Like every year, the boys received the
visit of two teachers of Viaró: the head of studies Mr. Dionis and the
head of Primary and Ireland coordinator Mr. Gómez. They didn't come with
empty pockets: they brought letters, presents and other objets, sent by
their families - yeah, you! =) - teachers and classmates of Viaró.
Saturday arrived and it was time to visit one of the most important places in Dublin: Croke Park Stadium.
Croke Park is the 3rd biggest stadium in Europe (after Wembley and the Camp
Nou). It really was a cultural plan, because the boys got to know the 2
typical Irish sports: Hurling and Gaelic Football.
We all watched a great video, saw the dressing rooms where the players get ready for the matches, wentto the pitch and sat at the spectators' seats. The boys couldn't believe the measures of the stadium (the pitch is more or less 145m long and 97m wide), I guess they were just very proud of the Camp Nou in Barcelona!
Then we went to the museum, saw the trophies and... finally it was time to play! The boys hit the ball with the Hurley (the stick used to play Hurling), kicked a football and tried many other mini-games related to both sports. I think it really was a good experience - it's not all about football!
Unfortunately Hugo was a bit ill and after the visit to Croke Park he was picked up by his host mother and brought home to have a rest.
After buying some souvenirs, we had some time left before going back to Rockbrook, so we drove to Dundrum Shopping Centre, where the boys had the opportunity to shop a bit.
Finally back at Rockbrook it was time to say goodbye to Mr. Dionis and Mr. Gómez, who accompanied us during all the Saturday plan, talked to all and each of the boys and even gave a Rosary to each of them - I guess it's time to pray it, especially in this month of our Holy Mother!
This week we go back to the routine, we've almost completed half of our experience but there are still many great experiences to live and memories to gather.
Hello again!
I finally got some time to post again, the last days have been crazy!
On Thursday all schools except for St. Pius had holidays, so I went with 13 of the boys to do a cultural plan: we went to the City Centre and visited the museum Dublinia.
The first place we visited was Trinity College. It's a great sight in Dublin, with lots of buildings, gardens and a young and fresh environment. We took this 360º panoramic photo - I told everyone not to move, so that the photo could look better, but not everyone paid attention! That's why some of the boys appear twice or have a "Picasso" face.
After that we went to have lunch at St. Patrick's Park, right beside St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Then, it was time for the best part of the plan: Dublinia Museum!
Dublinia has 3 floors and each of them covers a different time or age: Vikings, medieval times, archeologists... As you will see in the photos, the boys had a lot of fun while gettingto know more the Irish culture and background.
All the photos here:
The boys are having the whole week free, so we are combining stays with the families with fun and cultural plans. After Monday - it was a bank holiday - we came to Rockbrook on Tuesday and took some time to talk and review the 4 weeks we have already spent here. There was some time to play football, too. This timewe were 17 boys - Guille Puig was doing a plan with his Irish family, what a great idea!
Then we went to Marlay Park, located very near to Rockbrook and with a lot of activities to do! After lunch we were ready to play golf. We went to a 'pitch and putt' and splitted into 3 groups to play the different holes. I think it was really a good plan and we all had a lot of fun!
Of course, not all of us had played golf before, and I could notice some of the boys had already taken some classes! The boys are always very competitive, so they were taking the competition very serious. As if it was the Masters!
After playing golf, we all deserved an ice-cream! We played in the playground until it was the time to go back to Rockbrook, where the boys played some football and finally were picked up by their Irish families. What a day! I ended up so tired! But it was very good and theboys really enjoyed it.
Until the next time!
PS: I took a lot of photos, take a look at them:
