23th June 2014
No distance or place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth. -Robert Southey
Now, this will be my first blog since I'm back in Switzerland but I will be mainly about the last two weeks in Ireland.
As I mentioned at the start of the month, I had planned a leaving party. All people that were invited showed up and we spent a nice evening together. It was a bit awkward in the beginnning because there were several groups randomly mixed. Me and Amy prepared cakes and cupcakes for the night and unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the whole group but I managed to take a picture of the food.
All the food and drink we prepared
My first real cupcakes :)
Me and Amy before the party started
The party was meant to be outside but unfortunately it was raining so we had to have it inside. We even had to borrow some chairs of our neighbour. People that know me a little bit should now my love for times and dates. Anyway I told everyone to be at the party at six past six (p.m. of course) on the sixth of the sixth month!! Thanks to Irish punctuality no one was on time, disappointing isn't it? With some good music and some nice conversations the time flew. I felt really bad for Amy because she got a terrible headache and couldn't stay up until everyone was gone. By the time I had to say goodbye I was crying, especially saying goodbye to Emma was hard because she went on holidays the next day so I knew I wouldn't see her before December. I also got an amazingly done picture of Amy, Alex, Emma herself and myself. After lots of hugs and tears it was finally time to let go... one of my weaknesses.
During the last week left in Cobh I tried to spend as much time as possible with my closest friends and it worked out pretty well.
Sunday afternoon Paddy, Amy, Kenny and I went to Fota Wildlife Park to see the tigers. I had a very nice afternoon even though there was already this bitter feeling of leaving. In the afternoon, my friend Alex came to our house and the four of us had a really nice time. We nearly finished a 20 inch pizza but Molly got the last two pieces, but I'm sure no one was hungry anymore. However I think the sentence I will always remember from this evening is Amy, holding her phone upside down and asking where to button was. The same night I had to say goodbye to Alex because she was going on holidays as well. The farewell was tearful again...
The next two days I can't really remember what I did, I started packing my suitcase, and I spent time with Amy and Kenny. While I was packing, Amy sat outside my door trying to persuade me not to pack and to stay in Ireland. I actually nearly agreed. Tuesday evening, Amy and I walked the five footway one last time, or we thought so anyway. We saw some people from our school and me and Amy were debating what to say. Amy then came up with saluting people and I was so hyper I started doing it to random people. We had a great laugh!!
Wednesday I was asked to go to Fota to take pictures. My host mum teaches gardening in a primary school and the whole class was going to the see the plants in Fota. Unfortunately I was way too tired and way too depressive to enjoy the trip and I think so was Amy. I got some good pictures though.
The same days I was expecting my parents and sister to arrive. I was kind of excited and kind of sad because their arrival also symbolised the end to my exchange. Because they were driving to Waterford first I had more time than expected and I had time to go for another walk with Amy. This one was really the last walk.
The weather was great again and I'm sure my sister brings the good weather to Ireland. She is like my personal good weather angel :P My sister did me a huge favour and so did Kenny and we got some pictures taken together. My aim is to fill my whole pinwall in my room with pictures from this year, so I remember the awesome time I had. ( Not that I would forget so fast but whatever)
After everyone was introduced to everyone we were going to the Donkey, a pub with Irish live music. We had a very good time but people went home pretty early because my parents and sister were exhausted from the journey and I did not want to be too tired the next day.
On Thursday Paddy gave my family a guided tour through Cobh which included like two hours of walking! It was quite cool to show my parents the place where I lived for ten months. In the afternoon we drove to Midleton and visited the Jameson Distillery. A good experience that ended with a glass of... whiskey of course :P
In the evening we made our way to Glanmire to the Barn. It was nice to have a dinner out with my Irish and Swiss family!! Probably one of the only times this happened. Thursday night I had to say goodbye to Paddy and no joke this time I was bawling. After a night with very little sleep, Friday the 13th arrived (the deadly irony there). Amy's sister and her daughter Gracie came to our house, so did my boyfriend. Seriously I don't think I will write too much about that day, because I blubbered the whole day, burst into tears every so often and had to endure the worried looks of my parents. My mum literally pulled me into the car because I didn't want to. As soon as we passed Bellvelly bridge I realised that I forgot Shelley's present and her card. At the time it seemed wrong but now I'm glad my dad didn't agree on going back. I was devastated for the next days but I also tried to enjoy the holidays with my family. For the next week I only thought about my host family and my friends, but I kept it together and stopped the pointless crying. I was so surprised how fond one can get of people only knowing them for one year! This time last year, I probably wrote the first e-mail to my host family... I think that is crazy. I regret none of my decisions and if I could I would live the same year the exact way again!! My host sister Amy showed me how strong friendship can be and with Dianne I got a second family in Ireland. I think in my heart I will always be a tiny little bit Irish xD.
Although I know I did that on Facebook before I just wanted to say thanks to everybody that made the year as brilliant as it was!! I can recommend this experience truly and doubtlessly to anyone!!
I actually decided to write about the trip through Ireland in another post and I also decided to keep the English blog up so if people are interested they can have a little glimpse in my everyday life back in Switzerland!
One more thing, me and Amy decided to put a picture on Instagram every single day so we can see what made us laugh or happy every day... so if you'd like to follow me, my name is jana_haerri.
Thank you so much for reading my Blog!!
Jana
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