Das Schuljahr 2021/22 habe ich in Mitchelstown (County Cork, Irland) verbracht. Dort habe ich das 4. Sekundarschuljahr an der Presentation Secondary Mitchelstown besucht. Dies ist eine katholische Mädchenschule und strikte Schuluniform war Pflicht. Während der Zeit habe ich in einer Gastfamilie mit drei Gastgeschwistern gelebt. Die Familie hat mich herzlich empfangen.
Das 4. Sekundarschuljahr heißt in Irland Transition Year (kurz TY) und ist ein spezielles Schuljahr. In diesem Jahr geht es darum, viele Eindrücke aus verschiedenen Themengebieten zu sammeln, um eine gute Entscheidung für die Wahl der Fächer in den letzten beiden Schuljahren zu treffen und einen Vorgeschmack auf ein mögliches späteres Berufsfeld zu erhalten. Deswegen werden zusätzlich zu den allgemeinbildenden Kursen viele Ausflüge, Workshops und andere Aktivitäten durchgeführt. Zum Beispiel surfen, eine Radtour, Museumsbesuche, Workshop über Rechte und Gesetze, Musicalaufführungen, Schlittschuhlaufen, Erste-Hilfe-Workshop, ein Match des irischen Sports Camogie ansehen, Gespräch mit der Navy, Filmdreh-Workshop, Forensik-Workshop, ein Tag in einem Bootcamp.
Außerdem standen zwei Wochen Praktika auf dem Programm. Ich habe diese jeweils in Wohltätigkeitsläden absolviert. In einem dieser Läden habe ich danach für ein halbes Jahr einmal pro Woche nach Schulschluss ehrenamtlich gearbeitet.
Mit der Schule haben wir ebenfalls verschiedene Wohltätigkeitsaktivitäten organisiert. Beispielsweise zugunsten der Ukraine Spenden gesammelt, mehrere Kuchenbasare veranstaltet, einen Berg hochgestiegen, um Geld für die Climb with Charlie Bird Fundraise zu sammeln.
Von der Schule wurden fast täglich Extra-Curricular-Aktivitäten (Hobbys) angeboten, hauptsächlich Sportliches und Kreatives, ich war Teil des Laufteams, meine Freunde haben Camogie und/oder Basketball gespielt. Gaelic Football wurde auch angeboten.
Meine Gastfamilie hat mir einige schöne Plätze in der Region Cork gezeigt: Wir waren bei den Towers of Lismore, in Cork (der Stadt), bei the Vee und in County Waterford. Außerdem haben wir ein Wochenende in Midleton verbracht.
Die Kleinstadt Mitchelstown liegt im Südwesten Irlands zwischen Cork und Limerick. Die Main Street zählt viele kleine bunte Shops, wie typisch für das Land. Bei Spaziergängen bin ich auf den St. Fanahan‘s Well, die alte Ruine einer Kapelle, ein ehemaliges College und Schilder, die den Weg zu einem abgebrannten Castle weisen, gestoßen.
Der Aufenthalt wurde mit der irischen Austauschorganisation Student Programmes Ireland Ltd. (SPIL) geplant und durchgeführt. Der kleine Familienbetrieb kümmert sich persönlich und intensiv um die Austauschschüler. Ein Local Coordinator war die erste Ansprechperson vor Ort, diese ist auch regelmäßig an der Schule erschienen, um bei den Austauschschülern nach dem Rechten zu sehen. SPIL hat auch Ausflüge nach Killarney und Galway (beides an der Küste) organisiert.
Das Auslandsjahr wurde durch das Programm Erasmus+ der Europäischen Union kofinanziert. Erasmus+ ist das aktuelle europäische Förderprogramm für Jugend, Bildung und Sport, welches Europäern viele neue Möglichkeiten der internationalen Zusammenarbeit bietet.
Im Sinne des europäischen Gedankens habe ich in dem Jahr in Irland sehr gut Englisch gelernt, die irische Kultur erlebt, das Land erkundet und Freundschaften mit Iren und anderen Austauschschülern geschlossen.
