Mit Shawna, Paul and Oisin to Dublin Airport.

Friday, 22.01.2021

Hello! A new sign of life from me. Since my last blog entry, not much has actually happened, but somehow it has, haha. It may sound a bit strange at first glance, but you will see what I mean.

On January 11th, I finally came out of quarantine in Ireland. I was happy to finally leave my accommodation away from the boarding house. Finally, to walk outside a bit and not just be satisfied with the open window.

However, when I returned to the boarding house, I was hit hard. The start of school had been postponed until the end of January. No students had returned. The boarding house is a uncomfortable and cold place without children. It is heated only two hours a day, and I was really glad that I found a mobile heater. It wouldn't have been nice without it. Also, in my absence, mold has developed on my ceiling, and in the evening the walls get a little damp, which did not please my photos that I hung as decoration.

Actually, the government wanted to reopen schools in mid-January, but the teachers were against it. It seems that the Irish government also does not really know how to deal with this situation at the moment. After all, the last thing the government wanted to close was the schools, but at the moment there is really no other option. The daily infection numbers are still too high. By now, the daily value has settled between 2000 and 3000, but the country was put back into lockdown when the cases stood briefly over 1000 in the autumn.

Thanks to Christmas and New Year's Eve, the cases were over 8000 at the beginning of January, which is way too high for this small country. Also, the government still believes that school is a completely safe place, which cannot be true. Corona cases have now also appeared among the teaching staff, and I don't think any place can be called "safe" where several hundred children sit together. Mask requirement or not.

So we sat down with the headmaster and the deputy headmaster and discussed the situation. I had the feeling that I would rather go home. I wasn't sure if it was because I had just been there and still missed my parents and friends, or if I just felt the situation was too uncertain. The last thing I would want is to sit in this cold and lonely boarding house and have Corona. All on my own. Just the thought still gives me goosebumps.

Of course, we also consulted with the foundation that sent us to Ireland. In me, the desire to go back home was deeply ingrained. The school and the German teacher also advised us to go back home. Without school, we have nothing to do. The German teacher is also pregnant and has to take care of her other children during the day, which is why she doesn't teach live online in the morning, but records the grammar and text exercises the evening before and then posts them online. We can't help with online classes. We can also hold the oral slots online, which is also possible from Germany.

So without school, I have nothing to do in Ireland. I can't meet anyone, not further than 5km away from my place of residence, and I'm quite lonely, even though I still have Marco and Carla.

Therefore, the final decision was: back to Germany.

Of course, in my case it was a bit stupid, since I had just come back and I had to quarantine again. Nevertheless, I made this decision. I booked my flight directly. I flew back on January 16. Due to the new regulations, I had to take a PCR test two days before arrival. I did that, which cost another 100 euros, and then it was time to pack my suitcase. I wanted to take all my clothes with me, just in case, and because not everything fit in my suitcase, I sent two packages (unfortunately also very expensive).

On January 16, I walked to the bus stop, only to find out that the bus wouldn't come. Apparently, that's an Irish thing. I wouldn't have noticed until later if a man who works there hadn't told me. Kindly, an Irish family took me to the airport. I couldn't take a later bus because of my flight, and I couldn't take a later flight because of my Corona test. The family just wanted to take their son to the bus stop, but he also had to catch a flight to London. I was very grateful that they took me with them. That's when I realized once again that the Irish are just so friendly. During the drive, we listened to Irish music, and I tried not to fall asleep, which was quite difficult since we were driving in the middle of the night. So I was very grateful to Shawna, Paul, and Oisin for their kindness.

The rest of the trip went pretty smoothly and according to plan. In Dublin, I checked in my suitcase (which was actually too heavy, but no one complained) and there I had to show my negative test result. I was pleasantly surprised that I had to show the test three times in Dublin. Many people were already screened out when checking in because their test result had already expired or some passengers had not taken a test at all.

In Frankfurt, I also had to show my test when entering. The federal police had a really large group of officers, and luckily I was let in. My parents picked me up at the airport. I had already seen them around Christmas time, but I was still happy to see them again.

So since last Saturday, I have been in quarantine again. This is already the fourth one. It's quite amusing. I have already gone through most of it. The students were offered the option to hold the oral slots online if they wanted to. So far, only one student has contacted me, and we practice together once a week. It's better than nothing, but I still have a lot of free time.

During quarantine, I try to sleep a lot, not sit at the desk so much, and suppress my desire to eat random things when I'm not hungry.

Unfortunately, it's a bit tricky to predict how things will go from here. Of course, it is possible to return to school, but only when the school is open again and the number of cases decreases. In Ireland, it is still very precarious.

Now I have a lot of time to think about my future plans. What do I want to do? What do I maybe want to study? I can also focus on sports, which have been neglected in the last few weeks, and spend time with my family. Of course, I can also see my friends. Either online or individually while going for a walk.

We will see what the future brings and how things will continue for me. Whether I will come back to Ireland again. If so, when and with what restrictions.

Stay healthy and keep your spirits up!