Back to the start...

~ Sometimes you have to take a step back to take two steps forward.

First vacation in Ireland

On October 23rd, I had the last day of school before I had a week of mid-term break. I was looking forward to the vacation. A week to relax and not do so much for school. But on the other hand, I didn't want to have a vacation either. Due to Corona, we have some pretty strong restrictions here, so I couldn't meet up with friends. That's why the plan for the week was to go for a walk or jog every day, watch the sunrise, read, and watch Netflix. So pretty one-sided and boring... That's why I wasn't really looking forward to the vacation - when I have nothing to do, my homesickness gets worse. And I didn't want that!

In the end, it wasn't that bad. We finally carved our pumpkins! They had been lying around for a while and we never managed to do them ;D

Bad news

But then, on October 27th, Tuesday during the vacation, we received a message from one of our supervisors in the afternoon: She urgently needs to talk to us - today! That doesn't sound good...

We had the conversation with her at 7 pm. We have to change host families... again! Our current host family could no longer accommodate us for personal reasons, so we had to move as soon as possible. However, this was not expected when they took us in. It was said that for now, we would go back to our support family in Mallow until a solution was found. Either a new family would be found in Athlone so that we don't have to change schools, or they would try again to get us a school place in Cork so that we can stay with our support family.

--> New school or another new host family.

And I didn't know which one I would prefer... I wanted to stay with my support family in Mallow for the rest of the year, but I also wanted to continue going to my school in Athlone.

Although I was looking forward to seeing my first host family again, that was the only positive thing about the whole situation. I just didn't feel like it anymore! I thought, this can't be true; my year abroad is cursed. I have settled in here at school, started to make friends, accepted the situation with the host family, and really come to love the small village. I even started to be happy for the first time since I've been in Athlone. And then in the blink of an eye, I was torn out of that and told that I have to start all over again... That was really a point where I just wanted to go home and end the year...

We are back

Anyway, on Thursday we went back to our first family. And we were back where we were six weeks ago... Everything was uncertain, and we had no idea how and when things would go on now.

Our supervisor drove us for the first half of the way. About 40 minutes before Mallow, our host mother from the support family picked us up and drove the last part with us.

I was so happy to be back. And the family welcomed us with joy and open arms. It felt like we had only been on vacation for two weeks or not been away at all. It was really nice! And there were no awkward situations where you don't know how to behave, like at the beginning with a new host family. We still knew everything from the first two weeks here; we knew where everything was and how everything worked. I just felt comfortable again right away.

Do we know what's next?

On Friday, there was a potential school that would accept us. So we had to choose subjects already. On Monday, we received the official 'OK' from the school. That means we will stay with our first family for the whole year! <3

But there was still one problem... The school starts at 8:35 am and we can't take the bus because we would arrive too late. And that's not allowed, which is understandable. So our host mom has to drive us to school in Blarney every morning. We're a little too early every day, but that's okay.

On Tuesday morning, we went to Cork to buy our uniforms. Surprise! The store didn't open until the afternoon. So in the afternoon, we all went on another trip to Cork.

Above you can see a picture with the new uniform. And I have to say, these pants are really practical ;). With my old uniform, I only had a skirt; I also liked the uniform, but the skirt was sometimes annoying.

Halloween

When we went to Athlone, we said that we would visit Mallow when it's Halloween. That didn't work because of Corona, as you're not allowed to leave your county. But due to the host family change, it worked out exceptionally, and we were at our support family for Halloween. That was really cool. We had a little party with the kids - with costumes, a few games, and even a pinata.

School

My new school is smgs Blarney (Scoil Mhuire gan Smál, Blarney). It's a mixed school. And honestly, at the beginning, it was really strange. I was only at a girls' school for 6 weeks, but the adjustment was bigger than expected.

On Wednesday morning, we went to the reception and got a lot of information - so much that I felt like I had forgotten half of it immediately. We got our timetables and the school journal, and then we went to class.

I already switched my math level. I was in the higher level and had 7 hours of math a week. Now I'm in the ordinary level and only have 5 hours of math a week and an additional 2 hours of physical education. I also have chemistry, but those who know me know that chemistry is torture for me. That's why I'm trying to change that somehow as well.

As for exchange students, we are quite a few at the school. I think we are at least 6 from Germany, 2 from Italy, 2 from Denmark, and 1 from Norway. And because there are so many of us, the exchange students tend to stick together.

I'm not really happy at school yet, but maybe it just takes time, also to make some friends. However, I'm very happy with the host family. And that's what matters!

So... Now you're up to date with what has happened to me in the last two weeks. I hope you enjoyed the post.

Take care and stay healthy.

Davina