¡Hola amigos!

I'm here!  I can't believe I'm finally here!  

Let me tell you about my horrible, wonderful experience:

I had a very bumpy trip.  Travelling in a box is definitely not as comfortable as travelling on a plane with Ms. Payreder!  Finally, late in the afternoon on Thursday the postman brought me to Colegio Nuestra Señora del Buen Consejo and I was really looking forward to seeing Zuzanna again and meeting all of her students.  

But, guess what!  Friday was a holiday in Madrid and everybody had gone home for the long weekend. I wanted to cry!  And do you know what?  On Saturday I did cry.  And on Sunday.  I felt so lonely.  I hadn't felt so lonely since those long months that I had spent hanging in the Tourist Information Centre in Limerick, waiting for someone to buy me.  I kept thinking about the wonderful time that I had had at the Petrinum in Linz and the great friends that I had made there: Marlena, Ines, Katharina, Christoph, Franzi, Markus....and the whole gang!!!!  I wanted to go back to the Petrinum so much...

Monday finally came and I could hear people talking, children shouting, bells ringing and doors opening and closing.  Suddenly, someone picked up the box and held it very, very tightly.  And I heard a happy voice say, "Hello Scaffy!  Welcome to Colegio Nuestra Señora del Buen Consejo!"  It was Zuzanna!  

I could feel her walking quickly.  She was walking so quickly that I kept hitting my head on the sides of the box!  Then I heard a lot of children's voices.  Zuzanna put the box down and I heard her call out, "Scaffy's here!!!!!"  Suddenly everything was quiet.  I could feel somebody opening the box. Or was it 2 people?  Or was it 3?  The moment had arrived.  I was so nervous.  I was going to meet the Spanish students!  What if they didn't like me?

                                             

Suddenly the box opened! I looked up and saw 31 happy, excited, smiling faces!  And I heard so much laughing and screaming that I started to laugh, too!

                       

Somebody lifted me out of my box and then everybody wanted to touch me and hold me!  And everyone wanted to get in the photo!

                       

The students even wanted me to sit at the teacher's desk!  I felt so special!  

And they all LOVED the chocolates, the biscuits and the cake.  Zuzanna is going to bring a knife to school tomorrow and cut everything up into small pieces so that everyone can taste them! 

                                 

But you know, I think they liked the card from the students at the Petrinum even more than the sweets!  Zuzanna read out the text and then EVERYBODY wanted to look at the card and all the colourful signatures!

                         

When school finished, some students went home because it was late and they had other activities to go to but other students still stayed to play with me!  Here's a picture of me with four of my new friends.  From left to right: Sylvia, Raquel, Carmen and Olivia.    

Raquel has invited me to go to her grandmother's house one day to have "paella".  Mmmm!  And Olivia said that she would take me to the big Three Kings parade on January 6th! Maybe Sylvia and Carmen will come, too.  It all sounds so exciting!  

The students are so friendly here!   I'm really looking forward to going back to school tomorrow.  But right now I'm exhausted and I can't wait to sleep in a bed after so many nights of sleeping in a box. So, good night everybody and hasta mañana!

On the way to Madrid!

You can't imagine how nervous and excited I am - in a few days I will already be in Madrid, my next stop on my journey!
I have never travelled by post before, but I am sure I will be fine. Helene found a nice box for me and is just packing me inside. It's a bit tight, but as I am not allowed to travel on my own on a plane, this is the only way to get to Spain.
See you soon!!!

Leaving Austria :(

Leaving Austria

Austria is the best place I’ve ever been to! The cities are great. You can see modern architecture, but also a very old style and everything is full of culture.

Almost everywhere you have a great, awesome view all over the mountains! I can just say that, Austria is THE place to be! To everybody who has never been there: Visit it!

So, now I have to leave it. I was very sad and it wasn’t easy for me. All those people, who I got to know during the last months, have been very friendly to me. IN the next few weeks, I will certainly miss them. I had lots of fun and have really seen much. (In my other blog entries you could read about the what I’ve done In my time in Austria.)My time here has been one of the most interesting times of my life and I want to come back sometime for sure!

