I got another parcel from my mum!! She made christmas cookies with my little siblings and send them to me AND they made a christmas calendar for me by themselves!!! I am so happy!!! And I really didn't expectes this!! 

Aaaand another week is over. Actually nothing interesting happened. I was in Belfast with a friend of mine and we were already on the Christmas market there... it was so nice :):) They had a lot of German products like "Bratwurst" or mulled wine there! :)

What else.. well my little host sister gave me the Bug, so I wasn't in school on Tuesday.

Oh right, we are getting on now very well, so yesterday we were with my host mother in the shopping centre in Tesco. That was real fun because we were banging around like little kids but then I saw a girl I know that was quite embarrassing. Then we went to 'Extravision' and I saw some boys I kinda know so I asked her if we could leave so I wouldn't embarrass myself. That was not very smart!! as we went out she shouted "Germaine say 'Hi'!!".... omg... that was awful!! :D

Galway and The Cliffs of Moher

Hahahha :) Well, that was a fail!!!

We went to Galway from Monday to Wednesday and it was quite nice. The main "attraction" for me were supposed to be the Cliffs of Moher. The whole day started with a horrible drive in the bus. The Streets to the cliffs are so hilly that I ( and some others!!) went sick so we needed to stop so we could get fresh air otherwise there would have been a little or better some little accidents.

Then we arrived at the Cliffs and well, we were a kind of disappointed. I guess you will understand best when I just post the picture I made!!

But anyway, the trip was nice. The Hostel was okay and Galway is such a lovely city!!

It was just sad that we couldn't see what ,for me, was the main reason to pay the 70€ to go on the trip.

But of course it is a lot better than school! :)

By the way: I know this is not a very good characteristic but: I made this picture by myself :) So proud of it !! :D:D

Aww.. I got a parcel from my mum!! It was full Chocolate and the most important: My favourite High Heels!!! <3

Yesterday the school started again as well, but I expected it to be worse :) And I am actually happy that the mid term break was just one week, because I guess after a while I just wouldn't know what to do anymore over the day, but with the one week it was just perfect. I had a really nice Halloween and we were at the Giant's Causeway!!!!! This was the most amazing thing I ever saw!! It looks great on the pictures, but when you are standing there on the top of the Cliffs with nothing in front of you but the sea it is just....wow!! This picture here is from the Internet, but I have one at home which I made by myself and it really looks the same:)

 

What else.... well.. I am bored right now because we have another double of ICT and don't know what to do,  except of writing unimportant Information on this site.:)

Wuhuuu... guess what guyyysss :)) I have 90% in the Science test!! That's an A+ !! I am so proud and I can't wait until I can skype with my family in Germany to tell them!!

Furthermore I have 10 days Holidays now and on Wednesday is Halloween.. soo nice :)

And my friends are going to send me a pack and my mum is also going to send me one and I guess I will get this one in one or two weeks:) So all in all it was a great week.

I still like it here in Ireland and I am living with my host family since two months now.!!

I really couldn't have a better host family!! Love them all!!!!  But of course I miss my real family even know when Christmas time is coming closer. But I think this is normal:)

Science test -> ahoi!!

Jesus... I was so happy when I finished 10th grade in Germany last school year, that I never have to do Biology again.

But shit happens, we have "Science" here and this means for the first third Biology...

And I am, not lying I am really really bad at Biology in Germany and now I have to do all this in english...

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......

Paranormal Activtiy 4... :O

I am so proud of myself. Yesterday I watched Paranormal Activity 4 and I am still alive.

Actually it was not too bad. I mean it was very scary, but I didn't had nightmares after this or something. But I am glad that I could walk home with my host brother.. I think I would have been so scared on my way home when I had to walk home alone.

I hadn't see any of the other Paranormal films before so it was really frightening for me but people who saw the other parts said that they were better.. so I am not going to watch the other parts. But I have to admit that it is actually fun to watch a Horror movie with a lot of people in the cinema. When just the people in the back row would stop talking during the whole movie....

So I can recommend the movie :) Even for girls like me who are scared very easily..it is not too bad :)

 

 

 



Rock me, Mama ;)

Oh my God I had such a great weekend :)

Well, lets say great Saturday. On Friday I didn't really do anything, but on Saturday I had a sleepover at a friends house and we went to the 18th Birthday of a girl I don't know, but she invited everybody, and after this we went to town and just sat in the Pub for another little while. It was so nice and then we made Pancakes for breakfast *_*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCwjhAhRL4Q&list=FL_zdqLsCZNKI-chXz_vwH7w&index=5&feature=plpp_video

This is the song we heard a lot of times at the weekend.. it is sooo nice!! I really love it at  the moment :D :D

Well as you can see I survived the visit at the hairdresser :)

The hairdresser here is really good and I think she did a good job and I really liked that I really just had to pay the price she said me before and I didn't have to charge extra for every little thing for example when they do the layers with a knife. :)

And we have ICT now and I am a kind of bored so I uploaded these lovely webcam pictures of me and Anika :P

 

 

 

 

 

ahhh...I hate the phone companies!!!

