Ireland Erasmus 2023

  With Laura, he mom and her sister, I went to the bunratty castle. There was the castle, and a little village to see, with some animals, like goats, horses, and chicken.  The old houses were open to visit, mainly fisherman's ones with way too much incense smell, but some houses were more decorated, because they were property of richer people. There was someone representing how did a blacksmith used to do his job in one of the houses. And there were old stores, and a school, where an old man was explaining how the school worked, and talking about how he used to go there. I also saw a little church, but just from the outside. We saw the castle, and it was like you'd expect a castle to be, huge and with a lot of stairs.

 It was a school day, but instead, my host family and I went to the national ploughing championships, a yearly event for farmers and some other people to sell and promote their products. It was really windy and rainy, so we had to wear wellies, cause the ground had so much mud.  The event was so full of people, and there were hundreds of stalls, which were mostly of associations or food. In some of them, there were little free things, like pens or tastes of the food. For example, there was a lupa, that had some free meat, and chips that were too hot, and a slice of pizza I didn't manage to get. We stayed there for hours, until we got in the car and went back home.

 We went to class, and kept learning the dance for the musical in the first period. After some more classes, where we didn't do much because we're here for just three weeks, we had Spanish. I think it's funny to see how is the book that explains a language you already know, and I was curious about how would a Spanish listening be, but we didn't had the opportunity.  In the evening, it was the movie night, but it was only from 7 to 9, so it wasn't much. They put the Jumanji movie, that's about a group of teens getting trapped in a game. No one was really paying much attention, mainly focused on talking or eating. But actually, we didn't get to finish the movie, because the teacher quitted it before.

 We got out of school at 9 and a half, more or less, and it took about an hour to arrive to ballyhass. It was pretty windy and cold, so most people, including me, were freezing.  After getting the security protections and all, we separated in smaller groups, and at first we went to the climbing. We had to walk up a tilted ladder, and it really was way more difficult than it seemed. When we all finished trying, some people repeated, and a couple ones played a game that was about quitting each other shoe while on the ladder, it was amusing to see. We went to the skyline, and it was fun, but at the end, you had to be careful to not trip on the ground.  At last, we went to the water part, and as it was so cold and I was feeling kinda unwell I didn't go to the water. But a friend didn't go to the water either, so we were looking and talking. We got back to school at like, 5 in the evening.

 Today we had an excursion to limerick. We got out of school at 9 and a half, and we headed to limerick in a bus. We went to the milk market, but I really didn't see milk anywhere. I bought a sausage roll, but it was kinda spicy. I also got little chocolates that had a frog shape.  We walked around the city for a while, but not seeing anything in specific. We also went to the shopping centre, and I wanted to buy a book, but I had wasted my money already. We went to kilmallock, and I saw a castle, and it looked cool. We saw a hurling match, it was like 2 hours long, and it was genuinely so boring I almost fell asleep at some point. 

We took the bus to Bilbao at 10 and a half in the morning, and when we arrived, we took a different bus to the airport. We arrived at the airport way too soon, and after a long time, we checked our baggage. But we still had much time to wait, cause the plane wasn't on time. At 5, the plain finally took off, and about two hours later, when it landed on Dublin, the Irish students were already waiting for us. With them, we took another bus, and we stopped to dine in a petrol station, before continuing the rest of the journey. The bus stopped at scoil Pol, where each family was waiting for its exchange student.

 Soon in the morning, at like, 9, I think, we all, Spanish and Irish exchange students, went on a bus to Dublin. It took a long time to arrive, and there we walked around for a while. We saw a long metal stick that was over 100 meters tall but I don't remember its name, apart from other places. We had some free time in a street with shops, but we couldn't go on our own, as every Spanish student had to be with at least an Irish one. So I had to follow Laura and her friend to Primark and zara, even though the free time had already finished. After a while, we went to the airport to pick up the 2 weeks students, but they took too long to get their luggage. So, with everyone reunited, we went back on the bus, and we arrived pretty late.

 I woke up and went to class. The first class was maths, still algebra. Then we had chemistry, and it was an explanation about fingerprints. We had life skills, but we really didn't do anything, and I didn't understood anything either. We also had young social innovators, but as it was one of the first days, the teacher just explained that they'll have to do a project during the school year. Then it was the break, and I ate a bagel with jam. I think that I had never tried bagels before. We had Irish, and a couple groups were presenting a PowerPoint. The teacher told us about the ogham, that is a system of writing irish with little lines on a long vertical one. At last we had wood technology, and we had to copy the design of a lock to the millimeter.

