trí: A month in Ireland

𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂𝓸𝓷𝓮,

It is now official, I am in Ireland. Today marks exactly once month since I went on that plane to leave my life in Germany and start a complete new one.

So this is what has been going on the past month:

5𝓽𝓱 𝓢𝓮𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓶𝓫𝓮𝓻:

On the 5th September my journey finally began. My family and I went to the airport early in the morning because my flight left at 7. Of course it was hard saying goodbye to my family but I don't think I realised that I wouldn't be able to see them for the next 10 months. I haven't even realised it now.
I was very lucky that I didn't have to fly alone and I had a great time with the other exchange students.
And then after arriving at Dublin airport and an one hour drive to my town, I finally got to meet my hostfamily. My hostparents were super nice to me right from the start.
But still, this first day wasn't easy at all. Everything was just so new and a little overwhelming and I started to get a little sad without my family. I didn't stay up too long and starting from the next day my 14 day quarantine would begin.

𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓼𝓽 𝔀𝓮𝓮𝓴

I had to spend my first week in Ireland in self isolation. That meant no going into town, meeting people or going to school. However my host parents really tried to make it as pleasant as possible.
Furthermore I spent my days settling in, unpacking, reading, playing guitar and spent some time with my host family. That included watching movies, playing games or just watching TV. Incase anyone was wondering, yes people here watch a lot of TV. A LOT.
I was also texting some of my friends a lot who helped me through this big change of things.
And of course I stayed in contact with my family. I just tried to keep myself busy to not miss anything in Germany. And it kinda worked.

𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓭 𝔀𝓮𝓮𝓴

The second week was a lot less eventful than the first week. I got really bored some days and didn't know what to do anymore. And after those 14 days of being bored out of my mind I was finally allowed to go out.
So on the first day of being free I also finally got my school uniform. The skirt still wasn't exactly nice, but it is a part of the experience so I had to go with it. And the end of the second week also marked the start of my school experience here in Ireland.

And I have to be honest, I was really scared of going to school, especially the first day was making me worried. The only good thing, I already knew the exchange students so I wouldn't be entirely alone.

𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓻𝓭 𝔀𝓮𝓮𝓴

On monday I went into school for the first time. I was super nervous and afraid I wouldn't be able to find any friends besides the other exchange students. But as it turned out, all these worries wouldn't have been neccessary.
The school and lessons were a little confusing but the students and teachers were all really nice.
And I'm really happy to say that I actually already made a friend on my very first day of school. So that took a lot of my worries.
Throughout the first week I mainly had to figure out how everything would work and what was expected. But it wasn't as bad as I thought and in the end I really enjoyed that first week.
The only bad thing is that school days in Ireland go until 15:50 so you don't have much of your day left ater that.

𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓽𝓱 𝔀𝓮𝓮𝓴

The second week of school was still quite exciting but I really got used to it. Most of the time I'm walking to school, which is a 40 minute walk but I really enjoy it, and on Wednesday I hang out with the other exchange students after school. I have gotten closer with my host family, my friends here and things just went really well.
This week in school we also were told we'd be going on our first trip next week and that's really exciting.

𝓲𝓷 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓬𝓵𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓸𝓷

I am getting happier with every day and I can't wait to see what will happen in these 10 months.
I finally know that coming here was the right decision for me and all my worries before the start weren't exactly neccessary.
I'm also really glad that I haven't been homesick yet but I'm sure I will experience it at one point. But I don't have to think about this right now. And I really love the food I'm getting here. I was so afraid I wouldn't like it but up to now I've loved most of what my host mum made!

I will update this blog every month and talk about what happened the past weeks.

So until then

Slán,

•Anneli•