward to this for days, but when the time came, I didn't really fancy heading out into the Irish sea! After getting into our wetsuits, we headed out onto the sea in kayaks, and made our way over to a giant water trampoline! After this, we went to a cave where we had to stick our heads under a waterfall, which supposedly gives an extra day of life. I would have to say, the water activites may have been my favourite part of the trip!
  When we arrived back to the centre, unfortunately it was time to go home... so we all piled onto the bus and headed back to Kildare (although nobody really wanted to leave - especially me!)
  I had such a wonderful time at Carlingford, and I hope that some day I will get to go back again!
  Hope you're all well, and if any of you are near Louth, you really should take a trip to Carlingford Adventure Centre!!
  Melissa :)

And the results are in...

So this Wednesday was the day that all the students who sat the 2013 Junior Certificate would finally get their results... including me!
  Luckily my school gave out the results at 12 o'clock, so I didn't have too long to wait, but all the same, I was feeling somewhat nervy beforehand!

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  When I opened my brown envelope, I couldn't help but let out a squeal of delight. I literally could not have been happier - I had got 11 As! That was something I certainly wasn't expecting! I was so delighted with my results, and everyone else I spoke to was really happy too, so all in all I think everyone must have done really well!
  That night, a few of my friends and I went out to an under 18's disco called 'Time', to celebrate getting our results. I had a really great time, although my feet were quite sore the next day from dancing the whole night away in heels!
  I hope everyone else who received exam results recently are happy with how they did, and good luck to anyone who will be getting results soon!
  I'll be posting again soon,

Melissa :)

Projects!!!

So after the first week of Transition Year, I already have several projects to be working on!

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  I have been spending a considerable amount of time in the computer room (typical of the TY experience), which to be honest, is a nice change of scenery from a classroom! On the computers, I am working on several projects - a geography project on County Antrim, a religion project on the Millennium Development Goals, an Irish project on "Mé Féin agus Mo Shaol" and of course, this blog!
  I also have a few non-I.T. related projects to do this year. In home-ec, for the first term we have the task of creating a Junk Kouture outfit. Junk Kouture involves designing and making a dress or item of clothing made from recycled materials, and we also must include an electrical element in the outfit. My group and I have so far decided to go for a 50s themed outfit!
  TYs are also required to set up their own Mini-Company, and to enter a science project into the competition SciFest, but so far we haven't had too much progress (it is only the first week after all!), but I will keep you posted!
  So far so good anyway! 
  Hope everyone is well, and I shall be updating again soon!

Summer ends, TY begins... :)

After 3 months of summer holidays, I am finally back in school! I can't say that I am too happy about that fact, but the one consolation is that I am now in TY!

  So far, the first 3 days of Transition Year have been quite satisfactory - my class - Tabei - is really great, I have neither been bored nor overloaded with work, which is a nice change from last year, and I have several trips to look forward to in the near future.

  The whole TY vibe is a lot more laid back than any of the other years, and any of the projects or homework (however little) we have to do are much more relaxed and less pressurised, which is much nicer than work one has to do in exam years!
  Well, so far the year is going well, and I can only hope that it continues along the same path! 
  Hope everyone is well, and I'll be posting again soon!

Melissa :D