Wearing heels, masks and.. books?

"Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine."

Lord Byron

On Wednesday, we had three workshops: laughter yoga, etiquette and massage therapy, all of which were very enjoyable. We were exhausted after our trip to Carlingford (find out more about that on my last post: "Tunnel Vision"), and were in good need of some relaxation, so it was great that we had Massage therapy first, and gave each other neck and head massages, although at one point I was so relaxed I found it hard to keep my eyes open... (I did though, I promise ;) ). 

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After that, we had an etiquette workshop and learnt about deportment (basically walking in heels with books on our heads!), what to wear for work experience and what suits our various body shapes. They showed us the new dove campaign, which shows that all body shapes are perfect, and I think its really important that people know that. It must have been funny for Brenda and Kate to watch us all with books on our heads!

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The last workshop was laughter yoga with denise, which was good for relieving stress. We had to put on masks and laugh at each other basically. She told us that when you laugh, all you focus on is laughing and you forget whatever is on your mind for that brief moment, which I think is amazing. That is the psychology behind laughter yoga. Dr. Kataria discovered that if you laugh for no reason, it then turns into real laughter and can relieve stress. A study has shown that adults laugh about 17 times in a day, whereas children laugh about 400 times a day. I'd say I'd laugh nearly as often as a child, which is a good thing I think.

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Until next time,

Lauren 

Tunnel Vision.

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

Walt Disney

I have a lot to tell you guys so bear with me. On Monday and Tuesday we went on our TY trip to Carlingford which was brilliant (Hope the rest of Woollies didn't miss us too much!) We met at seven in the morning on Monday. When we got there we were greeted with this beautiful, quaint little stone village:

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Our first activity was.. LASER COMBAT...in the FOREST! We got to wear camouflage onesies! It was such fun running and jumping and shooting around the forest (GO BLUE TEAM!). I really enjoyed that activity. After that we had team work games where we had to figure out out-door puzzles and how to find our way through a ' spider's web' without touching it and things like that. They were really strategical activities, which I thoroughly enjoyed solving with my team-mates. Everyone got on really well and we had great craic.

After dinner we went out to the best activity of the day: the night activities (thanks to Mrs L for booking us in for that!) we walked through the forest blindfolded and even got squirted in the face with sports drink and hadn't got a clue what the orangey liquid was on my face. We all trusted each other but there was a lot of screaming going on! ;) we also played forest ninjas and lighthouse with a torch and that was so fun! afterwards we climbed through a 1m x 1m pitch black tunnel outside - it was a stone drain and when I was in it I didn't know if my eyes were open or closed because it was so dark! We made it out though and I was glad i did it.

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The next day we did water sports: kayaking, water trampolining and we even stuck our heads under a waterfall in a cave, because there is a myth that if you do so you live for an extra 24 hours! Whoo!
That's all for now,

Stay tuned to find out why we were laughing like maniacs,

Lauren :)

Tears, Ballet and Climbing.

Tuesday was a long day of anticipation, waiting for the day of the results to follow. I didn't know what to expect. I had ballet that night so that took my mind off things and I actually forgot about the exciting day that was to follow. We had a lie in on Wednesday, the day of the results, which was nice. I was very excited to find out how I had done, to find out if my hard work over the last three years paid off.

The hall was ecstatic with nerves and excitement. I found my friends, some of whom were panicking (unnecessarily, because they did brilliantly). We stood in our class groups for the last time, and after our principal and deputy principal each gave us lovely words of encouragement, the results were handed out. I got my brown envelope containing my results, and went straight out of the hall, and drove home with my Mam. I ran in, opened them and I cried tears of joy. I had done all higher level subjects and got ten A's and a B and was absolutely delighted (and shocked!). I literally could not believe it as I had never expected to do so well and my family were so happy for me. We went out for lunch to celebrate and then I went over to my friend's to get ready to go out for a nice night of celebration in Time disco. Well done to everyone on their excellent results! And thanks all of   the great teachers at St Wolstan's.

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On Thursday we went to Castletown House which was lovely and really interesting. It was fascinating to see how the wealthy lived at that time. We got to see the servants quarters also and climbed the many stairs that they once had to climb while carrying dishes and barrels and it really gave me an insight into how hard they worked every day. I would definitely recommend taking a visit there if you can!

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On Friday we had a short assembly about Carlingford, which I am really excited about! I'm all packed and ready to go! I believe there will be rope climbing, kayaking and midnight walks in the forest..... I can't wait! You'll hear all about that soon,

Talk Soon,

Lauren x

Workshops, Wigs and Minions

Since I posted on Tuesday, I have been really busy. We have come up with Junk Kouture ideas, planned our Mini Company, done our fitness test and three workshops. Phew! Every Wednesday that we don't have work experience, we have workshops or we go on a trip. This Wednesday, we had three workshops and the first was about social development. We were taught how to behave in a confident manner, even when we feel a bit nervous. These skills should help in the coming weeks when we begin work experience and need to step outside our comfort zones and into the world of work. 

The second workshop was about reflexology, massage therapy and relaxation. It involved a lot of pair work and I think we got the hang of the massage after a while. Although this would not be everyone's cup of tea, it was a worthwhile experience and I think its fair to say we were all rather relaxed afterwards. 

We had great fun a the positive party, with sweets, dancing, joking and having a really good time. I think it was a really good icebreaker for our class to get to know each other. Some of the girls dressed up in wigs and acted as a famous band! It was great craic and left everyone in a great mood. In the spirit of the positive party, here's a feel good song Mrs L showed us, and it gave us all a great laugh so enjoy!

Climbing Mountains and Wearing Trash.

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We went in on the first day, not really knowing where to go. Everyone else had settled in already as TY's are the last to go back after summer. We had an assembly and I waited nervously to find out who was in my class and thankfully, I am really happy with my class group, Tabei. It also helped that it was the slightly easier class to pronounce... I still don't think I'm pronouncing Tereshkova right. Our classes were named after famous women who have made great accomplishments, for example, Junko Tabei is a Japanese mountain climber who became the first woman to climb Mount Everest in 1975.

Once the classes were sorted, it was like we had never left!
We then went to TY design and have started planning our Junk Kouture project which I am really excited about. For those of you who haven't heard of junk Kouture before, its a competition where TY's create an item of clothing made completely of recycled materials, including at least one recycled electrical item. I'm finding it really fun coming up with ideas for it because nothing is too outrageous for this competition, so it should be interesting to see what we come up with. Watch this space!

What's coming up? Well, tomorrow we have a workshop, which I will tell you about soon. In a few weeks, I will be starting work experience in a chemistry department  which I am really looking forward to because I find chemistry really interesting. I shall keep you posted. In the nearer future, I have double P.E. now, which will be great fun. 

I look forward to continuing my blog and making it better and better, so stay tuned.