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! :)

St. Patrick's Day in Dublin, Ireland

Happy St. Patrick's day from Dublin, Ireland!

St. Paddy's Day dinner

On Friday, we packed up again and hopped on a bus to Dublin, Ireland. The bus ride only takes about two and half hours. It is amazing that you can go completely across the country in just a few hours. We all packed light because we stayed in Isaacs Hostel in a room with 10 other people. When we arrived in Dublin, we met up with Nate and Brittney. They are living in Westport, Ireland because they are teaching secondary education. Isaacs Hostel was very nice! There were a lot of people staying there because of St. Patrick's Day. Dublin was also very busy and everyone was wearing silly St. Paddy's Day attire. On Friday night, we all took part in our first pub crawl, the Hostel Pub Crawl. There were many other people from other hostels that took part in the pub crawl too. It was a lot of fun! The last stop was at this underground nightclub. There was a really good saxophone player, who played along with the upbeat music. It was very unique but he was really good! On Saturday, we explored Dublin. We visited the St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ Church, ate at a restaurant called Captain America, and did a little shopping. Isaacs had a full kitchen so for dinner we made spaghetti and garlic bread. On Sunday, we got up early and went to the St. Patrick's Day parade. The streets were filled with green, white, and orange. Unfortunately it was raining, hailing, and sometimes snowing throughout the parade. It was chilly so we only stayed for about thirty minutes of it. We went out for dinner that night and it was super busy everywhere. We ate at a little restaurant close to Isaacs. It is really weird eating out in a big group. The restaurants do not like splitting the bill. They put everyone on one bill and do no t give you the option of being on your own. There have been a few places that let us pay individually, but it is very rare that they let you. I am not sure why that is. Also tipping is uncommon too. We have asked our landlord what the proper thing to do is about tipping and he told us that it is our choice but it is not expected. 

St. Paddy's Day Parade

After dinner, we went back to our hostel for a bit and played some card games. A lot of people hang out in the lobby of the hostel before going out. It is a fun atmosphere. We went out to a few pubs but every place was extremely busy. It was a lot of fun though and I was happy that I got to spend St. Patrick's Day in Dublin!  This morning we got back onto the bus and headed back to Galway. We went grocery shopping for this upcoming week. I went for a nice run because it was gorgeous outside. Made dinner and now doing laundry. Tomorrow is my first day of teaching! I will be teaching "5th class", which is 10-11 year old students. I am excited and nervous about starting. It will be interesting to see the differences between the US education system and Ireland education system. I am most nervous about teaching mathematics because Ireland (and the rest of the world) uses the metric system and the US uses standard math. We have to be there at 8:20am and the school day starts at 8:50am and goes until about 3:00pm. We are not exactly sure what time the school day ends but I guess we will find out tomorrow! Everyone is going to bed early tonight. I can't believe I have already been here for 6 days. The time is already flying by! Goodnight! 

St. Patrick's Day Parade

St. Patrick's Day Parade

Hostel Pub Crawl

Serious faces at Isaacs Hostel

Cliffs of Moher

Today we went on a bus tour to go see the Cliffs of Moher. It was amazing! The pictures do not even do justice of how beautiful they are. The bus tour started at 10:00am and went until 5:30pm. The first stop was at the Connolly Family Farm in Burren. An Irish farmer, showed us around his farm and brought us up into the mountains. It started raining at the beginning so I was freezing the entire time. In Ireland it can start raining at any moment. It does not last long which is nice though. After the tour, he invited us into "Granny's Cottage" for coffee, tea, and cheesecake. I really like their tea. They add a bit of milk to it and it is really yummy. The family farm was beautiful. We want to go back in a few weeks because I guess the mountains are full of wild flowers and berries. It is said to be beautiful.

After touring the family farm, we went to the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs were breathtaking. The pictures do not do justice.

According to PJ (our bus driver), it usually is always foggy at the cliffs, which makes it difficult to see the cliffs. We lucked out and had a beautiful day! It was sunny but very windy. 

