School Tour 2009 (2009)
Munich, Dachau and Salzburg

Some accounts, from the girls, of the trip.

Olympiapark
Munich's Olympiapark was built for the 20th Olympic Games, which the city hosted in 1972. The modern complex of sports facilities overlies an area formerly used as drill gounds and later as an airfield. The Nymphenburg Canal feeds the artificial lake and the rubble removed from the city after World War 2 was used in establishing the hills.

• The main Olympic stadium holds a crowd of 60,000.
• Günter Behnisch designed the Olympic hall. The hall was set up using steel netting and acrylic slabs supporting masts up to 260 feet high.
• The swimming hall was located beside the sports hall. It contains five pools, saunas, a Jacuzzi and a diving platform, as well as a relaxation area.
• The Olympic tower provides a fine view of the Olympic hill and the football stadium where the Munich soccer team play.
• The Olympia Park also contains a skating rink and ice hockey stadium, which is open to the public (sadly we did not go there).

A Trip to Bavarian Film Studio
After a depressing but moving trip to Dachau Concentration Camp, we went to the Bavarian Film Studio. We were brought in a 'mini-train' through the studio.

We met our tour guide and she brought us to a studio where we took part in a very short 'home-made' film. Lisa, Joanne and Ciara were the lucky girls picked from a lottery. There were three movie sets, and the guide instructed them what to do. The words were printed in large letters on a board. On one set they had to hop like rabbits around the stage, while being filmed. Everybody was laughing at their antics.

We were guided through a dark, creepy tunnel to a gloomy, 'vampy' football pitch. It was the set from a German vampire film. We were shown the special effects, we heard the eerie sound effects and saw the multicoloured light effects just like that were used in the movie. We visited a set from another German movie 'Asterix'. Afterwards we were brought to an actual mock-up of a submarine from the film 'Das Boot', a famous, award-winning film. We saw the special effects used in 'The Neverending Story'.

One of our highlights of the trip was the 4D film experience. We entered a room and right in front of the screen, was what looked like a 'mini rollercoaster'. We were told we would see a 4D short film. Special glasses were distributed to everybody. As the film started, the chairs started moving and things (like snowballs) appeared to come out of the screen.

Afterwards, we got the chance to watch the DVD which was filmed earlier on. The scenes of the students were interspersed with a professionally produced scene of a science fiction movie. The results were hilarious.

This was a brilliant visit.
Nora

MUNICH ART GALLERIES
On the Thursday of our trip we had a choice of going shopping, visiting a football stadium or going to the art gallery. I chose the art gallery because I am interested in art and had spent a lot of cash in Penneys before leaving.

There were two galleries. The Altepinakothek houses many famous old masters and the Pinakothek der moderne houses the modern art collection. To be honest I preferred the modern museum because I am 'crazy' about modern art and especially love Picasso.

This museum had it all for me! Rooms glowing with neon lights, crazy art using clothes and car parts, crazy shapes from Picasso's work. I LOVED IT. I would definitely recommend it and I would go back there if I am ever lucky enough to be in Munich again. The building itself is modern too and that put a 'smile on my face'. But I'm not sure what the woman in the Picasso painting thinks of it.
Avril Madden

Dachau Concentration Camp
The tour guide brought us to the entrance of the camp. The words on the gate read, 'Arbeit Macht Frei'. The guide said that it meant 'Work will set you free'. These words are a mockery. This is a lie to all the prisoners who entered the camp; they were never set free by the Nazis even though they worked really hard.

She brought us to the building where the political prisoners were held in cells. The buildings were cold and miserable, I could imagine the prisoners being kept in terrible conditions and being tortured and heavily punished for expressing their opinions against the Nazis.

The political prisoners were put in cells alone. They were terrified when they heard footsteps, as they didn't want the Nazis to come in their cell. It could mean they were going to be tortured and or executed.

The ordinary prisoners were kept together in buildings. There were hundreds kept in one building, it was very cramped and overcrowded. Later, they were allowed their own lockers. But the Nazis used the lockers as an excuse to punish people. The people had to put their belongings in specific places. If a cup fell, or a toothbrush was in the wrong place, the person could be punished. If they were caught making any simple mistake, they were taken out, their hands were tied behind their back and they were suspended by their tied hands for hours. The officers would beat the prisoner, until the prisoner was very weak. Few prisoners could work after their arms were damaged so they were often killed. The Nazis were cruel and sadistic.

It was horrifying to hear the stories.
Nora Duggan 5A

Neuschwanstein (The Sleeping Beauty Castle)

Schloss Neuschwanstein is one of Ludwig 11's most renowned castles. It was built between 1868 and 1886.

The theater designer, Christian Jank, built the monumental castle. It has a spectacular location on an outcrop of rock, towering over a gorge. There is a breath taking view from the castle.

Salzburg - Austria
Salzburg is a very beautiful old city. The river is very big and is pretty. There are lots of small bridges and one enormous bridge. There are many narrow streets with crowds of people strolling along looking at the beautiful shops. The main street is very long and winding.

