MDG 6

In our Religion class with Ms Mooney, we're in the middle of writing a book with Patsy Toland. It is a book written solely about HIV/AIDS and MDG 6; which is aimed at combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases. 
Millenium Developement Goals are a set of eight international goals which, if achieved, would transform the lives of millions of people in developing countries. They were agreed at the United Nations (UN) Millennium Summit in 2000 by global leaders and were aimed to be completed by 2015.  

We are aiming to include submissions from doctors, nurses and maybe some from charities such as Self-Help Africa.
I know for a fact that a girl in my class got a reply and submission from Enda Kenny!

The book will ,hopefully, inform people about the deadly disease and that about one-third of all cases are reportedly living in the developed/First World. It will be good for people to be more aware of the illness.

Thoughts on TY

As part of our blog challenge, we have to write on what we think of TY so far. We only have two months left of this school year, it has gone by so fast!

So far, Ty has been a bit of a struggle in all honesty. To get used to the lack of work and essays was harder than I thought, and I'm freaking out over having to start fifth year in September!
I have enjoyed the trips like Carlingford and our fundraising days out in Dublin, but I also would have liked to be doing more hands-on activities and courses and new things.

This year was a good kind of bonding year for everyone; you got closer to your friends and made new ones too. I think everyone has grown really close to the girls in their own classes, which is great. I've become a lot closer to girls I wouldn't expect to.

Saying that, I am looking forward to fifth year in a sense. I kind of just want to get school over and done with.
I obviously won't want to be in fifth year come September, but I feel as if I've matured a good bit since last year. Work Experience has taught us that.

I found that if you don't put any effort in, you won't get anything out of it. For some people, I think doing Ty was a bad idea, that it wasn't for them. In fairness, others have gotten so involved this year and have benefited so much from it. 
I think I could have gotten more involved myself in things, but I don't think it has been a total waste of time!

People who wouldn't have a lot of confidence in themselves or talking in class, such as myself, I would definitely recommend that they do Ty. It gave me more confidence in myself and my work. 
You're given a lot of chances to give your opinion on something. It was hard at first to get over my shyness and the uncomfortable feeling I got whenever I had to speak, but this year has given me a chance to kind of deal with it better x

Driving Lessons

Today, class Ariel went to the Leinster Driving Campus in Maynooth for the afternoon for some driving lessons. We split up into 2 groups and then into groups of 3 per group. I was in a group with Aisling and Aimee.
I was the first one to start. It was kind of terrifying at the beginning but after getting the hang of it, I loved going really fast!

We had a really nice instructor, Mick, who helped us learn how to turn on roundabouts, at junctions, going over ramps, how to reverse and park. Everyone got to have a lesson and it took about 2 hours.

We had a quick lunch break in between and switched around. My group then went inside the small building on the site and took a mock theory test in our little group of three.

Driving School

Afterwards, we went outside and played a game with beer goggles and cones. The beer goggles impaired your vision and your estimation of depth and n extremely drunk person was like.

We are the first year of St Wolstan's transition year students to go on a trip to a driving school, so it was good that we got to test it out!

Briery Gap and Lollipop Day

On Friday 27th February, all Ty's went into Dublin for the day. We were fund raising for Oesophageal Cancer by selling lollipops and stickers for €2. I was going around with Aisling and Aimee. We had great fun doing it, we got to talk to new people and had a good time!                                                                 I think we raised at least €50 between the us! We were all really excited because we got to wear t-shirts and hats and could decide were we could go!
I loved how we were let loose and had the freedom to do what we liked and go were we liked!

The next day, Saturday 28th, was the Briery Gap All Ireland Final in Macroom, Co. Cork. Both groups from Ms Guilfoyle's English Class got through to the finals(yay us) so the whole class went down to Cork for the day. It was roughly a 4 hour journey  by bus both ways so we were pretty tired at the end of the day. We were meeting at Esso at 7.30(!) and stopped for a break at about 10.30 at the nearest petrol station. My group were due on at 12.30 so we were aiming to be there for 12. This gave us enough time to prepare and relax beforehand. My role in the group was music so I had all we needed on a CD to be given to the sound guy. Emer was going to be doing the lighting so I just left the music with her to do.

The girls did so well up on stage! There was a bit of a mess up at the end regarding some lines but other than that, they all did brilliantly! The other group were amazing as well!
Unfortunately, we weren't awarded any prizes but it was great to get to the finals as it was.
For like 2 hours straight, everyone on the bus were singing their hearts out to random old songs, it was great fun altogether!

Places I Would Like To Visit

I think it would be amazing to visit these places. To experience all their different cultures and try their cuisine. it would be incredible to see everything!
When I'm older, I want to travel and live abroad for a year or two. To live in some of these places would be unbelievable!


1. New York.

2. Paris

3. Italy

4. London 

5. India 

God|The Meaning Of Life

                                                             

God| The Meaning Of Life

This interview was filmed for RTÉ with Gay Byrne, on January 28th 2015.
In it, comedian and activist, Stephen Fry talks about God to him and his reasons that link to him being atheist.

The first question asked by Gay Byrne was, 'When he is met by God, what will Stephen Fry say to Him/Her/It?'
Fry replies with 'How dare you create a world where there is such misery that is not our fault?'

He goes on to say that he doesn't know why he should respect a God who creates a world 'full of such injustice and pain'.

He finishes off this part of the interview with a few words about atheism.

"Atheism is not just about not believing there is a God, but on the assumption there is one, what kind of a God is He? The moment you banish Him, your life becomes simpler,purer, cleaner and more worth living"

It has gone viral on YouTube, with over 5,000,000 views.
It is not a very topical subject but I find Stephen Fry's opinion on God  and religion to be quite striking and eye-opening.

English Drama

                                              

On Tuesday 27th January, all the TY's took part in the Briery Gap Drama competition in Mullingar.
Our school had 7 dramas and we were the first school to go on.                                                                                                                                             My class had two dramas. My group had decided to do our play around child abuse and told stories from two different children.My part in our play was the music aspect. I had to burn a CD with all the songs and make sure they all had the correct timing and effects on them.
I was up in the sound and lighting booth at the back of the room with Eve and Emer.
                                                                                                                  Everyone did very well and all the dramas went very well!                               After my class's drama, we left and walked around the town to get food in McDonald's.                                                                                               
We all met back at the center hosting the dramas and watched some from other schools. Some were really funny and others were a bit odd!

I really enjoyed that day, it was a great experience and process overall!