Paula's life as an exchange student in Ireland

Hi and welcome back,

It has been some time since my arrival and I would say that I have settled in well.

In the last few months, I have met amazing people and made great friends – not only other exchange students but also locals. I met most of my friends through common school subjects when we got to talking. Most of my classmates are really friendly and accommodating.

Often I meet them in town on the weekend and we get some food and have a chat or we make a trip in a city nearly to Kilkenny.

It’s really easy to come to cities like Cork or Dublin because Kilkenny is located in the centre of Ireland. With the bus, you only need 1,5h to Dublin and 2h to Cork.

Also, I went to my first Hurling match which is a very popular and traditional sport in Ireland.

Before I started my exchange year I had never seen a match and didn’t know how to play it. It’s a really quick and tactically sport and the mood is very exuberant.

The Kilkenny hurling team is really successful and won the match we saw on this day.

Also with my host family, I get on really well with everyone.

My host mum cooks often by herself and we had already in the past typical Irish dinners like Irish stew. I didn’t try it but I noticed that black pudding is also a typical Irish speciality. Every Friday, we eat pizza with my host family because on this day we finish school early. Also, my host sister and I spend the afternoon in town.

My host family has two dogs, one cat which lives outside and two ponies. On some weekends, I go together with my host mum to my host sister’s horse competition which she organises regularly.

The school was challenging in my first week because I got a lot of homework and of course, it’s harder to do them in English and not in your native language. Besides, I had much more tests when you compare it with my school in Germany. However, surprisingly I got along through the work quite quickly which made studying in English not so hard anymore.

Last week I had my exams. It was one week where I had 90 minutes test in each of my subjects (English, Maths, Geography, Biology, PELC and one in Business). It was such an exhausting week with a lot of studying.

During the long break, the 5th and 6th year are allowed to go in town and have lunch outside. Often we students buy a “chicken fillet roll“ and a coffee. We have to be careful with the time because all together we have only 60 minutes before the last two lessons start.

Also, when I wasn’t really in a Christmas mood this year it was a genuinely cosy and relaxing time. They started to decorate the street early at the end of November and in Kilkenny, there was a small Christmas market with little Orchestras.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!