22nd Birthday Festivities

Where do I even begin? This week has been absolutely incredible.

Last Monday and Tuesday, I cranked out 5 lesson plans for the week because I knew it was going to be a busy week! On Thursday, I had my last observation! I taught a lesson in SPHE (health) about healthy exercise habits. My 5th class only have SPHE once a week so I have been building lessons on top of each other. Two weeks ago, the students learned about healthy eating habits and had to track either food intake for a week for homework. One week ago, the students learned about healthy sleeping habits and had to track their sleeping habits for homework. This week, the students learned about healthy exercise habits. I did a fun activity with the students using drinking straws.  The straws represented a blood vessel in your body. Each student had a small cup of water or their water bottle. First I had the students drink a small about of water through the straw normally. This represented a healthy blood vessel because it flowed easily. Then I had the students bend, pinch, or tie their straw in a know. The students then tried to drink some water again. The water did not flow through the straw as easily and represented an unhealthy and clogged blood vessel. People that people who do not participate in regular physical activity can have problems with their blood circulation. Likewise, being physically fit helps the blood vessels as well as the heart stay healthy. Overall, I thought the lesson went really well and my students seemed to learn a lot! They really enjoyed doing the activity with the straw. My supervisor was also impressed by the lesson, so I was pleased! I can't believe I only have 3 days of teaching left next week! Time has flown by!

On Thursday night, Marianne came to visit me from Sweden! I was so excited to see her and so happy she came! I hadn't seen her in almost 3 years from when she last came to visit in Minnesota. Marianne was a foreign exchange student who went to my high school for our senior year. We couldn't get over the fact that we graduated from high school 4 years ago! It seems like just yesterday. 

On Friday, Marianne, Nicole, Kari, Jay, Michael (Jay's boyfriend who flew in Friday morning), and I went out for my 22nd birthday dinner. We had dinner at a restaurant called The Kings Head. It was delicious. Afterwards, we went to a couple other pubs to listen to some live bands and Irish music. It was a wonderful night. 

On Saturday, my parents arrived in Galway! I was so excited to see them! They had quite the journey here. They left on early Friday morning and my grandparents drove them to the Minneapolis airport. Their plane out of Minneapolis ended up being cancelled due to the snow in Chicago. My parents ended up getting their flight to Chicago rescheduled and were able to make it their. When in Chicago, they literately had 10 minutes to switch terminals, get through security, and make it to their plane! They sprinted to their plane while listening to the "last call for boarding" warnings, but thank goodness they made their flight! And even better, their luggage made it too! They thought there was no way their luggage was going to make it after having to switch airlines and sprinting to make their second flight, but it did! 

On Saturday afternoon, my parents, Marianne, Jay, Michael, and I took a trip to see the Cliffs of Moher. This was my second trip to the cliffs and they were just as beautiful as the first time I was there. Unfortunately the bus ride there was kind of crazy and really bumpy. I do not get motion sickness but there were a lot of people who did. My mom and Marianne were feeling pretty yucky by the time we got back. Both of them were troopers though! When we got back we had dinner at The Front Door, which was delicious. I had a lamb burger, my mom and Marianne had Guinness stew, my dad had a burger (he isn't much of an adventurous eater), and Nicole, who joined us for dinner, had fish and chips. Of course we all had a pint of Guinness to go with our meals. Everything was so tasty!

For my 22nd birthday, my parents, Marianne, and I took a day trip to the Aran Islands. The Aran Islands are made up for 3 different Islands. We visited the largest of the three, Inishmore. We rented bikes and biked around the entire island. It was incredible. This has been my favorite day trip in Ireland. It was absolutely beautiful and stunning! We biked and then climbed to the highest point on the island. You looked out onto the island and saw nothing but old stone walls and the Atlantic Ocean. The stone walls went on forever and ever. There had to have been hundreds of hours put into building the stone walls. It is hard to imagine building them. After visited the highest point, my parents went back so they could shop in the Aran sweater mill and Marianne and I took off on bike because we wanted to make it to the cliffs. We arrived at the cliffs and bought a ticket to get to the top. At this point it was four o'clock and our ferry was leaving at five o'clock to go back to the mainland. Well the lady at the ticket booth told us it takes about fifteen minutes to get to the top but we did it anyways! We ran up the side of the mountain and made it in seven minutes! It was completely worth it! The cliffs were incredible! I took some pictures but they do not even do justice! We were at the top for about eight minutes and then ran down the mountain in 5 minutes and hopped on our bikes. We knew we had to make it back in time so we flew home. Thank goodness we had bikes and it was a pretty flat ride home. I think my dad was nervous that we were not going to make it because he was laughing when he saw us flying around the corner to drop off our bikes. Needless to say, after three and a half hours of biking and climbing mountains we were exhausted by the time we got to our ferry. We all enjoyed a sandwich and half of a chocolate cupcake for my 22nd birthday! It was truly a wonderful day and I wouldn't have wanted to spend it any other way (of course it would have been wonderful if Colin and my sisters were here!) After returning from Inishmore, we all showered up and went out for dessert and tea. I don't remember the name of the dessert I had but it was amazing to say the least. It was some type of chocolate layered cake with real butter cream and deliciousness! The restaurant also wrote "Happy Birthday Jessica" on the stone plate it came on with white chocolate. The entire day was perfect and I loved every minute of it!

