CONCLUSIONS

After a month full experiences it is difficult to choose just a moment, a place or a person. They have met lots of people, visited lots of places and had lots of funny moments. There also were some difficult moments, but the face them and made the most of this month in Ireland. Their English improved, and in ways they didn't realize. One said he didn't think he learnt anything (vocabulary and grammar wise) but immediately after that he said that he noticed how the communication with the family was better, he could understand them better and they could understand him better too.
I can tell their fluency is better now, their listening skills are better and that some of them are now less afraid of speaking in English although they make some mistakes.
Well done, you made and effort to improve and learn and you get it!

Bray

Bray is a city quite close to Blackrock, it's only 30 minutes by train from Booterstown Dart station(the closest station from Blackrock College). Every July there is a festival in this city with concerts, fun fair anf other activities. It has a long and beautiful beach, but although we were very lucky with the weather, the forecast for Saturday was rain and more rain, so instead of spending the last Saturday in our stay in Ireland there, we went on Thursday evening, besides that day there was an Italian food market.
The first thing we saw was the fun fair and the people just wanted to go on a ride in the different things there were. We also went a little bit to the beach, we didn't see the market at all, but we bought some ice creams or crepes before we took he train back home. It was a lovely evening.

Artistic afternoon

Today some people are having art lessons while the others are doing sports. Everybody has an artist inside and today is coming out, mirrors, little mugs, gnomes...are some od the things they are creating. Well done!

Dublin City Soul Fest

On Sunday was our free day, we didn't get up very early and we met to go to an event in Merrion Square, a music festival to help the Musical Youth Foundation.
Again we were very lucky with the weather and we could have our lunch in the sunshine and listening to music. When the sky started to be cloudy we went to the Natural Museum, and them we went for a walk to see Molly Malone's statue. After it was time to go home, because after dinner it was disco time like every Sunday and Wednesday

Killiney Hill

Last Friday we met after dinner to go for a walk to Killiney Hill.
Th views from the top are amazing and as the day was clear and sunny we could enjoy them a lot. Besides, we met there with an Irish boy, Emmet, who worked in Clen College some years ago and his girlfriend, they are very nice, and the group had the opportunity to speak to them. It was Friday evening after work, that's why I want to say thank you very much for coming!

More visits

This week we had two visits in the morning(because this week. the lessons are in the afternoon) Christ Church Cathedral and James Joice Center.
Christ Church Cathedral is a protestant cathedral, and has a huge crypt were some parts of the TV show "The Tudors" were filmed.
James Joice center is a georgian house in the north of Dublin where you can learn a little bit more about the writer. The best part was when two of our girls played the piano for us, thanks Carmen and Sofía for trying and for playing for us!

Belfast

The day trip that was organised for the second week was Belfast, Northen Ireland. After two hours by bus, our first stop was at Ulster Museum, a museum, where we could see different things about nature, history, and art.
After lunch we went on a sightseeing tour, the tour was interesting, but the guide with his strong accent from Northen Ireland, a little bit difficult to understand.

Temple Bar

Last week we had our free day on Saturday. On Saturday there are lots of flea markets or street markets in Dublin and around it, so that's what we did. We visited some of those markets and we walked around Temple Bar. It was a tiring day, and after so much walking we went to Stephen's Green Park to lie down on the grass and rest a little bit before going home.

Dundrum

Finally the day all of them were waiting for arrived, last Friday we went to Dundrum shopping center. It is said that it is one of the biggest in Europe, and now we can say, yes, it's really big.
After doing some shopping we had dinner there and then we went home to be with the families and to rest, the weeks are full of activities and the weekends too!

The beach

Here the plans change depending on the weather.This week I had planned to activities, going to the beach and going shopping. The shopping day was going to be on Thursday, but when I saw in the weather forecast that on Thursday we were going to have a sunny day, and Friday rain, I change the planning, Thursday was the beach day.
And yesterday we went to the beach, the place chosen was the  Forty Foot, but it was packed, and we went to a bathing place close to it. The kids were brave enough to have a swim in the really cold sea, and when they were dry, we walked to Teddy's a very famous ice-cream shop in Dun Laoghaire, where we tried the 99.
Thanks we did that yesterday, because today it's raining as the weather forecast said.

Visits

This week the visits planned in our programme were two, Guinness Storehouse and Dublinia. Both places are interesting, Guinness is the most famous beer from Ireland, and in Dublinia we could learn about the viking and medieval times in Dublin

Howth

On Sunday was our free day, the plan was going to Howth a beautiful fishermen's village. For the first time we took the DART, the train that goes directly there. In Howth we walked and we went to the summit to see Dublin's bay, the way up was hard, and you could hear the complaints, but finally we reached the summit. To compensate, we took the bus, and we ate fish&chips in the most well-known place in Dublin, Beshoffs.
As the sky started to be grey, we took the train and went to Dublin to do some shopping or just walk around some of its streets. Another day, we will visit more things.

Glendalough & Wicklow Gaol

We didn't go together, but on Saturday we could visit these two places.
Glendalough is a beautiful natural park, we walked a lot and we took beautiful pictures.
After visiting Wicklow Gaol,  a place a little bit scary, but interesting to visit, some were brave enough to continue walking and visit the town, we even went to the beach.

First get together

Although we were here less than a week, on Friday we had our first get together. After thee lessons the group from Blackrock went to UCD and then when we were all we went back to McDonald's in Blackrock. After having dinner we walked in Blackrock Park, which is very beautiful, bid and quiet. We had a lovely evening!

Airport

Here we are waiting to board on the plane, two hours and we are going to be in another country, the adventure starts!