So now I can only say goodbye to my Austrian friends. I hope we’ll meet again in the near future. Thanks for accepting and integrating me in your class. Thanks for giving this brilliant time to me.

With love,

Scaffy

Austria's landscape

In Austria there are many mountains. In winter you can go skiing or snowboarding and in summer they are good for hiking. If you come to Austria you have to visit the Stephansdom in Vienna, the highest church in Austria. In Vienna there is also a Madame Tussaud’s and a giant wheel in the prater. The famous river Danube flows through Upper Austria, Lower Austria and Vienna. It’s so famous because the composer Johann Strauß wrote the Danube Waltz. You also have to visit Salzburg because Mozart was born there. The well-known film “Sound of Music” is set in Salzburg. Salzburg is really nice to visit.

At Marlena's place

Today I was at Marlena's place. She lives in a big house with a big garden in a small village called “Oberneukirchen“. We slept until 11 o'clock. For lunch we had chicken and pumpkin risotto, which was very good. She has got two dogs and they are very cute. The older one, called „Phibie“, played with me but the younger one, called „Esenja“, was scared of me. Maybe because she's only 13 weeks old and I'm a sheep which is bigger than her! Phibie is one year and a month old. After playing we went into the forest, which is next to the house and took a long walk with the dogs. We also went into a restaurant and ate an ice-cream. In the evening we watched TV before we went to bed. It was fun to play with the dogs and exciting to see how Marlena lives. All in all it was a nice Sunday!

At the funfair

Today I was at a funfair with Linda, Ines, Katharina, Lea, Sabrina, Julia and Marlena. In Linz they call it “Urfahranermarkt“. It was so crazy! We took a lot of thrill rides and some of them looked very scary, but they absolutely weren´t. On the contrary, it was so funny that we went over and over again. I liked “The Xtreme“ best. You can see it on the picture. It looks like a star.

People go to the “Urfahanermarkt“ to eat and drink, have fun or buy candy floss. The best food tasted were the fruits with chocolate coating. I just couldn´t stop eating them and drinking Slushy...it´s a coloured iced drink...
Always on the first night, when the funfair is opened, there is a long and very beautiful firework. Many people are right on the river and watch it.

The girl on the right hand side of the picture is called Linda. The one middle is called Julia and on the left hand side there is Ines. Too bad that I´m not looking into the camera.
It was really funny with the girls and I hope that I can visit them again soon.

Yours,

Scaffy!

A Day with Franzi :) ;)

It's Friday and I'm really happy, because my friend Franziska, called Franzi, took me with her. So I'm in Gallneukirchen. That's a small city near Linz. And that's where Franzi lives. She's really nice and she has got a dog. Her dog is called Mogli and he's a Tibet Terrier. Franzi made a picture of me and him, but he wanted to eat me, so I was very scared to sit next to him, but it wasn't too bad.

At half past five Franzi met the altar boys and girls. They are all very, very nice and friendly. I had a lot of fun and made some new friends. We played in the garden and Claudia, a very nice girl, looked after me, because I can't run very fast. I hurt my knee so I couldn't run very fast, but I had a lot of fun with Claudia and that day was perfect.

In the picture you can see me with all my friends from the altar boys and girls. On the left side is Eve, next to her is Annika, in front of Annika is Magdalena, next to Magdalena is Franzi, who is holding me :) Behind Franzi is Anja and next to Anja is Julia. Then, there are Johannes and Barbara. Next to Barbara is Lukas and at the right side in the picture is Tobias. They are all very nice and I was sad when I had to say goodbye :(

A shopping day

Today I was shopping with Magdalena and her cousin Bernadette. They always go to the “Pluscity” shopping center in Pasching, so we went there, too. It took us about twenty minutes from Linz to get there.
On this special day a new shop called “Bershka” had its opening so there where so many people that we had trouble to stay together. We went from shop to shop and bought a lot of nice clothes.
At the end we had fun trying on some very unusal and horrible dresses and made photos of each other to remember that day years after.
Shopping makes hungry. So we decided to have some Chinese food. When we were eating, suddenly the lights went off. At this moment everybody was so quiet, that we could hear the traffic from outside. It was a gloomy atmosphere and a little child didn’t make it any better when it started to cry loudly next to us.
Seconds later the lights went on again. People were looking around with a shocked glance in their faces, but after a short time normality returned and everybody went on with what, they had been doing before.