Today was very relaxing. Marianne left this morning for Spain. It was hard to say goodbye but I know I will see her again in the near future! My parents and I did some shopping and sightseeing around Galway. I brought them to my house that I have been living in and they got to meet my landlord. As of right now, I am blogging and my parents are laying in bed watching The Pirates of the Caribbean. That is okay though because tomorrow morning we have to get up super early to catch a 5:15 am bus to the Dublin Airport. Tomorrow we leave for Paris! I am excited and I don't think my mom believe the fact she is going to Paris tomorrow! We will be spending Tuesday through Thursday in Paris and then flying to London late Thursday night. We will be in London Friday through Sunday and then flying back to Ireland late Sunday night. My parents will visit Cork and the Blarney Castle on Monday, then Tuesday afternoon head back to Dublin. They will explore Dublin Tuesday night and all day on Wednesday. I will finish teaching Monday through Wednesday and then meet my parents in Dublin on Wednesday night. On Thursday morning, we all fly home together! I can't decide if I am ready to come home or not. I love the fact that my parents are here now but it also gives me a little taste of home. I can't wait to see Colin. I can't wait to see my sisters, my puppy, my grandparents, my family, and my friends. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed. But I also feel as though my time in Ireland went by way too quickly! I do not feel like I have been here for almost nine weeks! If I could bring Colin, my parents, my sisters, my puppy, my grandparents, and my bed to Ireland, I think I would stay forever. Maybe not even just in Ireland, I could really live in any of the European countries I have have the privilege of visiting. This whole trip has been amazing!

Well I should probably get some sleep since I have to be up in about six hours! I will blog again next Sunday after my adventure to Paris and London!

My countdowns continue:

• 12 hours until Paris!
• 3 days until London!
• 10 days until I get to see Colin, my sisters, family, and friends!
• 12 days until UMD graduation!
• 19 days until Arizona! (Yes, after being home for a week I will be taking off to Arizona to spend a week visiting Jeffrey with Colin, Clayton, Matt, and Hannah)

Barcelona, Spain

Well I successfully completed another week of teaching! Once again, I can't believe how fast time is flying by! This week was kind of a short week though. Monday through Wednesday were full days and Thursday was a half day of teaching. I taught maths, english, geography, and SPHE (health) this week. For math, I am teaching my students how add kilometers and meters (for example, 117km 52m 87km 23m + 542 km 33m). There were also some problems with mixed numbers that you had to simplify before adding or subtracting. I had to teach myself how to do some of these problems before teaching my students because all the problems use the metric system. The more I work with the metric system, I realize it is actually a lot easier than using the standard system. I don't know why the United States used the standard system still. I guess we just like to be different. Another thing I think is kind of funny is that kids are just kids, no matter where you are. In the Fall of 2012, I taught 5th graders at Piedmont Elementary and at Claddagh, I am teaching 5th class. There is still the same drama between the girls and there is still a ton of competition between the boys. I guess it doesn't surprise me too much, but it is just kind of funny. This week, I have my final teaching observation on Thursday. Other than that, I am not sure yet what I will be teaching for the week! I will find out more details tomorrow!