I uploaded 20 € at my phone about two weeks ago and today in Lunch break i couldn't write text messages anymore. so I went to the shop complaining and they told me that I had only 20ct left. They didn't tell me that I have to write a free message to a number every time when I top up. So I thought that I had free text and managed it somehow to spend 20€ (!!!) in about two weeks.. maybe three but this wouldn't make it any better!! grrr....

Thank God this week is nearly over!!

Well.. to make my weird week perfect, my host family locked me yesterday out (not on purpose).

I watched a DVD yesterday night at a friends house and when I came home the door was locked. I tried to ring the bell, but it wasn't working. Then I tried to call the house phone and the phone of my sister, but both didn't work. I slowly started to panic then and went around the house to try to go in to the back door but it was also locked. 

Because I had no other opportunity I knocked at the door then very loudly and FINALLY my host mum came to open me. I was so happy!! ( If my host mum is ever reading this: I am NOT angry at you!! :) )

I also go to the hairdresser today. Actually I think it isn't a good idea..  after this week she will maybe colour my hair green or whatever..

But at the Weekend is a food festival in our town and that is perfect for me, because I love eating good things :D:D So I am pretty normal.. just sometimes I am not very lucky! :D:D

exploring the ground of the dining hall

Aaaaannd..again I embarrassed myself !!

In the small break we were sitting in the dining hall chatting and eating. When the bell rang I stood up, but then I realised that I can sit down again, because our teacher said that we can wait in the dining hall for her. So I sat down.. the only problem was that my chair wasn't there anymore. So I sat down at the ground in the middle of the dining hall.... awesome!! -.-''

 

The girl who was sitting next to me said that she didn't move the chair, but I actually think she did. Not on purpose and I guess she didn't even realised it, but when I "sat" down it felt like the chair moved.... so it doesn't matter anyway.. because after all it was funny :) And now I have something to write in my Blog:))

Considering to change my name!!

So I know that I already posted something today but I need to tell you this:

For school we have to order a school jacket and on this jacket is our name. We are not allowed to wear any other jacket if we are wearing our school uniform. So I ordered it two weeks ago and went to the front office today to get it.

The Jacket was there bit they spelled my name wrong so instead of "Koch" as my last name they wrote "Kock"....

I don't have to say anything more except of that since I am here some people pronounce my first name as "German"... so in the end I am "german (c)ock" or what??!!

 

 

Trip to the "Omagh folk Park"

As I told you, I did a trip to "Omagh Folk Park" in Northern Ireland with my Coordinator and her group of exchange students. The Park was okay. We could see the old buildings where the people lived in in earlier times.But it was nice because of the people who were with me.

Because my host mum doesn't have a car, the father of another exchange student brought me there. And this was just horrible!!! Not because of the father, he was very nice, but the street up to my Coordinators house is very bumpy and went up and down all the time. Furthermore the father was driving very fast and I was sitting in the back of the car. Oh my god I got so sick! I never was that sick because a car ride or something in years!! And when we arrived the house of my Coordinator we discovered that we have to meet in the middle of the village which was another 2km away....

When we finally arrived at the bus which was supposed to bring us to the Folk park, I needed to stand outside in the fresh air for a while and believe me.. it is pretty embarrassing when you have to sit in the very front of the bus and you get bags from people who care about you if it is getting worse. I am not saying that they shouldn't have given me the bags.. I mean it was possible that it was getting worse and it showed that they worry about me but I hate it when everybody is staring at me and when I get too much attention :) This is stupid I know but this is just the way I am.

But anyway: It was a nice day and I am glad that I joined the Trip and after a little time I wasn't sick anymore and my Coordinator brought me home , so I didn't need to drive with the father back again.

One of the old buildings

An old school -> Our schools don't seem to be so bad now, do they?

DVD evening :)

Today my friend Anika and me are going to to a DVD evening :) We will go to her House right after school. Well.. after we went to Tesco, because I have to buy her cookies. We did a kind of Competition. Every time on of us talks in German we have to buy one Cookie for the other person. So i get one from her and she gets two from me.

We will try to watch all three "Lord of the Ring" movies. Totally insane but I think these movies are simply awesome!! <3

Dublin II + Homesick

As you now I was in Dublin on Saturday and I have to say I totally love this town!! <3

Our Bus there went at 8:45am so I had to get up early, but ut was worth it. We met a friend we met in the EF Camp and went shopping...

It was such a nice day, also because the wheather was really nice:)) Means it was sunny and maybe like 17*C.

