February 28th-March 2nd

Sunday

PARK DAY PARK DAY!!! We went to the park today! I love going to the park and it was so fun. It was super bright and sunny, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t cold because it was FREEZING. Catherine and I stole our friends stuffed hedgehog (again) so we took him to the park with us. I also took my child, Mr. PEG, along. I have so many fabulous pictures of Mr. PEG on the swings, on the teeter totter, on a dolphin toy thing, and many many more. I also have pictures of Catherine and I being children again on all the fun park equipment.  

The rest of the evening we relaxed and did homework. After a busy weekend it was nice to just kick back and not have anything to do.

Monday

Today was a blast, to say the least. The classes were easy and fun. Oh and what totally made the day was that we went rock-climbing! We had to walk about 20 minutes, mostly uphill, to get to the quarry we were climbing, which is not my idea of fun, but when you’re with your friends all is good.

The rock-climbing was a real confidence building thing to do. We had to do this thing called abseiling first. Basically, what is it is you, attached to a rope by a harness, walking off a cliff backwards and then proceeding to safely/slowly walk down it. If it doesn’t sound scary enough in words, I suggest you try it. The first couple of steps before you get going off the cliff are the hardest things to bear. You literally feel like you are going to fall and die, especially since the cliff was a good 25 meters high.  Once I got going with it I was thrilled and so happy I did it.  Then I had to rock-climb. I am typically horrible at it so I was terrified at the fact that I had to do it again. I had an easy start, but when I was almost to the top I reached a point that was difficult. I probably sat there for about 3-5 minutes, in one spot, telling Catherine to release the safety and let me down. She refused. So grudgingly I had to climb to the top. I am so happy she wouldn’t let me fail to reach the top. It gave me the sense that I could overcome any challenge. That’s what I think rock-climbing is all about though: facing your fears head on and doing something about overcoming them.

On our way back we saw Bono’s house, some other beautiful homes, and the gorgeous Irish seascape (which we will be swimming in on Friday). Catherine though she could make the DART that we usually take so she ran all the way up to the school and back down to the station and caught it with 4 minutes to spare. What about me? Well I don’t run for anything, so I moseyed along back to school and easily strided home.

Tuesday

Today was possibly the worst day I have had/will have on this trip. What says a lot about the trip is that today wasn’t all that bad, just parts of it were.

Parts of the day were actually pretty fun. Like in Chemistry we made aspirin and we had art class. Of course, hanging out with friends at school is also fun. But first thing in the morning we found out we would be having a geometry test and then about 20 minutes later wer received news that we would be having a chemistry test in a few weeks. Not necessarily new that anyone wants to hear. But I should have been expecting it.

Next week we have another work experience week. Catherine, Colleen “Michigan” (the other American girl), and I were planning on going to the Irish film making course again, but it was cancelled. This meant that we had to find last minute work experience placement when most people plan this months in advance. Most people would have some sort of connection to business people that would make this a little easier, but since we are foreign, we did not. This afternoon we went into Dun Laoghare with hope that we would find work placement. It was proably the most depressing afternoon I have had. After 2 horus of searching  and going in 40-50 stores, we had NOTHING! We were all getting tired and grumpy so we called it a night and hoped the school would help us find a placement of some sort.