This weekend Nicole, Jay, Kari, and I went to Barcelona! We actually flew out on Thursday night and just got home about an hour ago. We took Friday off of school in order to have 2 full days in Spain. The school was completely okay with that, which was super nice. Our hostel was right on the beach, which was beautiful. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the greatest so we didn't get to spend a day on the beach like we had hoped. On Friday, we just explored on our own. It was nice though to not have a set plan and be go, go, go all weekend long. We did some shopping, which is very dangerous in Barcelona. A lot of cute clothing and shoe stores! I found a pair of cute ankle books! (Nicole actually spotted them for me) I have been looking for a good pair but didn't want to spend a ridiculous amount. These ones where half off because they were on sale! I was so excited. Nicole bought a cute navy blue spring pea coat and Jay bought an adorable jean shirt. Shopping was a success! On Saturday, we went to the beautiful La Sagrada Famila.

La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia

The church was absolutely stunning. Construction of La Sagrada Famila began in 1882 and is still underway. It is expected to be completed in 2041. Antoni Gaudi spent more than 40 years of his life on its construction. He spent the last 15 years of his life working continuously and exclusively on the project. The church had a neo-Gothic style, which was based on forms found in nature. The design was so unreal. There are four towers that you are able to walk up and see the entire city of Barcelona, unfortunately these were closed they day we were there.

The pillars and ceiling look like an enchanted forest

On Sunday, we did not do much except travel. It was pretty much a 12 hour travel day. I am happy to be done traveling for the weekend!

I found out yesterday that Marianne, she was a foreign exchange student from Sweden my senior year of high school, is coming to visit me in Galway on Thursday! I can't wait to see her! She will be staying until Monday. It will be wonderful to spend some time with her and show her around Galway! 

Since I have been doing countdowns, I may as well continue to do so!

• Parents arrive in Ireland - 6 days! I can't wait to see them!
• 7 days until my 22nd birthday! So crazy!
• 9 days until Paris!
• 11 days until England!
• I get to see Colin in 18 days! I can't wait to see him!
• I get to see my sisters, family, and friends in 18 days too!
• UMD Graduation - 20 days!

I still can't get over how unbelievably lucky I am to have been given this wonderful opportunity. I know I have said this before but I could not have done it without the never ending support of my family and friends, especially my parents and grandparents. Living abroad has been a truly amazing experience. It has opened my eyes up to the world and touched me in many different ways. Teaching has been such a heartwarming experience as well. I don't know how I will ever thank everyone that has made this journey possible! 

I have already been in Ireland for 7 weeks!

First of all, I can't believe I have been in Ireland for 7 weeks!

The time is going by so unbelievably fast!

This past week I finished my third full week of teaching in Ireland. I have pretty much taken over all of the subjects except for Gaelic and Religion. Everyday, I teach the students maths and reading. I also teach the students, history, geography, SPHE (which is like health), and laptops. The students only get these 4 subjects once a week. I have noticed though that a lot of their other subjects integrate into their maths and reading immensely though. I was observed by Orla, another one of my supervisors today, who is actually a 6th class teacher at Claddagh. She observed my maths lesson for the day. The students recently started learning about length. For today's maths lesson, the students did an activity where they had to jump as far as they could without a running start, estimate in centimeters how far they jumped, and then actually measure how far they did jump. We tracked the students data and then found the class average of estimates and actual jumps. The average class estimate was 89.4 cm and the average class jump was 114.4 cm. Then the students used the collected data and made a bar graph representing the lengths actually jumped for each student in the class. I think the students really enjoyed the activity!

I haven't posted any pictures of my classroom yet and today I finally remembered to take some pictures of my 5th class! My classroom is in its own separate building. It is always nice and warm inside because we have our own little radiators on the wall. There is no SMART board but we do have a projector. The students also just keep their coats on the back of their chairs and their backpacks on the ground in front of them. All of their books are stacked on the table in front of them.

My 5th Class

My 5th Class

My 5th Class

This past weekend, the 4 of us left on Friday for Dublin to catch a train to Belfast. We were meeting the other 2, Nate and Brittney, in Dublin as well. Nate and Brittney barely made the train to Belfast! Their bus ended up taking forever to get from Westport to Dublin and literately hopped on the train as the doors were shutting. It was definitely nerve wracking for all of us! We all made it safely to Belfast though! On Saturday, we took a day tour to Giants Causeway. We made a couple of other stops along the way too. There was this cool rope bridge that we stopped at and got to cross. The area was beautiful!

