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Published: June 20th 2015
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Dun Laoghaire
Sunset from The Forty Foot More Irish terminology:
• Happy out - this just means "happy," but for some reason they feel the need to add "out."
• Press - a press is what they call a cupboard or cabinet.
• Pint of Gat - another name for Guinness. Apparently if someone asks if it's good Gat, and you're not sure how to judge it, simply respond with "sure look it."
These are some of the more commonly used terms I've heard and began to use myself. It really is true that you start to talk like the people you are around the most... I don't have an Irish accent though! Regarding the above, I came to the decision that I'm not the biggest fan of dark beer. I know what you're thinking,
she is in Ireland!! How could she not love THE Guinness?! I'm going to stick to wine, light beer, and anything else if given a choice. Don't fret readers, I did go through the Irish initiation and drank all of my pint of Gat!
The work week seemed to go by very slowly. There was a stomach bug going around the children, but thankfully one of the staff members caught
St. Stephen's Green
Group photo with our lovely program head! it (and that staff member wasn't me, yay!)! Some of the staff were on holiday so I worked in the upstairs classroom twice this week. It was really neat to see the different settings. The structure of the curriculum is the same, but the little turkey's personalities make the environment of each classroom different. Side note: I have a lot of names for children such as kiddos, turkeys, nuggets, etc. The upstairs kiddos have much higher receptive language skills whereas the downstairs kiddos have much higher social and language skills. But because of the tummy bug floating around, a different kid was absent each day. We, the staff, were really cautious and made sure to double sanitize everything!! On Friday, all but one of the nuggets were present and it was a good day to be at school! We made Father's day crafts, watched parts of Cars 2, and had a party. Next week is a holiday so we were celebrating summer. As you might have guessed, all 11 of the kids were extremely bouncy after all the sugar from the party. The highlight of the work week was on Thursday when I lead my first therapy session. I programs
The Forty Foot
It was named this because the highest tide, the water is forty feet deep. This is just one of the many cliffs. that had goals for fine motor skills, rounding of the lips, and responding to one's own name. The session went really well and I absolutely loved it. This was only the first of many therapy sessions for the summer, and it reconfirmed my career choice. Even though I have a few more years to go, I can't wait to be a speech-language pathologist!
Aside from work it was a very relaxed week. I wanted to go out Monday night, but my roommates convinced me that I needed sleep and boy, were they right! That one night of decent sleep set me up for the hectic week of work, and new explorations! Caitlyn and I spent multiple afternoons after work laying in the grass in St. Stephen Green's Park. The weather was perfect and sunny every day. On Tuesday, we met up with all of the other UT Dallas students and our internship coordinator, Kortney House. She was so excited to see us and hear about how are time in Ireland has been so far. Coincidentally, the Irish flag and our school colors are the same! Therefore, it was only necessary that we take a group photo with the flag!
Dun Laoghaire
Clock Tower on the main drag Thursday was the only day I went to a new city. Cheyenne, Emily and I took the bus from campus to Dun Laoghaire. We went to the famous Ireland ice cream shop called Srcumdiddly's. I got a Rocky Road ice cream sundae and oh my goodness, I don't think I've ever had so much sugar at once. It had vanilla ice cream, mini homemade marshmallows, nuts, chocolate covered wafers, and melted Cadbury sauce. Cheyenne got an apple crumble tub and Emily a Ferrero Rocher tub. None of us could finish the sundaes! Afterwards we walked over to the harbor where we had a beautiful view of The Forty Foot. Now before I explain to you what this is, let me preface it with the fact that we have been planning all week to go to The Forty Foot. This is a famous swimming spot where many people can climb and jump off rocks and cliffs... into the freezing water along the coast of the Irish Sea. I put on my American flag swimsuit (I know; I'm one of those, but hey! I'm proud!) and after some peer encouragement, we jumped! The water was around 45-50 degrees fahrenheit which was too cold for Emily. She instantly swam to the side and climbed back up the rocks. I decided to keep swimming around in one spot to hopefully keep warm. It worked eventually! I met some nice men who initially joked about my swimsuit, and then told me about the tides and the best swimming and hiking places around the area. I've met a lot of really nice people this week from Chicago, Boston, Saudi Arabia, and locals. I really enjoy talking to people and hearing their stories! One person was in Dublin to play in a handbell choir. One was celebrating graduating from law school. One was a door man who quit his busy job because he "felt that there was more to life than making money." I couldn't agree with him more!
Another thing I enjoy is food! Out of all the things on the list below, Lemon Crepe and Coffee was by far the best place I've eaten here. Emily and I split a calzone crepe and it was to die for. We talked about that one crepe all night and made sure to tell all of our friends so they could experience the goodness that is a crepe from Lemon.
• The Rolling Donut - this was a small (but legit) donut cart on O'Connell street. We tried the freshly made and warm cinnamon cake donut.
• Bubble Juice - I found a bubble tea place!!! It was on Abbey St and I ordered the coconut avocado milk tea.
• Lemon Crepe - oh my gosh... I am actually excited to go back
• KC Peaches - a cute shop on Nassau St. I couldn't remember what a meringue tasted like so we split one between four people.
• Scrumdiddly's
• Fallon and Byrne - Located on Wicklow St., floor 0 is a wine cellar, floor 1 is a Whole Foods type grocery setting, floor 2 is a restaurant. We ate the panini pressed cajun chicken wrap.
• Boojum Burrito - this is essentially Chipotle, but with much fresher ingredients. It was on a cool strip called Millennium Walkway.
• The Temple Bar - everyone has frowned upon this place saying it was a tourist trap, but we had a really fun time! The live music was phenomenal and the people were so friendly!
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