Party, gardening and Badminton

It's being a quiet week in St Mary's Youth Centre office. And I'va said office because the Centre is full of people: the 7-9 Summer Camp started two days ago and more than eighty kids are having fun taking part in different activities. Besides the 26 French students are all day long in the building too. 

So Monday morning was not a big deal. I finished a new article for the European Youth Portal and I helped Bill in some things. Then I went home and my idea was to stay there continuing the puzzle with the kids but Rut sent me a message to go playing pool and drinking a beer. So I went where Tara (Irish volunteer) and Rut were - it was around 7 pm -. But the plan changed when we met new people and we came back home at 2.30 am. On a Monday. No more information needed. 

Tara, Rut and I 

Tuesday morning we were really tired as you can imagine. But I worked hard in the office and Rut and Tara did so in the Summer Camp. After that we went home and helped Roberta to clean the garden. 

Rut cleaning 

I was doing my part too 

Prize after work - Thanks, Roberta!

Do you remember Elvis - my favorite car in the Round House? He was sick yesterday so I took him to the vet with Roberta. They have to remove his teeth because they are in a very bad condition. So he will have surgery on Friday 8. My poor lovely cat ♥.

After that Elsa (she is the French leader), Rut and I played badminton in the garden. And I finished the day doing the puzzle so it was a really nice and completed day. 

Rut and Elsa 

Elsa and I

Today the newspaper have published my second article. I will show you in the next post as I will do with pictures of Athlone because we have a trip today! 

Dublin, marry me!

As I told you I went to Dublin on Saturday. It wasn't a bad day but I had higher expectations. I had been dreaming about Phoenix Park for a long time but finally I didn't go for reasons that I won't explain here. (I'm sorry but I am still really disappointed). 

I visited the Kilmainham Gaol - historical Irish prison where many films were filmed (In the name of the father, The Italian job, ...) - and the Irish National War Memorial Park. After that I just walked no direction and I discovered a part of the city I didn't know. It was definitely the best part of the day; Dublin has much more things than the typical tourist ones. It has something magic in the atmosphere. So maybe I won't be able to visit Phoenix Park before I go back to Spain but at least I will go there again on Thursday - I'll go for a new meeting in Léargas, not for fun - But I will be able to walk around once the meeting finish! 

 Central area of prison

Other perspective 

SOS! (Thanks to my friend Cris for the treatment of this picture!)

Irish National War Memorial Park 

 Art in Dublin streets

Getting lost is the best way to discover great things like this one

Saturday night I stayed at home with Roberta, one of her sisters and a friend of them. We drank beer and talked about a hundred of topics. It was a different night where I really enjoy myself. 

Yesterday morning I went to the mass in Tullamore with Stephanie - she's one of Roberta's sister - Adnan and the twins. I love this children ♥. After that Roberta had prepared a family meeting so there were around twenty people in the Round House. They first had other meeting in Kilbeggan and I stayed with Adnan doing a puzzle at home. Everyone came back around six to have dinner all together - delicious Irish dinner mmm!

 My little monsters ♥ - Ilara, Adnan (angry at this moment) & Emel

Doing the puzzle

Let's stop and have dinner!

The day finished with Rut and I talking in the dining room while we continued with the puzzle. Definitely living in Tullamore without her will be a challenge for me - she's leaving on Friday for holidays and when she come back I will already be in Coruña again. 

So let's see what this new week can offering me. Enjoy yourselves! 

Living Galicia's day from Ireland

Tuesday was a special day because we had the goodbye party for the Spanish group of students. We all - workers of the Centre, teachers, European volunteers and I - enjoyed listening to music and having snacks for about three hours. So now we had only French students in St Mary's - they will leave on 1 August.

Spanish and French teenagers having fun

The heat wave arrived on Wednesday. We are having around 27 degrees every day! So we had a trip to Glenbarrow, a natural area with lovely waterfalls. I really enjoyed that experience.

The entrance

Lost in the middle of the woods

Waterfall

After that I went to Tullamore Tribune to get a copy of the paper because my first article was published! Four years later I saw something with my name published. I can't describe how happy I was.

My article published!!

