Dublin Tour :D

Last Thursday both TY classes went to the National Art Gallery and National History Museum. We went to go see the Bog Boddies in the NHM which was actually kinda disgusting to look at them but was really interesting as well to hear about how they were found, how they died, weither they were male or female. We got to see 3 bog boddies, 2 were male and 1 was female. They looked really horrible because the weight of the bog had flattened there bodies and there skin looked like leather, also their hair was stil perfectly preserved. I didn't expect to see the bodies flat or leather like skin at all. After that we went to go see the Jack B Yaets exhibition, which consisted of his early life, replicas of his apartments, his original poety in the original notebooks. We learned about his family tree and I foudn out that lots of his relatives were all very famous artists or poets etc. Most of his family seemed to be interested in the arts. But also I learned that he didn't marry until he was around the age of 52 which is really old because all of the previous women he had asked to marry all said no. I learned that Jack Yaets was really interested in star signs, communicating with the dead and magic etc. Then we had lunch and most people went to McDonals but I went to Jimmy Chungs which is an all you can east chinease resturant that actually has really nice food :D I was kinda expecting to get food poisoning from the food but I didn't :L The last place we went to was the NAG to go see different famous artists and to see Jack B Yaets. We saw how his artwork style had changed during the years of his life and other famous irish paintings. Overall it was a really good day and I think everyone enjoyed it :)

Percusion Workshop.

On Tuesday we had a percussion workshop for most of the day with a professional jembay musician. He was really nice and really good and was able to teach us loads about jembay and how to play all the different type of drums. Also he taught us a song and we all got to try out different types of instruments as well and he showed us a special video which was made especially for jembay.

The guy who came in to show us and teach us was really nice and he told us how he became interested in becoming a jembay player and how he started up his own business. He now oes aroudn to lots of different places like hospitals, youth centres, prisons even! But it was really nice to learn about something that we didn't know much about and which was really fun and interesting :)

Work Experience

I went to the Four Courts in Dublin to follow around a Barrister, his name was Darach MacNamara and he was really nice :) On my first day there he told me all about the different Civil Courts and the differences between them all. He showed me around the place and I learned loads already that day.

During the week he didn't have much exciting work for me to do so I went around with another Barrister called Brian, he is Darachs devil which means that Brian learns gets all of his work experience from Darach and learns more about being a barrister himself ( devils kind of follow around there masters)
Brian is mainly based in the Criminal Courts of Justice but does some work in the Civil Courts as well. Brian is one of the few extremely busy devils because he has had previous work experience and has a lot more degrees than most average devils.

Brian taught me loads about being a Barrister in the Criminal Courts and what its like. I went to all different types of cases in the Criminal Courts, some cases which are considered petty offences were things like theft, not driving with license, drink driving. But some others were a little more serious like assult cases and I got to sit in a murder trial for a bit which was really good and I really enjoyed it.



I spent some days in the CCJ and the Civil Courts and some days I spent all day in either one with someone. Anytime I was in the CCJ I would always be with Brian, but when I was in the Civil Courts I was either with Darach, Carroline or Alan. Carroline was a devil and was in her first year of deviling, she was really nice and she was really young so it was easy to talk to her. Alan was just finished deviling and he was a really good barrister as I got to see him in action in the Masters Court.



My overall work experience was really great and I loved being there. I learned loads of things and my idea of barristers has changed, I think its a lot more exciting than people think it is. I think as a future career I would definitely consider it

RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms

The Girl Effect:The Clock is Ticking

I thought this video was really interesting and its amazing what happens if a girl is given an education and has access to a doctor. Also what makes this video different is that it's an ad yet it doesn't feel like one.

3-3-11

Next week is the beginning of our last work experience. Everyone is pretty excited for it and nervous of course as I think some people are going for things that are different and wouldn't interest them usually.
For my work experience I'm going to be brought around by a barrister called Darch McNamara in the Four Courts.

I hope everyone enjoys there last work experience and that it all goes well for everyone :)

Mini Company Heat

So yesterday we had our mini company heat in Clane GAA Club. The minute we got there everyone was rushing around full of excitement and nerves. WE had only 10 minutes to set up our stands as we got there a bit late so our group was in a bit of a panic setting up our stand.

But eventually the time came when the judges were coming around and interviewing us. Luckily our interview went well and we ended up being put on the shortlist but we didn't get through to the next round. Me and my group were pretty happy and surprised that we even got onto the shortlist. After our interview we had a look around the other stands and groups and were amazed by some of the quality of products and the great ideas that had been thought up by some of the groups. Everyones stand looked really great at the competition.