Fáilte go hÉirinn!

Hello Family and Friends of the 2010 Irish Life Experience Participants! Just a quick update to let you know we have arrived safe and sound to the Emerald Isle. The majority of Monday was spent at JFK International Airport meeting and greeting 2010 Irish Life Experience Participants and their parents. We had quite a few students arriving from connecting flights, throughout the day. The earliest was Katie, from Montana, at 6:00 AM. Katie said she had a blast flying and seeing the ocean for the first time in her life. The majority of other students arrived in the evening, as our flight did not take off until 9:50 PM. Needless to say, it was a tiring, yet exciting day for all. A big shout out to Sydney and her parents, from Kansas for all of their hard work and patience. Sydney had numerous delays and made our Aer Lingus flight with a mad dash through terminals and five minutes to spare! What a champ! The Aer Lingus flight was very smooth and comfortable. No turbulence. We lucked out with a new airplane and the students passed their time by watching a variety of movies and playing numerous games on their own personal TV's. What a treat. A few students managed to get some shut eye, but many were too excited in anticipation of arriving to Ireland. We landed at Dublin Airport almost an hour before our scheduled time, breezed through Customs and met our two incredible Irish teachers, Angie and Dan. We collected our luggage and boarded the bus to set off for our new home for the next nine days-Newtown Boarding School. It was a gorgeous day, so we broke up the four hour drive to Waterford with a stop at Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains. The students learned from Dan that Glendalough means 'valley of two lakes.' Glendalough is a world famous Monastic Site with a Round Tower and many scenic lakes. We stretched our legs, got some fresh air, posed for pictures, and walked around the Lower Lake-all while soaking up the Irish sun. Caitlyn W. said it was absolutely beautiful. Many of the girls were also excited to learn that parts of the recent movie, Leap Year, were filmed at Glendalough. After getting our exercise, we enjoyed a packed lunch of ham sandwiches, fruit, a Mars Bar, and crisps-which are chips in Ireland. PK said it was a nice break to have a picnic in the park. After our tour of Glendalough, we continued on our journey. We got to Waterford two hours later, got settled, freshened up, and had tea. An Orientation of the Program and Ice-Breakers were next on the agenda. After a few games of getting to know one another, we watched the Portugal vs. Spain game of the World Cup. Most of the students cheered for Portugal, but Spain pulled off a win 1-0. Students retired to bed after the game around 9:00 PM. Many were jet legged and have never been so excited to go to bed. They were all in good spirits, but extremely exhausted. Thank you so much to everyone! It was wonderful to finally meet all of the students and their families at JFK. An absolutely perfect start to the first day of the 2010 Irish Life Experience.

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