Sweet Sixteen & The Big Debate

I'm sixteen by now, and I still can't believe it. It doesn't really make a difference here in Ireland, or at least not as much as it would chnge things in Austria.

But I'm still very happy about my birthday celebration here; I had dinner at Nando's in Dun Laoghaire, with the best people I got the pleasure to meet during the last two months. Both Irish Girls and Austrian! I also invited a Spanish friend, but unfortunately she couldn't make it in time.

I was wearing a crown the whole evening,  while we we're having wraps, chips and everything else you can combine with chicken. I loved it, even though I didn't realise how spicy the sauce  was until I put it on my salad and nearly started crying because of it.

We stayed at the Restaurant for more than three hours. When I went home by bus and looked out of the big window in front of me, I just felt so happy to have so good friends.

 

28.February, Friday - The Debate

 

"Does Fashion industry harm society?"
That was the motion we had to debate about today. Me and my team were opposing, the other school was proposing - and it was a great discussion, to be honest. We had very good arguments, but the other team as well. There was a big podium in the middle with a  microphone in front of it, and four tables for the   teams on  the left and right side next to it. In front of the podium were lots of tables for the supporter-students, and two tables for the judges.
Standing in front of so many people, and making a speech in a different language other than my mothertongue was  a bit strange, because Í had to be very confident - which felt a bit like acting, thorough nearly everyone around me had better English than me.
But it went surprisingly well. I was a bit shaky in the beginning, but I got the feeling that I got more confident with every sentence.
After everyone of us spoke, which took about one and a half hours, the judges announced the winner: Us! I felt extremely happy in that  moment, and everyone was clapping and shouting. I know, it's just a debate and everything, but it was a very big  thing for me and I felt so proud of my  team. We really made it! I don't think I'll ever forget the next couple of minutes, and the feeling I had when I finished my speech and realised that it wasn't that bad.

 

 

 

New Hostfamily & Midterm Break

I know I haven't been blogging for a long time now, and I'm really sorry about that - but the last weeks have been so busy!

Luckily, I'm absolutely happy with my new host family. They are so nice and funny, and even though I was a bit sad in the beginning because I had to find a new routine and everything, I settled in very quick. The whole family is so welcoming and open-minded, and I love sitting together with them in the kitchen, just to drink a cup of tea and have a talk.

Next to the fact that I got a new place to live for the next three months, I also had Midterm-Break last week, which is quite similiar to the holidays we have in Austria in February. There were pretty much things to do: Aoibhe, one of my closest friends here at school, invited me to her sleepover! My other Austrian friend and two other Irish friends were also there, and it was so much fun. And I also made the experience, that sleepovers in Ireland don't really differ from sleepovers in Austria: Eating lots of absolutely delicious & unhealthy stuff, watching movies and YouTube Videos and just chatting about everything. I had such a great feeling of  belonging  this day, and was very happy about my new friends. And on the next day, which was Pancake Tuesday - guess what we had for breakfast? It's actually a very cool tadition, but I'd never heard of that before. Maybe because on the same day, we're very busy with "Fasching" in Austria, which you can compare to Carneval.

I also did lots of trips during Mitdterm-Break: Bray, Howth, Killiney, Dalkey and Malahide - just along the coast. I went with two Austrian friends, and it was always the same: We went by Dart (which I can highly recommend - the journey itself is fascinating!), got out at a place that sounded good and then looked for a hill or something to climb on. We wanted to make the most of our time here, and I think it's great to get out of the Citycenter to see more of the environment around it. Even though the weather wasn't always perfect - when we went on the top of the Howth Cliffs, it started storming and raining heavily - it was one of the best experiences I had here. In Austria I never loved hiking or things like that, but being that close to our nature can be actually amazing.

Bad News

 

I didn't have to go to School yesterday, and what was supposed to be a relaxing Wednesday, ended up being a very strange and also sad day.

I went up at about nine o'clock in the morning, because I wanted to use my free time wise and go to the Gym early. I was just about to leave and already had my shoes on, when my hostmum told me that we had to talk.

She told me that I had to move and explained why, and even though the news were very shocking and unexpected, I understood why. I hope you guys accept that I won't tell you the reasons because I don't think that belongs on the Internet, but I just wanted to inform you because I want to keep you up-to-date about my time here.

