Cúig: Three months in Ireland

hey everyone,

It feels weird to say that 1/3 of my exchange is now over. And it's been a weird but also good time already. I learned a lot, not just about myself, but about where I want to go with my life.

However this month's post will probably end up a lot shorter than the last ones. And this has one specific reason. Covid.

the first two weeks

I already mentioned it in my last post, that November started with a 14 day quarantine for me. But what I never mentioned was that I also got tested for Covid. And sadly that test came back positive. Which was quite a shock at first. Luckily I never had any symptoms and felt fine physically. However that didn't make everything easier.

It definitely wasn't easy to be away from my family while all of this was going on. And I'd say these two weeks have been the hardest I had to face ever since I came here.

And to be honest I'm just glad I had enough people looking out for me while I was at home, otherwise it would have been a whole lot worse.

But I did notice how much this virus is affecting you mentally. In my second week at home I just didn't feel like working on everything for school and felt really lonely. The only reason I didn't go completely crazy was because my one friend here kept calling me whenever she could and even Interstudies told me I could always call if I needed to talk to anyone.

And somehow I got through it all. The probably longest two weeks of my entire exchange. I just hope most exchange students won't have to experience something similar.

the third week

After I was finally free to leave my house again, I was very excited to go to school. At least until the first day back came around. I can't say I was very motivated to go back on monday.

But besides the positive news that I could go back to school, everything else has continued to stay a challenge. I'd probably say this month really wasn't easy to get through.

Because Ireland is still in a lockdown there really wasn't much we were allowed to do. Therefore the third week this month hasn't been a lot more fun than the first two.

However things are slowly getting better now.

the fourth week

There are slowly, but surely, more positive things coming back into this experience. We are now allowed to meet with others again, our school is allowed to do some sort of musical performance and I'm also starting to really like my class.

With the start of December the Christmas season has officially started. A while ago I helped decorate our house which was a lot of fun. And yesterday we also had a contest in school, which class could decorate their door the best. My group things we will win this but we don't have the results yet.

I'm also planning a sleepover with one of my friends very soon and today we went on our first ever trip with other exchange students.

We were allowed to travel across the country to go and see Galway and get some shopping done. It wasn't the most fun I ever had but it was still nice to get out of town and do something nice.

I just hope with December further moving along things will steadily become better.

in conclusion

I honestly hope there won't be another month like November again. This month just showed me that this year really won't be perfect and certainly will not be "the time of my life" like most people expected it to be. I will make so many wonderful memories, I will take friendships back to Germany with me and I will learn so much, but still there will be things that just won't go well at all.

I am also learning that it is so important to do what's best for me in times like this. And sometimes this just means not living up to others expectations of my year here. I probably won't join many activities and I might not leave the house every chance I can get. I'm still going to enjoy my time here and make the best of it. But I will do so the way it feels right to me. And I think that time on my own the first two weeks really helped me with figuring out what I honestly expect from my time here.

Now I'm very excited for Christmas time and the next few weeks of freedom. And hopefully we won't go into another lockdown any time soon.

Until next time,

Slán,

•Anneli•