Who decided to bring those walky talkies?

Every Monday night I go to a yoga class in the mill for physical activity, I crochet every Saturday morning as a new skill and every Friday I go to the slip hall some community service where I help the leaders with the mad beavers who never fail to be full of energy. Why do I do these random things and why am I telling you? Well to get my gaisce of course! Gaisce? What’s that you ask? For people who don’t know it’s the president’s award. To get a bronze medal you must do 13 hours (1 hour a week for 13 weeks) of physical activity, community service and partaking in a new skill. Then you need to continue one of the above for an extra 13 hours totaling up to 26 hours! Along with all this it is required that you do a 25k hike. It doesn’t seem like a lot of time but take it from somebody who is trying to do it …. IT IS! If I was in 5^th year now it wouldn’t have been recommended that i tried to get this award but since im in ty and all I have is time every week I go yoga, do crochet and attended beaver meetings. I’ve been doing my gaisce tasks since November and it’s only being mentioned on my blog now because I didn’t think there was much to say about it other than the fact I was doing it until last week when I went away with the beavers!

At half 9 in the morning I arrived in Slan farm hostel I was about 90% still asleep but it only took seconds for the kids to scream me awake. We sat outside the hostel waiting for everybody to arrive and before I knew it I was walking up the stairs being told to hurry up and come see the rooms because you know they were going to disappear if I didn’t run up the last 5 steps! There were 3 rooms for the kids one for the girls and 2 for the boys and the leaders got the game room, sitting room and two of the small bed rooms at the end of the hall.

At about 10.15 we went out to the garden and gave everybody a number so we didn’t need to count them Paul (leader) could just say “round off” and if somebody didn’t say their number we knew we were missing them. Once everybody had their numbers it was then time for the hike but of course we had to make sure the walky talkies would work and to make sure Sandra and Karen (leaders) decided it would be a good idea to start messing with them by talking to Paul thought it while he was asking for direction from somebody who worked on the farm so we knew what way to walk. It was the first time they had walky talkies with them and I’d be lying if I said they weren’t a help and weren’t mad fun to mess with. Acting like big kids I think all the leaders can agree the walky talkies really mad the weekend quiet funny.

We left the hostel at half 10 and returned around half 3! The hike really was something. From Dave failing at getting the kids to sing, all the leaders messing with the walky talkies, laughing as my new boots got muddy, hopping like four gates, very badly kicking thrones back, Dave not letting Sandra tie her laces, tying muddy and wet shoe laces, saying 5 more minutes every 20 minutes when somebody asked how much longer, appreciating the trees lining up, running ahead with Sandra so we could get to the old church and college first and telling the kids that the farmers was letting the bull into the field soon to make them walk faster! When we finally reached we took a break and the kids ran around exploring the place.

Once we left the top we were back to the hostel in what felt like 10 minutes. When we got back the “are we there yet” changed to “im cold” and “when’s dinner, im hungry”. Back at the hostel there was a place for the boys to play football, swings  ,see-saw, a donkey, a goat and some hens so we let them have “free time” while dinner was being made. After while they started getting bored so we did some compass work with them and then let them play again. It got really cold though and one of the boys got bit by the donkey so thought it would be a good idea to take them inside to rest, warm up and play games inside before dinner. Dinner took longer than expected so we got the kids to do little plays for each other. They couldn’t come up with what they wanted to do so Karen told them a leader and as a group they had to imitate the leader they got. To say it was hilarious to watch would have been an underestimate because the kid’s impresses of the leaders had all the leaders in tears.

Finally at about half 7 the kids got dinner and it was gone in seconds! I had to keep refilling the bowl with chicken nuggets and sausages because it wouldn’t stay full. After they had their dinner we sent them to their rooms for a bit while we did clean up and then we put a movie on for them. Needing food the leaders thought it would be a good idea to order chipper because we didn’t want to wait any longer for something to cook in the small, slow oven. The kids were supposed to get smores but while they were having their dinner since the leaders and I were so hungry we kind of demolished the packet of digestives. It was good we ate them though because they really didn’t need sugar they had enough energy again.

What goes up must go down and before 12 they were all fast asleep nit a sound from them. With all the clean-up done and all the kids asleep the leaders thought it would be smart to set up our rooms. It was rocket science to figure out how a sofa folds out to a bed but when you are tired and hyper at the same time apparently it’s impossible. After the girls failed miserably at making their bed they left I to Paul and Dave and we cheered them on from the side lines.

Not remembering we were going to have to wake up super early the next morning myself, Karen and Sandra stayed up talking and on our phones until about half 2. I was asleep about five minutes and woken up again by Sandra thinking I was dead! Finally we all fell asleep and got up at half 6 the next day.