And to complete a fantastic day, Peter, Rut and I went to Jojo's house - she is a worker of St Mary's Youth Centre. We had a good talk and enjoyed in the swimming pool.

Swimming pool afternoon

Thursday was a shorter day in comparison with Wednesday. I worked in the office all morning and then I started to have a strong headache so I went straight to bed. I think its this weather; it changes really fast and the body can't assimilate it.

Today it's a special day for me because it's Galicia's Day, the day of my region. It's being the day I'm feeling the most homesick since I came in Tullamore. I will travel as much as I will be able to but my region will always be the most beautiful place on Earth. Today Santiago de Compostela - the capital of the region - has special celebrations and I can't say how much love I feel for this city where I lived six years.

Galician flag

This song makes me fly at home ♥

Anyhow ´the weekend is coming full of plans. It will start with a trip to Dublin with the French group. Yes... Dublin again - but I love it! ♥

Galway girl

Last friday was a quiet day. I worked in the office in the morning and then I walked around the city for a while because the weather was good. We wanted to keep our energy for Saturday because we had the trip to Galway with the Spanish and French students. What a great day. We visited the city and bought some souvenirs. Rut and I ate an Italian ice-cream. We ate close to the beach and we chilled out.

As happy as a kid 

Enjoying the landscape 

Original painting in a house 

Spanish Arch in Galway

On Sunday we went to Clara Market with Tom and his niece. This time I won't buy anything. After that we came back home to prepare dinner. Peter, Rut, Lourdes and I cooked for Tom, Erica and the French student who is staying with them. We had a great time and after dinner we enjoyed playing the guitar and singing Irish songs. It was a good weekend.

Galician empanada (Rut cooked it!) 

Spanish omelettes (this is what I cooked) 

Tom and Rut after dinner

Yesterday I had a meeting in Tullamore Tribune at 1.30 p.m. I went with Geroid - one of the reporters - to the monthly county meeting. I had never been to something similar before. We had an agenda to follow the meeting and our own place to stay. It was really interesting - particularly when they spoke Irish and I understood nothing!  

Big room where the meeting was celebrated 

My agenda 

My spot

Today I came back to the St Mary's Youth Centre. I will work in the office every morning and I will probably take part in other meetings of the newspaper. Let's see what surprises are coming! 

Clonmacnoise trip

Yesterday I went to the Tullamore Tribune office and I met Ger, the main editor. We had a good chat about Journalism situation in Ireland and in Spain. He explained me it is a weekly newspaper and what he wants me to do. They will publish me a couple of articles about my experience, events on St Mary's Youth Centre and I will also cover some events with other reporter. It looks like such an amazing experience!

Tullamore Tribune Office

The meeting lasted about half an hour so I went to the Centre went it finished. It was a wonderful day, the sun was shining and we had 25 degrees (!!!). I continued looking for information and writing some articles. I forgot to tell you that I contacted Eurodesk Spain to see if they wanted to share my blog and they do! So I prepared a 400 words presentation in Spanish and also in English about it. 

As you can guess I finally got a free afternoon so I could go to Clonmacnoise! And I am so lucky I did because it was such a wonderful place. It is a nature place with historical ruins of several church, a monastery and crosses of an ancient cemetery. There were 26 degrees so we really enjoyed the trip (not like last Saturday in the Cliffs of Moher ¬¬ ).

Clonmacnoise under a beutiful sky 

Here you can see the river Shannon in the background 

Crosses everywhere

Coming back home I prepare pancakes by my own for the first time. My sister and my boyfriend will be so happy for my new skill! Besides I had dinner with Rut (and Elvis who joined us like asking for food).

Pancakes with Nutella ♥ 

Elvis staring at us

Today it is being a calm day. It is raining again (Irish summer!) but it is still warm. I am finishing some articles for the European Youth Portal and Tullamore Tribune. Besides I am sending three postcards to my aunt, family friend and my boyfriend family.

The postcards I am sending

Tomorrow we have a trip to Galway and I am so excited! Rut went day some time ago and she said it is a beautiful city. So have a nice weekend! 

