For our Transition year musical we were told in early November that we would be doing Legally Blonde. We began our practices and auditions for the main parts and although I was at the final call-backs I did not end up getting a main role, this was a little disappointing as I knew this meant I wouldn't be as involved in the show as the others.
As we got nearer the date of the show we began practicing more and more until we were eventually practicing more or less all day every day. With the help of our choreographer, Aisling Doyle and our music teacher, Mrs. Olohan the show was really beginning to come together. I wasn't set to have a very big role anyway but one week before our opening show I broke my thumb and was in a cast. This meant that I now couldn't do two of my dances and I was reduced to being in just the one scene. This was a real shame as it meant I spent most of the evenings waiting around. Overall I think that the production went really well and I Thank Aisling Doyle and Mrs. Olohan and everyone else involved for their time and consideration.
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On the 21st of December, myself and the rest of the YSI group travelled into St. Stephens green shopping centre where we were carolling in aid of The Peter McVerry trust. We were accompanied by our two YSI co-ordinators, Ms Buckley and Ms. Ni Fheinneadh to the centre. When we got there we met with one of the workers from the Peter McVerry Trust and we got to singing. We were there for about two hours and we did really well. I believe we raised nearly two thousand euro which is a great achievement and I am glad I could be a part of it.
On the 26th of November, I travelled with my Dad to Toronto Canada. I was going over to do some work experience in an investment company called Mackenzie investments, but I also wanted to get an experience of what travelling was like. My Dad just came over for a few meetings and left after a few days but I stayed out for two weeks. I was staying with a friend of my Dads and his family out there. They are an Irish family who moved out to Toronto for work and they were very good to me during my stay. Most days I would travel in on the GO train which was their form of public transport, similar to the Dart but on a much larger scale. When I arrived in Toronto city, I had to navigate through the streets to find my way to the Mackenzie offices. This wasn't too difficult but at the same time its such a huge city with these enormous forty story buildings all around, it was easy to lose your bearings. Fortunately for me, while I was there I apparently got the best of the weather. Toronto is notorious for icy cold winters with a lot of snow and sub zero temperatures. However when I was there the cold had apparently not hit yet even though it was hovering around 1 or 2 degrees ! The staff in Mackenzie were very nice and welcoming to me. The lady who I reported to every day, Janet was part of the marketing team. She helped to co-ordinate my schedule and made it possible for me to get all the experiences that I got. During my first week I was mainly getting introduced to people in the office that worked in the different departments and hearing about what it was that they did. This sort of helped to get a better idea of what sector of work I might like to go into. There were some days I might have got off work at 3 o' clock and I used this time to go sightseeing and do some other typical touristy stuff and just look around the city. On the weekend, Susan, the lady I was staying with brought me to see Niagara Falls. This was a breath-taking sight to see. I had never seen the falls before and it was such a fantastic experience to get. The actual village beside Niagara has been incredibly commercialised. It has several fast food restaurants and lots of arcades and play zones. It even had a miniature empire state building and big wheel, somewhat like the las vegas strip but smaller . For the rest of the weekend Susan and her husband Eoghan showed me around the town they live in My second week in Canada I was doing some different things in work. Mackenzie are heavily involved with a number of their partner charity's and had very recently launched their payroll pledge which is a pledge for the employees to donate a certain amount of their pay-cheque each month to their partner charity's. I got to help out some of these charity's in what they were doing, such as helping out setting up the stalls at the Christmas markets in Nathan Phillips square which epilepsy Toronto were running. Other things I got to do was working with a charity called MLSE. They run a programme called 3to6 which is sort of like an after school programme for kids. As well as the experience of what working in an investment company in Canada was like, I got to experience what it is like to; find my way around a new city, navigate different transport systems, and most of all fly home on my own. On Friday the 8th of December my trip drew to a close and it was time to come home. I was left at the airport by the family I was staying by the family I was with, I said my thank you's and goodbye's and it was time to go. Travelling through the airport was fine, there was no issues or trouble, but it was still fantastic to get an idea of what it was like to do it on my own. This was a trip I will never forget and I hope I can return again soon. On Tuesday the 10th of October, I along with my class visited Kairos recording studios. This was in incredible experience as we got the chance to, as a class, create and record our own TV show. We had come up with our ideas of what we were going to do in our English class'. We organised who was going to fill out the technical roles and who would do the camera's. I personally was not part of the background team as I was one of the actors. In our show we decided that we would do a funny fashion show. I was in this fashion show and I unfortunately had to dress up as a ballerina for the show. It was a great day that I really enjoyed and it was very insightful as to what goes into making a show possible
On Thursday the 21st of September I took part in the eagles flight workshop. This was a team-building exercise where we were put into groups of abut 5 or 6 and we were tasked with completing a board game. The game was about using strategy and team work to achieve our goal with limited time and resources. At the beginning of the exercise you had many choices as to what you could do as for your route and whether or not to wait and access certain benefits. I may have played a part in my team setting off in the wrong direction at the beginning, however as a group we managed to navigate our way home with most of our valuables still with us.