Hi it’s me again!

Today I visited Katharina. I used the tram to get to her home.

It was a rainy day, so we dressed in coats and shoes and went for a walk with her dog Aika.

The dog is so cute! We walked about half an hour and met a lot of other of dog. Most already knew Aika. As we were back home, her mother had already prepared some cocoa for us. It was gorgeous! Then we played with the Playstation. We played a car game. We played all afternoon, because it was so funny! I won three times! And then we went out to Katharina’s trampoline! It was so funny!

It was a really nice day(despite the weather)See you Scaffy

Meeting the headmaster

You won't believe it, but today I met Mr. Asanger, the headmaster of the Petrinum! We went to see him during the big break after the maths lession for a photo, which is very nice.

Mag. Franz Asanger has been the headmaster of the Petrinum since 1st September 2000. That's a long time, isn't it? The Petrinum is a private school in Linz and was officially dedicated on 2nd July 1895, so it's 127 years old! During the first World War the school was used as a military hospital. It's unbelievable, but in the second World War Adolf Hitler planned to turn the school into a technical college!

First the Petrinum was only for boys, but since 1993 also girls can go to school there. It was also a boarding school, but in 1999 the boarding school closed. In 2005 Pope Benedikt XVI slept in the Petrinum during his visit to Austria! Since 2009 there's a new observatory. Now it's one of the biggest schools in Linz and it has also got an indoor swimming pool!

I think the Petrinum is a very nice school with an interesting history and Mr. Asanger is a good headmaster.

All in all it was a very interesting day!

A Monday at school!

The first lesson on Monday is our German lesson. Our teacher is very good but I am from Ireland and I can't speak German very well:). Then we have an English lesson with Mrs. Payreder. That is my favourite lesson on Monday!

My friends are very funny and I like this class.

The third lesson is maths. I forgot my maths-homework. That's not very nice because I will get a bad mark in maths if I often forget my homework:(.

After that is the big break and this is the best part of the day. I sometimes play computergames in the break (but don't tell to Miss Payreder!). But I also play with my friends and I sometimes do homework in the break because I often forget it!

After the big break is a chemistry lesson. I hate chemistry but I like our funny teacher! He always makes jokes and he can teach us very well. The fifth lesson is religion.

The last lesson is Latin. It's not very good that we have Latin in the last lesson but our teacher is flexible and we do some work in the book. That's not very difficult!

And then I go home.

That's even better than English and better than the big break:)

That's a Monday at the Petrinum.

At the Porsche exhibition in Linz

Today we were at the Porsche exhibition in Linz. It was very exciting to find out about the story behind such a famous car brand. These old cars all looked very funny and completely different to the present-day ones! Sabrina took many photos of me and the beautiful cars, but unfortunately we can only show you two .... : (

Now I am sitting at home with Sabrina and must say that it was a very beautiful, exciting and fun first weekend!

My second weekend with a student in Austria

Today I and Sabrina, a student from Austria, went to Windischgarsten, a small village in Austria. I was very excited because it was my first weekend in Austria. After an hour drive by car, we finally arrived. It was wonderful.

After lunch we went to a horse riding center, not far from Windischgarsten. I was even allowed to climb a huge horse that luckily was quite peaceful and serene. ;)

 

When I had solid ground under my feet again, and Sabrina had the riding test also brought well behind, we drove back to Sabrina's house. Then we went back to Linz by car. Now I am really looking forward to tomorrow and am excited about what else I will experience this weekend.

