The students woke to another structured class day on campus. After breakfast they got their first taste of Irish (Gaelic language class.). Alex, even though learning Irish through English, which is only his second language, nailed the basics straight away. With so many students in the class learning Latin they were able to decipher certain words such as Dia (God), but unfortunately as Dia Dhuit actually means hello Rocky’s and Aaron’s guesses were slightly less than accurate.
It was also the first bit of Irish history the students covered in class and the enthusiasm for it could definitely be sensed. As the class would be going to Croke Park next Sunday their history class covered Bloody Sunday, a significant day during the War of Independence where the British drove into Croke Park and shot 13 Irish dead during a football game.
Grace and Brendan were both fascinated by the history attached to Croke Park Stadium and delighted they got the chance to learn about this before they visited.
After lunch, the students gathered to walk to the Waterford Crystal Factory to get a tour of the famous factory and learn how the crystal is made. Everybody was given some time to explore the gift shop before the tour began. There were certain items such as a full length crystal encrusted mirror that was ever so slightly out of the students price range, but nonetheless there were some purchases made (Which are being censored from the Blog for the sake of keeping presents a surprise!).
The Waterford Crystal Factory is very significant in this city both due to its long history, its international familiarity, and the economic benefits it has given to the city. The students got to see the glass be made and learn about each step of the process. Caitlin and Jess took many photos, but there were a few including Molly who were terrified they were going to do major destruction any second. Molly’s panic when she was handed a crystal American football had everybody else in tears with laughter which Molly was able to join in once it was finally taken off of her!
The students were offered free time in Waterford, but as there was a workshop on scone making going on back at the school, there was a rush back to get ready.
21 out of 22 students took part in the Scone Making Workshop during their free time, so expect some baking experts on everyone’s return to the US. Mariah and Molly said they would definitely make them for their families so some of you are in for a treat as this scone recipe has been passed down through years of Scone’s ancestors.
There was a little confusion at the beginning, as we didn’t have the correct utensils for measuring the ingredients, but fortunately we had some math experts in Aaron, David, Dylan, and Stephen who were able to help everybody out. The scones were turning out perfectly (Which is a massive improvement on last years group.) until the girls got a little mischievous and thought the boys outfits could do with a little extra flour on them. Let’s just say when the boys decided they needed to get revenge, the counselors were left with a slightly less than spotless kitchen to scrub. But don’t worry we won’t call out the culprits…, right Keely/Mariah/Molly/and Sarah???
After dinner we had some guest trainers arrive to teach everyone about the GAA (The Gaelic Athletic Association) games which include Hurling and Gaelic Football. Our guest trainers, Eoin and Mark, were extremely impressed with this group’s athletic ability. Alex demonstrated some of his skills he had picked up in Spain and his agility did not go unnoticed.
Some students were a bit on the frightened side, as Scones subtly mentioned there might have been an appendage lost in a hurling match or two over the years. Precaution was taken, but that didn’t stop Kaitlin from giving Steven a good blow to the head with one of her fierce Gaelic football manoeuvre kicks.
Since the US team was unfortunately knocked out of the World Cup before the final the students decided to create their own World Cup championship. Each team of two chose a country to represent with some surprise choices with Eme and Grace representing Ghana all the way to Miles and Linnea representing the US. As Linnea and Miles happened to win the competition in its entirety there were no hard feelings-everyone was happy to see the US win something this year!
With the satisfaction of knowing the US might yet have a future in soccer everyone was able to retire to bed happy.
