So many questions

Finally arrived, I asked myself the questions about what everything would be like now, how the 'old' au pair is, how Elisa will welcome me, and so on... When I drove into the driveway, Elisa and Leah ran out of the house. Above the front door hung a welcome sign that the two of them had made for me.

Unfortunately, Bella had to work and couldn't welcome me.

So I unloaded things from the motorcycle, including the seemingly 100 kg heavy duffel bag, and brought them upstairs to my new room.

Elisa is one of the cutest kids I have ever met. But I also got along with Leah right away. I would have loved for her to stay here the whole time... After unpacking my things, we went to Tesco right next door and had lunch at the Becker's.

Naturally, Elisa tried to play Leah and me against each other, but luckily it didn't work.

Afterwards, I took a nap again because I was still pretty exhausted from the whole journey.

When I woke up again, Bella was already there.

A super nice and honest person. After Bella put Elisa to bed, we both went for a walk with Ella (yes, I finally have a dog after 19 years). She showed me the park, which is only about 5-7 minutes' walk from our home. As it turned out, it's a beautiful park where I really enjoy spending time. When we got back home, I just fell into bed.

On Tuesday, I was already alone with Elisa for some time, and I have to say it went really well. We played with Lego Duplo together, and then I cooked lunch. After Leah came back, we all wanted to do something together, so we baked a marble cake right away. Then we played around a bit until Bella came home, and then we went out with Elisa and Ella. Elisa proudly showed me her school because she will be in senior infants after the holidays. We slowly walked back home, and my first complete day here was already over.

I should mention that Elisa is still on vacation until the beginning of September, which means I have to take care of her all day for now.

On Wednesday, there is always a market here in Ballincollig... super cute, with music, a cake stand, and all kinds of fresh vegetables, bread, and even fish. Every time I'm there, I somehow realize that I'm slowly becoming an adult, which is a bit scary.. ;D

So on Wednesday, we went to the market first and ate cake. Because it started raining, we went to the library and immediately borrowed 5 books for Elisa. In the afternoon, Elisa mostly played alone, so Leah and I had time to chat.

In the evening, we met Manuela and Iris, two other au pairs, at Tradehouse.

On Thursday, my long-awaited package from Germany finally arrived, which contained most of my clothes and a few other things. In the afternoon, we went swimming... quite exhausting with such a little bug that can't swim yet. In the evening, we went for a walk with Ella again to get some fresh air.

The only thing that is still bothering me is that my left ear is still blocked since the flight to London. I can only hear everything very muffled, which is very annoying in the long run.

However, it got a little better when swimming, so we'll see.

On Friday, I met Leah's friend Eric... The first Irish person I really got to know. Super nice, but a bit difficult to understand at first :D

Together with him, Leah, Elisa, and I went to Fota, the zoo in Cork. The park is very well done.

In the evening, we went out partying in Cork for the first time... it's an adventure in itself.

We pre-gamed and got ready at home. It's not so easy with 4 girls at the same time when there's only one bathroom :D

Well, around 10:30 pm, we drove into Cork... In Germany, we usually only met at this time and pre-gamed... We usually left for the city around midnight.

Alright, so we arrived at a pub in Cork called Old Oak around half past ten, and spent our 'night' there. 'Night' in the sense of 'the clubs/pubs here in Ireland all close by half past two' :D

On Sunday, it was all about recovering and chilling.

And just like that, my first week was over. I already feel at home and love it here!