I was on breakfast with Dave and the master chiefs that we are we made French toast. It was more like French roast at the start. We burnt a few slices but in the end it was perfect and the kids got rid of it in minutes.

Theres so much more i could say about the trip but this is getting long so ill end it now and tell youu before I knew it I was in the car going home at half 10. It was a great night and I was so glad I went! I didn’t think I was going to have so much fun because I was told I was mad wanting to go spend a night with beavers because they wouldn’t sleep but they were all very well behaved and everybody had a great time. 

Pictures from the trip

The cottages at the side of the hostel

slan farm hostel

our final destination after the hike

the view from the top (taken from a bad camera)

The first piece of french toast Dave and me mad (trust me they got better)

Jake the cute donkey until he bit somebody 

 noname the goat

hens who i didn't know where there until 10minutes before i left!

Im just a teenage girl who hates the thought of growing up but im doing it with a smile on my face and a positive attitude. Id like to say a big thanks to the beavers and the leaders for making me feel so welcome on our trip to slan, I had a great weekend! Hope you liked reading! - Miss.Galligan! x

Blogging!

*Before you read this I  would like to say I wrote this about two weeks ago and its only being posting now because I wrote it for the spider awards and the entry lines are now closed*

Blogging is something I've become very found over the past few months and before I start telling you all about my blog i would first like to thank somebody for telling the class about the spider awards. Without the kind and enthusiastic help of this person I would of sent off 300 boring words (may add maturity of them were most likely I, it, we, happy, good and etc…) about my blog. She helped immensely and I would to thank her for making my boring thoughts somewhat relatable.

So without future Aude this blog is to Mrs. Ward to thank her for all shes done to help me put my best foot forward in the competition!

I started my blog on the 1st of September 2015 in my first double IT class as a TY student in St.Wolstans C.S. It was compulsory for all the transition year students to start a blog and try keep up to date with most of the blog challenges set by the IT team. Every month a list of tasks are given and we are asked to post a blog on what we enjoy doing. The range of topics is deliberately wide and inclusive so that all budding bloggers would access and focus on an area which is interesting to them and suitable to their writing register and style. 

On my blog I’ve posted about where I want to go when I leave school, mental health issues, my work experience, the school fashion show, a drama competition, the Oscars and much more! Some people took to the task of blogging with a positive attitude and others fell behind on challenges which left them struggling to grapple with new topics coming down the line.  From the outset I found that I enjoyed this aspect of my TY experience and approached the on-going challenge of this format with some enthusiasm.  I enjoy blogging very much to my surprise! It amazes me that this medium is so accessible and natural to me.

I am struck by the ease with which I express my thoughts and insights and I would recommend this writing genre to others who want to improve their writing confidence and ability.  When I post I don’t fear the misspellings being noticed because I know I’m nowhere near being a professional writer  - to me the personal nature of blogging allows me latitude to write without reservation or awareness of the heavy hand of red-penned correction.  I think blogging for me now is about learning how to do new things and get my opinion out there. I remember in September I took a mental note of everything that was happening just so I could post it all up on my blog. Even though my blog was set up because my school said we had to I love finding time to just sit down myself and the keyboard. Overall I enjoy blogging and I am very glad I started because if it wasn’t for me doing ty and my school asking us to set it up I would of never known how much fun it was.

Im just a teenage girl who hates the thought of growing up but im doing it with a smile on my face and a positive attitude. Once again I’d like to thank Mrs. Ward for everything she has done and I hope you enjoyed reading! – Miss.Galligan! x

Famous or not?

Im writing this not for me to spread my veiws more so to get you thinking so after you read this i hope you question what im talking about!

I say most Taylor Swift fans can say they’ve watched this video and if you don’t practically love Taylor Swift or haven’t watched it yet I urge you to click play and give it a listen because you never know you could like it!

**CLICK WATCH**

**CONTINUE READING BECAUSE YOU LISTENED!!!!**

QUESTION: Do I consider these two singers in this video famous?

ANSWER: No .... but I do think they are really talented and starting on YouTube is a great way to get them somewhere in the music industry.

QUESTION: Do I think they think they are famous?

ANSWER: maybe!

So where am i going with this you ask? This answer “maybe!”  leds me into why im writing this post. I want to know how many views on YouTube it takes to consider yourself famous. Think about it …. 100 million makes 1 million look like nothing but at the same time 100 can make 1 million look like so much.

The two people in this video and their friends and family could consider them famous because they have almost 19million views but then 19million is small compared to the whole world but it’s still such an achievement!

Well did it work? Are you wondering now who considers who famous and why ....

