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Preface
Enjoy reading the texts and take part in an exciting and rewarding project week! Monday, 4 Oct. Dear Betti, Our host family is really nice! Yesterday, when we arrived, our “host mother”, Patricia, picked us up at the bus station. Patricia has brown, shoulder-length hair and some freckles. Before we were driven home, she took us to a Gaelic football match, where we met her husband, Paul and her nine-year-old daughter Kaitlin. Paul is very tall and thin, he has short, black hair and a moustache. Kaitlin is very small. She has red curly hair and more freckles than her mother. They are big football fans and so Kaitlin was very sad when her favourite team lost. Kaitlin is a bright child. On the way home she told us about the game. When we arrived at their house, we saw Jessica, Kaitlin’s older sister, for the first time. She is twelve years old, has dark brown hair and as many freckles as Kaitlin. We hoped that they would have a pet and ...guess what ! They have a dog called Jake!!!! Jake is so cute! But sometimes he behaves more like a cat (- he nestles against our legs and we never hear him bark! ...It’s strange, isn’t it?!) After a short tour of the house Paul showed us our room. It’s upstairs and very big. We unpacked our suitcases and then before dinner we presented our gifts to the host parents and I think they were very pleased with them. Patricia wasn’t sure about what we eat in Austria and so we got the traditional Irish Sunday-lunch, a big portion of boiled chicken with boiled vegetables. It didn’t taste of anything, but we didn’t want to be impolite and tried to eat as much as possible. Fortunately we also got some gravy, which didn’t taste good either, but it was better than nothing. After dinner we gave the two children their presents. They were very happy with them and Kaitlin told us that it was a long time since students had offered them presents... Isabelle and I felt very tired and actually we both wanted to go to bed, but Kaitlin invited us to watch TV with her. So we watched a thriller, “Metro” (If you are interested in it, don’t watch it, it's BORING!!!), until we went to bed.
... In the afternoon, one of our teachers, Julie, showed us Galway and its sights. Right now we are having a break. At eight we’re going bowling. Looking forward to seeing you back in Vienna. Love, Anna
Diary
Entry
Oh, I'm very tired. Maybe this is because
of the time-difference. However, today was our second day in Ireland.
It is just great here. What I like best about this country is that it
is green wherever you look and the sheep, oh ... I really like them Today we had lessons for the first time. We have two really nice teachers, who swap several times a day. In the afternoon one of them (Julie) showed us around a little bit in town. I can just say that Galway is a wonderful place to live. I know I'll come back some day. To tell us what's going on every day we got a sort of timetable. So after we had finished our delicious dinner (chicken with potatoes and vegetables) we looked at the plan - today bowling was on the list. We were very happy about this and were determined to get a lot of strikes. I think it was 6:30 when we went downstairs to Maura to ask when it would be a good time to catch the bus. It was so amusing when she informed us in her strange Irish accent. It's a pity that we didn't talk much with our host mother today, but I'm sure this will change during the week.Tomorrow I'm going to start conversation. We went to the bus stop. At the beginning there were only a few of us teens waiting to get picked up, but this changed quickly. After 40 minutes of waiting we began to wonder if the bus would ever come. A few minutes later we were sitting in the warm bus full of hope and sure that this evening would be as nice as we thought. And it was: soon we saw the green light of the neon lamps which decorated the bowling centre. When entering I felt the great atmosphere of bowling. First I was a little bit uncertain, but Matthias and Mr. Lehnert explained how to get the optimal strike. At the beginning I was not very good, but I was getting better by the end. We had a little match and during the break we laughed about Ronnie's funny jokes. When we are back in Vienna I'll try to organize a bowling night with my friends. Oh, it's already 12:00. Good night, Diary!
