Found this in my drafts...

I found this in my drafts in my blogs, thought I might as well post it.





So I was walking into school today and directly outside the entrance to the school there is a pedestrian crossing where nearly everyone crosses because, well it's safe. Mam dropped me off and I walked over to the crossing, looking left and right for any near-by cars, but there wasn't any. I proceeded to walk and waved to my Mam sitting in the car, stopped at the crossing, allowing me to pass. I turned my head to look at the left hand side, and a red car came charging down from the nearby roundabout, not even noticing me. I stared in horror, thankfully the driver finally noticed me there, in the middle of the crossing, and she braked hard, brakes squealing, inches away from my leg. 

In the mere seconds this occurred, I'm going to be honest, I thought I was going to die. I believed it was the end, I was nearly imagining the headlines in the local paper the following Tuesday. I really did think my life was over, my life flashed before my eyes, images of my childhood, life and my loved ones flooded into head. For some reason it was only people I loved who flooded into my head, my parents, brother, cousins, aunts, uncles and all my friends. Every face, just a flash, but I saw every one of them clearly. No people who hate me or have hurt me in my life flashed before my eyes. It was quite frightening when I think of it. Thankfully the car stopped, taking with it one of my 9 lives. I starred at the driver, speechless. I ran into the school car park with my breath in my fist. I soon realised my life could have ended in a split second. I felt so vulnerable.

Don't waste your life, don't let your bright future be cut short so suddenly. 

London!

Hey Everyone, 
                     So I'm sitting here in my room listening to The Coronas 'Closer to You' (They're Irish, seriously check them out, you wont regret it)I came back from London on Monday night/Tuesday morning and wow, I am definitely going back as soon as I can. It was such an enriching experience and I adored every minute of the trip. I took nearly 300 photos, nearly 100 a day! Wow. There's some photos down at the bottom. I'll tell you a little bit about the trip.

Day One: We flew to Gatwick and landed in snow at around 9am or so, subsequently we travelled to the city and had a little tour and learnt some of the background of London. We also visited the Churchill War Rooms and Churchill Museum. When I was a child I remember reading a ''Horrible Histories'' book about Churchill, (yes, I was/am a complete bookworm) so I knew basically the majority of the background information so I loved it.

Afterwards we went on the London Eye. I have an absurd fear of heights, and I didn't want my fear to get in the way of enjoying the Eye, (silly I know, but I'm just like that) and I loved it. I didn't even notice we were moving. An entire circle took half an hour but it was the fastest half hour of my life. 

Day Two: Next day it was still snowing, quite heavily too, so we went on the Grim Reaper walking tour and learnt about Jack the Ripper and the history of the East End. It was so fascinating and intriguing, turns out Jack the Ripper was possibly left handed, because of the way he slashed their necks, don't turn and look at me! (Yes, I'm left handed, little useless fact for you there)

We didn't get any lunch afterwards though, because one lad on the trip wanted to buy a HAT, and got lost, leaving us running all over the place and waiting in the freezing cold for a HAT. Needless to say, seeing as I missed my Starbucks, I was so not impressed.

Afterwards we went on HMS Belfast though and I loved it. I got a little creeped out though when I saw the pillars that said ''asbestos present'' and they couldn't be removed without further spreading of asbestos or other complications. Apart from that it was great and I even got an idea for my Leaving Cert History project on the boat! Woo! 

We then got the Tube (I didn't go missing!) and went to the West End for Stomp (which was UH-MAY-ZING, amazing) We then went around Piccadilly Circus, Great Britannia, fangirled outside Kensington Palace, (didn't see Will & Kate..) 

Day 3: We went to the Jewish Museum in Camden, it was so emotional and a real eye opener, it wasn't as sad as when I went to Auschwitz last year but it was high on my sadness scale. Afterwards we went to Westfield and looked at Olympic Park from John Lewis, then SHOPPING! I bought a pair of red Vans and a t shirt and hoodie in Hollister. It was my first time in Hollister, (In Dundrum the queues are endless) but in London, we just walked in! We then flew home from Gatwick and I fell asleep 'til now! (Not really but close enough) 

Siobhan and I on the London Eye (Siobhan's blog is siobhansthoughts.blogspot.ie  check it out)

Houses of Parliament and Big Ben!

