Hey everyone!!

whoo! I am so relieved right now.  The orals are finished and I no longer have to worry about saying tá soeur amhain agam,,,no more! I just had my french oral today but I’d prefer working my way chronologically through this post. I also apologise for the probable spelling and grammer mistakes as I have glee waiting for me on sky plus and a sister who aint in the mood for waiting. So, I shall begin!

Easter was ok, I did some revision in school during the second week. I had my Irish oral that following week, on Tuesday. I can’t begin to explain how nervous I was. I mean, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts I honestly despise Gaeilge, well the written aspect to it, I don’t mind the talking it’s just hard to suddenly get rid of all that french inside of my head!! On the day though, i was fine, the examiner had a generic irish accent so all was well. He was by far the nicest man i have and will ever in my life meet. He was in his late fifties and was just adorable, like he was actually smiling the whole time! The little grin on his face…ahh, I’m all warm and cuddly just thinking about him! He even gave our school giant helium balloons that said ‘thank you’ on them! I wanted to hug him after my oral! He asked me all the basics, the health system since i said i was all for medicine,,nothing really major. I got my gold fáinne that day too from my teacher so i wore that in along with my gaisce award and was asked on those, sure wasn’t it great! I was really happy with my performance, ‘ar fheabhas!’ was all he said after, I was still thinking to myself  ‘how can you be so nice?’. everyone loved him needless to say. Balloons like! how many of you got balloons from an examiner?

My french orals were more nerve wrecking that i had expected. i think it was the fact that i had done so well in the mocks that i expected myself to nail it. I think it went great if im honest. just the basic stuff, my document was good too,,,she didn’t ask me any abstract topics,,,yeah it was good! im happy anyway!! =) The examiner herself was nice but her accent was dreadful,pure,pure Irish. Easy to understand sure..but just disappointing really. The other french examiner was a twat. People hated her and got really annoyed. My friend was asked ’so do you have any brothers/sisters?’ she said she had a brother but no sisters, the examiner then went and said ’so do you share a room with your sister?’, and it basically went like that for most people.  The woman just would not listen to the students. She also asked totally random questions, one minute its ‘what’s your favourite subject’ the next ‘young people seem to hate modern languages today no?’. Really put people off. The chief examiner was called in because of that. I don’t really know what to think, I just hoped that an examiner would realise that students are already nervous as it is, so being totally random and confusing them isn’t exactly going to help them at this time.

Anywho..they’re over now,one less thing to worry about. I’ve upped my studying. My chemistry teacher has been recommending ‘berocca’ to us lately, a girl was sleeping in class on Tuesday! I can’t stress how important rest is for us soldiers. I find myself staying up, as late as 11.30 pm lately, just fitting in last minute studying that I need to make up and I almost always regret it in the morning and next day when I’m fighting to keep my eyes awake in classes where the teacher’s voice is like a silent buzzing I no longer want to hear. SO just try to sleep earlier for your own sake. And eat plenty of fruit and veg too, at this stage especially. Right now we should be doing exam questions for revision, focusing on our weakest spots and learning off those notes we keep putting off till the next time we’re free. Now’s the last time to put in all the effort,,,we’re almost there!!!!

On a slightly different note, I will, unfortunately be missing my L.C.V.P. written exam (handed in my portfolio). It’s worth a lot i suppose and without it I can only get a mere merit if my portfolio is good enough. I was hoping to use it for points since a pass maths A1 can only get me 60 points,the 70 for the L.C.V.P. distinction could make the difference. But alas, I have no choice. I’m actually going to Canada for a week, ill be leaving on the 1st of May. Why? Well, my Dad suddenly got an offer from a hospital there and they want us to see the area and schools,colleges or whatever. I’m kind of looking forward to it actually!   Its also a chance for me to do some early summer shopping! Ill be bringing my books and all with me too though, god id feel like id be doing an injustice otherwise!

All in all it’s been a hectic week for me  and im looking forward to (really?) getting into my study again this week. For those of you who still await your orals, be optimistic, whatever you’ve learned will come out there’s no doubt..for everyone else,lets kick it into third gear and really fight for these last weeks! It all comes down to this time and our own choices,to study or not? don’t kill yourself obviously but be smart about it. Ha, and a last note for fifth years,,do the work now!!! you wont regret it !

Bonne Chance mes amis!!

-Ally.