After this we all were a kind of exhausted and we went back at 5:30 pm. But before we reached our bus we saw a car accident. Some stupid motobiker was driving very fast straight into a waiting Taxi. But I think he was lucky. He stood up right after this, so it seems like he is ok.

In the evening we went to a friend and just sat together, but I was really tired so I went home abou 11 - 11:30 pm.

 

On Sunday and Tuesday I started to get Homesick for the first time. It was not that I cried or something.... I just felt really sad and kind of deprssed(?)..it is really hard to explain because it is a relly strange feeling. But I told myself to go downstairs and met with friends, because it won't get better when you stay in your room all day. And today and yesterday I felt realla really good:) And my hostfamily is so nice that it is easy to think about something different than your family at home :))

On Friday I will go to Anika's house right after school and we will have a DVD evening :)) And on Sunday we my IEC invited me to a trip to the "Omagh Folk Park" in Northern Ireland. I actually have no idea what this is but I will just go. :)) I think it will be fun :))

In ICT I have to do a presentation about my home town. We started it on Tuesday and it was not nice, because I started feeling really homesick.... but I think it will be better today, so .. that is all I have to say for now :)
 



Dublin, wheather etc.

I will go to Dublin tomorrow!! I love Dublin :)) I think it  is a lovely town and you have great opportunities to go shopping there:) With the "Language and Culture Camp" we were in Dublin before and it was really nice. Hopefully the wheather is not that bad tomorrow. The last time we were there it was raining, big surpise for Ireland I know. But back to Saturday. Anika and me will meet a friend we met in the Camp:)) I am so looking forward to that!!!But I have to get up early on Saturday because our bus is leaving at 8:45.. so it is going to be a short Friday night:)

The Wheather in Ireland is not that different from north Germany, where I normally live when I'm not on an exchange year (<- "exchange" is maybe the wrong word, because there is no one coming to Germany instead of me, but you know what I mean)

So, the wheather is colder and it rains a lot, but the main differenz is that it is changing about three times within 10 minutes ... CRAZY!! really... When you yhink it is warm and sunny and you go outside in short trousers and a shirt, I promise you it will rain soon. And when you're running home because you don't want to become wet it will stop raining when you arrived home...totally wet of course :))

So ICT lesson is over now, have to stop :))

 Lots of love,

Germaine

writing in english...sorry to every native speaker :)

So, as you can see i decided to write my post in english now, because I am in Ireland to improve my english and hopefully my parents are reading this so they can improve their english too:) well... at least I hope they're interested and read this :)) I have to say sorry to every native english speaker, my grammer and stuff is not that good:))

Foooood :)

Es haben sich ja sicherlich schon einige gefragt, ob ich mich hier von etwas anderem als Kartoffeln und Guinness ernaehre. Ja tue ich :)) Aber wohl gemerkt: Kartoffeln sind in irgendeiner Form immer dabei, meistens als Brei oder Pommes. Das stoert mich allerdings nicht, da ich beides sehr mag :))

 

Das Essen hier ist ziemlich fettig und eigentlich ist es nur Fast food, allerdings macht meine Mutter immer noch Gemuese dazu, um das Gewissen zu beruhigen. Aber glueklicherweise laufe ich hier ziemlich viel durch die Gegend und wir essen immer direkt nach der Schule also so gegen halb fuenf und deshalb bin ich noch nicht dicker geworde. Ich habe auch nicht abgenommen, aber immerhin :)

 

So, my next post is probably going to be in english:) Makes sense doesn't it ;)

Irische Jugendliche

Also ich muss sagen, so wie manche Leute hier rumlaufen macht die Schuluniform echt Sinn. Versteht mich nicht falsch es soll jeder seinen eigenen Style haben, aber wenn man 13-Jährige mit Minirock, mega knappem Top und tonnenweise Make-up im Gesicht sieht, guckt man schon ein bisschen blöd. Das ist hier nicht die Regel das die Leute so rumlaufen, aber es ist halt auch nicht die Ausnahme. Vor allem in den großen Städten wie Dublin, trifft man sowas öfter mal. Und die Klamotten sind dann natürlich neon pink, gelb, grün, orange oder gleich alles zusammen.

 

Ansonsten sind die Jugendlichen so ziemlich wie in Deutschland. Montags schlecht gelaunt und am Wochenende feiern:) Meine Organisation erlaubt mir nicht das ich Alkohol trinke und falls ich doch mal erwischt werde oder der Verdacht besteht bin ich nicht nur in großen Schwierigkeiten sondern mit aller Wahrscheinlichkeit auch auf dem direkten Weg nach Hause. Als ich noch in Deutschland war habe ich gedacht, dass das ja nicht so schlimm ist, weil die hier ja erst mit 18 trinken dürfen und aufgrund der Sachen wie Schuluniform und Co. habe ich mir tatsächlich eingebildet, dass die sich auch mehr oder weniger dran halten. Tun sie nicht. Vielmehr geht sogar in einem so kleinen Städtchen wie Monaghan am Wochenende ordentlich die Post ab.