Rope Bridge

Looking down from the rope bridge

 

After the Rope Bridge, we went to Giant's Causeway. The rocks at Giant's Causeway are mostly shaped like a hexagon. It is the strangest thing to see. I looked up some information about the area and this is what I found: The rock formations were created by lava flow some 65 million years ago by molten basalt rising through a chalk bed, and then cooling and cracking to form the tall columns that make up the causeway. The cracking produced interesting geometric designs, and although most of the columns are six-sided, others have between four and eight sides. The rapid cooling that took place is likely the results of lava coming into contact with water. At the time of this monument's creation, Ireland lie near the equator, shifting northward with the movement of the tectonic plates. Very interesting!

On Sunday, we took a Black Taxi tour around Belfast. This was very interesting as well! We got to learn about the catholic and protestant religions in Belfast and how the troubled history has played a huge role in Belfast. We also toured the Titanic Museum! This was probably my favorite and the neatest museum I have even been too. I could have spend all day exploring and learning, but I only have 3 hours. The Titanic was built in Belfast and took about 26 months to complete. 100,000 people watched as the Titanic left its docks in Belfast. The story of the Titanic is amazing and so sad at the same time. It was a really amazing experience.

Titanic Dock - Where is was built and furnished

We didn't get back until about 11:00 pm last night, so I am definitely tired today. In about an hour, I have Zumba with Jay. We joined a Monday and Wednesday night class at a local gym near our house. It has been wonderful! I also have some more lesson plans to write and preparation for the week! This week is kind of a short week for us. We have full days tomorrow and Wednesday, Thursday is a half day, and we do not teach on Friday. On Thursday night, the 4 of us are leaving for Barcelona, Spain! We are hoping for sunny weather so we can relax and spend a day doing nothing on the beach, but we will see! 

My last 3 weeks are going to fly by! This weekend, I will be in Barcelona. I teach all week the following week. My parents fly in on Saturday, May 4! I can't wait! I have the following week off because Claddagh has a mid-semester break May 6-10. During that week, my parents and I will explore Galway, Paris, and London. I will finish my last 3 days of teaching May 13 through the 15, and then my parents and I fly home on May 16. It is going to go by so fast! 

I also found out that Marianne, the Swedish foreign exchange student that went to school with me my senior year at Central, might come and visit me in Ireland May 3-6! She is looking into tickets! I would be so excited if I got to see her! I am crossing my fingers it all works out!

I am in no rush to get home but there are some things I for sure looking forward to!

• Parents arrive in Ireland - 12 days!
• Seeing Colin after being apart for almost 4 months - 24 days!
• Seeing my sisters, family, and friends - 24 days!
• UMD graduation - 26 days!

I also can't wait to enjoy a lovely Cold Fusion shake! I really haven't been craving anything except a shake! My first shake will be Christmas Cookie! Yummy! I think that is everything I needed to blog about for this past week. I will probably update my blog again after my Barcelona trip on Sunday!

Week back at Claddagh

This past week was my first full week at Claddagh National School. It was nice to be back teaching and getting back into routine of things after our busy start coming to Ireland. My cooperating teaching took another week off because her and her husband were taking a trip to the North Pole. My teacher ran a half marathon and her husband ran the full marathon. Why you would ever want to run a marathon in the North Pole, is beyond me! My cooperating teacher's husband won the marathon! He ran a full marathon in the North Pole in 3 hours and 45 minutes. I guess he was ahead of the 2nd place guy by 45 minutes. I would say that is pretty impressive! My cooperating teacher and her husband both work at Claddagh, so tomorrow the school is having a welcome back surprise assembly for them. My 5th class has prepared some questions to ask them at the assembly. It will be interesting to hear how the marathon went, how cold it was, and so on. I had heard that he was so bundled up, that the only part of skin showing was around his eyes. Even though it was freezing cold, he was sweating under all his layers and the sweat would come down over his eyes and freeze so he had to keep wiping the ice away from his eyes. Burrrr, running a marathon in the North Pole is something I would never do!

This week I taught mathematics (Maths is the Ireland name) to my 5th class. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we focused on area of square and irregular shapes. Finding the area of irregular shapes was a hard concept for my students to grasp. On Thursday and Friday, we focused on multiples and factors. I also did a Easter recount (retelling) with my students on Monday and Tuesday. The students had to write a 5 paragraph recount telling about what they did over their Easter Holiday. It was really interesting to hear about what my students did and to see the different ability levels in their writing. On Wednesday, I also did a geography lesson on the United States and Minnesota with my students. This lesson was really fun and the students had a lot of questions for me. They could not grasp the concept of distance. I was explaining to them that in Ireland it takes me 2.5 hours to get from Dublin to Galway. Which is going from the east coast to the west coast, completely across the entire country. In Minnesota, it takes me 2.5 hours to get from Duluth to the Twin Cities. It was hard for them to realize the size of Minnesota compared to Ireland, and especially the size of the United States.