Liv & I across from Buckingham Palace

Siobhan & I in the Churchill Museum 

All the TY's who went on the trip, except Billy.. 

YSI and London!

Hello Everyone!
                      As you can probably tell, I'm in a pretty good mood. For Project Smilier (links at the bottom!) we recently got our hoodies! They're lime/apple green and look amazing! 

If you're wondering what Project Smilier is, I'll tell you about it. We're a YSI (Young Social Innovators) group promoting positive mental health in our community and nationwide. We're also trying to remove the stigma towards mental health in general. I joined the group for a lot of reasons, to continue Project Smile (last years group) and also to remove the stigma towards depression and just mental health in general. To show that by speaking out you're stronger than trying to fight depression or mental health issues on you're own. It's a tough battle with support, but even worse when you tell nobody about it.

But yes, that's what we do. We've been in contact with a lot of influential people too, who have been so supportive of us. I was telling my uncle about the project just before the Speak Out and he was so proud that we were trying to make a difference, especially because mental health issues and suicide are huge in the local area.

So today (Wednesday) we travelled up to the Red Cow hotel for the YSI Speak Out, where your group speaks for two minutes about your project. We had actually achieved so much that we couldn't fit it all in! I thought our performance went well, yes, we did have some hiccups but as we re-watched the video recorded of us, we realised you could barely notice them! To be honest, I was quite happy with the performance. 

On Friday night/ Saturday morning, I'm getting a flight with 20 or so other students to London! I can't wait. The trip is a history trip, so we're going to really historical places like the Churchill War Rooms, HMS Belfast and Houses of Parliament to name but very few! We're even going shopping in one of the biggest shopping centre's in Europe, woot. 

So I'll be back on Tuesday morning, exhausted but hopefully delighted with the trip! :) I'm so excited, I can't wait to go to the London Eye and Olympic Park.

I still haven't edited my YouTube videos (argh) so I mightn't be posting anything until Easter if I'm lucky! :( 

Anyways, bye! 


Project Smilier Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProjectSmilier
Project Smilier Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ProjectSmilierGCS
Email us at projectsmilier@hotmail.co.uk 

And... YANA, You Are Never Alone

A Random Blog Post! (YAY!)

Hey Everyone, 
                      

I hate to be waffling on about life all the time, but, it's going by so fast. Too fast nearly. It's the 15th of March. I'm going to London on the 23rd, I remember wondering would the trip ever happen, it felt so long away. 

I guess, most years, I never noticed how fast the time went by, especially last year, with my Junior Cert and everything. This year we do a different type of work. I have matured a lot this year, I don't think I would have been prepared for Fifth Year if I skipped Transition Year. I've also made so many memories this year, Gaisce, Project Smilier, hanging out at our bench, meeting new people, Galway, getting quoted by NUI Maynooth at the awards ceremony and so many more amazing and beautiful memories. 

I recently handed in my Leaving Cert subject choice form. Last year I wrote down a list of subjects I would have studied if I skipped TY. The lists were so different. I'm studying business not economics, Ag science instead of religion and a few other changes. I thought I would become a home economics teacher, I'm not even studying home ec for Leaving Cert now. 

It's at times like this that the passage of time frightens me. My brother is on teaching practice (TP) in a local secondary school as the tech graph/metal work teacher. It feels like just yesterday that Mam and I were talking to Ms Byrne about his Leaving Cert results. The wasps everywhere and the sun beaming down on all the happy students with bright futures ahead of them.

Oh, and another thing. I have a YouTube channel. I'll post the link once I get my videos up and running. I've a really good idea in the pipeline and I've already recorded a few videos, I just need to edit and upload them. It should be fun! 

Hope you are all doing well, 
Lots of Love, 
Aveen :)