 

Unterschiede zu Deutschland bei den Jugendlichen besteht hauptsächlich in der Körpergöße. Als ich an meinem ersten Tag in der Schule war, kam ich mir mit meinen 1,72cm wie ein Riese vor. Ich meine, ja das ist groß aber die Jungs hier gehen mir teilweise echt nur bis zur Schulter. Aber das Los teile ich irgendwie mit den meisten Deutschen. Auch die deutschen Jungs überragen die meisten Iren um einiges.

 

Und jünger sind die Schüler in meinem Jahrgang. Dadurch, dass das vierte Jahr freiwillig ist, ist die Mehrheit in meinem Jahrgang ( 5th Year) erst 15, bzw. ist grade 16 geworden.

 

Was außerdem auffallend ist das viele teilweise auf bis zu 200-300 Fotos auf Facebook makiert sind. Vielleicht liegts ja an mir, aber ist das normal??

 

Hmm... so ich denke das wars dann auch erstmal wieder von mir. Dafür das ich mir vorgenommen habe weniger als beim ersten Post zu schreiben, habe ich ja doch etwas mehr geschrieben. Aber beim nächsten Mal bestimmt :) Ich versprechs :D:D

Germaine

Erster Post - Man hatte ich viel zu sagen :)

So meine Lieben,
wie man unschwer erkennen kann ist dies hier mein erster Beitrag:) Ich habe diesen Blog eroeffnet, damit ihr verfolgen koennt wie ich hier drueben in Irland zurechtkomme. Warum ich in Irland bin? Tja zurzeit verbinge ich ein High School Year in Irland und habe bereits zwei Wochen Vorbereitungscamp in Dublin und drei Wochen bei meiner Gastfamilie verbracht, bin also insgesamt seit 5 Wochen hier (ja Mathe war schon immer meine starke Seite ;) ) Es gefaellt mir hier echt gut. Meine Gastfamilie ist einfach super nett. Ich habe drei Brueder (zurzeit noch 17,15 und 10) und eine Gastschwester (13) und die streiten sich natuerlich sehr oft und dann fliegen ordentlich die Fetzen, was  mir dann schon manchmal ziemlich unangenehm ist. Aber zu mir sind die alle mega nett und im Grossen und Ganzen fuehle ich mich hier Pudelwohl :)
Heimweh hatte ich bis jetzt auch noch kein richtiges. Ich  hatte schon Sitationen, wenn ich einen Song gehoert habe oder jemand einen Satz gesagt hat oder so, in denen ich ploetzlich jemanden ganz doll vermisst habe. Aber im Moment bin ich noch ganz gut darin mich selbst abzulenken. Ich gehe dann einfach runter und rede mit meiner Gastmutterund oder treffe mich mit Freunden oder setze mich einfach zu meinem kleinen Gastbruder vor den Fernseher. Und sollte ich mal in die Situation kommen wo keiner zuhause ist, koennte ich wharscheinlich einfach an der Tuer der Nachbarn klingeln und mit denen reden, weil die Leute hier sind einfach alle supernett und hilfsbereit. Ich denke naemlich, dass das Schlimmste was man machen kann ist, alleine in seinem Zimmer zu hocken und ueber zuhause nachzudenken... dann kann man ja nichts anderes als Heimweh bekommen.
Die Schule hier ist eigentlich ganz cool. Wir muessen Schuluniform tragen, aber das stoert einen eigentlich eher weniger, weil ja jeder gleich aussieht und unsere Uniform ist nicht die schoenste aber es gibt noch ein, zwei Uniformen in der Stadt die sind sogar noch haesslicher/haessliger (<- keine Ahnung was jetzt davon richtig ist ;) ). Das Einzige was mich stoert ist das in unserem Jahrgang 60 (!!) Austauschschueler und nur 70-80 irishe Schueler sind. Dadurch ist es echt schwer irische Freunde zu finden. Aber da ich mich mit den Austauschschuelern eigentlich ganz gut verstehe und jetzt auch ein wenig mit den Iren rede glaube ich fest daran, dass das schon noch wird. Man muss nur "Babysteps" machen :) Und um mal alle in Deutschland eifersuechtig zu machen die von 8 bis sonstwann in die Schule muessen: Meine Schule geht von 9 bis 15:48 :D
So ich denke das wars jetzt erstmal von mir. Ich wuerde mich ueber mich selbst wundern wenn meine naechsten Beitraege auch so lang werden :))
Liebe Gruesse von der Emeralde Island,
Germaine