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Published: February 20th 2011
Talk about a long but amazing week. Monday morning I spent my normal two hours pulling second graders out of class, reading the journals for 5th graders and then relaxing during patio. For the afternoon I headed to 1st grade where we were supposed to be making lady bugs out of egg cartons. Unfortunately by the time we were finished with the daily routines it was time to head off to my next class. My last class of the day I got to do something a bit different. Normally I finish off the day in 2nd grade but Sandy needed help with her 4th grade art class so I volunteered for the job. I spent the next hour handing out materials for their projects and helping them cut magazines for their next project on seasonal clothes. After school I joined the staff for lunch and then spent the rest of my time on the computer finalizing my plans for Valentine’s Day. Finally it was time for my lessons for the day. I started off with Marco who was still sick. His mom has taken him to the doctor and they have found out he has allergies but they aren’t sure to
what yet. He was so miserable the whole hour so our lesson was definitely not one of the best. He didn’t want to play at all, just sleep. After our hour was up I headed to Ignacio’s house where we played Snakes and Ladders, mini-pool and Monopoly to finish off the hour. Afterwards I caught the bus back into Madrid.
Tuesday was a very full day. I woke up early to print off information for my trip before school started. The first two hours I spent with 2nd grade again. I can already see an improvement in so many of them but I honestly don’t think more than a handful will be passing the test in May. The test requires that these 2nd graders pass a 3rd grade English test, which to me does not seem right. I am going to do everything I can but as of now I can only think of 5 that could pass the test and 1 for sure that will be passing the test. It’s going to take a lot of preparation. For the third hour I headed off to the computer lab to finish researching the sights in Dublin that I wanted
to see. After Patio I headed off to 5th grade where I corrected their homework and then helped them organize groups for an ecosystem project they will be completing in a few weeks. That was definitely a crazy experience with tons of yelling and shouting, but after incorporating rock, paper, scissors into the groups everything started to fall into order. After school I headed to San Agustin to begin my tutoring. The first hour I was with the sisters. The first half an hour we worked on a practice English exam and the 2nd half an hour we spent making valentine’s cards. From there I headed to Miguel’s house. When I arrived Miguel and I headed upstairs to play some word games (he told me he had no homework). About half way through the lesson his sister came upstairs and yelled at him for not studying for his exam he had the next day. So he lied to me. I was a little upset with him about lying to me, but we made it through his study guide one time before I had to leave for my next lesson across the street. Nacho and I spent the entire hour together
studying for his science exam later in the week. I felt so bad for him because the unit was on 3 pages from his book, so I honestly don’t know how many times we went through the pages. He was so bored by the end of the lesson but he will do great on this exam. After I finished up there I headed back across the street to my final lesson with Lidia. We spent our hour completing a connectors worksheet that she had been assigned as homework. After finishing tutoring I caught the bus back to Madrid, packed for my trip and got everything ready for my coming travels.
Wednesday couldn’t have come soon enough. I was able to sleep in a bit before getting all my stuff gathered and heading to the airport. After checking in, and going through security, I went to my gate to wait for the plane. Unfortunately the plane was having technical difficulties so we were a bit delayed in taking off, but finally I was boarding the plane and on my way. After a short flight I finally arrived in Dublin! After a long time waiting to pass the immigration check I
headed through the airport, bought my tourist and buss pass, and then caught the bus to the city center. I headed to my hostel and dropped off my luggage in my room. I only had a few more hours of daylight and wanted to see as much as I could in my first day. I headed out to St. Patrick’s park; it was beautifully green and filled with people. From the park I headed to Trinity College and explored the grounds for a while. By the time I left there it was getting dark (it gets dark almost two hours earlier in Dublin than it does in Madrid), before heading to grab a bite to eat. I was surprised by how many Subways’s I saw in the city and couldn’t resist eating there. After eating dinner I headed to the library. Not exactly what I wanted to do on my first night however everything closes as soon as the sun sets so there wasn’t much else open at night. After exploring the library for a while I headed back to my hostel and spent the rest of the evening socializing with the other guests in the common room. I headed
to bed fairly early in hopes to be well rested for the busy day I had planned.
Thursday morning I woke up nice and early just as the sun was starting to come out and headed towards the city center. I walked around looking at the many bridges running through the city until the sights opened in the morning. The first place I headed to was the Jameson Whiskey distillery. It was so early in the morning that there were only 8 of us there for the tour. We walked through the old distillery, looking at a lot of replicas of the true instruments needed in making whiskey, but it was still very interesting. At the end of our tour they gave each of us a free drink and then took us into another room where we became taste testers; nothing says you’re in Ireland like a few drinks at 10 in the morning. After leaving the distillery I headed to the Christ Church. This Church was okay but not my favorite. From the Church I headed to the city hall which was holding an exhibit on the history of the City. This exhibit was so informative and interactive.