I really enjoyed my eagles flight workshop experience and learned many things from it such as; how to get the best out of each of my team mates and to play to each others strengths and also how you can only make the best decision possible when you have all the information, I would definitely recommend this to a friend or family member. On Wednesday morning the 13h of September, we got our Junior cert results. There was a general air of excitement and anticipation around, for the results but also for the camping trip we were about to go on. About twenty minutes after getting our results, we packed our enormous bags of essentials onto the bus and we made our way to Lough Dan scout centre.
Our first challenge was trying to get eight guys to successfully work together and pitch a tent. After some time our tent was up and it became clear that it was going to be a squeeze to get all of us into this tent with all our food and clothes. We didn't really assaign roles and specific jobs to people but Josh Watson and I sort of took charge of cooking duties. We then left for our shorter hike of the two on the trip. Just the six kilometre one. The walk wouldn't have been so bad had it not been lashing rain for the majority of it. After about three hundred metres. I realised wearing my white converse was a bad call and when we were done they were a new pair of black converse ! After the walk it was more or less a sprint for the showers to warm up. It was a freezing cold night in Lough Dan. The majority of us all just stood by the fire in all our layers trying to keep somewhat warm. As we got back into tents for bed it was very squashed and cramped in ours. We were then reduced to seven quickly as Sean couldn't cope with the lack of space and he left to sleep in a bigger tent, much to our dismay. The following day was mainly taken up by our 22 km walk which we set off on at around 11am the walk was long and tiring. We walked up and down hills and all around the Lake. Once we got back to the campsite we went for a swim in Lough Dan and it was absolutely freezing. I must have spent at least 45 minutes in the shower trying to get warm. What ensued was probably the coldest and wettest night I had seen in a longtime. Even though I was wearing all my layers I was still cold. The following morning we packed up our stuff and made our way home on the bus after what was an eventful couple of days During the course of my Transition year, I plan to partake in trying to get my bronze award for Gaisce. There is four elements you must complete in order to get your Certificate. Firstly I will have to do thirteen weeks of community service. I have already lined up a role in Greystones Rugby club, helping out coaching the mini's as they learn a new skill. The second element of Gaisce is that I will be taking up a new skill. I will be trying pottery after school every Wednesday for the next 13 weeks. Thirdly I will be continuing to develop my own skill in rugby.
The last element to complete in order to get my certificate is to go on an " Adventure journey " as a school we have this covered as, after we get our Junior Certificate results, the whole year goes on a camping trip for 3 days and 2 nights up to Lough Dan. I expect this to be very fun for everyone and can't wait to go. At the beginning of December, I am going on my own to Canada for two weeks to stay with a friend of my Dad's and I will be working in a couple of different companies over there such as accounting firms and investment companies. This is something I am really looking forward to as I love travelling abroad and I am very excited for the experience. After Christmas we have the Ty musical which I am very much looking forward to as it will certainly be a new experience for me as I haven't done much drama or acting in my life before. I think I will go for a big-ish part. Around this time I will also be doing work experience in A&L goodbody law firm in town. I think this will be an exciting experience as law is definitely something I can see myself doing after collage. Overall I am really excited for Ty and Can't wait to share all of my experiences on this page ! |