Austrian food

Today I want to tell you something about Austrian food. There is for example the Wiener Schnitzel. It’s breaded veal with chips or rice and on top of the schnitzel normal there is a slice of lemon.
Another example to Austrian food is the Gulasch. It’s a kind of stew and the is also some paprika and meat in it. Another popular meal I want to tell you about are the “Salzburger Nockerl”. It’s a sweet dessert which you make in the stove. As the name says it comes from the province Salzburg. Another really good dessert is the Sachertorte. It’s a chocolate cake with a film of apricot jam and chocolate glazing. The last dish I want to tell you about is the Holzfällersteak. It’s made from pork. usually it comes with chips or rice. I have already tried all these dishes and most are really good. My favourite dish are the “Salzburger-Nockerl” because the are so fluffy.

A school trip to Steyr

On the 19^th of September, it was a very rainy day, I was in the „World of Work“ in Steyr with the students of the 4c. A man called Phillip showed us around and told us a lot of interesting things. Then the students had to make little groups. I learned about different types of jobs around the world and I really think it was very interesting. 

I am on the picture with Bernhard, Patrick, Paul and Markus. They had to answer the questions on the handout and then they had to build a little vacuum cleaner called Polsterboy. I also helped them with the Polsterboy and after then minutes, we finished the work. Phillip told us that the people in the factories built a Polsterboy in 61 seconds. And they have to do that eight hours every day! I think it was very funny. After this, the groups had to present what they had found out. I think all the groups did a very good job. After two hours the day in the „World of Work“ was over. On this day I learned a lot.

A day with Chris

On Friday, Christoph invited me to his home. After school we went to the bus stop and waited there. When the bus arrived we got on it. I had no ID card for the bus, but the busdriver was very nice and I didn't have to pay. When we were at home we ate our lunch. The lasagne was very good. After lunch I helped Chris with his homework. It was fun to do it. The rest of the day we played football and went for a walk into the forest. He showed me places, where he liked to be when he was some years younger. In the evening we watched a film. It was called “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire“. Chris saw the film before but he said it was interesting to watch it again with me.

On Saturday the weather wasn't very nice. But Chris and me, we put on rubber boots and took an umbrella to go outside. It was very funny. In the evening we watched a film again and stayed up very late.

On Sunday Chris had to study for school. I helped Chris and checked his English and Latin vocabulary. I also was good at maths and helped him to learn it, too. But on this day, it wasn't cold and rainy like on Saturday. We got out into Chris' garden and had fun on the trampoline and playing ping pong.

I think the weekend was very funny even though the weather wasn't very nice on Saturday.

I wished I could visit Chris for one more weekend again.

Getting to know 4c

Hi, it’s Scaffy again.

Today is my first time in class 4c. Their teacher, Miss. Payreder, took me along with her. At five to eight I got to know all the very nice pupils of the class. They were very surprised when they saw me the first time. They knew that I was tiny and that I was an Irish exchange student, but they were still so surprised when they saw me. On this day they had one Maths lesson and three English lessons. The day was very funny and they all like me very much. I’m so looking forward to the next two months in Austria. It’s a very cool country. The weather was good today. In their class it’s always very hot because the sun shines into the class all the time. In fact it was a very nice day with very nice people.

First impressions of the Petrinum

Hi all,

In the holidays I’ve already seen some photos of the Petrinum. I think it’s a very cool school. I’ve read that there is an observatory. It’s at the northern side of the Petrinum in a small tower.

Some people say the Petrinum looks like a prison. I don’t think so. I think it’s a beautiful school with great rooms. For sports the Petrinum is also very good. There’s one big football ground and two smaller ones, there’s also a tennis ground and a fistball ground. A claycourt, a running track, two beach volleyball places and a swimming pool, too. In the school there is also a library. It’s big and there are also some books which are interesting for me. The Petrinum was a boarding school and now it’s a normal school. The Petrinum is a very old school, it was built in 1897 but then it was only for boys. Now there are boys and girls at school, I think it’s better this way!

