Category: 2017/18 Dmitriy K. (Ukraine)

Hi! I’m eager to tell you what did I do in these weeks!

First of all, as you know, I am a boarding student, but for October holidays I went to a host family in Dalkey, a wealthy suburb of Dublin. High Schools International found the host family for me and organised the taxi to take me from my school to the family home.

In the host family, we usually have lunch and dinner together, so it is possible to talk about things that happened this day. This is the picture of us in a nearby area, Howth!

Dalkey is a quiet but beautiful area, so all three days we were on three different hikes: in Howth; in Dun Laoghaire; and Dalkey Hill. We couldn’t miss a chance to take pictures of those spectacular views!

This month I’ve met my HSI Guardian a couple of times. A Guardian is a High Schools International member of staff, who is responsible for looking out for international students that HSI place into schools.

More straightforward, it’s your second mother, but in Ireland.

Guardians can visit you at your school once or twice per month. We usually discuss our problems, and our Guardian helps us to solve them in the best possible way.

This is one of the school roads on sunny Irish day.

Also, this month, all 4th Year went on a trip to Killary, on the West coast of Ireland, near Galway. The road to Killary Bay took 4.5 hours from Dublin, but in good company, time flies.

It was boiling when we arrived, it also was windy (30 km/h) and rainy. We spend three days on different activities, such as Killary challenge, bog run, big swing, climbing, kayaking, archery, evening in-room activities. The only thing though, when you are in Killary, the water is freezzzzzing!

Nevertheless, it was the best team building activity that I can remember. Galway bid farewell to us with sunny weather that time.

I experienced a debating trip just a week ago, in Loreto College in Foxrock, another part of Dublin. The trip was separated in 2.5 days: half of Friday, and all-day Saturday, and Sunday.

On first day, people were divided into teams – my team was called “CULT” (or Committee on Culture and Education), and our team played icebreaker games and discussed one story, in other words, we worked as a team.

The second day was the resolution day. That Saturday our team was working on a problem which we were given, and we all had a disco at the end of the day.

The third day was the debating day itself: from 8 am to 8 pm all delegates were voting for or against resolutions, with a closing ceremony in the end.

The trip was a real experience!

Dmitriy