History Tour to Rome - October 2009
A Student Report
I left my house on a cold, wet and windy Monday at four o'clock to head off with Ms Roche and Ms Gray for Dublin Airport. We had a laugh at the airport when one of the students got stuck in the dividers on the lines into the security ckeckpoints. We saw "Half-Wit" from Big Brother there. We boarded the Aer Lingus (EI402) flight to Rome and took off at 8 o'clock. I don't like flying but we got there all right. It was a gorgeous 20 degrees sunshine in Rome when we landed. We were haggled by some fellow to get on his mini-bus to go our hotel and we took his offer. He was a crazy driver, typically Italian. The rooms in the hotel were small and the breakfast was disgusting. Who wants salami and cheese for breakfast? Instead some of us went to the bakery across the road. We got a sight-seeing bus and saw the famous sights. We got dinner in a restaurant across the road and went back to the hotel. I conked out after my early start.
We got up early the next morning and headed into the centre. That's when we went to the Coluseum. We had a tour guide to bring us around. She showed us the Coluseum, the Roman Forum and the Circus Maximus. The Coluseum was brilliant, huge inside. It was my favourite part of the trip. By the time she finished it was lunch time and we went to a nearby restaurant. We went shopping in the afternoon and at six we met up at the Obelisk and headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.
Wednesday we had another early start. We went to the Vatican and we saw the Pope in his Popemobile and he waved at me. Then he began to say mass in the open air. Afterwards we went to the Sistine Chapel where we were not allowed take any photographs. They started shouting at us, "No photographs!" It took us about two hours to get around the Sistene chapel. Then we had a short queue to get into St Peter's where we saw the Pieta behind glass. (Someone, and not from Clondalkin, had tried to attack it with a chisel a few years ago on Christmas Eve, of all days. The place was full of tourists. After lunch we went shopping around the Via del Corsa. We walked past the Trevi fountain and ran up and down the Spanish Steps. That night we all had to dress up for a fancy dinner where the food was excellent and we were given prizes for a laugh. We got home about 11.30 and packed for the trip home.
Next morning we were up at seven thirty and checked out of our hotel -Hotel Noto - and headed for the airport where our flight was leaving at 12 local time. We arrived back in Dublin after a well deserved break, thanks to Ms Gray and Ms Roche.
Matthew Errity
Ms Gray at the "Truth Stone"
A student
on the Rome trip
Student Sean Kennedy
with his Roman postcard
The seven Roman students
Photographs by Ms Gray and Ms Roche
Another Student Report
We left Dublin airport at 7.30 a.m. on Monday morning and flew directly to Rome where we arrived thirty five minutes early. We went directly by taxi to our hotel which was just outside the main city. We went for lunch in a near-by restaurant and then we went sight-seeing on a bus tour of the city looking at the famous fountains. Afterwards we went shopping. That night we went out for dinner where we had traditional pasta dishes.
Next day we visited the Coliseum where the Romans used to feed Christians to the Lions. (Gladiator is a good film and this reminded me of that film.) The Coliseum can hold nearly as many people as Croke Park. It is huge. Afterwards we went up the road to visit the Forum. We saw all the historical statues. We went out for ice-cream that night but I did not have any. I do not like ice-cream.
We went to the Vatican on Wednesday but we had no tickets to see the Pope. However, we took a tour of St. Peter's, which is huge, and then we went to visit the Sistine Chapel with its famous ceiling painted by Michelangelo. We went for dinner that night in Rome where I also had pasta which I like very much.
Thursday we got a taxi to the airport, all nine of us and all in comfort. We checked in and then went to the duty free after going through security. The plane left a warm sunny Rome at half-eleven and we arrived back in a wet Dublin at two o'clock to be met by our families.
Overall I enjoyed the trip. It was great crack going on tour with my mates. Many thanks to Ms Roche and Ms Gray for organising the tour.
Sean Kennedy
Ski Tour to Italy (A Teacher's View)
During the February Mid-term break the annual 2nd year ski trip to Foppolo in Italy took place. In all 47 students and 4 teachers flew into Milan and transferred to San Pelligreno for one night and then on to the ski resort on the Saturday.
After meeting instructors the group had 6 days of four hour instruction under blue skies and at least two metres of snow. Perfect conditions. It was tough at first but we soon got the "deadly sir!" from all.