On Friday I was observed by my UMD supervisor, Jill. I did a lesson on multiples and factors. The students made fortune tellers, or "cootie catchers", but instead of having fortunes on the inside, it had math problems. The fortune tellers had to have questions such as:
          List of the first five multiples of 15.
          What are the factors of 36?

The students really liked making the fortune tellers! They were able to quiz each other or try and stump me. It was a fun way to learn math. I thought the lesson overall went pretty good and the students really seemed to enjoy it. 

My 5th class is a very diverse group of students. I have many students who are not from Ireland. I have students from Spain, Turkey, Poland, and Russia, to name a few. There is also a wide range of ability levels in my class. I have 3 students who are ASD (autism spectrum disorder) and fully intergrated into the mainstream classroom. All 3 of those students have SNAs (special needs assistants), who are with them throughout the day. There are times when there are 6 adults in the classroom to 22 students. Claddagh is also a school for lower socioeconomic families. Many of the students come from families that have one parent living in Ireland and another parent living in another country. Many students are living in hotels or with relatives. It will be nice to talk with my cooperating teaching and continue to learn more about the class.

Nicole, Jay, Kari, and I decided on Thursday night we are going to make it a date night. Every Thursday we are going to find a fun restaurant to eat out at in Galway. This past Thursday we ate at Tom Sheridans, which is a local pub by our house. Our landlord is a regular there and his favorite place to go. I had the roast of the day, which happened to be lamb. It was delicious! Jay and I split dessert, which was a slice of fig pie (it had a fancier name) with a caramelized drizzle and vanilla ice cream. That was delicious too!

On Friday night, Jill (UMD supervisor) took us out for dinner at a restaurant called The Malthouse. This restaurant also had very delicious food. I am not even sure what the names of my dished were, but they were good! Here are a couple pictures though of my starter and main course!

On Saturday, Nicole, Jay, Kari, and I took a day trip to Cork, Ireland. In Cork, we visited the Blarney Castle and Cobh, which is the last city the Titanic picked up passengers before leaving for America. The weather so was typically when you think of Ireland weather. It was drizzly all day. Luckily there was no wind and we did not get cold. The Blarney Castle was gorgeous! I got to kiss the Blarney Stone! Legend says "Once kissed the stone bestows the gift of eloquence".

Kissing the Blarney Stone!

The Blarney Castle

The Blarney Castle

The Blarney Castle

My ticket to board the Titanic

The dock where the passengers loaded

Model of the Titanic

Today is Sunday and I have just been hanging out. We thought of doing something today but the weather has been on and off down pouring. We went grocery shopping this morning and are going to cook fajitas tonight for dinner. Tomorrow starts another week of teaching!

I can't believe I have already been in Ireland for a month! Time is flying by! I can't wait until I get to see my parents (20 days)! I can't wait until I get to see Colin and the rest of my family (31 days)! I am loving my time in Ireland, but I can't wait to see the people I love!

Spring Break

After 8 full days of traveling, I am happy to say that I am going absolutely nowhere today! With that said, this past week has been incredible! I think it is amazing that within 8 days I left Ireland, flew to Rome, Italy, took a train to Venice, flew to Berlin, Germany, and flew back to Ireland. Traveling around Europe is a lot of affordable than traveling about the United States. The airline  we used is called Ryan Air. They have incredibly cheap flights throughout Europe. You have to pay for any bags you choose to check-in, but are allowed one free carry-on bag. Of course there are size and weight requirements, just like any other airline. I managed to pack a week worth of clothes, an extra pair of shoes, a towel, and toiletries in a backpack. It was actually extremely nice not having to check a bag and having everything you need just on your back. Ryan Air does not assign seats unless you choose to pay for them. Nobody chooses to pay for their seat, so it is a mad dash when people start boarding because everyone wants to sit by their friends or family members. All of our flights went smoothly though!

First stop - Rome, Italy

On Saturday, March 30 we left Galway and took a bus to Dublin. From Dublin, we flew into Rome, Italy. We were able to find our hostel, which was actually pretty nice. The six of us stayed in a room together and it had two bathrooms. That night we went out to eat at a restaurant down the street. Of course, I had pizza. It was delicious! Jay's friends from New York were in Rome the same time we were there. We met up with them and went out for a couple of hours. They were able to show us where a lot of younger people went out at night. It was a lot of fun.

