Camping 🏕
For our first trip in TY we were brought camping for two nights. We woke up on the Wednesday morning, many of us extremely nervous and anxious to get our Junior Cert results. After receiving our results everyone was buzzing with excitement as we made our way to the back of the school to load our bags onto the bus.
When we arrived we unloaded the bus and began to put up our tents. We found it extremely hard to put up the tent (not that that surprised any of us) and a very nice man who was a volunteer there helped us pitch our tent. Later that day we set out on our first bit of the 22k hike we were doing for Gaisce. It took us quite some time to walk the small amount that we did and we were all exhausted when we got back. Later that evening we cooked dinner. Although our diets mainly consisted of koka noodles and junk food, dinner was the one time of the day where we at least tried to eat something substantial.
The second day we set out early for the longer part of our 22k. The walk took us a total of about 5 hours and we were blessed with several rain showers that were greatly unappreciated by myself. I never realised how sore my legs could be until I got back from that walk. When we got back we all went to the lake to go for a swim. Which, at the time, seemed like a great idea but I found myself seriously regretting it when I was standing there by the camp fire in my wet clothes waiting for a free shower and someone to lend me a towel as mine was used to clean all the muck out of our tent.
Every night we all stood around the campfire or went to the barn where we'd play endless games of "spit". I think my favourite parts were when we got home in the evening and everyone just hung out together. It gave us all the opportunity to bond and talk to people that we wouldn't usually socialise with.
Going home the next day was really depressing. We had had so much fun and if it weren't for the cold and rain I think a lot of us would have been up for staying for a couple more nights. In my opinion, it was a great way to celebrate the Junior Cert results and kick off TY.
When we arrived we unloaded the bus and began to put up our tents. We found it extremely hard to put up the tent (not that that surprised any of us) and a very nice man who was a volunteer there helped us pitch our tent. Later that day we set out on our first bit of the 22k hike we were doing for Gaisce. It took us quite some time to walk the small amount that we did and we were all exhausted when we got back. Later that evening we cooked dinner. Although our diets mainly consisted of koka noodles and junk food, dinner was the one time of the day where we at least tried to eat something substantial.
The second day we set out early for the longer part of our 22k. The walk took us a total of about 5 hours and we were blessed with several rain showers that were greatly unappreciated by myself. I never realised how sore my legs could be until I got back from that walk. When we got back we all went to the lake to go for a swim. Which, at the time, seemed like a great idea but I found myself seriously regretting it when I was standing there by the camp fire in my wet clothes waiting for a free shower and someone to lend me a towel as mine was used to clean all the muck out of our tent.
Every night we all stood around the campfire or went to the barn where we'd play endless games of "spit". I think my favourite parts were when we got home in the evening and everyone just hung out together. It gave us all the opportunity to bond and talk to people that we wouldn't usually socialise with.
Going home the next day was really depressing. We had had so much fun and if it weren't for the cold and rain I think a lot of us would have been up for staying for a couple more nights. In my opinion, it was a great way to celebrate the Junior Cert results and kick off TY.
Carlingford
The week after midterm we went on our second over night trip this year to Carlingford. We had heard from the previous years that it was an amazing trip so everyone was really looking forward to it. We headed down on the Monday morning and when we arrived we all assembled in the downstairs common room. One of the instructors explained all the rules to us and we were then split into our rooms.
The girls were split into two rooms. My room had eleven girls. It was nice to have such a big group of us sharing as it gave us the opportunity to get really close. Each day was jam packed with fun activities to do. I really enjoyed the laser tag in particular. It taught us how to work as a team and was a lot of fun.
I also enjoyed the night line activity. We were brought up to the forest at night and were blind folded. We had to hold onto the person in front of us and hold onto a rope while doing a small obstacle course. This taught us how to trust each other. I most enjoyed the time we got to spend in the evening just hanging out with each other. We all became close as a year group thanks to the trip and we all really enjoyed ourselves.
The girls were split into two rooms. My room had eleven girls. It was nice to have such a big group of us sharing as it gave us the opportunity to get really close. Each day was jam packed with fun activities to do. I really enjoyed the laser tag in particular. It taught us how to work as a team and was a lot of fun.
I also enjoyed the night line activity. We were brought up to the forest at night and were blind folded. We had to hold onto the person in front of us and hold onto a rope while doing a small obstacle course. This taught us how to trust each other. I most enjoyed the time we got to spend in the evening just hanging out with each other. We all became close as a year group thanks to the trip and we all really enjoyed ourselves.