Maggie 2011

Hi my name is Maggie and I’m 16 years old.  I went on a one month exchange to France and to be honest it was the hardest experience of my life but also the best.  I think it is very important to read other people’s experiences before you decide to go so I’m going to write truthfully about my experience by using my diary, I’d advise you to keep one.  When I first found out about the exchange programme I was excited and couldn’t wait to go, it all happened so quick by the time I knew it I was boarding the plane.  Saying good-bye to my family was horrible, I was nervous and worried and excited about meeting my new family.  The first day was a complete blur, trying to take everything in and trying to make sense of the language.  It didn’t hit me until the second day while eating dinner, I broke down crying, the family were so nice about it and said it was normal.  The feelings of being alone and trying to deal with the language barrier lasted a few days.  going to school was hard and very boring as most of the French was to hard for me to understand, but it also gave me the opportunity to interact with other French teenagers and make friends, many of which I’m still in contact with.  The family were great fully immersing me in French life.  They took me to many places such as Paris and Versailles and brought me along to everything, my love for France and French has grown immensely due to this experience.  Being somewhat older than my exchange student created many difficulties but we got along in the end.  The little sister became like a sister to me and helped me so much.  It was a trip of a lifetime with many ups and downs but it’s a trip I’ve grown up in and discovered a lot about myself.  I’ve had to become independent and rely on myself for many things.  The hardest part of it all is missing your friends and family.  I would really recommend going as it is an experience of a lifetime.  Memories will never be forgotten.  J’aime la France.

Briain 2011
During the Summer after my Junior Cert I knew I wanted to go to France for my TY year. My brother had already spent 6 months in Paris and after strongly recommending it to me I was excited to go.  On the 5th of January 2011 I left from Dublin to Bordeaux. My French student Victor had already spent 2 and a half months in my house before Christmas so I wasn’t anxious meeting my student and his family. Once I arrived I quickly settled into my new family and I was really enjoying France. In school I was in the troisieme (the equivalent to third year) and I had no problems settling in fast and made new friends quickly. I played in a football club called “Les Coques Rouges” and trained with them every Wednesday and Friday for the three months. However I was one year too old to play matches for the team so unfortunately I was only able to train with them. I also played tennis with my correspondent often on the tennis court near the house and during the midterm we played a tennis “stage” for the week. We also went to a couple of Bordeaux Football matches at the stadium which I loved going to.  After spending three months with the Finances, I moved to the other side of Bordeaux to another family. I was unhappy to leave the school having settling in very well but I was also exited to meet new people, and also I knew I would still be able to see everyone again as I was in the same city. The new family were the Melons and my new correspondent was Pierre-Louis. They were very nice and after two weeks of holidays with them I was back to school in Camille-Julien in the premiere (equivalent to 5th year). I found the transition fine and enjoyed the new school. The schoolwork was more serious here as the students were preparing for part of their leaving cert, however I was able to relax as I didn’t have any exams to do.  For the entire 6 months I kept a notebook with me so that every time I came across a new word I would write it down and learn it. I found this extremely helpful and at the end of the six months I had over 600 words in it! I kept up with the words by getting my correspondent to give me tests on them from time to time.

Overall I don’t regret anything and I would recommend everyone to do it. I would tell them to try and learn as much as possible because the 6 months or however long they go for passes very fast and if you spend your time speaking English you won’t learn anything.

Sean Hammond (Age 12)  – Exchange August 2010 – June 2011
I wanted to do an exchange because I thought that it would be fun and I love doing sports which in France they do a lot of.
My French exchange partner, Nathan, came to Ireland first, for five months.  When he came we got on straight away and I think that Jane picked the perfect person for me, because we are both sporty and love soccer but also like sitting down and playing games like monopoly and playing on the computer.  I really enjoyed his company when he was living with me in Ireland but occasionally we got annoyed with each other but I think that’s good because it means that you are more like brothers and you’re really saying what you think to each other instead of just trying to be polite.
When I arrived in France I knew instantly that I was going to enjoy my time there.  The family were very nice to me and at the beginning it was like I was a friend of theirs but after about a month I started doing all of the chores and really became one of the family members so that after about three months I felt like a real member of the family and I called Nathan’s parents Maman and Papa and feel that his brother and sister are as close to me now as my own sister.  Nathan and I have already planned to see each other again this summer and he is coming to Ireland for two weeks to go on holiday with us.  I think Nathan and I will keep in touch for the rest of our lives.
The language was hard and the family always laughed at my accent but in a nice way.  Although it is hard you just have to keep trying.  When I went to France all I could say was, ‘bonjour’ with a terrible accent!  Now I can speak fluent French and it’s really cool.  In the first month I couldn’t understand anything except, ‘do you understand’ and I would always reply, ‘yes’ even though I couldn’t and everyone would get quite annoyed because I’d just stand in the same place instead of doing what I was asked.  By the third month I was really beginning to understand what people were saying and I could talk a little, by month four I understood almost everything and could talk well but in the fifth month I understood everything apart from sayings and I can speak fluently although my grammar isn’t perfect.
I really enjoyed learning French, I’m really pleased that when I go into secondary in September I’ll probably be top of the French class but more than that I really loved the French lifestyle and want to go back.  When you’re walking on the street people greet you even if they don’t know you, I had no trouble making friends in my school, everyone was really nice and I loved the food and the weather.
The school was hard because I went into middle school that’s more like a secondary school and I had come from 6th class in National School.  The school couldn’t give me any work from the younger classrooms so I had to do the real work that my class were doing.  Sometimes |I fell asleep in class because I was so tired but no one ever told me off.  I started understanding quickly but couldn’t actually do all the classwork until the fifth month and then I started to pass the tests and produce good work.  At the end of the year I passed all the subjects and even came top of the class in the Biology test.  I liked that school because girls and boys mix well together and are more friendly with each other than they are in Ireland, so you have more friends.  In France we went to school an hour early every day to hang out with other kids and we had a laugh.
If you have a chance to go my advice would be to go without hesitation, it was the best five months of my life, but went way too quickly.  All in all, I LOVE FRANCE.