This crazy drink Jay's friends had Jay and
I try! It kind of tasted like black licorice. 

In the morning we got up early and explored Rome for the day! I was kind of the tour guide for the day since I had been to Rome before. It is crazy to think I have been to Rome twice already! How lucky am I!? We visited the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, Vatican City, and St. Peter's Cathedral. The weather was beautiful in Rome. It was nice not having to wear my purple rain jacket that you see in all my pictures. We were in Rome on Easter Sunday. We did not even realize that we would been there on Easter Sunday when booking the trip. Being in Vatican City and St. Peter's Cathedral  on Easter Sunday was incredible. There were so many people! We chose not to attend the service in the morning because we knew there would be millions of people trying to do the same thing. Even though we did not attend the service in the morning, when visiting St. Peter's Cathedral, the nightly mass was taking place. We attended part of the nightly mass. The mass was in Latin, therefore nobody knew what was being said. Either way, it was really neat to be apart of. Of course, I had gelato in Rome! I actually brought everyone to the first place Colin and I had gelato, Flor. I had banana and chocolate gelato. My favorite! Yummy! Everyone was very pleased. the next day, we took a train from Rome to Venice. We chose to take the cheapest train ride, so it took 6 hours to get to Venice. It did not feel very long though. 

Colosseum in Rome, Italy

Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy

Jay, Nicole, and I

Our hostel in Venice was outside of the city itself. This wasn't the greatest place to stay but it was affordable. We had to take a train in order to actually get into Venice. The train only took about 7 minutes. Everything is a little more expensive in Venice due to the fact it is a group of island. There are no cars on Venice (or at least very, very few). Venice is actually made up of 118 small islands. We visited a couple of different islands and traveled by taxi boat to get there. My favorite little island was Burano. Burano was a pretty little town and known for its lace factories. We did not actually see the lace factories but there was definitely a lot of lace items being sold. Burano was also a great place to take pictures. All the houses and buildings are different colors. It looks beautiful with the canals running between them too. Venice was a pretty city but spending only one day there was plenty. The food was terrible and the friendliness of the people was even worse. For dinner, we had the worst food and terrible service and it was our most expensive meal. Very disappointing, especially when you are on a budget.

Burano

Burano

Loving the gondola ride in Venice

On a more positive note, I went on a gondola ride! This was totally worth it. The gondola ride we took was owned by a family business. The guy who brought us on the ride had been doing it for 21 years and had only fallen in the water 7 times. I thought that was pretty impressive. It was very peaceful and relaxing. It was exactly what we needed after our terrible dinner.

The next day we flew up to Berlin, Germany. Berlin reminded me a lot of home. It was cold, dry, and snowy. It was the kind of dry cold I am used to, unlike Ireland's wet cold. Berlin was probably my favorite part of the trip. The city is full of so much history. I would love to go back and spend an entire week explore more of Germany. The first night in Germany we went to an Italian restaurant by accident (whoops). They actually had some traditional German dishes though and I had the most amazing stew (I do not remember the German name for it). I ordered the stew with tomato broth and Brittney ordered the stew with a mushroom type of broth. They ended up bring both of us the ones with the mushroom type broth. I didn't want to tell them that I got the wrong dish, so I just thought I would try it even though I do not like mushrooms. My mom and Colin would be very proud of me because I ate it all and it was delicious!

The next day we visited the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. This was a very moving experience. Sachsenhausen became a training ground for the execution of the Holocaust and ultimately the center of the whole concentration camp system. It is hard to put into words what went on there. I did not take any pictures because it did not feel right to do so. It is hard for me to grasp the crewel things that took place there and at other concentration or extermination camps around the world. I bought the book "Night" at Sachsenhausen. It is written by Elie Wiesel and his personal experience with his father in the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald. I only have about 15 pages left. It has been a difficult and touching read.

After visited the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, our tour guide brought us to this delicious restaurant. I had schnitzel and German beer. The schnitzel was so good! Nate and Jay had a smoked bacon flavored beer. I tried some and it was okay. They loved it. The next day we took a free walking tour with the same tour guide that led our tour through the concentration camp. The walking tour brought us around Berlin and gave us some history of Berlin. The history of the Berlin wall was most fascinating to me. The Berlin wall completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. I learned so much within this 3 hour walking tour it is hard to recap it all. I will be back to Germany in the future! That night we flew back to Dublin and bused it back to Galway. I think everyone was happy to be home. 

