MY TV: Sonia Cushenfrom St Dominic's College in Cabra spent a fascinating day aboard 'Die Gorch Fock', a German naval tall ship that docked in Dublin

WHAT IS A PALSTEK? It is a German knot used to tie the ropes on the ship Die Gorch Fock, which our class, 4T, from St Dominic's College Cabra, visited. However, before going on this trip, I wouldn't have had a clue as to what it is either.

Since the middle of September our German teachers, Ms McCarthy and Herr Piecyk, told us that the German ship the Gorch Fock was going to be docking in Dublin for two weeks from September 24th to October 10th. During our TY German lessons, we learned a lot about it, seeing pictures of it and preparing questions to ask the crew. Little did we know, a few weeks later, we would be standing on that very same ship talking to the crew about their experiences.

As we were in Transition Year, most of our learning came from being actively involved in projects. We were told a lot about the Gorch Fockby Ms McCarthy as well as Herr Piecyk, who comes from Kiel in Germany. We learned many facts about the ship (for example, it has 23 sails and has just celebrated its 50th birthday - which is why it was docking in many countries) and also saw pictures of the white and gold ship docking so close to where we lived. However, nothing compared to being on the ship itself.

When we had been given confirmation by our teachers that the trip was taking place we started to work in class, practising some of the questions that we were going to ask everyone on board the ship.

The day came, Friday October 3rd, and most of our German class headed out after school to the docks, where the Gorch Fockwas docked. We all went on board ship and the first thing I think everyone noticed was the size of it. From a distance, it didn't look that big but once we were aboard, we realised how huge it really was. There were 23 sails and many of them were very large indeed and placed right in the centre of the ship. The German flag was flying near the rear. It was painted white and gold and was eye-catching from near as well as from afar.

We were split into groups of four and five and shown around the ship. We each had a guide - ours was Joschi, who showed us around, pointing out different machines and sails as well as telling us what kind of work they did. The crew had changed over about two weeks before our visit - the crew that we spoke to had just come aboard and were adjusting to their life there. We had some time to ask many questions as we went along and these yielded interesting answers.

Many of us got a chance to try tying a palstek ourselves but soon saw it wasn't as easy as it looked. I think the ship was well worth seeing and the trip was very successful.