During the Easter holidays, I spent a week with my parents travelling the Irish west coast from Cork to the Cliffs of Moher.
After they dropped me off at my host family’s home, I got ready for the TY Ball which was an event organised by some girls from my year where all students from Transition Year and some other years from the three secondary schools in Mitchelstown could go. The ball took place on Good Friday in a hotel close to Limerick. It was great craic. (“It was good fun.”)
Back to school, I helped doing the lights for the four shows of the school musical called “Footloose”.
TYs requested a day in a boot camp which then took place: We did archery, we learned how to build a fire and then grilled marshmallows over it. Whenever the instructor used the expression “press up” to test if we paid attention, we had to yell “we love press ups” to proof that we did, otherwise we had to do five.
To me, one of the last highlights was going on a camping trip in county Wexford with school. I slept in a tent with my friends, we did climbing, archery again and after camping we spent most of the day in Tramore where my friends and I went to the beach.
In May, the exchange agency SPIL took the students on another trip, this time to Galway. We first went to the sea where we had some time to walk around, then we were brought to the city. There were a few street musicians, nice shops and pretty, old buildings and lots of people because of some kind of event.
The school year ended with the TY graduation. For that purpose, most parents came into school, the students presented what they had done during the school year and all students that had ordered a TY hoodie, where there were the signatures from all TY students on the back, got it that day. And we got our reports.
Winter in Ireland is cold and kinda rainy. It snowed once, but only in the mountains.
With the school, we had a road safety workshop, also one for first aid, we did a water safety programme during five weeks which took place at the Fermoy leisure centre. In pairs we raised funds for Ukraine. We did a nice walk through the Glengarra Woods.
The school provided another few days for work experience. This time I went to another charity shop in town. There were also a few other students. In a group of four it was our task to reorganise and redecor the inside of the shop.
On 17th March it’s St. Patrick’s Day. That’s the National Day of Ireland, and it’s a bank holiday, so schools are closed. There was a very much green parade downtown, that I went watching with my host family. It reminded me a bit of Belgian carnival, but people weren’t wearing costumes.
In private, I had a lovely day trip to Cork, which is the next big city, with a friend of me who is an exchange student from Germany.
In April it was my host brothers´ confirmation where I was also invited to. And during my spring holidays, my host family and I went on a day trip to Bay Lough and on another one to a waterfall.
With the exchange agency Student Programmes Ireland Ltd (SPIL), my friend from Germany and I visited the close to coast town Kilarney and its nature (national park).
Since the end of August I am an exchange student in Ireland. Over here I visit an all-girls school in Mitchelstown which is in the southwest of the country. My stay which ends in June 2022 is funded by the Erasmus+ project. Until then I’ll attend Transition Year (called 4th year in Belgium).
At the Presentation Secondary Mitchelstown, all students have to wear a strict school uniform which I am not a fan of.
The Transition Year (short TY) is a special school year that only exists in Ireland. It is more practically oriented rather than as academically as the other years. It’s done to find out what you are interested in doing as a job later on which is why the students do a lot of workshops and other activities regarding a big variety of subjects and topics.
We already went to Tramore for surfing, had a Law Ed Workshop, drove the Waterford Greenway by bicycle, held an Xmas market at school to gain money for mini companies we created in Business Studies and went ice-skating.
In November the school one week for TY students to go and have work experience. I got a placement at a local charity shop where I’m volunteering now once a week after school.
For the length of my stay in Ireland I’m living with a host family which also includes having host siblings. They are also showing me some nice bits of Ireland, e.g., the Towers of Lismore and I stayed in Midleton with them for a weekend. And I experienced my first Irish Halloween with the host family.
I am living in Mitchelstown, a small town in County Cork, one hour away from the coast (by car). It contains mostly of one main street where there are loads of cute little shops. It looks from the outside pretty different from what I am used to from Belgium