Yesterday, we took a day tour to the Kylemore Abbey in Ireland. The abbey is beautiful and the drive out the the abbey was beautiful as well. 

Beautiful mountains near Kylemore Abbey

Kylemore Abbey

Mitchell Henry and Marget Henry lived in the castle. When Mitchell and Marget were on their honeymoon, Marget fell in the love with the surrounding area and Mitchell surprised her by building her a castle. What a man. They castle was built in 1867. Unfortunately, Marget only lived in the castle for 4 years. She died in Egypt when the family was on holiday. In 1923, the Kylemore Abby was a boarding school for girls and just recently closed in 2010. The school was run by nuns. There are currently only 10 nuns that are apart of the Benedictine Community today at Kylemore. 3 of the nuns live full time in the Kylemore Abbey and 7 of them live in the surrounding  area. Kylemore was beautiful. I think it would be even more beautiful when all of the surrounding area bloomed with greens and flowers. 

And finally it is Sunday! A day of rest! So far the only thing I have done today is eat breakfast and this, update by blog. Today I plan on doing nothing but write lesson plans, get read for my week back teaching, do laundry, and relax. I have a bit of a cold so it will be good for me to rest and be lazy for one day.

Some more exciting news:

• It was my baby sister Kelsey's 17th birthday yesterday! I can't believe she is 17! I hope she ate an extra piece of cake for me since I wasn't able to celebrate with her.
• I received a lovely Easter package in the mail from my family!
• My parents arrive in 27 days!
• I get to see Colin in 39 days! 
• We are planning a trip to Barcelona for the last full weekend in April!

I think that is everything. I still can't express how lucky I am to be able to have this opportunity! It does not feel real still to this day that I am living in Galway, Ireland. I couldn't do it without the constant support from my mom and dad, my sisters, my grandparents, Colin and his family, and all my other family members and friends. I love you all! Okay now it is time for laundry and lesson planning. 

Easter Camp

Last Friday night, the two student teachers from Westport, Ireland, Nate and Brittney, came to Galway to help run the Easter Camp. It is a bummer that they are not permanently in Galway with us but they were unable to get secondary education placements in Galway.

The Easter Camp was March 25-29 from 10:00-2:00pm. The camp was held at our elementary school, Claddagh National School. There were about 25 students who signed up for the camp. It was was a lot of fun helping run the camp! The six of us were camp leaders along with Louise, who is the art teacher at Claddagh. Throughout the week, the kids participated in a variety of activities. The first day for "Sports", we taught the kids how to play kickball. This was a HUGE hit. The kids loved it and asked to play everyday. The second day was "American" themed. For cooking, we made our favorite childhood snack with the kids, Puppy Chow, of course. Most of the kids liked it. There were a lot of peanut butter haters, which I thought was surprising. For the afternoon of America day, we taught the kids three popular dances: Cotton Eyed Joe, Electric Slide, and Cupid Shuffle. The kids favorite was Cotton Eyed Joe. The kids really like dancing and caught on really fast. To finish the afternoon, we taught the kids how to play "Capture the Flag". On Wednesday, we brought the kids to Leisure Land, which is similar to a YMCA. Swimming is really popular in Galway. A lot of people who live here go on a swim everyday, whether it is in the Atlantic Ocean (bbburrrrrr) or pool. Many of the kids take swimming lessons. We got to swim with the kids too. It was a little chaotic trying to keep track of 25 kids swimming, but nobody drowned so it was a good day! On Thursday, we did drama and art with the kids, and in the afternoon played a pick-game of soccer. Today was the last day of camp! Whoohoo! By Friday, everyone was exhausted! The kids did "Sports" and "Computer/Games" for the morning and in the afternoon, we did an Easter scavenger hunt and had a dance party. It was a lot of fun helping run the Easter Camp though! I had a blast! I definitely am tired tonight! Hopefully I get a good night of sleep because tomorrow we leave for ROME! For our Spring break we are going to Rome, Venice, and Berlin. We have 6 days to visit two countries and three cities, take three flights, and one train ride. This upcoming week is going to be amazing, it is going to fly by, and by next weekend I am going to be dead tired. It is so worth it though! I still do not believe I am in Ireland though and now I have to fathom that I am going to Italy and Germany. I am so unbelievably blessed to have all of these amazing opportunities though. I couldn't do it without the never ending support of my parents, grandparents, friends, and family. I also got GREAT news this week! MY MOM AND DAD ARE COMING TO IRELAND! I can't wait to see them! They fly in on May 4 and are staying until May 16. I am so happy they are coming to see me! While they are here, we are going to Paris, France and London, England too! It will also be nice because they will be able to fly home with me, instead of flying home by myself. 34 DAYS UNTIL THEY COME! YAY! Yesterday also marked my mom's 6th year cancer free anniversary! Another huge milestone! Love you momma!