There were numerous videos and audio aspects and was very enlightening. After City Hall I headed to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In my opinion this cathedral was much better than the Church. There were ton of old flags hanging on the walls and you could definitely feel the history in this Cathedral, not to mention it also had a beautiful park right next to it. After the Cathedral I headed across the river to the Guinness storehouse. This storehouse also had a tour, however it was self guided. The tour was informative but I preferred the guided tour at the distillery. When I was about half way done with the tour they had a tasting room and after a sip of Guinness I decided not to take the free pint at the end of the tour. I just really don’t like it that much. At the top of building was a great view of the city so I spent a while there. After leaving the Storehouse I headed farther downtown to the Kilmamham Goal (prison). I arrived just in time for the guided tour in which we passed through the chapel, the old west wing, the new east wing and the
courtyard where they held the executions. The tour lasted an hour and was so amazing yet depressing at the same time. The history of this country is truly fascinating. After visiting the prison I caught the bus back to the city center for dinner before heading to the last thing on my list for the day (it was the only thing open after dark on Thursdays 😊). I went to the Gallery of Ireland Museum which housed tons of Irish art. At the museum I did find a new artist I truly love. Surprisingly he is not my normal style but I am fascinated with the works of Jack B. Yeats. If you have never seen any of his work I highly recommend it. After the museum I headed back to my hostel to get ready for another full day.
Once again I was up with the sun on Friday morning. I left the hostel and headed to Croke Park to learn about the history of Gaelic football. The museum itself was very small but super informative. It housed the history, old uniforms, old medals and even had an interactive area where you could test your skills at their
sports (I wasn’t very good 😊). After leaving the museum I headed to the James Joyce Center which was a replica of the house he lived in while working on his book Ulysses. The museum didn’t have much in it so I soon left and headed to the writers museum just up the street. This museum was so much more interesting and included a free audio guide of the museum. Learning about all the famous Irish writers was unbelievable. I didn’t realize how many of them I actually have on my Kindle. After leaving the writer’s museum I went back across the river to the Dublin’s Viking Museum. This museum was very interactive and fun, however, there were about 4 different school field trips taking place at the museum. The kids were loud and running around. So I did not get to see as much as I wanted in the environment. After leaving the museum I headed down the street to the Dublin Castle. I just missed a tour so I had about an hour to kill before the next would start. I went to the Chester Beatty Library and walked through his museum of old Islamic books along with
the Castle’s chapel. Finally it was time for the tour. I was surprised to find 4 of the Americans that had gone on the distillery tour with me the day before. We went through the rooms, banquet hall and ball room of the castle before heading to the old tower. In the tower you could see both the ruins of the wall from the Vikings castle and the castle that was constructed overtop of the original. It was really interesting. After the castle I headed to another museum of a house, #29. This museum was kind of a letdown. They showed a film before hand and is was so corny I couldn’t help but chuckle throughout. Then the 3 of us on the tour walked through the house and were told all about the furniture. Not exactly what I expected, but it was a beautiful house. On my way back to City Center I stopped at a restaurant to grab a bit to eat before heading to the Wax Works museum. This museum definitely put Newport’s Wax Works to shame. It was amazing! The bottom floor were solely designed on Ireland’s history and each room I walked into there was
an audio story of the account of each historical setting; it was so informative. The next level was the children’s floor, where I crawled through tunnels and watched movies. The last floor was dedicated to the science and you could do experiments. It was a great museum. They finally pulled me away from the exhibits at closing and I headed back to my hostel and off to bed.
Saturday came so early, but I was more than ready to spend a day outside of the city. I woke up and raced to catch the train out to Howth before the sun was even starting to come up. By the time I made it out to Howth the sun was just beginning to shine on the coast. (Who would have thought I would go to Ireland to watch the sunrise 😊). Upon arriving in Howth I headed to the water and watched the sunrise and then continued out to the cliffs. I spent about 2 hours walking along the cliffs. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience. It was so beautiful. Unfortunately I had more sights to see so I walked back to town and caught the next
train to Malahide Castle. This castle’s grounds were massive. Today it has been turned into a park with fields, playgrounds, running trails and so much more. The grounds were brilliant green and filled with the locals. After wandering around I finally made it to the castle were once again I was on a tour with the same 4 Americans. (We should have just planned our trip together 😊). This castle had a very interesting history. It belonged to one family for over 800 years. The family sold it to the Irish government in the 70’s. The castle had amazing architecture, furniture and paintings. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take pictures 😞. After spending a few hours taking the tour and wandering around the grounds I headed back towards the train. I took the trip back to the Dublin and headed to my hostel to get cleaned up before my dinner plans. When I was ready I headed out and to a pub for a traditional Irish meal and stories about the Irish people and folk lore. The meal consisted of three courses and the speaker did a fabulous job. In the three hours I was there listening to him there
was never a dull moment. Learning about the history and traditions of the Irish people was amazing. I couldn’t have spent my last night in Dublin any better than I did.
Sunday morning I woke up bright and early again and headed out into the city. It was my last day there so I walked around; trying to visit the sights I had missed. I went into another museum to see more of Irish art before heading back to my hostel to grab all my stuff and heading to the airport. This time my flight was on time and I had an emergency exit seat so the flight was great; I was just not ready to leave. I had such a wonderful time in Dublin and wish I could have had more time to explore the countryside of Ireland. After flying back to Madrid and taking the metro back to my house I was able to chat with mom and Dad for a bit, unpack a few things and make sure everything was ready for my lessons for Monday; time to get back to work.
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Janet Simpson
non-member comment
Thanks for the laugh
HI I read your latest blog to Nick, the part about visiting the distrillary and driking at 10 in the morning, I thought it was funny that you went off to a church after that...sounds like you really are making the most of your time over there.... Janet