hi

Hi,

I'm finally back after the computer had some kind of breakdown. The week was good, I got a lot of study done :). It's exactly 5 weeks until the exams start so I really have to get studying hard.

I know that the exams aren't the end of the world, there are plenty of options of you do not do well in them. Some people don't see this and start to get really stressed, and they end up doing badly because they cannot concentrate. I hope this doesn't happen to any of my friends, or anyone sitting exams for that matter.

I cannot wait until they are finished. It will be really different not having the same routine everyday and seeing everyone in school either. College life will be very different but what's good is there are continuous assessments so your final grade doesn't depend on one big exam, one one day :)

OK apart from that rant the week was good, I've gotten on well with everyone, had good times, no bad so overall it was brilliant, I hope to have more weeks like it ha!

Rambling!

I just finished watching the film Padre Pio de Pietrelcina from youtube. The film is amazing and he deserved to become a Saint.  It also taught me that we can all overcome sin, no matter what the temptations are. Padre Pio was tempted by the Devil to go against God's agreement with him and save his Father from death, but he didn't. It would have been extremely difficult for him, knowing he could ask God to help him, but he didn't give into the devil's temptations, he made a promise with God and he kept it.

This made me think about sin in our own lives. Our temptations must be fairly minor compared to the ones Padre Pio encountered. He didn't give in, not once. He kept his faith in God no matter what he was accused of and no matter how hurt he felt he didn't turn his back, in fact, this made his faith stronger.

Sin is awful, and sadly we all sin, everyone does. So this is why God gave us the sacrament or confession, and what a blessing! I can never see how people don't think it's necessary to confess their sins, and there are many churches who believe this too. 

Confession is one of the greatest sacraments.  Time and time again God forgives us, He is probably sick of hearing the same sins but still He forgives. To me that is what is great about God, He never turns our back on us, yet some of us turn our backs on Him, go against His teachings, doubt Him and some leave for good and never come back. Well they are missing out! Big time! I suppose the only thing we can do is to try our best to get them back, if they don't listen well then we give it to God and let them decide, this reminds me of a verse I read last night Matthew 18:15-17.

Typical me. How did I get from writing about the film to confession! Hope I didn't bore you too much. ( And I would recommend the film, it's really good)

Irish Potato Famine Part 2: Potato blight in Ireland

Part 2: Potato blight in Ireland

There were many reports of blight in Ireland in the years prior to the famine but in September 1845 it was official, blight was widespread in Ireland. In November 1845 it was said that over one third of the potato crop had been destroyed.

In 1846 three quarters of the harvest was lost to blight. It was in autumn 1846 when the first deaths caused by starvation were recorded and they weren't the last. There are no exact figures to show how many people died from starvation but I'm pretty sure it was thousands.

It must have been awful to see such hunger and starvation right on your doorstep!!

This week

Hi,

imagine this time next week I will be back in school after 2 weeks off!!! The thoughts of going back :(. These past few days have been good. Me and Chicken are definitely back to our usual selves YAY!!! She always makes my day more interesting from boy problems to injuries to just having fun. I thought I wouldn't go to her house again, went there Monday :) so slowly but surely things are going back to "normal". I thank God for this because He controlled the way things were going to go, and it turned out things went brilliant!!

Started studying today (yes I know I left it too late as always) but I got my Irish and English essays done. Now all that's left is French, and I don't mind that. So for this week I plan to do more study, hang out with Chicken, hopefully meet up with friends from irish college (if they can come up) and again, hopefully make it to mass as it will be Divine Mercy Sunday :)

And also found out today that Chicken and I could be on first aid duty for the Munster match. Not a big match but it's something. Yeah you probably thinking First aid is kinda weird and to be honest I did too when I started but it's great. The best part are the trips away (free entry to concerts and matches that you on duty for ;)) and of course the competitions. 

Last year Chicken came 3rd in the All Ireland individual competition which was brilliant as it was her first year in the competition. And our team came 2nd in the regional/area competition, but we will come first next year ;)

Well that is all for now, talk to you soon!

The Easter season

Well We made it to Good Friday Mass safe and sound. It was lovely and I plan to make it every year (I should make it every year anyway!!). 

Of course there had to be trouble in our house about going to mass. My sister had to help at mass on Holy Thursday and didn't want to go again on Good Friday. Roaring and screaming for a good hour before hand, I really though my mother would give in and stay at home with her but she didn't. We finally got to mass and even though we didn't all enjoy it, I did.

I read at mass today (Easter Sunday) and the mass went very well. One thing I was disappointed with though was the lack of people at mass. Its really disappointing that some people don't make the effort to go, even on Easter Sunday. Well I guess all we can do is pray for them and try to show them the importance of mass, after that it is up to them to go.

In the Popes Eater message He said "The Resurrection is our Hope". I thought these were good words. The Resurrection is our Hope in a life after death. God showed us through the resurrection that although we may not be physically present our spirit never dies. He let His only Son die so that He could show is His great power, He can raise us from the dead.

I have finally realized that Easter is way better the christmas, no matter what. Easter is a time when the death of Christ happened (and of course the resurrection) but also the birth of Christianity :)

Holy week

Hi Guys,

Well this Holy week has been, so far, so good :). I helped a lot with cleaning etc. and went to adoration  last night (Holy Thursday). I found it really peaceful and relaxing. Although I couldn't make it to the mass I done more than what I usually do during Holy week so I guess thats a start.