Karolina Siewior:
One day we met some Irish teenagers, who were very friendly. They seemed to be very proud of teaching us some Irish words. We had to go to school nearly every day. So we took the bus. In Ireland passengers form a queue when they get on the bus. That is incredible when you think of Austria. In Austria you just get on the bus because there is no queue. If there was a queue, everybody would jump it. The Irish greet the bus driver when they get on or off the bus. One day there was an invalid. The bus driver got off the bus and helped him to get on and off. I don’t think any Austrian bus drivers would do the same. Also, if you miss your bus and the bus driver sees you, he stops. It happened to me twice. It was very nice. Our host family took care of us. The first day we got cereal for breakfast. We ate lots of it because we knew that we wouldn’t eat until lunch. Then Mary, our “mother”, prepared some toasts, pancakes and croissants. That was just too much. In Galway nearly everybody lives in houses. The Irish love their gardens. In Austria lots of people live in houses but in big cities the majority lives in flats. On our way to school we saw a lot of Irish pupils. Not all, but most of them have to wear school uniforms. You can spend a lot of time in a supermarket. The cashiers are very slow but the customers are patient. Lots of the Irish go shopping in the afternoon. In Austria the customers are very impatient and the cashiers are quick. The Austrians don’t like waiting and often get angry when there is a long queue. Since the ban on smoking became a law, lots of people have been smoking outside the bars or pubs. I don’t smoke so I was happy that there was nobody in restaurants or public buildings who was smoking. But I don’t think that the law is a good idea because when you go down the street you breathe in the smoke. I think that the contrasts between Austria and Ireland are huge but also very interesting. I am pleased that I could get a little bit closer to the Irish culture.
Daria Gauss: The
Spanish Arch Yes, there is something Spanish in Galway… but the name is not important. It is the beautiful view of the river Corrib and right behind it the Galway Bay that makes people come here. The Spanish Arch is where people meet and sit around, talk, learn, read, enjoy their time ( of course in the summer, otherwise it would be too windy). There is also a Galway City museum if you want to know more about Galway. But if you really want to know more about Irish people and their culture, sit there by the Spanish Arch and enjoy the friendly, quiet, Irish atmosphere. So, hasta la vista at the Spanish Arch. The
Cliffs of Moher
Visit the Cliffs of Moher, so you can find out what is great and huge! Kylemore
Abbey Kylemore Abbey is set in an enchanting vista of mountains, lakes and woodland. Its massive walls and flowering foliage are reflected in the waters of Kylemore Lake famed for its fish. And it is so beautiful from the inside that you want to stay there forever and instinctively you look for a little Harry Potter coming down the hallway. Kylemore Abbey is just one of the beautiful things you can find in Connemara. It´s a very nice place to visit when you are somewhere around Galway. See you at the enchanting house of the nuns, Kylemore Abbey.
Maria Hofer: We spent our last day in Ireland in Dublin. Dublin is a very nice city but there was not very much time to visit it.
At half past ten everyone had to be in their rooms. In our room there were ten girls and everyone wanted to go to the toilet or brush their teeth so some started quarreling! But after some time every girl was ready for bed. The next day we had to get up at four o’clock so we decided to stay awake for the whole night. The floor was covered with suitcases, clothes and other stuff. That’s why whenever somebody jumped down from their bed they hurt their leg, their arm or another part of their body.
At first it was easy to stay awake. We sang
songs such as “Brother Jacob” in a round with three groups. After a
time we were perfect. But we had to sing quietly because there was a
rule in the youth hostel that said that we were not allowed to sing. After a time everybody spoke only nonsense just to keep the others awake but there was no way it would work. At about half past two everyone fell asleep.
Suddenly we heard a strange noise. It took
us a few minutes to realize that there was Now you might think it’s impossible to get ten girls from their beds on a bus in ten minutes but we managed. There was a big chaos because we all took our things that were lying on the floor and packed them into our bags and suitcases. Every girl had to go to the toilet and wanted to brush her teeth but there was only one bathroom. We hurried downstairs and don’t ask me how but somehow we were all sitting in the bus at five o’clock. | Englisch Wettbewerb 2002 | Nizza | Venedig | Rom | Spanien | England | Irland | Atlantic Language School |
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