Hello again!
I´m currently settling in quite well. I can´t believe it, that I´ve only been here for two weeks. It feels like ages ago. Well, I don´t think that´s bad and I´m still enjoying everything. I´ve just finished my first week of school, which was pretty fun. They have a completely different system here and I´m even in Transition year, which makes the change even bigger. But I like it a lot. The system is a lot more advanced and made to “secure” the future generations in some industries. They also learn stuff they can actually use in their life, right now and later on. Furthermore, they focus more on making personalities here and supporting the personal development. At least in TY (Transition Year). But I can only write about what I´ve seen so far and that has just been a week. That´s not much time to judge something and this is only my first impression of the Irish Education System. The differences are also noticeable in the classes. We go to the teachers´ classrooms and the teaching methods are new for me as well. It´s new of course, but I think I´ll adapt soon. That´s just how humans work.
However, I also started in some clubs and there are more to come. As I previously wrote, I´m constantly trying out new stuff. So, this week, it was Gaelic Football or just football how they call it here (They call the football, soccer). It was a great time. I´ve never played Gaelic in my life before, and I was pleased with my efforts. The other girls are all younger than me, but they have been playing Gaelic all their life. I can learn from them, which is great, in my opinion. And luckily, everyone is really nice to us, and they welcome us kindly everywhere we go. That helps a lot.
Talking about trying new stuff. Since my hostfather is a pretty good pool player and even represents Ireland sometimes, he showed us pool. Again, I´ve never done it before and had to start with the basics from scratch. It was still a good time and I even pushed some of the balls in the wholes. So I´d let it count as a successful attempt.
My host-family is still amazing. We went to Dublin last weekend to visit Granny and Grandpa. I just loved the suburbs and the city-vibe. What is better than sitting beside a little lake in a park with the sun shining down on you, in the suburbs of Dublin? Not much, right. It was brilliant. Likewise, was the harbor. I´m honestly living life: )
The best thing was, that I´ve seen a very pretty sunset over here. I always watched the sunsets in Austria on a rooftop or from my window. It was often the highlight of my day in Austria. Due to that, I was very happy to see one of the stunning kinds here too. And what made it even better was the fact that I still had my soccer boots on from Gaelic. Those of you who know me can imagen my face and happiness, I think. Just a little happy girl smiling all over her face because she has soccer boots on.
But that was enough about me. I know that school will start for most of you on Monday. On that occasion, I want to wish all of you the best possible start. Believe in yourself and stay positive. You can do it! Also, think about how fast the last year passed. This year will hopefully be the same. It will be alright, trust me. Just keep going and don´t be to hard on yourself. Have a good start :)
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