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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Ty Reflection

We were told to have this done for Thursday and to keep it brief but I think trying to keep this brief will be hard as so much has happened this year and we've done so much. I remember when we first started TY everyone was so scared almost, nervous I'd say cause we didn't know eachother that well. Before TY our 3rd year classes never really socialized or did things with eachother that much. Everyone pretty much kept to the people in their own class.
On my first day here I was glad to see that I was with my past 3rd friends but also happy that we were with some new people. It was starnge being without my 3rd class.
I think some of the teachers were surprised about how quiet we were at the beginning but we soon eased into everything and of course we all became a bit noiser :).
Soon afters we realised how different TY was to all the other years, a good different though. We did so much through out the year that it would wayy too long to write about. But overall it was a great year and was really quite a unique experience. I hope people who choose to do TY have as good as a year as I did :)
I know I'm going to miss TY and all the people in it and all the great teachers in it and everyone will be bawling their eyes out during TY Night.

Love Fiona :)

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Book Review- How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

Summary- This book is about a 15 year old girl called Daisy from Manhattan, who is sent to England to live with her cousins for a while. She goes there to meet her 4 cousins and Aunt whom shes never met before. There are 3 boys and 1 girl, the boys names are Osbert, Edmond and Issac and the girl is called Piper.
After Daisy meets her Aunt Penn, she has to leave soon after Daisy arrives to go away for business. But then the next day a bomb goes off in London and is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.
Power cuts and systems fail, the farm which they live on becomes more isolated. Though despite the war they remain to be untouched by the wars horrors and evils. It becomes their kind of Eden in a way, especially since no adults are about which means no rules. But this farm becomes a very special place to Daisy where she forms a very unique and special bonds with her cousins. These bonds are very unique as she has quite unique cousins. The relationships with them turn turns into something very rare and extraordinary.
Unfortunately they cannot escape the war that is destroying London and they soon become sucked into it all.
The war separates them all as they are moved into different homes. Issac and Edmond were sent away together and then Daisy and Piper, Osbert wasn't sent away as he got a job in the army. This brakes their hearts to all be separated from one another, especially for Edmond and Daisy who form more of a romantic relationship and fall so in love with each other.
The war pushes Daisy and Piper to their limits and beyond. Their thirst for love and to be safe saves them in the end. They make it back home safe enough and Daisy is then shipped home straight away.
After 6 years Daisy is finally able to go back to England. When she gets there Piper and all have grown up. Piper has met a boy named Johnathan and they fell in love from the moment they met each other. Issac has become noticeably more grown up and has moved on from the war but Edmond was effected horribly from the war as he had to watch people die all around him, their screams forever haunt him and he will never forgive himself for being alive.
Daisy tries to talk to him by joining him when he gardens and learning from him. And, that's where the story ends. I guess it leaves you to imagine what their lives might be like.

Review- Personally I loved this book and everything about it. I loved the fact that it wasn't a traditional love story between 2 people, it was more than that. Edmond and Daisy both knew that it wasn't exactly how cousins are 'suppose' to feel about each other and that it was odd since they were family. But I loved the fact that they didn't care and just put everything they had into the relationship.
But this book wasn't just about the love story between them 2, it was also about the relationships which Daisy had made with her other cousins. She had felt a love and feelings she'd never really felt for anyone before and cared for them all more than she had even cared about herself.
Piper seemed to amaze Daisy throughout the book as she is a very unique kind of girl. When you read about their journey back to safety, their home and possibly freedom, you can't help but wish and hope they make it through everything that they will come across. Especially in a certain chapter when they can hear people's screams and bombs and shots going off and how the sounds start to close in on them and you can't help but feel so sorry for them.
Coming towards the end of the book all you hope is that they become reunited with one another and that they are all still alive.
Luckily they all survived the war and its tragedies. But Daisy was separated from them soon after her and Piper made it back home. For 6 years she tried to live her life as normal as possible by keeping herself busy basically, then she was finally able to go back to England, back home, and to see them all again. When you're reading Part Two of the book all you want for the characters is that they are all alive and well and that Daisy and Edmond reunite with one another.
At the very end of the book you find out what happened to Issac and Edmond during the war and you find out that Issac proved to be the stronger one mentally and emotionally, which is actually quite surprising. Edmond is silent after the war and channels all his emotions and anger by gardening. This is Daisy's only way of talking to Edmond, constantly reminding him that she's there with him.


Thursday, May 5, 2011

Vampire Weekend



Shakira



Shakira

Top of the Pops 2



Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops



Top of the Pops-Sydney Opera House

Bat for Lashes




















Natsha Khan






Bat for Lashes

Trip Around the World- Geography

For my trip around the world for geography I decided to base mine on music. To start off I decided to start off in London where my favourite band/artist was born. Her name is Natasha Khan but her band/ stage name is Bat for Lashes. Her music genre that she plays is very indie/pop/techno. She has a Pakistani father and an English mother.
The band that she plays with isn't really an official kind of band, there more used for her concerts and live shows. So far she has only released 2 albums: Fur and Gold (2006) and Two Suns (2009). My favourite song from her first album has to be " Whats a girl to do?" and my favourite songs from her second album are: "Daniel", "Siren Song" and "Pearls Dream".

My second destination is Australia, Sydney. I went from London to Australia because Bat for Lashes are playing a concert in the Sydney Opera House and I looked up a popular show or act that might be playing there. So I found Top of the Pops. But this Top of the Pops isn't the famous music show that we know of. This is a group of really talented classical music players who are putting on a show on the 29th of May this year. The reason why their performance is called Top of the Pops is because they are playing popular melodies from such composers like Beethoven and Schubert.

So then fro my third destination I went back to London to discover where the original Top of the Pops music TV show was made. It began to show on TV on a weekly bases from the year of 1964-2006. The only songs they played on this music show was no.1 hits in the music charts. A few exceptions were made to let songs play that weren't top in the charts at the time. They were one of the longest running television shows ever. In their last episode one of the final songs to of been played was Shakiras "Hips Don't Lie".

This then brings me to Columbia, where Shakira was born. She started making it into the Latin American and Colombian music scene around the early 1990's. She plays a big range of musical instruments, some which I'd never heard of before. Shakira's had many hits, some of her most popular songs are "Hips don't Lie" and " She Wolf". One of the last places Shakira is going to play is in New York City. So that's where I decide to go next in my trip.

Lastly I decided to do my final place in New York and I did it on the well-known band called Vampire Weekend. Their kind of style of music is indie rock. Theirs four members in the band: Rostam Batmanglij, Ezra Koenig, Chris Tomson and Chris Baio. They've released 2 albums so far, their first one was named after themselves and the second one was called Contra.

And that's the end of my Geography trip :)

Monday, May 2, 2011

Swim a mile with a Smile :)

So on our last day before the Easter Midterm we all went to the National Aquatics Centre (NAC) to complete the swim a mile with a smile.
When we got there we all got ready as fast as we could to start swimming! Luckily you were allowed do it in groups if you wanted to, I was with Zoe at the start but then we paired up with Kellie and Siobhan because we kinda realised we wouldn't be able to do it with just us 2 :L.
But somehow some girls did it all on there own, which is 64 laps in the really deep length pool, I don't know how they did it :D
After we completed our mile we all got a free t-shirt and bottles of water thank god! haha. When everyone was done we got to go into the main pools where the slides were and we all got to go on the slides and in the pools :).
Then we got to go to Blancherdstown for food and whatever else. Everyone was pretty tired but overall it was a really good day :)