My job(s)

You may think I am not working so much but that's not true. Actually I can say I have three jobs at the same time and it never happened to me before! As you know, St Mary's Youth Centre - settled in Tullamore, Co. Offaly - was the company which gave me the opportunity of coming to work abroad and enjoy the grant I got. I work in the office with Bill - the manager - from Monday to Friday during 8 weeks (this is already my fifth week!). Every weekday I come to the office at 10 a.m. and I stay here until 3.30 p.m. My job is basically prepare materials about European Voluntary Service, Youth Exchanges and other topics which can be interesting for young people of the county. I also help in other activities of the Centre and I do some office work. 

My desk 

My desk (and the little mess behind it!) 

Anyhow Bill told me since I arrived that he will try to find other companies to collaborate with and it will make my internship much better. So in my third week he told me I will start to collaborate with Léargas - the Irish National Agency for Erasmus + settled in Dublin - or much specifically with the Eurodesk Irish section. So I started to prepare a few articles each week for the Irish section of the European Youth Portal. 

Léargas logo

And this week I am starting my new collaboration but I won't know until tomorrow what it is about. Tomorrow at 10 a.m. I have a meeting with a man called Ger in the local newspaper Tullamore Tribune. I don't know if I will be able to publish something on it but at least I will learn how its staff works. 

Tomorrow I will spend my day here!

So as you can see, I am here not just travelling and hanging out; I am learning a lot and I am happy working which is something that not everyone can have. It will last just three more weeks but I will enjoy that as much as possible.

Yesterday after work, Rut and I were watching TV series and we cooked pancakes. I will really miss her in August; she is going on holidays for two weeks and when she come back I won't be here anymore.

Cooking pancakes ♥

At night we went to the Irish night in the Rugby Club of Tullamore. It was a wonderful night: we enjoyed typical dances, songs and living music played by people from the region. The atmosphere was so good, even we sang the 'Happy birthday' to one of the man who danced and played the piano. Besides a French boy and a Spanish girl played the piano too; both were absolutely great. 

Playing traditional music 

Cute girl singing

Today we were supposed to have a trip to Clonmacnoise but they changed the week plan and it will be tomorrow so I can't go because I have my first meeting in the newspaper... It's a pity because I really wanted to visit the monastery and the lake; it looked amazing. Anyhow this weekend we are finally going to Galway and I won't miss that trip for sure! 

Boom boom boom

I have already been here for one month! Time flyes in Tullamore. Working in the morning and hanging out in the afternoon, travelling during the weekends... I'm loving my live here. Many people asked me why I chose Ireland instead other country when I got the grant. Now you can see why. I also think I have been lucky because I like my job, my room, most of the people around me... As Tom would say: "Absolutely fuc***g great!". 

On Friday I worked in St Mary's like on all the week-days. We didn't do anything special because we had the trip to Cliffs of Moher next day. So on Saturday first we visited the Aillwee Cave which I would recommend you if you have never gone to visit something similar. 

Walking on the tour on the Aillwee Cave

Unfortunately, the weather couldn't be worse and when we arrived to the Cliffs of Moher we realized we won't be able to see anything. The fog was so big that you couldn't see a person ten meters from you! I was/am so disappointed... It was one of the places that I wanted to visit the most in Ireland before coming and now I think I won't be able to come back before I come back to Spain.

Memorial on the Cliffs 

Here you can see why I couldn't see the Cliffs :( 

I was really sad... I am sure it is an amazing place

Anyhow Saturday night was brilliant so it "fixed" the day. We went to The Palace - the only night club in Tullamore - and there was a 90's party because there was a concert of VengaBoys. Laia, Peter, Rut, Stephen and I couldn't stop dancing and laughing the whole time and when the concert finished we still continue partying for a couple of hours. 

No, I wasn't jocking! 

Boom boom boom ♪ I want you in my room ♫ 

Stephen, Rut, Laia and I in the dancefloor

Yesterday we were tired so we just slept in the morning. I went walking to the Charleville Castle with Rut - who is definitely my person here. I just can say good things about her ♥. - The day finished with all of us going together to watch the final match of the World Cup. 

Beautiful way walking to the Castle

This week I have plans too: some trips, a new collaboration... I am absolutely falling for Ireland! ♥