Ireland Travel Logs

As I mentioned in my Girl Guide speech I went to Ireland last summer. I was 1 of 16 girls selected by Girl Guides of Canada to attend an international camp called Iggnite. It was an amazing experience and throughout the two weeks I was there, I kept a journal. I wanted to share them with you, and they'll be little versions of the journal logs I'll be keeping in Italy. Just a little note that I didn't write every day but I did try too. What I'm trying to get to is some of them contain yesterday's and I hope you don't get confused with my timeline.

July 26, 2017.

Yesterday I went on my first plane flight. I absolutely loved it, I was bouncing with excitement to meet the other 15 girls in Toronto.  I was on the plane all by myself which I do admit was difficult emotionally although the breathtaking view made up for every piece of me that felt sad. When I made it to Toronto's airport, I may have gotten a little lost, after a deep breath though I was relaxed and found my way.

The hotel is pretty great. My roommate Taylor and I got along well. We watched Mantracker whenever we could on the first night, just to talk about how bad the show was and how we could have outsmarted the main character which is the biggest goal. Anyway our first morning we slept in a bit, another girl named Hanna came by to tell us we missed free breakfast. Taylor and I were ready to head down to the hotel's restaurant and buy food. We went to go tell our leaders and there was fresh food laid out for us. We joked with Hanna for the rest of the trip that if she said, you missed breakfast, you actually were getting fresh food.

July 27, 2017.

I took my first international flight, I slept almost the whole time, comfortably too. The plane was huge! Take off and landing was very smooth compared to the tiny plane I took from North Bay to Toronto. Anyway, at this point it still hasn't fully sunk in that I have crossed an ocean.

Our hotel in Ireland is a castle! A castle! My roommate now is Ashley, she is super sweet. Our group wanted an easy lunch today so we headed down to Tesco down the street. They had self-checkout and two girls I was hanging out with, Sophie and Ally, had asked me to help with their cash out's because I was so efficient with the task. I told them I have done cashier work before. That's when the jokes started to roll that I was now a cashier in two countries. We have 18 minutes until we head to the pub so I will write later.

photo credit Trip Advisor

The pub has amazing soup! Veggie and bacon, creamy and warming, never have I had a soup this good. Some girls were playing Dutch Blitz after supper, I asked to learn and Carena taught me. It gets intense quickly but I managed to win one game which I was quite glad about.  Afterwards, some of us went to Hanna's and Carena's room where we sang Girl Guide campfire songs.  Slightly before lights out, I went to my room to shower. It was an awesome shower. There was the perfect amount of pressure and endless hot water, of course, I was only in there for 10 minutes but it was awesome nonetheless. I'm off to bed now, goodnight.

July 28, 2017.  

This morning, we went to go visit the Girl Guide office in Dublin. Following that, we went for lunch in a park. The entire playground equipment was made out of wood, it was really impressive. I met a girl named Nala, she was a year younger than me. We hung out until my group had to move on to other activities.

Photo credit http://www.thechildrensplayground.com/

Our first activity was visiting an old jail. It was haunting to look at, and being inside gave me chills. The second activity was visiting the  Glasnevin Cemetery. It was the world's first cemetery/museum, which is really cool. The trees were beautiful there as they formed arches for us to walk under and the tombstones were fascinating.

For supper, we went to a little diner. Sophie and I got veggie burgers, with fries and a drink to share between us. It was a really good meal overall. There was some Italian tourist that sat across from our table and we had a lovely conversation.

July 29, 2017.

It is really late at this point and I am extremely tired. We did a few more tourist activities. I have photos to show. Although before I climb in my bed I will write one thing down in fear of it being blur tomorrow morning. For supper, we went to a bar. The energy in there was absolutely amazing. It had a strong smell of cigarettes, live music was playing, and there even was a dance floor. I could overhear stories being told and the actions that went with them were so detailed. Tomorrow is day 1 at camp Iggnite I wonder what it will be like.

August 2, 2017.

The days have seemed to get away from me, it happens.

On Sunday, so the 30th of July, we had to set up camp. It was a little difficult mostly because their tents here are quite odd. They're like pods almost something out of a science fiction movie. Out of our 16 girls, we were split into 2 groups. This was because we are camping with other countries. Our group is camping with a bunch of Irish girls, they are super sweet. That night there was a concert and it was really good!

Monday we did water activities all morning long. There was water balloon volleyball, kayaking (I got to see a swan up close), then twister with water guns and buckets. After that, we had showers and ate lunch. During the afternoon we made friendship bracelets at a workshop, I'm even close to done yet. Then that night we had a scavenger hunt.

Tuesday we went to a workshop on bullying and how to empower ourselves. Then for our second workshop, we got to play with Arckit's. They are a hands-on toy where you get to design buildings and houses with it. Next, we went to a Jigsaw workshop, it was all about mental health. We watched a video full of facts. Then our last workshop for the day was the theatre one. I loved this one so much!* That night we had a campfire which was really nice and relaxing.

*I loved that workshop so much when I got back to North Bay I decided I wanted to attend Widdifield Secondary School for the Arts Nipissing program.

Now today, we went to a workshop where we were separated into little teams. I was on the green team and we won! In the afternoon there was a dance workshop which was full of energy. Lucky for us we got to cool down at our next workshop which was swimming. I wore my first swim cap which honestly felt great. My hair was out of the way and I could just swim. Now it's time for reflection where they will be checking with us to see how we are liking it. I'm having a blast and I haven't been the least homesick, so everything is good for me.

August 3, 2017.

This morning we had a presentation from UNICEF. Following that, we went to a workshop and talked about climate change. In the afternoon we did active games. This included large board games, dance and quidditch. I was on the Ravenclaw team. We won our first game,  although lost our second game. Tonight is the talent show. I'm looking forward to it.

August 4, 2017.

This morning we went on a field trip! All the way to Cashel, to visit a castle. Then we visited their little town. "We" includes our group of 8 girls and the Irish girls were camping with. Ally and I decided to have ice cream for lunch. In the afternoon Grainne joined Ally and I in the town scavenger hunt. Afterwards, we all went for tea since it started to rain and we figured it would warm us up very well.

August 5, 2017.

This morning we got to sleep in. Then I got to pack for the rest of the day and relax with the friends I've made.

August 6, 2017.

Today we are heading back to Dublin. I am sad to say goodbye to these amazing girls and women I've met. Although I have a little funny story, this one girl really loved my rubber boots. My mom told me that if needed I could throw them out for souvenir space. So instead of throwing them out, I gave the rubber boots to her. I have never seen a smile as big as hers in my entire life. This made leaving a little happier.

We got to go around shopping a bit back in Dublin, it was a blast. I bought a very pretty new dress from their H&M. I wish we could have seen more little Irish shops but there wasn't any in the section we were allowed to travel in. Maybe next time.

August 7, 2017.

On my second international flight, I think I'm going to take a nap.

We are back in Toronto! Just had supper with my friends and made a call to my family back in North Bay. Tomorrow I will be back home.

This concludes my journal entries. I hope you enjoyed reading them as I enjoyed writing them. Again more or less my Italian entries will be similar although this time around I hope to have more details for you, the readers. This way it's good for me so the memories are always fresh and for you to really get the feel of my adventure. Thank you.