
Hi, my name is Francesco and I am in Portmarnock right now, a suburb of Dublin. I have already spent 8 months in Ireland and in a few weeks I am going to return to Germany. My host family is very nice and the house is always busy as there are three generations living here, amongst others three kids from 5 to 10 years old. I also have a Ukrainian host brother living with me. All of them are very open-minded and always kind.
I am in Transition Year at Pobalscoil Neasáin in Baldoyle near Dublin. As I am here during the pandemic, Transition Year is not how it is supposed to be with many journeys and activities in school - but it is still incredibly good and I am happy to be here right now.
My class has been genuinely nice to me since the first day I joined the class. Also, the teachers are always friendly and caring about exchange students and I do not feel excluded in any way.Although I cannot do activities through school, I still found other things to do such as playing basketball and football with my friends or going swimming in the beautiful sea. I also started skateboarding here, when the restrictions are being eased, I might go windsurfing or canoeing. I will also go to all the places which I could not see during the year such as Galway, Cork, Belfast, etc.
Throughout the year I met many new people from all over the world and after this year I will stay in contact with them. Some of my friends will come over to Germany and I will visit them.
Overall, it was definitely the best and most interesting year of my life even though there were some restrictions by COVID-19. So do not have any doubts about an exchange year and JUST DO IT!