Hey guys and welcome back!
As time passes, I find it more and more difficult to keep up with new blog posts. I swear I was about to make a new entry like 2 weeks ago but then every time I opened my blog, I found another way to procrastinate it or I was too tired to actually write something down.
But here it is, a new post. This time I am writing this to procrastinate writing my speech for my next debate. How the tables have turned.
So, let's start with mid-term break.
After Maya arrived on Monday I immediately changed from head to toe. Now at this point it is easy to admit that I started to get pretty homesick before I was reunited with her. It's not that I didn't feel home or well in Ireland, it was just that, well, I missed home and the people back in Austria. But with Maya in my arms, I feel at home, wherever I am. We spent that evening in her room and went to the beach later when it turned dark. It was good to talk to someone so close and familiar to me. I also confessed to her that I will be going home for Christmas, even though my original plan was to stay in Ireland (I will elaborate on that later). I first wanted to keep it secret and surprise her by showing up at her door but I just couldn't keep my mouth shut. On the beach, we also found some balloons with lights on the inside, which was very aesthetic.
On Tuesday my organisation here asked if any of the students where up to a cliff walk from Greystones to Bray and together with Maya and a couple of other internationals we did that and afterwards went for bowling. We had a grand time, I laughed so much and it just felt so right to be together with Maya again. In the evening we went to the Halloween bonfire with Theresa, Laura and Benedicta, more or less dressed up. We really enjoyed ourselves and watched a lot of fireworks.
Wednesday morning then, we got a bus to Galway and arrived there around 12 o'clock. We still had 2 hours until we could get to our hotel room so we just wandered around and had lunch at an Italian restaurant (we had pizza). After arriving we decided to just relax for a while and then decide what to do. But then we discovered that our TV in the room had Netflix so we ended up not leaving the room again that day. Only for some burgers in the middle of the night. On Thursday then we visited Menlo Castle and spent hours there sitting beside the river and petting the dogs that came up to us. It was a truly wholesome experience. Worth to mention is also, that we missed the bus that was supposed to bring us there so we decided to spend some time at the playground next to the bus station and then walk to the castle. A fun thing to mention is that we both brought our laptops in our backpacks, which made them very heavy. We carried them around for the rest of the day, which wasn't fun at all and we learned that we don't need to bring our laptops to a 2 day trip again. In the evening then, we took the bus back to Dublin and got home around ten o'clock.
Friday then Maya and I went to Dublin, exploring the city and eating at a place she showed me. Honestly, if you are ever visiting Dublin, go to Wagamama, the food there is heavenly.
Saturday I had to bring Maya to the airport. The goodbye wasn't easy, but not as bad as I expected. With the knowledge that I am going to see her again in less than 2 month was soothing and made it easier to see her leave for the security check.
In the end, I have to admit that there were moments of tension between us in that week. Both of us had less sleep than usual and going from zero to spending 5 days almost 24/7 together was certainly something. I wouldn't have done anything differently, though. Since it was only for 5 days, I wanted to spend as much time with Maya as possible.
After that week I was energized, happy and ready to make the most of my time till Christmas.
I continued my cooking for the Gaisce, got work for school done and on Friday Aodhan invited me to go to the movies and watch Thor: Ragnarok. We went after school with a couple other friends. Before that I didn't have much contact with that group of friends, I wanted to belong to them and I knew them but that was it, since none of them were in my class. So it was a real bonding experience, hanging out at the mall and going to McDonalds beforehand and then watching the movie together. They officially brought me into their group and I am honestly so happy and grateful for it. They are the first local people I would consider friends and I can see myself keeping up with them even after I left Ireland. Oh I almost forgot, on Friday, people from the organisation Concern came and filmed our last debate. They are hosting the debate competition we are in this year and we also did that workshop with them. Apparently they were so impressed that they came and filmed us for a video they want to use to train future adjudicators. It will be posted on YouTube as well and I will put the link into my next entry when the video is uploaded.
On Saturday I had a pretty busy day, helping out with Camogie, doing Bag Packing in Dunnes to raise money for the school's musical and then I met up with Theresa and we watched "Little Lord Fauntleroy" and cooked Canelloni. I would say Theresa and I are on the same page, with all of the internationals, she is the one I can most relate to and connect with. So Saturday was very enjoyable.
This week, only a couple of thing happened that are worth mentioning.
First, on Monday I was asked to a meeting. Turns out the prefects of our school wanted a focus group of student from each year who should tell them their opinion about projects the prefects plan and if there is anything they could improve. It was quite a surprise to be chosen to be part of this focus group, apparently the year heads chose the representatives of each year and I must have done something right to win their approval. It was at that meeting that I found out, that technically nothing is written in the school rules that prohibits girls to wear trousers. But apparently you'd still get send home because I don't know. I will definitely follow that further and maybe one day, I will be able to walk into school with some nice pants. If that was my legacy at this school, I would be proud.
On Tuesday we found out that we will be doing a PE module until Community Care, which is a mix of Yoga, Pilates and Gymnastics. I am not complaining at all, it was pretty enjoyable and I look forward to next week.
There would have been a debate on Wednesday, but the other team cancelled last minute so I went to the gym instead. I also managed to pull myself together and went swimming Thursday morning. It was good to be back in the water again, except that the water temperature was way too hot for training. Hot water makes tired and I still had a whole school day ahead of me.
In school that day, Thomas Barr came in to hold a training session for the athletics club (for your information, Thomas Barr is an Irish hurdler who placed 4th at the last Olympics). Let me tell you, that guy was so kind and approachable and I am so glad that I could meet him. Now, I am more or less used to be around top athletes, I myself have been to a bunch of World Cups where I have met some pretty awesome athletes, but Thomas Barr was exceptionally nice and it was cool to meet a top athlete from another sport. The local newspaper, Irish life and our school all took pictures so this was kind of a big deal.
Friday evening then I went to watch the TY school play with a couple of friends. It was funny, but also very, very confusing. I didn't really get it. Afterwards, instead of going straight home, Benedicta and I roamed the streets and ended up sitting at some bench in front of Lidl and talking for another 30 minutes.
As for today, I was at the Camogie nursery again and went running with Theresa afterwards. We try to go running every week together and it is a really nice way to start the mornings.
Further the next debate is giving me major headaches. I am team captain this time (so much responsibility, help me) and we really need to get started writing our speeches and everything since the debate is next Tuesday and we don't even have all speakers yet. But it will be just fine, I got this under control. We will be amazing and we will win!
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