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Wonder

13th of December, 2017

Our year went to see the movie ‘Wonder’ at Vue cinema at Liffey Valley. We studied the book for the Junior Cert so our school organised the trip to see the new movie. 

We all had to make our own way to Liffey on the bus, and we had to wear our school uniforms which was pretty annoying. Unfortunately 2 of my buses didn’t show up so I was worried I wouldn’t make it on time! Thankfully one of my friends was getting a lift there and offered me a ride. 

Upon arrival people purchased snacks and drinks before heading into the cinema. Overall the movie was really good, it was quite emotional and deep at times. The main character August, faced many struggles upon starting school. 

Everyone enjoyed the movie and we all had a good time. 

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Dublin Castle! Check out my ig for more cool things: instagram.com/deersprout

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Howth Harbour, Dublin

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National Art Gallery, Dublin. (Pics were taken by me n Adam :3 ) 

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Stained glass windows in the National Art Gallery. Although I’m not religious I just thought they were pretty :’) 

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National Art Gallery, Dublin

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https://instagram.com/p/BVfG53CgePk/

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Dublin Castle - architecture

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History Trip

Dublin Castle - Collins Barracks

11/21/17

In November our year took a trip into Dublin city to learn more about history. During this trip, we visited Dublin Castle. This is a key tourist attraction and a key part of Irish history.

During the tour of the castle, we learned a lot about its history. The castle was built in the early thirteenth century on the remains of Viking settlement. For many centuries the castle served as the headquarters of the British administration in Ireland. However, in 1922 the power over the castle was given to the new Irish government, following Ireland’s independence.

Most of Dublin Castle was actually rebuilt and replaced with modern architecture following a fire that destroyed large parts of the building in 1684.  Despite the damage caused by the fire, some parts of the medieval and Viking structures remained intact and can still be explored by visitors.

We visited many of the castle’s rooms and were given the opportunity to view a range of artworks by various artists, I have included pictures of such art on my blog also.

After the tour of the castle, we headed to the next part of our trip, Collins Barracks. We were given a detailed tour through the Barracks and learned a lot about the events f 1916. We also got to view artifacts from the time, such as soldier uniforms and weapons.

Overall I think the trip was very educational and it was interesting to learn about Dublin’s history.

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Delphi

On the 2nd of October, 2017, our class took a trip to Delphi, in County Galway. 

All the students met at the school at 8 AM, we left on the coaches after storing our bags in the bus at 8:30 AM. The journey from Dublin to Galway was 4 hours, thankfully we stopped halfway to get snacks and refresh.After getting something to eat we all got back on the bus to resume our journey. 

When we finally arrived at the Delphi Resort, we were sorted into our groups and instructed to do various activities. 

The first activity I took part in was ‘bushcraft’. In this session, we learned about surviving in the wild, we were taught how to build a shelter to keep ourselves warm and dry out of materials we could find in the forest. We were also taught how to build a campfire using cotton wool and vaseline. We were not very successful at getting our fire to stay alight as it began to rain! I enjoyed this activity because we learned important skills that might come in handy should we get lost, Delphi is a very remote place so I wouldn’t be surprised if students have lost their way there before!

The second activity we took part in was archery. I enjoyed this activity very much, although I found it difficult to hit the target because of my glasses and poor vision effected my line of sight while aiming with the bow! Even though I had some difficulties I got the hang of it and landed a couple of arrows in the target.

We also did some team building exercises with our group, this really helped us to work together and form better communication skills.

At the end of the day, we had dinner, which was pretty disappointing. The food was not as good as I expected it to be, but thankfully my friends and I brought snacks along with us so our dorms were well supplied should someone go hungry! 

In the evening after dinner, we went to the woods to build a campfire. The other group went on a hike, which I was surprised at because it was pitch black! I didn’t think it was safe for them to hike in the dark. It was very cold and it took a while for people to get the campfire going, once it did everyone warmed up and spirits lifted when someone brought out a guitar.

The atmosphere was very warm as everyone began to sing along to Kiera playing songs on the guitar, soon people forgot about the cold and everyone was enjoying themselves. The forest was so dark, the only light source was from the fire and peoples phones! We could barely see into the woods beyond a few metres from the fire, which was a little unnerving. 

After the campfire activities we retired to our dorms were we finally got the chance to refresh and get some rest. I shared a dorm with my friends and we spent our time chatting and listening to music before going to sleep. 

The next day my group was instructed to do two new activities, rock climbing was the first one. We were strapped into a harness and had to scale a vertical rock wall, this was probably the activity I enjoyed the most. 

The next activity we took part in was surfing. For this, we had to change into wetsuits and learn how to use a surfboard. The sea was so cold that my feet and hands went numb! It was fun to learn proper surfing techniques, although the Irish sea is far too cold to swim in. I much prefer it in Croatia! 

Everyone was glad to be heading back to Lucan on the journey home. We were all tired, hungry and worn out by the end of our stay in Delphi. Most of us slept for the majority of the journey back! My friends and I were almost too tired to talk so we all shared earphones and music between us and just relaxed. 

When we reached the halfway point of our journey everyone was thrilled, there was a mad dash of students towards the Supermax to queue for food. The highlight of the trip was getting some hot chocolate and warm food on the way home.

We finally arrived back at the school around 10:30 AM. It was a relief to get back home and relax in my own bed as the hostel beds weren’t very comfortable! 

Overall I enjoyed the trip but I thought some aspects would have been better. 

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Welcome!

On this blog I will be sharing my experiences from Transition Year. 

I will share photographs taken during school trips and entries about the things I have participated in throughout the year.