Apres ski activities included swimming, skating, table quiz (thanks to Ms Shortt and Ms Behan), bumboarding, disco night, Nordic walking and a trochlight night ski procession in honour of J.J. Kelly who sadly died while he was in first year last year.
Finally we had a day in Milan shopping with plenty of bargains on offer.
Teachers who helped to make the trip a success were Mr Connolly, Ms Behan, Ms Shortt and Mr O'Byrne. (See photo above.) Well done lads, you were all deadly.
Edward O'Byrne.
Click on the image (above) to see a slide show of the Italian Ski Tour 2009 with photographs taken by Ms Shortt.
Ski Tour to Italy (Some student views)
Darragh Murphy : The ski trip was a deadly trip. I enjoyed every minute of it. There were nice views of the mountains and the people were very kind there.
Alan Thomas : The most memorable thing I remember was a run at the side of the slope. There was a turn where everybody fell and I went straight into Shane Boland.
Aaron Cahill : The ski trip was a great experience. It was fun. We had great craic. We did a lot of activities at night like ice-skating and a disco. It was well worth the money.
Sean O'Connor : The ski trip was unbelievable. It was fun, it was exciting and the sights were extraordinary. I would definitely go again.
Ross Behan: The highlight of the junior ski trip for me would have to be actually learning to ski. It would be this because it is a skill you cannot learn anywhere else. It is a very hard sport to learn when you are starting off but, if you stick with it, you will get the hang of it. I enjoyed going up the chair lifts. The only problem was getting off as I always fell and I took down any person near me, Although I think we all had that problem. I was very annoyed though with the Italian instructors telling me to "snow plough! snow plough!" which is hard to do when you are plummeting down a mountain at God knows what speed. Apart from that they were not bad. My favourite slope was K2 because it had steep slopes and a ramp. I just thought the skiing was fun and I had a great time.
Tea for two
Shane Hanevy
and Andrew Kedney
Fun in the snow
2nd Year students
enjoying the snow
Ski students at night
Carl Hannon, Daniel Cleary
and Alan O'Connor
Student off ski lift
Keith Sherry on tour
Nordic Walking
Testing the skis
Ski slopes at night
Teacher shows how
All photographs taken by Ms Petrina Shortt
J. J. Kelly Ski Run
During the ski trip the memory of Jason Kelly was not far from our minds. While talking to J. J.'s friends and cousins on the trip, we agreed that he would have loved the challenge of skiing and would probably have been first down the black slopes! So what better way to honour his memory than with a torch-lit ski run at night - something that would have been right up his street.
Almost all the boys took part in this spectacular event. As dusk set in, they took the ski lift, led by their instructors, to the top of the run where they lit their torches and began to snake down the mountain skillfully. As each student reached the bottom, they formed a circle and threw their torches into the centre.
We spent a few moments there reflecting on J. J. and then, on the count of three, we let out a roar of "Yeah right!" (J. J.'s favourite phrase.)
To view a short film of this event, click on the film strip above.
Ms Petrina Shortt
Ski Classes
At first the classes were hard but as time went on it got easier. The first time coming down the blue slope most of us went straight down using snow-plough! We were all divided into different groups. Some groups were better than others. Skiing was not very difficult to learn as the instructors were very helpful and fun!
As we progressed through the week some got better than others and were beginning to move up to the red and black slopes. The blue slope was for beginners, the red slope was for intermediates and the black slope was for advanced skiers. The lessons went on for two hours in the morning and then after lunch we went back onto the slopes for another two hours of skiing! By the end of the week most if not all groups made it to at least the red slope and even the black slope. Most people learned how to parallel ski.
On our last day of skiing we had races and were timed. The results were great and very fast! Overall skiing was very fun and exciting and every one enjoyed it!
Shane Hanevy and Stephen Aspil
Night Life in Foppolo
Around 8 o'clock after skiing and getting showers we got ready for our night activities. These included ice skating, swimming, night walking, night skiing, table quizzes and pizza night and disco night.
Ice skating: This was our first night activity which we all enjoyed very much. The ice skating rink was once a sports field and then was covered in ice. We travelled by foot as it was only five minutes walk. When we arrived at the field our ice skating shoes were already in size. Some knew how to ice skate which was handy enough but in my case I was all over the place. We had great fun with the dance competitions and we greatly enjoyed it.
Swimming: Just down the road from our hotel was a fine swimming leisure centre. It had a swimming pool, sauna and Jacuzzi. It was deadly as the Jacuzzi could hold all of us at once. We all thought we were pimps. We enjoyed having races in the pool.
