Martial Arts: On Monday the 23rd and Tuesday the 24th of O October my year took part in a Martial Arts course in school. On the Monday morning we all met our instructor Daradh in the Halla Nua. We then spent the first half of the day watching and listening to a powerpoint that Daradh had prepared for us. He talked about all the signs of an attack and showed us examples of attacks and how you could protect yourself in those situations. We then spent the second half of the day in the sports hall learning various moves such as the hammer and the block, we then got to practice these moves on each other to make sure we were doing them correctly. On the Tuesday we spent the whole day in the Halla Nua going over the techniques we had learnt the day before and after we learnt how to defend ourselves when weapons are involved such as guns and knives. We then learnt the basics of kickboxing such as the various kicks and we also learned the basics of floor work. I thoroughly enjoyed this course as I believe it will be very beneficial to me in the future. I thought that Daradh was a fantastic instructor and I loved the way he focused on certain ways to defend yourselves depending on your strength and height.
Tag Rugby: On Thursday the 26th a group from year were selected to represent our school in a tag rugby tournament in UCD. Blackrock and Loreto Dalkey also took part in the competition. The teams were a mix of all the schools and each team were named after a country. I was in the team New Zealand. My team ended up coming in third place. I really enjoyed the day because I met loads of new friends and I got to play tag rugby on a competitive level.
DCU Open Day: On Friday the 17th of November all transition year students went to DCU open day. We got the opportunity to go to a variety talks about different courses they have to offer in DCU. I went to four talks, Phycology, Nursing, International Business Studies and Health and Society. It was really interesting to hear what these courses entailed and it was a real eye opener to how many courses DCU alone have to offer. My favourite talk from the open day was the nursing as I have a real intrest in nursing and would love to pursue it as a career in the future.
Careers Night: On Thursday the 16th of November my school help a careers workshop for all 4th, 5th, and 6th years. It gave us the opportunity to chat we people about there careers and what routes to go down to be as successful as possible. I went to the teaching, nursing, social science and event management stations. It really opened my eyes to all the possible career routes I could take.
Barista course: Last December a group of 18 Ty students took part in a 10 week barista course with Dublin Barista school. During the 10 week period we learned about the history of coffee, how to make shots of coffee, how to make the various different types of coffee and how to do lattee art. Not only did they teach us how to make the perfect coffee they also taught us how to interact with customers, which we got to put into practise on our 4 hour work placement. Each one of us got the opportunity to work in their coffee shop in Dublin city for four hours to learn how to make coffee under pressure and how to interact with customers. This was an amazing experience as it gave us a taste of what its really like to work in a coffee shop. Overall this was an incredible experience and something that will definitely benefit in the future.
Boxing: On November 20th I started the boxing course. It is a six week long program run by Neil Bowman from blackrock boxing club. Throughout the course we learned all the different types of punches that are thrown in boxing. We learned about all the different combo punches as well. We did all of this while working on our fitness levels with a mixture of runs, sprints, and abb workouts. This was a great experience that definitely helped my fitness levels.
First Aid: TY students took part in a First Aid Course on April 16th, 17th and 18th We learned about everything regarding strokes, cardiac arrest, sprains, broken bones, slings, consciousness, whole body examinations, choking in adults, infant choking and much more. My favourite part of the course was learning how to perform CPR on the mannequins. We had to place one hand on top of the other on the casualties spectrum, we then pushed in hard for 30 beats, we then gave the manequin two breaths using the mask we were given. I loved taking part in first aid because it was very informative and fun at the same time.
Salamanca Going to Salamanca in Spain was one of the best opportunities I have been given in TY. I went for two weeks with my friend Sarah Murphy, I was very apprehensive about going as it was very out of my comfort zone but once we got there I knew I was going to love every minute of it. Everyday we went to an intensive Spanish course called, 'Colegio Delibes'. Here we were in level A2.1 which ended up being very difficult. We were in a class with loads of different nationalities including; Australian, Chinese, Dutch and Irish. The classes consisted of Grammar and then Communication. I preferred communication because it gave us free reign to chat about whatever topic was at hand that day. Our teachers names were Elena and Marina. The classes were intense with an oral and written exam in our final week. This showed us the level of Spanish we currently have and our capability of learning new material in a foreign language. We made friends for life with 4 girls from Salthill, Galway . I am so grateful for the opportunity and for all the amazing memories made! I loved every minute of it and I can't wait to go back next year!