Christmas time

It's been quite some time but everything happened so fast.
Let me tell you what happened:
Well I tried riding but it kind of didn't really work out so I quit but I'm trying to find another place but I'm not sure where.
I joined History because I think it's really interesting to learn about the Northern Irish history but because I joined so late I wasn't there for the start so I didn't really get the hang of it and it is still really difficult for me. But Ailbhe, a classmate helped me a lot and I think I would be even worse without her help.
Then we had break and we didn't really do much except that on Thursday, during our holidays,
I met up with my friend, Lynn. We went to Dublin and went shopping. I bought lots of nice stuff and I think I spent way too much money but I told myself that I'm going to save my money until we meet again. We made a promise that we'll meet up in January, before she's going back home. It was so much fun and I even bought an "ugly Christmas sweater",  I've always wanted to do that.

 

 

Then on Saturday, I went on a Viking boat with Anna and Sofie. It is on the river Shannon and it goes to Hudson Bay and then back to Athlone. It was really cold and there were strong winds so we had to cuddle up in the blankets we got. Still, we had loads of fun.

 

And then two weeks after our holidays finished, I cut my hair. I was thinking of doing it for a long time because I don't like having long hair and then Sofie went to the barber to get highlights so it was the perfect opportunity. The place where I cut my hair is called Custom Cuts and it's amazing, even though it's expensive. Bernie always goes there to cut and blowdry her hair.

Before:

After:

Once, Bernie took Sofie and me to her school and we dressed up as Santi's elves. It was so much fun. Bernie is the principle of a school and there are three classrooms. The smallest children are about 4 years old, the others are like 6 years old and Bernie teaches the oldest class and they are 11 years old. Of course, the eleven year olds didn't believe that we are elves but all the other kids did and they were so adorable, they asked us all kinds of questions like if WE did their presents and why we don't have pointy ears and why we're so tall. We told them that Santi makes a magical powder, he prepares it with fallen stars. That magical powder can make us look like humans because we don't want people to find out that we're elves, do we?
That was one of the best days so far and during their break they always wanted me to go skipping and to have a race with them, they were too cute for words. And when we visited their classrooms they were singing for us and we gave them treats from Santi.

My school life is as normal as it can be, it's just school. But I had to start thinking about my Christmas exams. Because I'm in fifth year, we had timetabled exams and we had to write them in the sports hall. All the fifth year students in one hall, that's gonna be grand.
But before that, we had a non-uniform day again, it was a nice thing to get into the mood of Christams.
The exams weren't that difficult and I didn't have to study that much. For English, I had to learn some poems by Eavan Boland and the play All my sons, in Maths I had to understand everything we did during this semester, in Economics we had to know everything as well, in Extra English we had some questions she took out of the Cambridge English Exam, in French we had to learn some essays by heart and an opinion question and some tenses and in History I had to know everything about Northern Ireland.
I would say that History went the worst because I had no clue about the things they did before I joined that subject but I tried my best and that's the only thing that counts. I don't know when we'll get our results but I hope soon because I'm curious.
The exams were from Tuesday to Thursday in the last week before break and on Thursday we were finished at one, our last hurdle was maths. I was so glad to finally have holidays.

On the 19th of december, Bernie's school had a performance. They were in a barn and were singing Christmas Carols like "Oh what a glorious night". The barn belonged to the family of one of the students so Bernie and I went there to prepare it (Sofie was studying). We put lights in jam jars and lit them to show the way to the barn. It looked beautiful.
Then the children came and their singing was magnificent. Because the barn was wonderfully decorated with branches and there were some sheep and alpacas in cages it looked even more magical.
After the performance every child got chocolate from Santi and went home. Shane, the son of the family which owned the barn, helped us collect the lights and clean everythign up. He's almost the same age as my brother, a year younger, and it was funny to see the difference in their behaviour.
I wish I could go to Bernie's school again, I really liked it.

