Day Nine (July 7th):
The moment we have all been waiting for is here. The long anticipated results of the staff thrift shopping contest. Out of respect for all the contests I am not posting pictures unless threatened with pain of death. Needless to say, humiliation was the end goal. To explain more — the staff are taking part in a very serious competition amongst ourselves to gain points in the #ILE18 Staff Olympics. For this particular challenge, we all drew someone’s name out of a hat and then had a budget of €20.
And that is all I have to say on the subject.
….alright fine. Here it is:
So we went down to breakfast thoroughly embarrassed. The students unanimously voted that Mike had worn his costume best. He did his best to teach through the cackles and that he did. That’s all anyone can do.
But on a more serious note, all of our fantastic teachers have been very concerned with delivering as much intersectional information on Ireland as they can. From sociopolitical forces to pop culture and language, our teachers are helping students make connections that they will always be able to use for the rest of their lives. Every monument and museum we go to, the students ask intelligent questions or pipe up with a, “Hey, we learned about that in class!” We could not be more proud of the way they have been representing this program.
After covering more history and literature, the students had a nice intellectually stimulating morning followed up by a free day at the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre filled with supporting the local economy. Clare, Paige and Kennedy walked back into the office dying of laughter after their jaunt because Clare had tried charcoal ice cream and was still covered in both the remains of that and bright red lipstick.
In drama, we began to contemplate our big final presentations. The students work among their groups to create some sort of short skit or play on a famous figure from Irish history. They are graded along the categories of historical accuracy, creativity and teamwork. The presentations will be due on our last night in Dublin on July 13th.
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“I like when you quote me. Put this in the blog.” — Allison