The Cliffs of Moher were stunning! Like I said, the pictures do not even show how beautiful they actually were. I slept most of the ride home because I was exhausted after hiking all day. We came home and cooked dinner and now are packing because we are leaving for Dublin tomorrow morning at 9:15am. We will be staying in Dublin for St. Patty's Day! It has been such a busy past couple of days, it has not hit me yet that I am in Ireland. I feel like I am on a one week vacation, but I really am here for 10 weeks!

This picture is for Morgan because she always takes pictures of fast food places! Love you and miss you!

We made it!

After a long day of traveling, we finally made it! It was overall a very smooth trip.

2.5 hour drive to the Minneapolis Airport

Waited in the MSP Airport for 1.5 hours

1 hour flight to Chicago

3 hour layover at the Chicago Airport

8 hour plane ride to Dublin

3 hour bus ride to Galway

15 minute taxi ride to our house

AND WE FINALLY MADE IT!

I definitely was very tired of sitting and attempting to sleep sitting up. I was able to sleep a little bit on the plane and bus. I don't feel very jet-lagged which is good. 

The outside of our house

Address: 116 Knocknacarra Park Galway Ireland

There is some confusion with the housing situation though. When we were filling out our immigration cards, Jay noticed she had a different house number than us but on the same road. When we arrived at the Galway bus center, Jay had a different taxi waiting for her. It was so rushed and busy that we all just got into our assigned taxis. Jay was in her own taxi and Nicole, Kari, and I were in another taxi. Luckily we all went to the same location but Jay had a different house. We were told that all 4 of us were going to be living together. Jay has been in contact with Jana (our Ireland supervisor) and Jim (our UMD supervisor). Hopefully this gets figured out. Nicole, Kari, and I's house is super nice! Our landlord, Steve, also lives with us (which was unexpected). He is an older gentleman but super nice. His house is super clean and organized and warned us to keep it that way. The grocery store is super close so we walked down to the store and picked up a couple items. Tonight I think we are going downtown to a local pub to get some dinner and then probably just coming home because we will be tired. We also booked our St. Patrick's Day trip! We found a 16 bed hostel in Dublin for Friday through Monday for a really good deal. Staying with 10 other people should be interesting! We are all very excited though! 

Beautiful Kitchen

Planning our St. Patty's Day trip

Nicole and I's bedroom

Packing!

HOW DO YOU PACK FOR TEN WEEKS?!

Especially when I will be teaching, therefore needing dress clothes, dress shoes, and all that other stuff. My suitcase is packed to the max so I will not be packing anymore, but I still feel like I need more clothes! I am bring a big suitcase and a smaller one for weekend traveling. How many pairs of shoes to bring? A girl can never have enough shoes ... but I resisted to only bring 5 pairs, hopefully that will be enough!

I can't believe I leave tomorrow! I feel like I have been waiting forever for this day to come and now I leave in less than 24 hours! My mom and I are hitting the road about 8:00am tomorrow morning. Stopping at Caribou for my mom's latte and cold fusion for me. I need one more shake before I leave! I am kind of bummed my dad can't bring me down to the airport, but he is working nights this weekend so he definitely needs to sleep. I am so thankful to have such wonderful and supportive parents. I couldn't do this without them! 

My plane leaves from Minneapolis at 2:30pm tomorrow. We fly to Chicago and have about a 3 hour layover, then Ireland bound at 7:15pm! It is about an eight hour flight from Chicago to Ireland, which really is not too bad. It is nice that we are flying overnight because we arrive in Dublin at 8:00am on Tuesday, March 12. I do not thing we will be too jet-lagged. From Dublin, we hop on a bus and head for Galway! The bus ride is about 3 hours. We pretty much travel straight across the country, from the east coast to the west.

I am so excited to leave! I plan on updating my blog with pictures and more, at least once a week! Hopefully more! Exactly 20 hours and 38 minutes until I leave! YAY!!!