Work Experience Day 1

Just like November, I am doing another week of Work Experience (but this time just one week lol).
This time around, I am doing my Work Experience at adidas - before you correct me, it is spelt with a lower case 'a'.
The adidas logo:

My aunt is the manager of the trade marketing team of the adidas offices in Manchester so I'll be staying with her while I am doing my Work Experience. On Saturday, 25th, I flew over to Manchester from Dublin. Little story - I almost missed my flight because I was updating my Facebook status. Awks.

I had to wake up at 7 on Monday morning and surprisingly for me, I actually managed to get out of bed.
We left the house a bit after 8 and drove to the offices. When I arrived in the gate, I saw a medium sized building with the adidas stripes on the outside so I presumed that these were the offices but I was wrong - that was the adidas suite. A bit further up the road was a huge black building with a white stripes running down the front - THIS was the building. We walked in and once you get past the reception, it opens up into a big atrium where the canteen is. Its turns out, the whole building goes in a circle around the atrium so its actually really easy to find my way around.I then introduced myself to the other members of the trade marketing team who I would be working beside for the rest of the week.
I was given my agenda for the week and boy is it good :D But I'll let you know as the week goes on *suspense*
Then I headed up to the HR (Human Resource) department and was given an induction by two employees from HR and where I had to sign a load of forms on health & safety, policies, benefits etc. I then returned to my desk and read a book all about the history of adidas.
My aunt's intern, Will, then showed me around the offices and explained the jobs/roles of each section. Then we visited the showrooms of adidas stock (they are in the adi suite that I mentioned above) . Buyers from shops come in to see these showrooms and view the stock before deciding whether or not to purchase it and sell it in their shops. There are also boardrooms where meetings are held in the adi suite. We also visited the Reebok showrooms which are right beside the adidas building as adidas owns Reebok. In the warehouse where the Reebok showrooms are, there is also a huge gym where the staff of adidas take part in 'Crossfit' which is like a test of fitness.
Then it was time for lunch. I went back to the adidas building and had lunch with my aunt (chicken tika and naan bread NOM) in the canteen. Employees are given a lunch allowance of £1.50 which covers an entire meal so my lunch was free. But if I decided to buy something extra like a cup of tea or a bar of chocolate, I would have to pay for it myself.
I returned to my desk and continued reading the book about the story of adidas. Then I had to look at all the online suppliers of adidas and write down my opinion of each of them. For example - was the site easy to navigate? Is there obvious adidas branding?Etc. I left the offices a bit after 5pm.

I really enjoyed today. I learnt a lot about the jobs done by the trade marketing team and as I am looking at marketing for the future I found it very interesting and eye opening :)
Everyone was really friendly and I am looking forward to the rest of the week.

The offices:

                                                                                                                              ( Source 1 Source 2)

I feel so charitable

Friday, 24th February, 2012: All of TY spent the day in Dublin City (it will hereafter be called simply 'Town' lol) We were going in to sell lollipops for the Oesophageal Cancer Fund. The reason that Lollipop Day is related to oesophageal cancer is because one of the first signs of that particular cancer is that you can't swallow properly. 
We hopped on a bus and well...you know my love of the banter which occurs on buses ♥. Before we got on the bus, all of us were given t-shirts and caps which had 'Lollipop Day' on them. Firstly, the t-shirts were HUGE (size extra large) and secondly, hats do not suit me... but it was for a good cause so I put my vanity behind me.
When we arrived in town, we went to Powerscourt Shopping Centre and were given the buckets that we would be collecting money in as well as the badges and more importantly, the lollipops that we would give to the people who donated. And off we went!
I was in a group with Laura, Aoife and Eimear and our area to collect money in was Fitzwilliam Street which is MILES away! Surprisingly we actually got quite a lot of money. Some people even put fivers in! It was up to me to do all the asking (grrr Laura -_-) and I have never got rejected so many times in one day </3 *forever alone*
Then about an hour and a half in, Mrs L rang me and asked did we want to go and collect money around Grafton Street (one of 2 major shopping streets) so obviously I jumped at the offer!
So back we headed to Grafton Street.
Me, Laura and a couple of other girls from TY had our lunch in McDonalds (surprise, surprise) then continued collecting.
By the end of the day, we had gotten LOADS of money :) And apart from a strange encounter with a group of sleazy Belgians (never thought I'd say that...) it all went well. I like to thank in particular, the generous men who work at the Viking Splash Tour and the Dublin City Bus Tour! Cheers lads ;)

Being charitable was fun! :D

The Best Day of my Life...

