ORIENTATION DAYS

Grab your popcorn and take a comfortable seat because this article is going to be long.

Okay so it has been a couple of days since my last entry. That's mostly because I had other stuff to do or was simply too tired.

Let's start with my arrival at the airport in Frankfurt (mind you, I have never been there before). As to be expected, while searching for the others, I got completely lost (yay). I asked some staff and turns out I was running in the wrong direction all along. Luckily that guy at the information counter could show me how to get to the gate I needed. On my way there I met the exchange students who came from Berlin and the first thing we had was a discussion to which gate we have to go. We were 5 people and we had 5 gate numbers (yay). Eventually we found the right one and met up with those who did not fly till Frankfurt. When signing up for the exchange programme, we also booked the Orientation Days, where a group flight and 3 days in Dublin City were included. Our supervisor for the days was a very nice young woman called Esther. She did a very good job. Arriving in Dublin, it took some time to get our luggage. After that we waited for another group from a different organisation (Camps) because they were joining us for the Orientation Days. We arrived at our hostel around 14:30 and had had some time to settle down. After that we walked to a pizza place nearby and ate lunch, following a bus ride through Dublin City (sightseeing yay) and some free time. We walked around in smaller groups and explored a little bit for ourselves. After that we met up again around 20:00/21:00 (I didn't really keep track of the time) and had Fish&Chips. I am not that big of a fish fan but it tasted delicious. At some point we got back to our hostel and went to sleep pretty soon.

The plan for the next day was a trip to an Irish farm and to be honest, that was my favourite day. I slept most of the time on the bus but I think we drove around 1 1/2 hours to the Causey farm in Girley. We got to bake bread there, tried out Hurling (I failed so badly), fed some animals, cuddled with a puppy, milked a cow, played on Irish drums and learned a traditional Irish dance (Ceili). But my favourite part was the bog. We hopped on the trailer and visited the Girley Bog. We obviously didn't go into the actual bog but there were pools of mud where you could go into. We had a damn great time. I pulled up my pants, left my shoes on the side and went in knee deep. Some of the students tried to pull each other into the mud and there were a couple of people falling face forward into it. To sum up, it was an awesome experience. 10/10 would recommend going there and just jump around in the mud (but bring clothes to change into). After arriving in Dublin, we all had some free time and since I was super exhausted I stayed in the hotel with Antonia and finished the film we started watching in the plane. In the evening we went to an Irish House Party. First we had some food in the restaurant and then we went downstairs and there was a show with Irish music and dancing. Some people may already know that I am a total fan of the music here so hearing it live was awesome. 

On the last day I got breakfast at Starbucks (seriously, you can find their shops at every single corner) and we had a small workshop with our supervisors in the park (basically we asked some questions and talked about our fears regarding this exchange programme). Afterwards we had some free time and I we just walked around for some time, sat in a Starbucks shop and drew something in the sketchbook of various people and then we went and ate at a very good restaurant (I had Thai Curry with rice and chicken, was delicious). Afterwards I had to say good-bye to all my new friends I made because everyone except me and another girl (hi, Lena) were placed in either Cork or Kerry. So they had a long bus ride to those regions. 30 minutes later our local supervisor arrived and that was the first time I felt that all this is really happening. To my surprise all I felt was pure excitement and joy. I immediately started talking with my supervisor and the girl he brought with him. A little bit later I got to know my host father, Gerry. He is a taxi driver and he took me home and I met Angela. I really really like it here in Portmarnock, it's a very calm environment, but if you want to you can hop on the bus or the train and be in Dublin in 30-40 minutes. My place is also very close to the sea and I plan to go on a walk/for a run later on. Angela showed me around yesterday and I already feel like home. In the evening, I met my 2 host siblings and they both seem very nice (I haven't talked to them that much yet). Apparently I will also get a host sister from Spain who is also doing an exchange year but she hasn't arrived yet. I am looking forward to meeting her too.

My school here starts on Wednesday and I will get my school uniform on Monday with my supervisor. I still need to buy some stuff so maybe I will do that this afternoon.

I happened to find myself not wanting to have much contact to my family&friends just yet. I think there are some busy days ahead of me and I really want to be fully here for that. 

One last thing that surprised me was the amount of compliments I got for my English skills. I personally know that I am pretty good in it but somehow I still feared a little that my skills wouldn't be enough. Turns out that there are students who come here who barely speak any English so yeah, now I am a less worried.

Have a nice day!