School is starting soon!

Monday is my first day at the Petrinum in Linz! I am so excited and can't wait getting to know Helene's pupils!

Welcome to Austria!

Today I flew from Ireland to Austria, it was a sad but also an exciting day. First I had to say goodbye to all my friends at home.

But the excitement started when we were on our way to the airport. It was so cool because I had never flown before. The take off was the greatest. First I got a little stomach ache but then it went away. I sat near the window because I wanted to get a great view during the flight and  Helene told me some cool facts about flying. I really liked it and I’m looking forward to the next flight. We landed in Linz-Hörsching, but I don’t really like this airport because it’s not really big, not as big as the airport in Limerick. But the city is much better, because when we came home and  unpacked our clothes Helene showed me Linz, and it was really cool. There is the Mariendom, the Landstraße, the Ars Electronica Center, the Lentos and the Pöstlingberg. After our first walk through the town we found a little restaurant where Helene had Gulasch and a beer and I had a little Wiener Schnitzel with a coke. When we came home again I instantly fell asleep.

Ring of Kerry and Dingle

Hi, it's me again.Today I visited the Dingle Peninsula and the Ring of Kerry!

The Ring of Kerry is a scenic coastal road! It is so beautiful there! We toured restored stone forts. Forts are nothing else but defences that were built in former days. I found the Staigue Fort especially impressive!

Then we visited the Dingle Peninsula.

It is only 50km long and 9 km wide! There we saw many monuments, ruins, beehive huts and monasteries. It does not sound as exciting as it is! Imagine this beehive huts were more than ... Years old and sre still so well preserved!Today was really exciting and I'm really looking forward to the next days and to Austria!

Yours

Scaffy

Hi guys!

Today it was a very exciting day. First we went fishing. We went out on the sea with a small fishing boat and there we were fished. We had a sonar and so we knew if there were any fish under our boat. So we threw out the fishing rod and we had some fish in a few seconds.

After this we went hiking Croagh Patrick. It’s a mountain, which St. Patrick climbed and there he built a church. Every year on reek Sunday, it’s the last Sunday in the month July about 25.000 people walk up the mountain – and so did I!Croagh Patrick is only about 764m high but you can only walk up the mountain if it’s sunny because there are so many people who fall down the mountain.

On the beach

In August I was on the beach for the first time. I saw the sea and I really loved it! I met a nice girl called Kate. Together we played beach volleyball but I have to practise. After that she invited me to come with her on the motor boat of her parents. The boat was very big and I enjoyed the time on it when we were riding out to the open sea. Some people were surfing and they were wearing wetsuits because the water is so cold in Ireland. Children were building fantastic sandcastles. Other people were reading books or the newspaper, went swimming or were sleeping. I was lying in the sand with my sunglasses. I think I look very cool with them!

On the Aran Islands

Today I was on the Aran islands.The Aran Islands are a group of islands on the west coast of Ireland. Cars are not allowed on the island, but it is quite small, so we used a bicycle to get around. 

On the second picture I am on the cliffs and in front of me is the big big sea. The cliffs are very high and there are a lot of big rocks. I really enjoyed the open air and just relaxed for a few minutes. When we had to go I looked at the big sea for a last time.

In the third picture you can see me next to small fields. The small fields are very typical for the Aran islands. They are surround from small stone walls. On the ground is a lot of sand and seeweaed. The stone wall should protect the field from the strong wind and the rain.

I think the island looks very funny, because there are a lot of stone walls. I think it was definitly very exhausting work to build the walls, but it looks fantastic.

Can you spot me on the photograph?

The valley of the two lakes

Today I went to Glendalough with Miss Payreder. Glendalough is a valley near Dublin. It's known for its monastic settlements.