Now to Christmas. They celebrate on the 25th and wake up early in the morning to open their presents. Sofie and I got a lot of presents from home and that was so cute.
Everyone gets stockings here in Ireland and Bernie even gave some to us that was so lovely of her. Roisin, Aoife and Bernie gave us both a bracelet with our birthstone on it. I never want to take it off it looks so beautiful. My birthstone is Aquamarine and that was such a thoughtful gift. They said they wanted to give us something Irish and that means a lot.
I sent some presents home and I hope that they liked them. I sent Christmas tree decorations and a book and one of my favourite Irish candy. The Christmas decoration is made of real Irish silver from Tipperary. I bought them in the shop Roisin works in, I was so stressed because I didn't know what to buy my family and she made my day when she suggested sending them this.
The reason why I wanted to send them something was because they sent me something as well and I felt bad. And I will bring them presents home when this exchange year is finished but I just wanted to give them something from Ireland already.
Well after we opened our presents we dressed up and went to mass. It is something very important to go to mass on Christmas day. Afer church was over, we started driving to Josephine and Sean's house, that's where they ususally spent Christmas. But first we had a few stops. First we visited Ger (Bernie's sister) and her family and talked a bit, then Aoife, Roisin and Bernie went to the cemetary to visit Bernie's parents, then we went to Matt, Bernie's brother, and met Ger and Christina and Matt there as well. Then we picked up Kevin, another relative and finally drove to Josephine's. Her house is beautiful and really big. There, we met almost everyone, some couldn't come but there were a lot of people. Roisin and Aoife have many cousins and Bernie has a lot of siblings.
There are Roisin, Aoife, Ali, Shane, Maeve, Niall, Sinead, David (he couldn't be there though) and some I think but there are so many. Most of them took their partners with them so there were even more people. Bernie has Ger, Marian, Christina and Josephine as sisters and Matt as a brother and all of her sisters are married but Matt isn't. Josephine was extremely hospitable and we bought chocolate for her to thank her that we were allowed to spent Christmas with them.
First they opened their secret santa and then it was time for dinner. We had turkey and ham, brussel sprouts, gravy, mashed potatoes and more potatoes and soup. My stomach was full after that dinner.
After dinner Sofie and I were a bit scared that we're just going to sit in a corner and talk to no one but that wasn't the case at all. They asked us if we'd like to play a game with them, "pictionary". Bernie told us later that they chose the game because they were thinking that it has to be a game we can also play. It was so much fun to play, I was on a team with Shane and we were really good, but maybe we were just lucky because sometimes we got words like "nose" or "house". He was so funny and he was also one of the first people to talk to Sofie and me when we arrived.
Later he and Sean, Josephine's husband asked us if we wanted to go see the lambs, some were born yesterday and one was born that day. We went to see them and they were adorable. Their mothers were really protective though but we even took a picture with them. I'd like to see them again.
When we came back they started playing cards. Sofie, Roisin and me didn't know how to play at all so we were sitting together and talked. Then I went up to Aoife and tried to understand the game, it was a bit difficult at first but I got the hang of it (I think). They played until three o'clock in the morning and then Aoife had to bring some people home and then we finall went home, I was beat. Usually they would stay over at Ger's and go on the 10km walk the next day but Ger went to Scottland so they weren't able to, so we stayed home the next day.

Preparations for Christmas:

 

 

 Bernie gave this to Sofie and me on the evening before Christmas

Christmas Day:

 

 

Sean, Sofie and me and the newborn lambs

 

Marian, one of Benie's sisters invited everyone to stay at her home on Tuesday and there were even more people there, Naoimh with Pete, Orlaigh and Ciara, David and Marsha and some more. They all were really nice to us and the food was, of course, delicious. Orlaigh and Ciara played a game with Sofie, Roisin, Niall, Andrew (Aoife's boyfriend), Naoimh, Pete and me. It was a Christmas game and it was really funny.
I hope I can see some of them again.

Today, Sofie and myself, we finally went outside again, I think the first time in four days. We wanted to go bowling with Gergely and Wiktor but the bowling place was a bit creepy so we went to watch a movie instead. We watched "Passengers" with Jennifer Lawrence, it's a really good movie. Then we went to Tesco, to buy food, of course, and I bought too much. I bought 4 packs of crisps, but I mean you can never have too much food.

River Shannon at night and Wiktor

Picture by Wiktor in Tesco, me with my crisps

Lots of love
Shannon

One month

As the title says, on the last Sunday I've been in Ireland for one month. And this month was one of the most exciting and wonderful months in my life until now.

To sum that up again:
I've been to London and met some amazing people with whom I'm still talking.
I flew from London to Dublin all by myself.
I met my host family and started my new life.
I've started my new school and the adventure of finding friends.

That's a lot to progress and I haven't had a free minute since I've been here. But that's not something to worry about. I think if I would sit at home all the time I would get homesick and that's not what I want at all. It's true when the Returnees said that you'll be busy the whole time. I mean, you have to get used to everything and start a "new life".

