Monday 11 March 2013

So maybe blogging isn't for me...



















Well, today was the first day that I thought to myself that blogging seemed like a good idea. Ciara and I have come to the conclusion that maybe blogging isn't for me, and I'm okay with that. But anyways, I'm having such a good time! Ciara and I get along really well, and we are so alike. I've done so many cool things too! I went to Lollipop Day in Dublin to sell lollipops for esophageal cancer, an MUN conference, went to Holy Child Killiney's brother school's Rugby Match, celebrated Ciara's 16 birthday, watched the France vs. Ireland Rugby match, and so so so so much more! Ireland is amazing, and cold, and this trip has gone by so fast. Everyone keeps asking me if I miss home, and to be honest, I'm fine! Hahaha. I think slowly but surely, homesickness is starting to sink in. I think I'm dreading but also kind of looking forward to going home. I think I'm so lucky for getting such an awesome host family. It really makes me wish I grew up around more people my age, but also makes me feel lucky to only have one sister. Talk to you next time-Whenever that may be!

Sunday 17 February 2013

"Hey.. We're in Ireland"

BTW, my posts will probably never be this long ever again haha.
Ahhh! Where do I even begin? So far, it's been amazing. Our flights we're easy (for me at least), my special talent of being able to fall asleep whenever and where ever came in extremely handy. Emilee and I were lucky enough to sit next to each other on both flights, which was really nice. I completely knocked out during the whole first flight, and was awake during the the second flight for about 2 hours and watched the movie 10 years. It was super funny! It was about a few friends who go back to their 10 year reunion, and realized how somethings just never change. But after I fell asleep, and woke up just before we landed. Thankfully we got our luggages and made it through customs easily and made our way out. Apparently, Justin Bieber was arriving so there was a bunch of girls lined up ready to see him, super random.
I met up with my host family and headed towards their house, which is beautiful by the way. During the drive, I couldn't help but notice how green everything is! It's amazing!! When we got to the house (which is beautiful), I met the rest of the family. The girl I am staying with, Ciara, is super sweet! She has 3 younger sisters and 1 brother, which is something I am not used to to say the least, but everyone has been really nice and welcoming. After meeting with everyone I went into my room and just unpacked everything and settled in. As badly as I wanted to fall asleep, I tried to fight it for as long as possible, just so I could get into a somewhat normal sleeping pattern. So Ciara and her sister Kielen took me on a walk down to an old mansion near by. It was so cold! The scenery around the area is amazing, and is completely different from back home. The old mansion is now open to the public and has a few stores and a nice cafe that looks out into a garden that a lot of tourists come to see. We sat at the cafe for a while and had lemonade and just got to know each other a little bit better. Afterwords, Ciara's dad came to pick us up since it looked like it might start to rain. When we got back, we watched tv, and as hard as I tried to stay awake, I couldn't help myself and fell asleep for about an hour or two. Ciara's mom was going in to a shopping center near by, so Ciara, Kielen, and their youngest sister Shauna and I went with her. There was a pet store at the shopping center which was pretty funny. Apparently it is a legal to sell dogs or cats at the pet shops here, so they only sell dogs on Sundays or something like that. But they do have different reptiles, fish, mice, rats, hamsters, and bunnies. The one animal that surprised me was the Chinchillas! They were so cute, but I think I would get over the how cute they were after a while. When we got back to the house, we had some dinner, and I just went to bed because well, I was exhausted. It was a really nice first day!
Today was a good day as well. I woke up around 9 and got ready. Ciara and I ate breakfast, finished getting ready, and headed out for mass. We thought we were going to walk because her parents were busy with getting her siblings to all of their different sports practices and games. But her dad was on his way to take her little sister to her hockey game, so we caught a ride down from him. The church was super small and was pretty old, but really nice. I think I saw a sign that said it was founded in 1878 or something like that. Mass was super fast, and it was so cold inside the church! I'm still grateful that I got to go to mass. After mass, we walked to the center of Ciara's village, picked up some hot chocolate and made our way back to the house.When we got back, for some reason I was really tired, and took a nap haha. But when I woke up it was time for Ciara and I to catch the DART which is like one of the public transportations that Dublin has and we went in to a town nearby called Dalkey to meet up with some of Ciara's friends. When we got there, only one of Ciara's friends was already there, so we waled to a coffee shop to wait for them, and to my surprise Emilee was one of the people we met up with. All of Ciara's friends are really fun and nice to hang out with. Its really fun to just see how somethings are similar and how so many things are different. Regardless, I think we all got along really well, and we all kind of just clicked! We walked into a small market to pick up some candy and Emilee got me to try a Kinder Surprise. To anyone that hasn't had it before, its just a chocolate egg that is hollow on the inside, and when you crack it open, there is a toy inside. Apparently, they are illegal in the US, which I thought was funny. But it was really good! After, we all just walked around the town, walked to the castle, and then just had some dinner. Emilee and I were talking about we are noticing that we are starting to pick up the accent little by little. It's kind of inevitable, just because we're surrounded by it all the time. I said I was going to watch some Netflix to slow the process down haha. But, we all had a really good time. We said our goodbyes, and got back on the DART, and just went back home. When we got home, I just talked with Ciara and her family for a little bit, and just watched a little bit of TV.
If you made it this far, congratulations! As I said before, my post will probably never be this long ever again. But I'm so excited for tomorrow! I can't wait to see what amazing times Ireland will bring me next.