Retreat

                                                  

Retreat




On the 16th of September we went on our annual retreat to The Celbridge Manner Hotel. When we were all sitting in a circle a man came in to begin the retreat. He introduced himself as Brother Andreas and he had a very high voice. His high voice combined with the fact he wanted us to fast for the day put everyone in a fit of giggles. However because laughing at people is really rude all of us were going red trying to stop our laughing. A few minutes later he introduced himself as Connor with a normal voice and told us he had been tricking us. It was really funny. We then played bonding games and people had to embarrass themselves by dancing and telling awful jokes. Towards the end of the day we were all told to pick an upside down card and the adjective on it was supposed to describe us....My word was "special"...Everyone laughed. Finally we did a guided meditation which was really interesting as we did it for half an hour but it felt more like 5 minutes. The retreat was a lot more fun than I'd expected because generally retreats are boring. I really enjoyed that day !

Workshops

On every Wednesday in school, the transitions years don't have classes. Instead we either have workshops or work experience. On our first Wednesday back in school we had two workshops; one about first aid and one about presenting ourselves.


Etiquette Workshop:
Our first work shop was an etiquette workshop that focused on presenting ourselves well at an interview or during a job/work experience. We learned what clothes to wear, how to walk with confidence and how to sit appropriately. Some of the girls practiced walking in heels and for those of us who didn't; it was quite funny to watch as they stumbled up and down a cat walk. We also got told about different samples of skin care  and even got to try some at the end. Finally the women running it showed us how to properly apply foundation and concealer to avoid looking too dark/light. It was a very worthwhile workshop and I would highly recommend it.


First Aid Workshop:
Our second workshop was run by a man from John's Ambulance. He told us about resuscitation, what it is, when to use it and how to do it (30 compressions to 2 breaths). He also taught us the different ways it is delivered depending on the individuals age. We learned how to deal with someone choking or someone who had received a bad burn (You wrap it in clingfilm ! ). We also learned about other things such as seizures or heart attacks. He also taught us why it is important to  know CPR and how it had saved people in the past. He told us one of the most important things was knowing that if a person isn't okay after you try to save them, it is not your fault as you did what you could.