I think my family and my friends at home have it more difficult because they have to live their lifes like alaways. Just without me. And for me, I have a new family, new friends and everything. Everything's still new and there is nothing missing from this life. Of course I miss them, but I can't sit in my room all the time and dwell over the memories. I have to distract myself if I start to get sad.
But my friends and family gave me a memory book and beautiful letters so every time I feel alone I can look at them and remember the happy times I had with them.

The Returnees told us that it's like a curve. The first few weeks are the worst until you've settled in, then it's going to be amazing but at the time of Christmas, it's going to be worse again. For me, there wasn't really a curve until now. I felt at home the second I came here. But I think there was one day where I've been down. It was a day, where me and my friends went to town and because I was shy, I couldn't talk that much so when we got home I was frustrated with myself because I couldn't open my mouth. That was the only hurdle I've had until now.
Well let's not talk about depressing stuff anymore.

On saturday, Sofie, Anna, Gergely, Wiktor and I went to Dublin by bus. The weather was rainy, of course, but we still enjoyed every second of it.
On the bus, there was an old lady sitting next to me and she started talking to me and we had a conversation during the whole drive. Everyone here in Ireland is so polite and nice.
In Dublin we saw a demonstartion, that abortions should be legal. There were so many people there.
Because the weather was bad we couldn't go sightseeing but we said we'd do that the next time we're there. So we went shopping. There were many shopping centers so we never got bored. It was incredibly funny and I quite like Dublin and I'm looking forward to going there again.

 

 

On Saturday we went to Galway. Anna, Sofie, Wiktor, Gergely and Jorge. Galway is a beautiful place, I like it better than Dublin because the people there are more energetic and enjoy life very much. We went to a street with many shops and we saw many people playing instruments, dancing and a lot more. There was a sweets shop and it was amazing. It had Wonka chocolate, butter beer, drumsticks, marshmallow fluff and much more.

But before that we went to the Aquarium and it was really funny. We could touch the starfishes and crabs. The stafish wrapped itself around my finger and it was a really weird feeling.

After that we went to the seaside and made some pictures (of course)

 

 

 

 

Next Saturday, I'm going to go horse riding. And I can go for free! There's that guy and Roisin went horse riding with him as well so Bernie already knew him so she trusted him. I'm looking forward to it. There are two other girls and one of them is going to the same school as I am so maybe I can be friends with her. Her name is Ailbhe.

Now that I'm talking about my hobbies, I joined the gym last week. It's 99 Euros for three months and I can even go swimming. It's amazing and I'm starting to like training. I even met a Spanish girl (Lola) and she's really nice. She's going to my school as well, but she's in TY. On my bus there are some people and I've started talking to them. One boy is in my maths class and all of them are very nice. They're called Marko, Dylan, James, Michael and Nathalia. And then there's another guy in my english class that's very nice and he always helps me with my lock because somehow it always breaks. His name is Dilans.

There are many things happening and I'm still not used to the Irish culture and the thinking of the people but I think I'm on a good way.

Lots of love

Shannon

PS: I've learned some sentences in Irish like: Go raibh mìle maith agat

It means "Thanks a million"

PPS:

This is a typical Irish dinner on a Sunday:

 

Mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and meat with sauce. I actually really like it it's nice.

And this is my school:

 

Athlone Community College

School, Family and Friends

Well now I'm already in Ireland for almost three weeks and there were so many things happening: new family, new town, new friends, new culture, new language.
But let's start at the beginning.
On Sunday the 28 of august I finally arrived in Ireland. My flight landed at 18.45 and I was so nervous I couldn't sit still. I was looking out of the window and I couldn't take everything in at once. There were so many new impressions and I think I was glued to the window.
When I got out I had to go through Immigration first but because there were so many people travelling to Ireland it took a long time.
Because my host mother had an accident she couldn't collect me from the airport but her sister came with Aoife (my host sister) and Sofie (my host sister from Norway) and they drove me home. But before that we had to collect my host mother Bernie from the hospital before we drove home. It wasn't a bad injury and I was glad for that. The drive was quite long and I was so tired I almost fell asleep in the car. But I looked out of the window and it was just beautiful. On our drive from Dublin to Athlone, I saw the sunset and it was just beautiful. The colours, a spectrum from a light pink to red to orange and fading into the light blue from the sky. Soon the darkness of the sky covered everything and I even saw some beautiful little stars and I saw the "Grosser Wagen". I love Ireland.
Roisin (my host sister) was waiting at home and we had pizza for dinner.
That was my first impression of my Irish family. They are all very nice and talkative and I've liked them ever since the first time I saw them.