There are many beautiful historic buildings in the street like Mozart's house. A few of the shops are the same as Ireland's shops. There are many gifts shops full of attractive things to tempt tourists. I went to one of the famous shops that sell decorated eggs. I couldn't believe what I saw. I was really amazed at the decorated eggs.

The eggs are decorated for Halloween, Christmas, Easter and other special occasions. They were so beautiful. There were thousands of eggs in the shop.
Joanne .

Mozart's House Salzburg
Mozart was a famous musician and composer. His house is in the main street of Salzburg. We saw letters, which Mozart wrote to his family, which showed he was very loving. It is clear that he also had a good sense of humour. Mozart practised and composed many pieces of his music on a piano that is still on view in this house. One of his pieces included "The Magic Flute."
Ciara

National Ploughing Championships (2009)
Transition Years donned their wellies and went on an unusual outing recently- to the National Ploughing Championships!

The event took place on a 600-acre site at Cardenton near Athy, Co Kildare, very close to where it was first held 78 years ago.

There were over 900 trade stands at the show, in addition to the 300 competitors who took part in events over the 3 days.

City Girls down on the farm by Yasmin

My teacher Geoffrey McCormick brought my classmates and me, in his wife's car, to the ploughing championships in Athy where my maths teacher Maggie Owen lives. We went to her house and her house is very nice, it is posh like a country house. Maggie made breakfast for all of us before we set off to the ploughing. I asked Maggie if I could see her whole house and she said no problem, Maggie has showed us around the rooms. After that, we went to what was known as the purple car park and we walked to the ploughing. We could see the funfair out on the field and I was so excited because I wanted to go there.

Maggie asked the woman who was a charge of the ploughing if the entrance could be reduced because we are deaf. Usually students who go to the ploughing championships pays €15, so the woman looked at us and saw Karen and Sabrina were using sign language. She finally told Maggie the total for our group was €30, and Maggie paid for it and we owned her €5. This was a good prize and we had to admit that we were lucky. Most of the people there were at the farm machinery and stalls and we looked around. First thing me, Sabrina, Leesa and Karen wanted to go to funfair. The funfair was in another field. We had to walk a long way, it was too crowded round about 60,000, wow, that's a lot. Maggie kept pointing to the place where she wanted to go, she said ooh look at that. I am sure Geoffrey was like 'Oh my god, that's so girly', poor him, he was the only one man and 5 of us were women. We went to the funfair Geoffrey and Maggie looked after our bags, phones, scarf and whatever we couldn't hold. We only went in two rides at the funfair because there were long queues. We went to the cows competition, they have nose piercing, yuck... I saw something with one cow, I have to say that he was trying to humped other cow. We met Maggie and Geoffrey and we had our lunch. When I ate my curry chips, mmm, it tasted gorgeous ha-ha.... I looked around us and it reminded me of an Oxygen concert in Kildare ( I am not sure) every summer because of the way people sit on the grass, talking and eating. There were food shops and ice cream vans, it definitely looked like Oxygen. I never went to Oxygen but I have seen pictures in newspapers and it looked relax and people have fun.

We met Maggie's sister, her partner and her daughter. We walked around and looked at all the stalls. Leesa bought a giant pink football. We bought drinks and took pictures and things like that. We went to Maggie house again to drop her, and then we went straight home.

We did have a great day.

Fetac Graduation (2009)

Futsal  (2009)
We had a football playoff in October, as a fundraiser for the school tour to Munich.

Great fun was had by all.

TCD "Get Thinking" Workshop (2009)
Senior girls from St. Mary's and boys from St. Joseph's recently went to this workshop on university life, organised by IDS. It gave us an overview of what it's like to be a university student, and got us thinking about what we want for our futures.

Debs 2009 (2009)
The St. Mary's Debs took place on Thursday 8th October 2009, in the Red Cow Moran's Hotel.

A great night was had by all!

50th Annual Ambrosia Special Children's Taxi Day (2009)
THERE was great excitement at Parnell Square last week when more than 1,400 children with special needs from 40 centres around Dublin gathered for the 50th Annual Ambrosia Special Children's Taxi Day.

There was great excitement in Marian School too! We went on the outing.

The President, Mary Mc Aleese, was there. We met Dublin's Lord Mayor, Councillor Emer Costello, who said: "I would like to commend the taxi drivers for their dedication and commitment to this annual event, now in its 50th year." We also met members of the boy band Clozure, and Dracula. Help!!!

Visit to Moone Cross  (2009)
6A History of Art class went on a visit to Moone Cross last week.

The cross itself, stands 17 1/2 feet high (this includes the base). It is reputed to date from the eighth century. Irish high crosses were not intended to mark out places of burial, but were constructed to act as embellishments or boundaries for monasteries, or indeed for didactic purposes of religious instruction. This is conclusive as the iconography of the cross pertains to that of the popular form of prayer at that time, with references to both the old and new testaments.

The cross is an impressive monument and one of the best preserved of its kind in Ireland.