At one point me and Alex were singing a Rita Ora song and Ms. Watson turned around to see who was singing, we both broke out laughing and were so embarrassed but yet we continued to sing. HA!
We were nearly an hour on the bus and then we were all saying "Are we there yet?", Ms. Watson then turned around to me and Alex and said "I think we're lost!" Me and Alex started laughing and even Ms. Watson chuckled a bit. We all looked at the bus driver and I don't even think he knew where he was going.
We drove around for about another 20 minutes and we were all getting a bit fed up so Ms. Watson told the bus driver that if he didn't know where he was going, he had to go ask someone in whatever village we were in. We pulled in somewhere and while he got off the bus and asked a local person if he knew the retreat centre we were looking for was, Ms. Watson turned around to me and Alex and we all started talking about how the bus driver was foreign and that he obviously wouldn't know where he was going and that the bus company should've told organised for an Irish driver to drive us to the retreat centre. He eventually came back to the bus and said that the man didn't know either, we were all annoyed because we were on the bus for nearly 2 hours and we didn't have a clue where we were going well the driver didn't! Alex went on her phone and called some number asking for directions and she got a few directions and gave them to Ms. Watson and she wrote them down and gave them to the bus driver. About 5 minutes later he still didn't know where he was going so Amanda called a number which would give you directions to wherever you needed to go, she gave the phone to Ms. Watson and then she gave it to the bus driver and he couldn't understand what the person on the phone was saying. He didn't hang up the phone for about 5 minutes after he was done on the phone so when Amanda got her phone back it had cost her €8 and she wasn't happy. One of our friends; Rosette, came up to Ms. Watson and showed her a sort of gps app on her phone and as the bus moved, the icon moved on a virtual map so we just went by that and about 10 minutes later we finally arrived at the retreat center.
We all got off the bus and were met by some people who worked there and Ms. Watson explained to them as to why we were late. We then all made our way into a big canteen area and we all were given a cup of tea and a packet of Oreo's. We just relaxed for a few minutes and then me and Alex went to the toilet and when we came back people were making their way to another room. We all sat down and the people that worked there gave a little speech and then they said that we were going to play a game. We were all given a sheet of paper and a pen. The game clearly was that we had to run around and ask people whether did they anything on the sheet and the first 4 people done first, won. The type of things on the sheet were like; "can do Irish dancing and can juggle" We all hurried around asking people what they could do but then I just said that I would write anybody's name down for anything. I still didn't finish in the top 4. When our fun and games were over the volunteers looked at the sheets and then called out a persons name who was wrote down on it and they had to come up and prove that they could do that activity.
It was really funny but I was shitting myself because I didn't want to go up and do something that someone wrote me down for. When it was all over I was happy that I didn't have to go up and do something stupid in front of all my classmates. We were then all given a number between 1-4 so me and my friends were going to be separated. I was put into a group with about 6 people that I don't really talk to so I was a bit uncomfortable about talking about myself in front of them. The volunteer that was in our group had a sheet with 6 questions on it that she wanted us to answer. We, each in turn told everyone our names, why our parents chose it, how many people there are in our families, what we would do if we won the lotto, what our hobbies are and what we are planning to do when we leave school. It was really interesting to hear about other peoples lives and I actually was okay talking about myself.
We then left to have a break so I met back up with my friends and while munching on some food we were talking about what we did in our groups. About 15 minutes passed and we then went back into our groups and we were put into smaller groups of 2 so I was with Siobhan and we had to answer about 20 questions and when that was over we got a sheet which had more questions that we had to answer individually. I think we only wrote the answers on the sheet not to share with others but to reflect on our own lives. After that we all took a pillow and lay on the ground, all spread out while the woman closed all the curtains making the room dark and then as we were relaxed she started helping us meditate and doing that for 30 minutes was really relaxing but I think I got a bit too relaxed as about halfway through I just made a noise but I didn't realize that I was doing it. Everybody just sort of laughed and were wondering who it was but I just stayed still.
We then left to have a break so I met back up with my friends and while munching on some food we were talking about what we did in our groups. About 15 minutes passed and we then went back into our groups and we were put into smaller groups of 2 so I was with Siobhan and we had to answer about 20 questions and when that was over we got a sheet which had more questions that we had to answer individually. I think we only wrote the answers on the sheet not to share with others but to reflect on our own lives. After that we all took a pillow and lay on the ground, all spread out while the woman closed all the curtains making the room dark and then as we were relaxed she started helping us meditate and doing that for 30 minutes was really relaxing but I think I got a bit too relaxed as about halfway through I just made a noise but I didn't realize that I was doing it. Everybody just sort of laughed and were wondering who it was but I just stayed still.
When we were finished with our meditation session we left the room again and met up with our friends again and we sat in the big canteen area and we were given some chicken curry and rice in a bowl which was really nice. Served with a big glass of chilled water, everyone tucked in. We had about a 40 minute break this time so when we were finished our chicken curry, me and my friends headed over to the mini shop in the retreat centre but all they sold was religious stuff. We were hanging around in the reception area and we decided to take a picture with a few other people and then Ms. Watson came over and took the picture of us all and then the receptionist came over and said he would take a picture of us all with Ms. Watson and she laughed and then came over and took her position. Smiles all round :)
All of us headed back into the room where we played the games that morning and there was about 60 chairs in a massive circle so we all took one and then one of the volunteers told us what game we would be playing now. We were all given a name of a fruit out of apple, banana and pear and when a person was in the middle they would call out a fruit and all the apples would have to run around and race to another chair and the person without a chair would be "on" and would call out another fruit and so on. If the person that was on called out "fruit bowl" then everyone would have to get out of their seats and run around looking for another empty chair which was really funny because people were wrestling to get to an empty seat and some people fell because everyone was hyper! On the last call I was sitting on a seat so I was safe, but Niamh O'Reilly was runny towards a chair and she turned around to sit on it so fast that she went flying backwards in the chair. She was okay but everyone including me were pissing ourselves laughing because no matter if we're taking part in activities on retreats or doing P.E., Niamh ALWAYS gets hurt or falls over. Everyone was laughing for about 5 full minutes and then when the laughter was deteriorating, I was sitting beside Bebhinn and we were crying because it was so funny.
We all said goodbye and went to the toilet and Ms. Watson was surprised that we were all out on time because usually people are trailing behind but seeing as we are just the best year group ever, we were on time. We made our way back to Celbridge and this time we knew where we were going. Me and Alex were sitting at the front and Ms. Watson was sitting beside us and yet again me and Alex were singing and kind of dancing despite our year head being beside us. It only took an hour on the bus this time because our bus driver had discovered how to get us home while we were inside the retreat center We were driving over a bridge and me and Alex saw an army truck driving underneath the bridge and there was a guy all dressed in the army costume and I called out "Get your top off!" ME and Alex looked at each other and broke out laughing and I could hear Ms. Watson laugh and say "Ohhh Lauren" I couldn't stop laughing and for the rest of the journey home me and Alex were just messing.
When we got to Celbridge, the bus driver stopped at Tesco and let some people off and then we headed for our school and when we arrived it was 3.45 so Ms. Watson said we all had to go into the school and wait until 4pm but me and Amanda weren't having that so when we got off the bus Ms. Watson was still on the bus, making sure people didn't forget anything, me and Amanda jumped into her car and shut the door tight so Ms. Watson thought that we had already gone into the school. As we were driving out of the car park Ms. Watson saw into the car and whether she saw us I don't know but me and Amanda broke out laughing. It was a really good day and I enjoyed myself.
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