 I woke up soon, and then I went to class. Here the timetables are different, and the hallways are full of people. At first we had a class were they were practicing for the musical they'll do at the end of the year. We started to learn a dance, and it wasn't too difficult. Then we had religion class, and the teacher was telling us how everyone will die someday, but that since we're teens we don't really realize it. After that, we had maths. They were doing algebra, and it was easy. We had home economics, and the teacher was explaining how to be clean while cooking. And then we had Spanish, and we went around the village finding things. And since my team won, the teacher got us an ice pop. In the evening, I went out for a little walk with Laura and we talked. And after that, since she had a training, I was watching with her mother. She stopped to talk with someone she knew and two kids told me I look 12.

 We took a bus from the school at 9 in the morning, and we headed to Lahinch, to do surfing. The swimsuits were pretty hard to put on, and they were all wet, and some even had sand. The surf tables were heavier than they seemed, and as they were big, it was annoying to move them around. At first, with the table on the sand, we got an explanation on how to stand on the it when it was on the water. And then we tried doing it in the actual sea. I didn't really like it.  After lunch, we went to the cliffs of moher, but it was so windy and cold we barely spent any time there. Just the necessary to take some pictures, and look at it.

 At first, I almost didn't find geography class, because the timetable said it was a different room from which one it actually was. But in that class and the next, the Spanish students were just playing cards, because we had nothing else to do. We didn't do much the rest of the morning, and when school ended, I had to wait for Laura while she had basketball. It wasn't much more than an hour, but it was boring, and I had to find a covered place because, to surprise of anyone, it started to rain a lot. I didn't do much the rest of the evening

 We started a different dance for the musical. In religion we were told about the adolescent stage of faith, and in home economics we made churros with chocolate, and even if they were nothing like actual churros, they tasted good. After class, I spent some time talking with my friends, and I went home. That day was the music night, from 7 to 9. There was a girl playing the harp, a boy with a banjo, and a girl doing an Irish dance. An old lady sang a song called Molly malone, that talked about cockles and mussels. Some older students sang another song called oh Johny, and then we all ended up dancing the macarena. We played musical chairs, and there were some more songs, before they gave us some little sweets to eat. After that, we went back home.

 The person that was gonna take Laura and I to school didn't appear soon, so we didn't arrive on time for the first period, that was the musical. So then we had to go to coaching. I'm still not sure of what it is about, but since Transition year students had to start a project for that subject, and we were only there for a few weeks, the Spanish students were playing cards instead. And so we did in English class, and minicompany, cause we had nothing to do either. We also had Spanish, and it was funny to see how other people have to study a language we already know.

 In the morning, we all Erasmus students took the bus at school to go to Dublin. We stopped at the same petrol station as the first day, one that's called junction 14. When we arrived to the Dublin airport, and we checked our luggage, we only had to wait until 1, the time the plane was supposed to take off, but it was delayed for more than an hour.  We landed on Bilbao, and picked up our baggage, so we could take another bus and go back to Logroño. Already in Logroño, everyone met up with their families and finally went back home.

  We had the 'barista training course', that was just a man from Dublin explaining how a coffee machine works, and then giving us a coffee, that could either be a regular one, or a mocca, that was the same, but with chocolate. I got a chocolate one, and even though usually I hate the taste of coffee, it was nice".  I also went to art class, with two of my friends, and we had to choose a picture out of two books, one of van Gogh and the other of abstract art, and copy it in a paper. I picked a picture of the second book, and I think it turned out well.

 In the morning, Laura's mom asked me if I wanted to accompany them somewhere, and even though I didn't really know where, I said okay to do something. So we went to the shopping centre, and it was funny to see how many potatoes they sell here in Ireland.  I thought about buying something for my family, because there was only 3 days left. I was gonna buy potato waffles, but as they were frozen, they would have turned bad while traveling back home. Laura's mom got us snacks for the comeback to Spain, and when we finished shopping, we went back home. Some later, Laura told me she had just made cookies, so I tried them. They were really nice, so I think I should ask her for the recipe.