I try to stay optimistic, because that's the only thing I can do. Of course it's sad because I already had my daily routine here and things like that, but it just doesn't always work like you want it to and when I look at the circumstances, I don't think that I'm in a position to complain. I just hope that my new host Family is going to be nice and that it's not far away from my school and my friends here.

 

It was good going to the Gym yesterday, because I had plenty of time to think while I was doing Cardio, and time went by very quick. I decided not to take the bus home and to try a new way, which was a good idea because I found a very nice place.

 

 

 

The next days are going to be stressful, even though Midterm Break starts on Monday. I'm very excited and I'd really like to know when and where I'm going to move, but all I can do is wait until my agency found a new family.

Kodaline Concert

Today was one of the greatest days ever. Thanks to Sofia, who got us the Tickets! It was a special offer, because you had to buy Kodalines' new album to get the tickets, which were based on first-come, first-served. So there were about hundred tickets, and Sofia went to the shop at 9 in the morning on Friday to get us some. But she wasn't allowed to buy more than one - and she had to pick random people from the street to get the other tickets, and they had to give her their contact details because we're under eightteen. Well, very complicated, but she finally managed to do so.

 

We met at 12 o'clock at St. Stephen's Green, and then went to Whelan's, the pub where they were playing. There was a long queue in front of the pub, and we were kind of scared because we had no idea what the names of the people were that gave the guy at the CD shop their contact details, but luckily they didn't ask and we finally went inside. There were about fifty people in front of the stage, and we went to the left side. After about fifteen minutes, the band went on stage - and they were so nice and relaxed! When the leadsinger, Steve, took off his jacket, the female part of the audience started screaming, and he said: "Guys, stop it - I'm not going to get naked!" The pub was not very big, so there was kind of a conversation between band and audience, what I really liked because the concerts I've been to before were so much bigger and there wasn't even a chance for that.
They promoted some songs of their new album, but also played their most famous singles like "High Hopes" or "All I want". It was such a good atmosphere and all of them have so good voices; their live performance sounded like their recorded songs, if not even better.

Sadly, it was over after only 50 minutes, but we wanted to make a picture of them so badly so we waited in front of the exit for them to get out. A guy told us that they would come out at the front door and we didn't really believe him, but everyone went there, so we did, too.
After fifteen minutes of waiting inside of the big queue, the big black car drove away and we knew, that they would leave at the other exit, so we ran back - unfortunately, too late. All we managed to see was a big, screaming crowd and a guy who closed the doors of the car. We couldn't really see inside because the windows were very dark, but when we waved our hands we could see them waving back.

 

After our stalking-failure we went back to the shoppingscenter, bought some chocolate milk and sat down. It was a really nice afternoon and I'm so glad to be here.

A normal Friday and an extraordinary Milkshake

Today was a very exhausting day, but as you can see in the picture, it had a great ending. I had to do two presentations and one speech at school, and I'm always so nervous when I have to speak in front of so many people, even though I really like my class and most of these projects are more funny than serious.
So, first class: Speech about Emma Watson, second class: Presentation about the Cultural Revolution in China, and fifth class: French presentation. That was probably the hardest, because I always have to translate the things I hear or say twice: Firstly from French into German, and than from German into English - or the other way around. I guess this is one of the reasons why I nearly fell asleep at the bus after school.
Unfortunately, there were some road works on my way to Dun Laoghaire, so I had to get out of the bus earlier and walk about fifteen minutes to my friend Magdalena. I didn't really mind walking, but I had no idea which direction I should take to come to the busstation she told me to meet up.
Since today, Google Maps is my best friend.

I finally managed to find her and we went to her house so she could change clothes (well, I had to stay in my nun-uniform) and then took the 75 bus to Dundrum, where we went to Eddie Rockets. It looks like and old, American diner, and I really expected waiters in rollerblades. Unfortunately, it seems like this is not as common as I thought. We ordered Nutella- and Oreo-Milkshakes, and while we were waiting we admired the view from the window next to us. You could see the shoppingcenter (now that I write it down it doesn't look that impressing anymore, but honestly, it's a very nice shoppingcenter) and parts from the city in the back. God, I'm still dreaming of this milkshake. It tasted like heaven.

I should go to sleep now, because I have to get up early tomorrow. I'll take the bus to the citycenter at 10 and after that, I'll go to theKodaline concert, because a very nice girl from my class got me a ticket for it! She's just the best.