Thursday, 23rd February, 2012: You can guess from the title that this was a pretty amazing/fantastic/awesome/mindblowing day!!
The school bank - Super €uros - which is ran by TYs (Caitriona, Aoife, Fiona, Sarah B and Elizabeth) was launched. The bank began around October and since then it has grown steadily. I am a member and proud to say it!
The girls are going to be competing against other school banks at a competition in a few weeks time and will be in with the chance of winning really good prizes. The launch is a huge part of the running of the bank so it was crucial for it to be a success.
The day of the launch, all the bank members we're super busy and getting really stressed. Me and Daloo helped them set up in the hall. We blew up balloons then painted the all important bank poster for them. That poster actually took ages! Me and Daloo were literally running around in such a panic trying to get it finished. We painted the Superman symbol  with a '€' in the centre rather than a 'S' on a blue background with red writing saying "Super €uro's Bank Launch". The bank girls were really happy with it but being the perfectionists that we are, myself and Daloo thought it could improve. :L
Seeing as we were helping out, me and Daloo were the first to arrive at the launch which meant that we got RIGHT in front of the stage. "A stage?" you say. YES a stage! And that is because there was going to be some very special guests at the launch...
The rest of the bank members came running in and swarmed around the stage (exactly why I was glad that I got there early). Finally the first special guest was introduced on stage - Johnny Doyle!! :D The Kildare gaelic football player. He made a speech about how saving in time like this is important... he's so motivational :') And after he cut a ribbon to symbolise the official opening of the bank.
Then Caitriona (she is the manager) came back onto the stage to introduce the next special guests. It went something like this:
Caitriona: I would like to introduce -
Audience (Me especially): Wooo!
Caitriona: Our next guests -
Audience (Again, me especially): WOOO!
Caitriona: The Original Rudeboys.
Audience (Ok, all me this time): WOOOO-ohmigawd-OOOOO! ^_^
Yes, believe it or not, Sarah B managed to get THE ORIGINAL RUDEBOYS to come to our school! For ages I've absolutely loved them (they even replied to me on Twitter!). Then, out they came onto the stage - one word...PHWOAR ♥♥♥. Neddy, Sean and Rob looked pretty darn gooood. (My reaction: Daaaaammmmmn!)
They performed 4 songs in total and I was belting out the words because I have no self respect. After I got loads of hugs from them and they signed my poster and my arm (I was the only one who got that lol). I even had a chat with them after! They were so nice :)

So yeah, that was honestly the best day! All thanks to The Original Rudeboys ... :) x

Down to Business

Wednesday 22nd February, 2012: (yes I have once again falling behind in writing my blog posts) we spent the entire day taking part in a competition for our TY Mini Companies. Unlike previous years, only 1 or 2 Mini Companies from our school would be involved in the competition - so we had a preliminary competition in our school. We had to present our Mini Company to Orla and another woman, Phyllis, from the Kildare Enterprise Board to be in with a chance of getting through.
My Mini Company, Mod-Pod, is a plastic cover for an Apple iPod touch that has an indentation around the edges so you can wrap your headphones around your iPod and secure them in place, as well as preventing them from getting tangled. It also features a clear slot at the back of the cover which allows you to place a personal photo or template into. (That has been rehearsed so so SO many times, I can recite it off the top of my head!)
We have failed to get a manufacturer seeing as our idea is so complex and unique. The cheapest we have got it for was 1,187 euro so obviously no way josé were we ordering from that company. This put us at a disadvantage seeing as we were only presenting an idea, rather than an actual product. Also, my Mini Company was unbelievably disorganised (lol). We had a last minute meeting on Tuesday to sort out our poster for the competition and at this meeting, I found out that we needed a banner with our company name/logo on it for tomorrow as well!! ...awks...
The morning of the actual competition was possibly THE most productive morning in my life. Me and Emma got the banner painted and if I do say so myself, it looked pretty good :D Then we stuck the poster on the display stand, stuck the banner on the wall above the stand, put a white sheet over a table in front of the stand, found a red cloth somehow and ran that along the centre of the table (our Mini Company colours were red, white and black), place random iPods and covers and tangled headphones around the table, got a prototype of our product made (we owe you big time Mr W) and learnt off our presentation! I can't actually believe we got aaaall that done in one morning :O *Slow clap* I was really proud of our display stand.
Then we presented the idea and it surprisingly went really well. Both the judges were super positive about our idea, the only fault was the fact that we couldn't get a supplier. They even said we should get the idea patented but oh well! I was really happy with my Mini Company's work so well done guys :)

In the end, we didn't get through but I honestly do not mind in the slightest (and I'm not just saying that). Mini Company was fun and a great experience and all, but it wasn't worth all the stressing so in a way I'm both happy AND sad that it has finally ended.
But well done to Illuminate for getting into the competition! I knew you would! So, Good Luck next week ;)

I can now officially say: Farewell Mod-Pod xoxoxoxo

We Sing a Song to Brigid

Tuesday, 7th February 2012: All over Ireland people celebrated St. Brigid's Day on the 1st February. She is a the patron saint of the county which we live in - Kildare! (YEAUH BUDDY) The story of how she built a church on the site which is now the Curragh Racecourse can be found here . (Sorry, but I'm too lazy to write it out tehe)

To celebrate this, all of TY was brought to Kildare town, about half an hour away from here. We went to the Visitor Centre in the middle of Kildare Town and watched a video all about St. Brigid and the religious history of Kildare. Then we visited the Protestant church there and we all got the chance to ring the bell in the church! *Dream come true* But, I'm sure the people of Kildare were very confused about what time it was. After, we walked to Brigid's well which was a bit outside the town and blessed ourselves with the holy water in the well. I did it twice so I might as well have been Jesus himself. (Amen) Then came the super long trek to the other, bigger well. When we finally got there we took part in some religious ceremonies. It was really pretty and peaceful there :)

Then we walked aaaaall the way back to our bus in Kildare Town.

Oh and I forgot to mention that me and Daloo spent the whole day in huge fluffy hats :3 We looked pretty fly...

Until next time :)