Im just a teenage girl who hates the thought of growing up but im doing it with a smile on my face and a positive attitude. I hope you listened to the song and enjoyed it as much as I did! – Miss.Galligan! x

Face For Radio!

Lollipop day – Friday the 27^th 2015, the day that the Oesophageal Cancer Fund (OCF) aim to raise awareness of the symptoms related to oesophageal cancer and to provide funding for research into the disease. Read more Here

Back in December all TY students stood along Grafton street freezing cold to raise money with the holly day collection so when we heard we had to do it again for lollipop day we weren't so much jumping with excitement for the cause more so the thought of missing a day of school. But to my surprise it was probably one of the best days out I’ve had in a good while!

The day started with fights of giggles about a stupid dress nobody knew the colour of. We all got so annoyed to what colour it was and defended the colour we say like it was a million euro in our back pocket. After we all got fed up at looking we headed to the loud and hot stuffy bus full of music and teenage girls with too much energy for 9 in the morning.

The dropped us outside Abercrombie and we walked down to the meet up area to get our lollipops and collection boxes. One the way we say so many people helping the cause and noticed they had balloons! Yes maturity of us acted like 6 year olds hoping we’d get a balloon as well. The building we had to meet at as raja but it was “oh so Tumblr like” with the wedding dresses around the place, a little cute café and a shop full of random pretty little household goods.

A ceiling full of balloons, boxes full of hates, tubes of lollipops and stakes of t-shirts was what cover the area! The colours pink, white and black were all over the place. We all ran to grip a string so we could take a balloon from the roof and it was most defiantly first on there get it because they were gone in seconds! Once the balloons where taken we all found ourselves being handed tops and hats. All kitted out we then got a collection box between two and went out to do our task set. This was when the real adventure started!

Who would have thought something so basic like a balloon and wind could put two people in such good moods? I think the day was so good because Alison and I started walking to the spot we wanted to sell at with our balloons getting stuck around poles, hitting each other and flying out of control. We couldn’t stop laughing at how stupid we must have looked with them tided to our bags. Alison did the honours of getting us started by asking the first person she saw “would you like to buy a balloon for oesophageal cancer? Yessss I meant to type balloon! The woman stopped and bought a lollypop as we weren’t selling balloons as Alison had to awkwardly point out after she made the mistake. To our surprise we didn’t struggle to sell the lollypops. Ok there were a few people that gave us looks or kept walking but people who stopped where so lovely and kind to us. We were even asked by a woman would we not of moved because we were a corner and the wind would make us cold! We took her advice because after an hour or so we were numb but we were still laughing at everything that happened.

At about half 11 we started to feel a bit hungry and standing out Butler’s chocolate and across from ginos ice-cream really didn’t help so we decided to break at 12 for a quick snack to warm ourselves up. We practically ran down to McDonnell’s because we were so cold and for the first time of many we saw the guy from FM104. he smiled at us as we laughed about how we were going into McDonnell’s with our balloons and then on the way back up to sell after our tea and cookies we say him again and this time he stopped us and asked us what was our most embarrassing moment and me and Alison thought long and hard on if we really wanted to answer but in the end we did and he said if we listen to the radio over the next few days we could hear ourselves. We then went back to freeze and sell and once again it was very successful. At 1 we thought it might be a good idea if we had an actual meal so we went back to McDonnell’s and this time when we say the man from FM104 we gave him a sticker for lollypop day and after McDonnell’s we got pictures with him for our blog. He probably thought we were the biggest stalkers ever but don’t worry when we were leaving we had to pass him again and we said sorry for stalking him.

The day was over before we knew it and it was time to head back to the place we started to return the money. the day of raising money was over but the adventure didn’t end for Alison and I because next thing we knew we were deep in conversation about everything and anything and were as happy as can be and then to add to happy we were we given free a sample of free ice-cream from murphy’s ice-cream shop and let me add I so would of went back for more if we had time. It was amazing. Just as we thought it was over two men asked us what lollipop day was because they were from Germany and they didn’t understand so we explained and they donated to the cause and off we went to bring the money and spare lollipops back.

When we arrived to the “oh so Tumblr place” I returned the t-shirt as we were told we couldn’t keep them but we could keep the hats and balloons so my balloon stayed tied to my bag and my hat stayed firm to my head. I didn’t expect the day to be even as half as good as it was. It was a day well spent with a friend and time well needed for a charity.

Pictures

What I looked like walking around

Lollipops

Balloon and hat

Our FM104 friend! (didnt find out his name)

Im just a teenage girl who hates the thought of growing up but im doing it with a smile on my face and a positive attitude. I hope you liked reading about my fabulous day out! Miss.Galligan! x

*P.S the lollipops tasted so good!8