Night Walking: Night walking was the most physical night activity as we travelled to a course and walked a distance of 2 kilometres. It took us two hours to complete this track as we had these stupid looking shoes that looked like tennis rackets. Afterwards they kindly invited us in for hot chocolate which was nice after the walk.
Quiz Night/ Pizza Night: The night started with us going out to a beautiful pizzeria. We had a selection of five different types of pizza. After the beautiful pizza we returned home to our Hotel Cristallo. We went into a room reserved for us for a quiz night. We had great crack with all the mental questions.
Disco Night: On our last night of the trip we went to a disco called "The Grizzly". We got a token given to us by the teachers that would get us a free drink. It was the best when we were all dancing on the pole. There was o.k. music. It was more of the Italian music but some of it we knew. We later returned to our hotel at 12.30.
Lee Dunne and Daniel Cleary (centre in photograph on left)
Managing by Yourself
When you go to a different country you always depend on your mam and dad for money, to pack your suit case for you, to keep you safe and many others, but when you go away with the school it is a whole different story.
When we went on the ski trip there was 47 students and only 4 teachers so you had to learn to look after your self pretty quickly. The teachers helped to organize us and looked after you if you were sick, but we had to look after are own belongings and not to act the Muppet.
Going up in the ski lift was great, but you had to make sure you pulled down the safety bar and that you didn't mess. You also had to know how to get off at the top of the mountain. For most of us it was our first time away without our parents.
Glen Roche and Dylan McCarthy
Italian Ski Tour 2009
Ski Tour to Austria (A Teacher's View)
A party of 40 students from Moyle Park College, Clondalkin, led by teacher Mr Eddie O' Byrne and three other teachers have just returned from Ehrwald, Austria after a week on the slopes.
Blue skies awaited them as they worked on their skills in their respective classes. The ski school divided them into their classes based on their ski experience. All classes, from Advanced through Intermediate to Beginners did extremely well and performed excellently in their races on the last day.
Instructors were impressed with their ability after four hours each day. Evening après-ski activities included skating and tobogganing - visit to Lermoss for the ice show and Bowling in Garmish.
The hotel was shared by another school Laurel Hill, girls school from Limerick which added to the fun!
Congratulations to all on a very successful ski trip. Unfortunately one of our colleagues and champion skier, Ms Phil Doherty, had a mishap early on in the trip and had to be taken to hospital. We are delighted Phil is now making a full recovery.
Teachers on Tour.
Three students
relaxing on tour
Eric Connolly
on the ski trip
Three students
on a ski lift
Waving from Austria
Student and ski
instructor
The beginners club
Teachers on tour
Mr O'Byrne and Mr Kenny
Keith Weldon on tour
Photographs of the Austrian Alps by Ms Fiona Quigley.
Ski Tour to Austria
Terence O'Connor: The skiing was great. All the falls were the best. The nights were good as well like the bowling alley. It was great. I can't wait till next year.
Robert Murphy : The skiing was good but the nights were better. We all know who scaled the roof outside room 208 on the last night.
Thomas Conway : What I enjoyed most about the ski trip was the toboganning down the slopes. It was really dangerous and students were falling off all the time. We even lost two tobaggans in the forest but we were lucky, we found two different ones. Our ski instructor was a great laugh and we had a special nickname for him the whole week!
Ellis Dolan : Staying in the room with Fonzie was great. "Ronnie! Ronnie! Ronnie! Gillette in a trolley......"
Keith Weldon : Skiing was great and I enjoyed it for my first time and I will remember it for the rest of my life.
Craig Sattell : Great laugh in the night time. Paddy, will it still be there next year? (Room 205)
Dan Murray: It was deadly.
Stephen Tapley : I enjoyed the nights. Great laugh with your mates.
Sean Nolan: The fonzies were the best part.
Shane Merrigan : The mots all had ronnies. Take the ten of diamonds.
Eric Donegan: My favourite part of the ski trip was watching the Manchester United match in the Irish bar. I also loved playing pool against everyone in the competition. I loved listening to music and making our own version of songs such as "Bad Boy for life". And then there was making fun of certain teachers... All in all it was a deadly trip.
Adam Quirke: I thought the skiing was great and all the people in my group were great. I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone who is thinking about going.
Austrian Ski Tour 2009
Click first button to hear the skiing.