We are going to Good Friday Mass at 3pm today. I think it will be nice as, sadly, I cannot remember other Good Fridays when I willingly went to mass and enjoyed the Easter celebration, apart from the eggs.

Tonight We are going to a  relatives house. I'm not really looking forward to it as parents are leaving us there by ourselves, while they visit more relatives and won't be back till all hours and there is a cranky 7 year old who I'm sure will not enjoy being up until 3/4am.

But I suppose thats the way things go so I'll just have to grin and bare it ha!!!

Good advise

A friend gave me this quote a few days ago, 

"Anything is possible if you put your heart and mind into it"

 and it was a really good quote. If you think about it, if you don't believe you are going to get something you won't get it. You won't believe in yourself and you will just keep dreaming on. For example if you dream to live in France but you keep saying "oh that will never happen to me" or "I will just keep dreaming about" it is never going to happen. 

This is the way I lived until I heard this quote. I hope to live in Spain or France, be fluent in spanish and french and raise a good Catholic family there. I kept telling myself that I wouldn't be able to do it. But being realistic it can and hopefully will happen. I mean it isn't an impossible dream I have. If I work hard enough I will be able to go there, Anything is possible if you put your heart and mind into it, before I wasn't putting my heart and mind to it, now I am.

Just thought I'd share the goals I hope to achieve in my life. Hopefully this quote has made a difference to you as it has to me.

Irish Potato Famine Part 1

Part 1: Causes and Contributing Factors

The great famine (in irish "An gorta mor" literally meaning: "the big hurt" or "An Drochsaol" literally meaning: "The bad life") was a period of starvation, disease and mass emigration between 1845 and 1852. During this time the population of Ireland was reduced by 20-25% - Dramatic!! On top of that over 1 million emigrated.

One third of Irelands population was entirely dependent on potato for food. Following reports of potato blight in England  the blight was first reported, in Ireland on the 13th of September 1845.

Also, as England had rule over Ireland all land was owned by the English. Irish tenants rented the land from English landlords. Some of these landlords lived in England and were called "absentee landlords". This made the Irish frustrated as most of their produce went to their landlords in England and they got very little pay for it.

Some families lived on potato and water, had a one bedroom house with no insulation and a bed and blanket was a rare luxury.

This caused tension between the English and Irish. Landlords used their power remorselessly and people lived in dread of them. Many people were evicted because of high rents of not producing enough food. This also contributed  to the effects of the famine as people were homeless too.

Further posts will be up in the coming weeks. Hope you enjoy.

The Irish Potato Famine

OK I cannot do this blog all at once so I will do it in parts

• Part 1: Causes and Contributing Factors
  
• Part 2: Potato blight in Ireland
• Part 3: Governments Response
• Part 4: Emigration 
• Part 5: Aftermath  

Good Idea

Dia Dhuit,

A friend of mine (from down under, OZ) gave me a really good blogging idea. She said seeing as there are so many Irish-Americans and Irish-Australians living around the world and for those who would like to know a bit more about Irish History that it would be useful if I posted blogs on Irish history and things about emigration etc.

I think this is a really good idea. What do you think? I will hopefully start this soon! 

Chicken had her french oral exam today. She said she did brilliant! She was able to answer every question she was asked and the examiner seemed impressed. Chicken didn't think she would do this well but now this has boosted her confidence a lot. Hopefully the two of us will live in France for a bit- putting all this learning to good use!

While we were in the Oratory, in school, practicing for the exam I started to read a children's book on St. Joseph of Cupertino. He seems amazing. I never got to finish the book though, hopefully I will. I really want to boost my knowledge of Saints and their lives, this is a start.

Any comments about the Irish History blogs would be helpful, ideas or specific information anyone wants I will try my best to provide. :-)

Moi et mon examen

Hi again,

Finally I figured out how to make a 3 column blog, thanks to Abby's posts. Thank you Abby :-) But I am having trouble when I get a new template, the things I added to the old template, Patron saint, feejit etc. all get wiped off? Any one have any ideas on how to fix this?

Today I had a french exam, the oral. This makes up 25% of my overall grade. The listening and written parts will be done in june. The oral exam went OK, I kinda messed up the start but once I got into the rhythm of things I flew through it- I hope. 

Chicken is still on crutches, we found out she sprained all her toes-ouch! She gets so many injuries on her right foot, 3 in the past 8 months and all have been serious. Hopefully she will get well soon.

I can't wait until these exams are finished!! Then 3 months off- going to Spain and probably finding a job, then the Leaving Certificate results and hopefully off to College. I can't wait to start college but I will miss the routine of school and seeing all my friends everyday but I'm sure we will all keep in contact! 

These past few days have been good. Chicken and I have been getting on great!! I really hope I don't mess things up again but I am trying my hardest not to. We have gotten close again over the past few days and her trust in me has definitely got back to its original state YAY!!

Her mam is also looking at new houses. I hope she finds a nice one :-). 

Everything else has been going great, except for studying, I really need to make a timetable and stick to it!! I am not the best person to study and knowing me I will probably leave it all to the last week- and I cannot afford to do that! Hopefully over the Easter Holidays I will make a timetables and get a lot done- only 8 weeks left!!