Considerations about Dublin

It’ half past three p.m. of a raining and cold day of February, I’m at home and I’ve just finished my homework. It's been four days since my classmates have left Italy  for a linguistic stage in the marvelous city of Dublin, in Ireland, but unfortunately I have not been able to take part in this wonderful opportunity because of my sport commitments.

In these days I’ve often thought about what they were doing, and tried to imagine what I would do if I were there with them I am sure my classmates have already created a deep bond with the other students, and I'm sure they're enjoying the experiment all together with a lot of happiness.

I can’t stop thinking about how they have related with their host families, and especially if they have been able to adapt quickly. I hope they are making them feel like as if they were at home, and maybe my mates are so lucky that they are establishing a good relationship with their Irish families them that will last over time. I think the hardest part of this experience is communication because it's not easy to be away from home, and also speaking in a language so different from ours.

I’m personally  worried about the idea of using public transports to get from one place to another in a city where I'm not able to find a way home.

Talking about the school they are attending in Ireland, I think it's a unique opportunity to test their skills with the language: they can rely on the tutors that will help them to improve their pronunciation, or the way they write in English. I suppose that they will have the chance to try some activities that they could not do here. They are really lucky that they can put into practice what they have learned during all these school years every day. Also, all that they are learning now, will be really useful when they'll come home and, why not, also in the future.

My school week will be very busy, because I'm trying to go in with all the stuff I have left behind during the month. Tomorrow I'll have a biology oral test, on Friday one of philosophy and on Saturday a history one. We are five left in the classroom and the lessons at school are very boring. We spend hours studying together to help each other. Also we have joined with the remaining students of the other class, and I made a lot of new friends. Unluckily, during the week we lost many hours of lessons because our teachers have to work as substitute teachers in other classes.

I'm sorry I couldn’t manage to go with them and visit all those Dublin’s wonderful places, such as the library of Trinity College, which is the same college that proposed a test I took some years ago, or a typical Norther Ireland town like Belfast, and that I lost the opportunity to be closer with my classmates.
I am sure that an experience like this would allow me to improve my language skills and to grow not only from the educational point of view but also from a human point of view. I think such as experience teaches to improve one’s independence and I hope that when my classmates return they will tell me everything  and that they will have a great memory of the experience.
I hope to try a similar experience in the future!