On this picture you can see me with the great round tower. In the background you can see St. Kevin's Cross. It's a big cross in front of the round tower and I like these two sights in Glendalough. The woman with the funny blue jacket in the background is a good friend of mine. I met her in Dublin last week.

You can see the little church. This is my favourite church in Ireland. On the very old wall you can see a sign, there you can read much about this church. The walls a also a special thing in Glendalough. They are very old and cold but they look very nice. Behind the church you can see the great round tower again!

This was a very funny day in Glendalough with Miss Payreder! :)

Leprechauns and famous songs

Hi!

I want to tell you about my interesting journey to Dublin. On the first day we visited the national leprechaun museum. We were told that the word “leprechaun” comes from the Irish Lu Chorpain meaning small body.

The leprechaun is a character of Irish mythology. It is very rich but extremely shrewd and if you catch one don’t take your eyes off him, or he will disappear. The leprechaun lives in a secluded spot, usually a small hole in the ground, where he has a comfortable little home. If you want to know more about him, search on the internet and you will find a lot of exciting stories.

Everywhere we went we heard the “Molly Malone” song. It is the hymn of Dublin and a well-known folk song. Because of that I tried to get some information about it. Some people know it under the name “Cockles and Mussels”. The song was written by James Yorkston of Edinburgh and tells us the story of a good-looking young girl who sells fish on a market. In the story she dies because of an unknown reason. You should listen to it. I am sure you will find it on “Youtube”.

In the picture you can see a leprechaun in front of a statue of Molly Mallone with her wheel-barrow.

An Irish pub

In Ireland I really like the pubs. The pubs are small but there are many people in it. Some are just hanging around but others are also dancing to the music… Live music is played in almost every pub.

Mostly there are little bands in the pubs which play songs, composed by themselves. The Irish people can be proud of their music, ‘cause almost everybody plays an Instrument and has got a pretty voice. A popular instrument is the Irish harp. When you look at an Irish Euro, for example, you can see it. And there’s also the airplane “Ryanair” which has the Irish harp painted on every airplane.. So in most pubs there is a little stage were the irish people show you their dancing style. The culture of the Irish pubs includes music and communication. In Ireland, the pub is not only a central meeting place for talking and playing music. It’s also an important place where you can met for business things and for social life. So you can see several generations there. 

 

And here’s a picture of a pub from outside.. 

Yours,

 Scaffy

An Irish breakfast

Today I woke up at 8 o’ clock. I like Irish food but there are also some things I don’t like. In the picture you can see my breakfast. 

I had a fried egg, it’s one of my favourite foods. I love cocoa. If there’s no cocoa at home I also drink tea. I only like black tea with milk, it tastes very delicious. Orange juice is something I don’t like very much but sometimes it’s also good if it is made freshly pressed. In the picture you can also see my favourite vegetables: tomatoes, I love them. I like eating bread and toast. Something I hate are ham and sausages, I hate it because I’m a vegetarian. A traditional Irish breakfast consists of fried egg, sausages, ham, fried potatoes or hash browns and black and white pudding.

Connemara

Today we ate Irish stew, well my „parents“ ate Irish stew. I would never eat it, because it's made of sheep! That's unbelievable! I mean, who eats meat from sheep?! Sheep are the most friendly and cutest animals in the world!
We also went to Connemara. It's a wonderful  district in the west of Ireland. In the west,south and  the north of Connemara is the Atlantic Ocean. There's a great landscape and it's great for hiking. I think it was a great day with the exception of Irish stew!

A visit to Kylemore Abbey

Today I was in a beautiful castle called Kylemore Abbey.Today the castle houses a Benedictine order which moved into the building in 1920. Now I will tell you something about the castle: It was built from 1867 to 1871 by Margaret and Mitchell Henry. When Margaret died three years later, Mitchell built a church in memory of her. The nicest thing about this castle for me was not the church but the beautiful garden. It has a size of 3.4 hectares, of which 2.4 hectare are surrounded by a brick and limestone wall. It was beautiful. It was not a trip with lots of action, but it was still cool! ;)