Book Review Number Two !

Over the past few weeks, I have been reading another book by the bestselling author, John Green. This book is called An Abundance of Katherines. It is about a boy named Colin Singleton who has recently had his heart broken by a girl named Katherine. Colin has not only been in a relationship with THIS Katherine... there have been many other Katherines (18 to be exact). Colin is a 17 year old boy who can speak 11 languages and has a passion for anagrams. He becomes depressed because even though he has maintained his status of a prodigy, he has not yet become a genius. He wishes to become a genius by searching for a 'eureka' moment.

After graduating from high school, and before college, Colin's friend Hassan convinces him to go on a road trip with him to take his mind off the breakup with 'Katherine XIX'. After driving for a while, they come across the grave of the body of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. There, they meet Lindsey Lee Wells, a “paramedic in training.” She is the tour guide for those seeing the tomb of the Archduke. After a short time, Colin and Hassan find themselves employed by Hollis, Lindsey's mother and the woman running a local factory. They live with Hollis and Lindsey in a rural town called Gutshot in Tennessee.

As time passes, Colin finds himself becoming attracted to Lindsey, though matters are somewhat complicated by her on-again, off-again boyfriend Colin (he and Hassan call him TOC, "the other Colin").  Colin Singleton, the prodigy, attempts to become a genius by having his Eureka moment. He chases this goal through his theorem, called the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Probability, which is meant to determine the curve of any relationship based on several factors of the personalities of the two people in a relationship. It would predict the future of any two people. His theorem eventually works for all but one of his past relationships with a Katherine. But it is later discovered by Colin that he had dumped this Katherine (Katherine III), rather than the other way around. 

Although I am a huge fan of John Greens books, I found that this book didn't hold my attention for a very long time. I didn't really like the main character, Colin as I found him slightly annoying. 

I would not recommend this book to anyone who hasn't already read John Greens books as I rate this book much lower than I rate his other books.

Holly-Days!

Yesterday, we went into town to sell holly badges for charity. The charity we were collecting for was the ISPCC. We went to a Hall on Molesworth Street and got into pairs. I was with Rebecca. We were then given maps and places to stand. We also got bright yellow bibs to wear (to prove we were collectors) and the box of badges.

Rebecca and I were standing outside the Hibernian Club opposite St. Stevens Green. We started walking, then realized that we read the map wrong... Back to square one for us!

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We went straight up the street and then found it straight away. We then asked people to support the ISPCC and some people were very nice and donated money. One man that passed us put in TEN EURO and only wanted 1 badge!

After we had collected for around 3 hours (in the freezing cold) , we went back to the hall on molesworth street and dropped back our bibs and boxes. We collected our bags and went to Grafton Street for lunch.

Kildare Road Safety Expo

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Last Thursday, we went to Punchestown for a road safety exhibition. We left on our bus at 9:05 and we were on the bus for around half an hour. When we arrived we saw Johnny Doyle (Kildare Gaelic football player) getting out of his car. We then went in and got one of those paper wristbands that you get at water-parks and stuff. Those things are always so hard to get off... Anyway, back to the trip. 

This is the famous Blue Bus by the way...

Johnny Doyle
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When we got in to the exhibition we were allowed to roam around ourselves for just under two hours. We looked at all the little stalls and we found them all very interesting. We also got some free high-visibility gear such as reflective smiley face stickers and key-rings, a reflective slap bracelet, a vest and numerous pens. 

There was a "roll over car crash simulator" that you could sit in. The car stayed in the one place but turned upside-down at a slow speed. It rotated a full 360 degrees. This is to show young people how important wearing a seat belt is. 

Roll over simulator
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We finished the day with a presentation from some people that worked for the emergency services who regularly came witnessed the aftermath of a road accident (mainly Gardaí). There was also a member of the irish NYPD there with a robot called "Tangobot". They spoke before we heard the heavier stuff about car accidents etc. 

Tangobot , Irish NYPD and a local Garda

It was a very enjoyable and worthwhile day. You can visit the RSA website by clicking here.

Maths trip??

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Last Wednesday, we went on a maths trip to Rathbeggan Lakes. We left school at the normal time (in our tracksuits and wellies) on the usual big blue bus. The journey consisted of about half an hour of my friends and I snapchat-ing pictures of eachother to people.

 When we got there, we were split into groups of 4. I was put with Amy, Sophie and Sarah. We ended up completing 4 challenges involving project maths. Between challenges, we watched the goose and his little minions (the ducks) wandering around the place looking for food. Despite our feet being frozen- our trip was very enjoyable.

My amazing photography ;)

After we were finished at the lake, we went to Blanchardstown Shopping Centre for lunch. My friends and I went straight to Mc Donalds and got food.

After we finished, we all went to Pennys for a browse. I didnt bring money so i couldnt buy anything. Afterwards, Rebecca and I (Rebecca was shortlisted for a blogger award ~ vote here -->See full list on Listly) went into debenhams in search of MAC makeup... We didnt find any... Instead we drenched ourselves in the One Direction perfume that was released earlier this year. It smells amazing by the way. 

We then made our way back to the bus and headed off home.

Exercise?...

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Every week, we have been taking part in Zumba. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is "an aerobic fitness programme featuring dances inspired by various styles of Latin American dance and performed primarily to Latin American dance music." ~ google definition... I have  really enjoyed it. Some of the dance moves are a bit crazy but its a lot of fun and I have never done anything like it before.

I did some research and found one of the Zumba songs on youtube...

Click here to go to the official Zumba website

Radio TY

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Last week, we went to the Schools Across Borders Development Education workshop in Citywest. A few of my friends and I decided to interview people there because we are all part of the school media team. We recorded them and they are no up on our Radio blog which can be viewed by clicking here.
 Lots of different charities talked to us about the work they do (eg. Burma Action Ireland, Trocaire, etc) and we recorded it so other people could have a listen!