On the next day Sofie and I met Anna, an exchange student from Italy, she lives with a friend of Bernie so we went looking for our uniforms together. I actually like wearing the uniform because I've always wanted to wear one. The shoes were horrible, but because everyone's wearing them I got used to them. I'm actually wearing a guy's sweater because the girls should wear one with a round neck but Bernie had this one at home so I'm just wearing this one.

 

This is my school uniform.

I'm going to the Athlone Community College it's not far away from my house. We go to school by bus and the bus stop isn't far away from home either and the driver is very nice. The Community College is extremely big and there are many students. It's a big red and orange building with a big football field. I actually like it. There is a canteen and we eat lunch there and after that we can go outsie and watch people playing soccer, gaelic football or hurling.

On the day before we went to school for the first time, Sofie, Anna, Emanuele (another italian guy) and I met our Area Rep May and we went to Costa to get to know each other and if we had any questions we could ask her. She was really nice and I had a lovely afternoon.

Because I'm in 5th year I had to go to school on Thursday the 1st of september.

We had something like an opening ceremony first when the deputy principal told us in which base, english and maths class we are in. I'm in class R50 and my teacher is Ms Golding. They gave us our timetable and a list of the subjects we could choose.

During this ceremony I was sitting next to Sofie and Anna and I was extremely nervous, I mean it was my first day with a school uniform. We probably looked really lost so the guys that sat next to us had to explain everything. They were very nice, I'm glad we had them or else we still wouldn't get anything.

Like every first day it was really lively and exciting but we couldn't choose our subjects because everyone was really confused. Throughout the next few days we got everything sorted out and I finally could start school for real. I have to take maths, english, extra english (for every national student), economics (for every national student as well) and french.

The niveau really is different compared to the one in Switzerland. We have school from 9.00 until 15.15 or 15:55 and we have a 11:00 break and a lunch break at 13:15. Forme this is like holidays. We have much homeworks but they're quite easy so there's no stress like back home.

During lunch time I'm eating with Sofie, Anna, Gergely (from hungary) and Wiktor (polish guy). They're really nice and I'm glad I already made some friends.

Athlone, the village that's next to my little town is very nice. There are two shopping centers and many stores and even a cinema. Anna, Sofie and I went to watch "Bad moms" and it was really funny. We're going to town every weekend because we have to buynew school stuff but also to see more of it. The little shops are so cute because they're all a different colour and it's so nice to look at them.

I haven't seen that much of Ireland except for one of the most important things: the Shannon river. It flows through Athlone so I saw it quite a lot of times.

 

 

This is the SHANNON RIVER. It looks so stunning I love it. Two friends from school (the one that helped us on our first day: Adam and Jason) said that when the water is low you can even walk over it!

This is my house.

It's really open and white and it's comfortable. Sofie and I are sharing a room together on the second floor and we are getting along very well. I'm incredibly glad. I'm already feeling quite at home here. I even mowed the lawn once the gras was dry (because it was always raining the gras didn't dry and you can't mow it if it's wet)

My family is really really nice. Roisin and Aoife don't live at home anymore, Aoife works and lives in Dublin and Roisin goes to University but they both come home during the weekend. Bernie and Sofie and I get along really well and we always have dinner together. The food here in Ireland is different from home for example they always eat vegetables AND mashed potatoes AND fries AND garlic bread AND chicken. Bernie even asked me if I want fries with my pizza. For them that is normal but for me it is so weird. But I love potatoes so I have no problem with that. Sofie doesn't like potatoes at all so she's gonna have a problem.
I'm feeling really well here and I've already opened up quite a lot.

A girl in my french class called Catherine teaches the violin so yesterday I had my first violin lesson in Ireland. She's teaching me a Jig and it's really funny to learn Irish songs. I'm glad that I'm able to continue playing the fiddle here and that I can learn Irish songs is incredible.

I'm trying to go riding a horse but we still have to find a good place but if that doesn't work then I'm going to join the gym. Sofie, Anna and I went to the gym this Tuesday and it's quite nice (I know you guys won't believe it but it's true. I went to the gym.)

All in all I'm incredibly happy here and I enjoy every second of it.