Well this past week was a big week and tomorrow starts another big week! You are probably wondering when any student teaching is taking place ... ? Don't worry! Starting April 8, I will be teaching for 4 weeks so my travels will be slowing down (a little bit).

I will blog again after our Spring break trip! Bye!

First week of teaching at Claddagh National School

Claddagh National School

This past week was this first official week of teaching at Claddagh National School in Galway, Ireland. I can't even consider it a full week because we started on Tuesday and Friday was a half day, so it came down to 3.5 days of teaching. The school day is from 8:50-2:30pm. I have to arrive at 8:20am to monitor the students in the hall, which is like the gymnasium. The students wait in the hall until 8:50am and then the principle or vice principle comes into the hall and guides the students through a prayer before starting the school day. The teachers do not arrive until 8:45am. This is something that is completely different compared to the US. Many teachers in the US arrive at least a half hour before school starts to prep for the day or get their classroom set up. At Claddagh, the first break or as we know it as recess, is from 11:00-11:15am. The students get 15 minutes to play outside. Before going outside at 11 o'clock, the students have a small snack. The second break is from 12:00-12:30pm, the students get 30 minutes to play outside. Before going outside at noon, the students eat lunch. There is no cafeteria. The students are required to bring their own snacks and lunch from home and they eat in the classroom. During both breaks, I stand outside and monitor the students. I kind of feel like a playground or hall monitor because my day consists of 1 hour and 30 minutes of monitoring students behavior. It is also different because since I monitor the students during their breaks, I have to take my own breaks during the time the students are learning in the classroom. Therefore it is cutting into my time that I am actually in the classroom and could be teaching. This first week was a little chaotic. There were a couple reasons for this. St. Patrick's Day was this past weekend and students at Claddagh, marched in the parade. It sounds like all of last week the students practiced their instruments and marching. Also this week was only a 3.5 day week and now the students are off for 2 weeks because of Easter Holiday. My students were a little rambunctious all week. On Thursday, I worked with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) students all day. We took the students to the cinema and saw a movie. There are only 5 students in the ASD classroom but when going on outings, there needs to be one adult for every child so I was asked to come along. It was a fun day and very interesting. I have only worked with one autistic student in the US. Working with these children every Thursday will be a great experience. It was overall a good week. Completely different than any school I have been in. It is weird because I finally started seeing some structure to the day and now we have a two week Easter Holiday and won't be back into the classroom until April 8.

Next week Jay, Nicole, Kari, Brittney, Nate, and I are running the Easter Camp at Claddagh. There are about 20 students signed up to come to the camp. It should be fun. We are doing activities such as dance, drama, art, sports, and cooking. The camp is Monday through Friday and goes from 10:00-2:00pm.

We also booked our spring break trip! Next Saturday, March 30, we are leaving Ireland and flying to Rome, Italy. We will spend a couple days in Rome, travel by train to Florence and Venice, and again travel by train to Germany. We will fly out of Germany and back to Ireland on Friday, April 5. I am so excited! I am excited to go back to Italy. I went to Rome about two summers ago but I never saw northern Italy so Florence and Venice will be something new to see! It will be a quick and busy trip! I'm sure we will be exhausted by the end of it. 

This weekend had been a lazy one. I am not complaining though. Ever since we got to Ireland, we have been go, go, go. Everyone was exhausted after St. Patrick's Day weekend in Dublin and teaching all week. It was nice to be able to sleep in and do nothing all day. Tomorrow we are having an early Easter dinner. Everyone is cooking their favorite Easter dish. We will be in Italy for Easter so we decided to do it early. Jay is cooking a honey glazed ham, Kari is cooking potatoes of some sort, Brittney is making a traditional Irish cabbage dish, Nate is making a broccoli salad, Nicole is preparing dessert, and I am going to attempt to make honey rolls. It should be delicious! I am going to go to bed now and enjoy sleeping in again! Goodnight! :)