Fáilte to Ireland!

Hello Irish Life Experience Families and Friends, Just a quick update on Tuesday's events. After we met Edel and Dan at Dublin Airport, we gathered our belongings and hopped on our lovely Barton's coach that would take us to Waterford. Edel pointed out things of interest along the way. We even passed by her parent's house and the students were excited to see the amount of cows her family owned. Along the route, we stopped for a picnic of ham and veggie sandwiches in Glendalough-which means Valley of the Two Lakes. Some people believe this is one of the most beautiful corners of Ireland and the epitome of the kind of rugged, romantic Ireland most people are familiar with when they think of the country. The students were thrilled to learn that this is where part of the movie, PS I Love You was filmed. Well, mainly the girls, since it's somewhat of a chick flique. The substantial remains of Glendalough's monastic settlement are impressive. However, the real draw is the splendid setting of two dark and mysterious lakes tucked into a deep valley that is covered by a forest. It is a deeply tranquil and spiritual place. The students were able to stretch their legs and get some fresh air, which helped them recover from their jet leg. Dan gave a fantastic tour of the monastery settlement and the 10th-century round tower. A few students even stretched their arms around the tower to connect with one another, which supposedly brings good luck according to an Irish legend. They walked around the surrounding graveyard, snapped pictures of the Celtic crosses, and took a stroll around the Lower Lake for some exercise. A few of them skipped stones into the lake. Evan had a stone that skipped 15 times-very impressive. Trying to fight off the exhaustion, we proceeded to travel down to Newtown Boarding School in Waterford. We eventually got to our new home for the next ten days, where Angie joined us. Angie gave the students a tour of campus. They were then able to settle into their dorms and get freshened up. We had tea shortly after, followed by a brief orientation. Getting-to-Know-You Icebreakers was next, which was a lot of fun. We learned some great facts about each other... That Alyssa shaved her head to raise money for kids with cancer, that Fiona has been to seven different countries, that Sasha was hit in the face with a pickaxe when she was four, and that Tom won third place two years in a row for log rolling competitions. We even attempted a human knot and were almost successful. We managed to keep the students up until around 9 PM and most of them fell asleep immediately when their heads hit the pillow. It was a quiet night. Needless to say, it was a great start to the program. The weather was even in our favor as we didn't see any rain and basked in the sun for the majority of the day. More to come...

← All posts