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Published: January 30th 2011
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Photo 2
this is the picture that made the police stop for us. I think it looks nice considering there's a cop car behind me right now... Hello again all. Sorry it's been a few weeks since there's been an update. Its been tiring trying to figure out everything, and setting down to do this has kind of gone on the back burner. Anyways, this will be a short one describing my weekend (since I went on a home stay), and you can expect another later this week or so that will give you an idea about my school and apartment.
Anyways, as part of the Arcadia study abroad program, you have to partake in a home stay weekend, where you and another person from your program go to a typical Irish family (or where ever you're at), and stay with them while participating in their regular life. They aren't supposed to change their routine, they are just supposed to include you in what they normally do.
So Friday came and we all piled into a bus with our clothes, and small gifts for our families, headed to the unknown about 30 minutes south of our school in a little farm community. As we all got dropped off, our "mom" looked in dismay as she found out she got two boys. Turns out she's been doing
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some fields along our walk this for over 4 years, some times hosting people for entire semesters, and they've always asked for and gotten girls. Well there's always a first for everything, and who better to be first than me? :-p
We get in the car and find out we actually live in a smaller village about ten minutes away, on a little farm. The parents have 4 children, 3 boys and a girl. The oldest boy (27) lives at home, and is an electrician. The two other boys have moved to Australia looking for work. The daughter, Michelle, is 19 and was home from nursing school for the weekend.
The mom sat us right down to serve us dinner even though we ate at school before we left. We got an entire plate of Irish stew and 4 servings of mashed potatoes. After barely being able to finish this, the father (a little stocky farmer) asked if I wanted more. I insisted that I was more than full, but then he said 'look at yourself boy, you obviously need more" So they gave me another half a plate of stew and 3 more servings of potatoes. I quickly learned that irish people
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a front door to a building in the village as we walked back home think I'm a giant and need to eat and drink more than everyone else to stay alive.
That night we stayed in and watched tv, and went to bed early. In the morning we woke up to breakfast and tea and fresh scones baking. On the mom's way to work, she dropped us off at the top of the hill about a mile above the village. As me and my temporary roommate (andy) walked home, the police stopped us. Turns out someone my size taking pictures looks like a criminal. After persuading him that we were students and explaining what a home stay was, and giving him identification, he let us on our way. Turns out this simple walk she dropped us off on took about an hour and a half, most of the time was on the back road to their house while we debated whether it was the right road or not.
We then got dropped off in town and wandered with the other exchange students for a few hours. We had tea in a local bakery, and acted like we had enough money to actually buy stuff from expensive shops. Dinner back home was lasagna,
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artsy? I dunno fries, garlic bread, salad, and an offer for chocolate chocolate cake for dessert. Instead of dessert, we sat there trying not to get sick from being so full. That night, we caught a taxi (who knew the family and gave us the 'family discount) back into town to hit the local pub. After spending a few hours with the study abroad students, and seeing some people from our university that happened to live in that town, we got a taxi back home and passed out.
Sunday we went to mass with the mom. I'm sure many Americans would love the way they conducted mass. It felt as if the service was conducted in one breath, and we were done and on our way home in under half an hour. After mass, we had a late lunch/early dinner of a full roasted chicken (that was the size of a turkey), potatoes, and tons of different vegetables. Everything was either covered in melted cheese, or gravy. I swear if I ate like they do, I would have clogged arteries in a few weeks.
After packing back up and getting ready to go, we gave our gifts to our family. I
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a trail/road across the way from our farm gave them a really nice book full of pictures of Pennsylvania, and a terrible towel. I think the mom liked the book, and I might have made a new Steelers fan out of the dad. (GO STEELERS). We then met back up with everyone in town at 4, and headed home. Overall, it was a tiring yet great experience. I have their phone numbers, and the girl's information (she's coming to america to work in the summer), so I might see them again.
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Cathy Griggs
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Awesome pictures
Brandon, Sounds like your "weekend away" was nice. Loved the story about the policy and ALL of the food! Glad you were able to get their names and numbers....never know when you might run across them again especially if the daughter is coming to the States to study! Have a great week back at school and keep posting on your blog...love reading about your adventures. Cathy