Lots of love

Shannon 

The journey begins

On the 25th I woke up very early and drove to Zurich Airport with my parents. I was really excited and I couldn't sit still. I had to wear my yellow STS shirt and my yellow STS backpack and once I was at the airport I saw many people who were wearing this aswell.

 

My flight was at 10:25 and at 11:20 I was there. Finally. No not in Athlone. In London Heathrow. I had a preparation camp in London until the 28 of august. The camp got organized by LSC (language study centres).

Lucy was the one who picked me and another exchange student up. We drove to the Royal National Hotel with the tube. There I met the other three students and Geoffrey.
We had a really great time and we became friends very quickly.
In the morning we had "lessons" where we talked about our expectations and our fears. It was really helpful and I think it let my fears disappear. After that we went to Museums like the National Museum, Science Museum and the British Museum. It was really interesting and exciting. Then we went sightseeing for a bit. We saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, London Dungeon and many more. I think the highlight for everyone was the London eye at night. London was extremely beautiful with all the lights and Big Ben was glowing aswell.

Now it's sunday and I'm on my way to Heathrow to fly to Ireland and finally meet my host family. I'm really really excited but also sad because now my new friends and I have to part ways. Everyone is going to different places in the United Kingdom and I'm the only one going to Ireland. But that's no problem because maby we can meet each other during holidays I think that would be incredible.

My flight, again with British Airways, is from 17:20 until 18:45 and my host family is going to pick me up at the airport and then bring me to my new home. I can't wait to meet them. How should I greet them? What should I talk about with them? How is the house and the town? How is the host family? Will find friends?
All these questions and more are in my head. I can't answer them right now but I'm confident that everything is going to be fine. I'm trying to think about NOW and not the future.
So now, please wish me luck for my year.
Bis bald
Shannon

My year in Ireland

Heiii zeme :)

Letzten Freitag habe ich endlich, nach langem warten, meine Gastfamilie bekommen.
Ich war gerade bei meiner Schulfreundin, als meine Mutter mich anrief und mir mitteilte, dass ich unbedingt meine Emails abrufen soll. Und da waren sie: Die lang ersehnten Informationen bezüglich meines Austauschjahres.
Ich habe eine Mutter und zwei ältere Schwestern. Die älteste lebt nicht mehr zuhause, kommt uns aber am Wochenende besuchen. Ich werde mein Zimmer ausserdem mit einer anderen Austauschschülerin teilen, von der ich jedoch noch keine Informationen habe.
Ich werde in Coosan, in einem Vorort von Athlone wohnen.
Was für en Zufall, dass Athlone direkt am Shannon liegt, das ist übrigens der längste Fluss von Irlands, und ich auch Shannon heisse.
Jetzt bin ich aufgeregt und kann es gar nicht mehr abwarten endlich ins Flugzeug zu steigen.
Nachdem ich nach Hause gekommen bin und die Informationen sorgfältig durchgelesen habe,  habe ich ihnen am nächsten Tag eine Email geschrieben.
Bis jetzt haben sie noch nicht geantwortet, aber ich werde geduldig warten.
STS, meine Organisation, wird mir in den nächsten Tagen noch mehr Informationen bezüglich des Vorbereitungscamps schicken. Ich werde nämlich, bevor ich meine Familie treffe, noch drei Tage in London mit anderen Austauschschülern verbringen. Dort werde ich etwas über die Irische Kultur, Gebräuch und das Land lernen
Darauf freue ich mich auch schon.
Ich will schon seit ca drei Jahren ein Austauschjahr machen und zuerst hatte ich Probleme damit, mich für ein Land zu entscheiden. Ich hatte mich sogar schon für Amerika beworben. Doch als mir klar wurde, dass ich eigentlich gar nicht dahin will und STS angerufen habe, konnte ich zu Irland wechseln.
Es hat alles gut geklappt und im Mai hatten wir ein Vorbereitungswochenende, wo ich andere Austauschstudenten kennengelernt habe. Es waren alle sehr nett und das Wochenende war lehrreich und lustig. Wir konnten mir Returnees sprechen und sie haben von ihren Eindrücken und Erfahrungen beim Packen, erstem Schultag und sonstigen Sachen erzählt. Später konnten wir dann noch unsere Fragen stellen und meine Nervosität hat sich etwas gelegt.

Ich zähle die Tage, bis ich endlich abreisen kann, doch ich habe noch alle Hände voll mit packen, verabschieden und die letzten Vorbereitungen zu treffen.

Liebi Grüess
Shannon