The Great Gatsby- Book Review!!

  The novel I have read is 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is set on Long Island and in New York City. The story is told from the point of view of Nick Carraway as he spends one summer in New York in the 1920's. Nick lives in a house next door to the mansion where the mysterious Jay Gatsby lives . Jay throws lavish parties in the mansion with many guests. At one of these parties Jay and Nick meet for the first time and form a strange friendship.

  Even though Gatsby has all the things he could ever want, he still isn't satisfied and we discover why in the story!  Nick finds out that years ago Jay fell in love with a girl called Daisy who is also Nicks's cousin. Daisy has always loved Gatsby but is married to another man called Tom Buchanan.

  Nick arranges for Daisy and Gatsby to meet once more. After this encounter the two begin an affair but Tom (Daisy's husband) begins to suspect this. After some background research Tom discovers that Jay made his money through illegal gambling. Jay and Daisy drive back to New York but with emotions running high Daisy kills a women, but because Gatsby is so in love with her he is willing to take the blame.

  George Wilson (the husband of the women who Daisy murdered) finds out the car that killed his wife belongs to Gatsby and he shoots Jay dead.

  In the end Nick arranges a funeral for Jay and moves back to New York.
 
  Overall, it has'nt been my favourite book, even though many other people would disagree ! I've now started reading 'Circle of Friends' by Maeve Binchy. So far, so good !!!

Work Experience at Arnotts !!!!

From the 27th of Feb- 2nd March TY's had work experience . I worked in 'Homemade' by Clodagh @ Arnotts!! On the first day I was in the bakery. It was really fun and I helped make cookies and cakes! The next day I was in the cold kitchen making salads and sandwiches and quiches. I was in the kitchen and the cold kitchen on Wednesday and on Thursday I did promotional work by handing out leaflets to customers. I also worked front of house serving people. There was a childrens charity fundraiser on Friday so on Thursday we made boxes for 250 cupcakes which Clodagh was donating to the event!! On Friday I was back in the bakery and made American style coconut, hazelnut and chocolate cookies!!! They tasted so nice and were sold in the food market beside the restaurant!

I was so sad to be leaving on Friday and had such a great week. I would definitely recommend this work placement to everyone!!!

My Busy Bag!!

The name of my group's mini company is ' My Busy Bag'.It is a small compact bag with all the necessities a girl would need on a night out such as, tan wipes, clips, bobbins, mini deodorant etc!!
On 22nd Feb was the mini company competition. We set up our stand with a sample of our products and hung a banner with the name of the company. We were all extremely nervous.
In the end our group didn't get through to the Kildare finals but we hope to continue on with our product!!

Our Pilgrimage to Kildare & St. Brigid!

     The 1st of February was St. Brigids Day.The religion teachers thought it would be a good idea to bring us on a pilgrimage to Kildare town because St Brigid is associated with Kildare. It is said that she spread her cloak over the Curragh of Kildare and claimed that land.
    
     When we arrived we went to the tourist information office where we watched a short film on the history of St Brigid and how she is associated with Kildare. Afterwards, we went to the Church of Ireland and looked around the church. Behind it was a round tower- the second tallest in Ireland and the 'Fire Temple' which is where bonfires were set in the time of Brigid to tell people to come to the church.
    
     We went to St Brigids church after this but it was closed so we could'nt see the inside of it. We had lunch soon after and went to Kildare Village shopping outlet.  We then walked a good distance to get to the first well of our journey. It was semi-circular and we all walked across the stepping stones and blessed ourselved with the Holy water from the well. It was also the oldest of the two wells.
    
     The next well was about a ten minute walk away. It had a statue of St Brigid and there was a stream with candles that people had placed around it. Some of us walked around the well and said the Rosary. We had time to reflect and then left the well after that. We walked back to Kildare village and got the bus home!

              
                                    http://goireland.about.com/od/countykildare/ig/Kildare-Image-Gallery/Saint-Brigid-s-Well.htm







                                     

A Four Foot Box. A Foot for Every Year.

On Tuesday all the T.Y's went to Mullingar for a drama competition. Class Eriu and Banba were competing against some other schools in the competition!
Class Eriu had two plays 'Concrete Angel' and 'Midterm Break'. There were eleven in our group and we performed Midterm Break. This was based on the poem by Seamus Heaney. I played the part of a girl who's younger brother died and she comes home from school to find her parents really upset. My line was at the very end- "A four foot box. A foot for every year".  It was a sad play but I really enjoyed acting in it!

I really enjoyed watching both Eriu's and Banba's plays. They were really imaginative!! We were allowed leave after we had finished so we went to McDonalds for lunch and the just walked around Mullingar!

It had been a great day :) 

'Fighting Words' English Workshop!

Last week class Eriu went to a 'Fighting Words' workshop in Dublin to help us with our creative writing skills.
We left school at 1 o' clock. We arrived and were greeted by Sorcha who helped us write a group essay. We then split up individually and worked on finishing the essay the way we wanted it to end. I wrote a page but still have to finish it!

The show must go on!!

On Monday 5th of December there was a feel of excitement in the school because at 8 o clock that night the musical was starting. I was super excited and could'nt wait !! A few weeks earlier I signed up for the wardrobe team. Our job was to gather all the costumes for the cast and make sure that everyone had the right clothes for their scenes. There were so many other people involved too such as the backstage team the makeup team and the props people.

The musical was held over four nights-from the 5th to the 8th of December. I really enjoyed the musical and was sad to see it over so soon. But the good thing was that we did'nt have any school on the Thursday and Friday!!

Well done to everyone involved in the show :)

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