Lou (aged 14 from France)

 I have decided to speak about school, the family, my friends and what I like or not!  I had a really great time in Ireland, it was a really good experience! during my 3 month I’ve see one big difference, school!  First the school and the class in Ireland are shorter.  The teachers are less strict than in France and the class is smaller (I mean we was just 16-17 people).  Second in Ireland they have to wear a uniform.  Lot of French think uniform is horrible.  I don’t really like it but you have to wear it, so I don’t mind.  At the end of the second month we was at the beach, twice and two time with horses.  Last Saturday I was in the sea with a horse and Sonday we was walking a horse show, it was the first time in my life that I saw a horses show, I had great fun encouraging the other girls.  During the holiday we was in Dublin it’s was amazing.  We have do the tour from the city with tourist bus, we was at the wax museum and we did shopping at afternoon.  I am very happy with my Irish exchange cause she is older and I’ve always dreamed to have a big sister and a big brother.  My Irish parents are really nice, I’ve laugh a lot with them and I helped a lot by train football (help to prepare the match, take water….)  The younger sister is fine, sometimes she is annoying but she is really cute.  I think in a exchange it’s important to don’t stay with their exchange but to learn new people, its why I’ve make 4 Irish friends, it’s a pity that we aren’t in the same class.  I really enjoyed all the horses “meeting”  I cannot horse riding but I was always helping, feed the horses, wash them, take them in/out the field and lunge them.  I didn’t enjoy the raining days cause you can not go out after one hour the tv is boring and you don’t know what to do. I hope I will come back to Ireland,

My name is Yvana . In 2008, during transition year I lived with a French family for 5 and a half months. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about the family and friends I made. I was originally planning on staying in France for only 4 months. But after 3 months over there I realised it was far too short, so I asked my family if I could stay another month and half. To be honest I would have stayed even longer if I had the choice I loved it so much.  It wasn’t easy though. Although I had a few years of French before I went, I was completely lost. They speak so fast I didn’t understand anything, it’s safe to say there wasn’t much conversation for the 1st month or so, and if I did manage to find something easy to say, it was very limited. I missed my life in Ireland but I was determined to make France an experience I’d never forget. Before I knew it I was understanding most things and having alright conversations. My little host brothers always got really excited whenever I started speaking back. Although they were young they understood that they had to speak slow to me. We played games together, which also helped my French a great deal.  School was tough. Early mornings, long classes and what seemed like endless days. But it all becomes routine in the end. I basically detested school in the beginning. I used to get so frustrated that I couldn’t understand and could only make half attempts at work. But, it all changed a few weeks into it. It was still hard, but I had made friends, and looked forward to seeing them during lunch and breaks.  My host family were amazing. I had 4 brothers and 1 sister, Marianne, who came to Ireland with me. They were always so kind. They helped me with anything and everything. I really felt like apart of the family. It was really an amazing feeling. It’s something I can’t describe you just have to experience it for yourself.  Although it was hard to leave Ireland, it was harder leaving France, funnily enough. I knew I would always go back to Ireland and everything would go back to normal. But with France it was a different story. I knew it would never be the same. Since then I have been in France. I went for a 3 week holiday during summer break. It was amazing. I loved seeing all my friends and family again, and speaking French. I surprised how quickly I got my fluency back (I was always scared I’d loose my French). Marianne, my host sister came back to Ireland with me. We were like sisters in the end. I only have 1 other sister, and she was in college so it was a completely different atmosphere at my house. We went on trips together, played games and went out together. It was great having someone else there. It was hard at times. Everyone who has a sibling knows that it’s not always plain sailing. We had the odd hick up, but we both compromised and understood what the other was going through.  I could go on about my experience, but it’d be endless. It was really something that cannot be described in words, it’s something that really has to be experienced. It was tough, but I got through those first few hard weeks and now I look back and I’m proud of myself. I basically have a second home in France. I still keep in contact with my friends and family over there. Although I went over with my main intention being to learn the language I got something way better. New friends, second family, new way of thinking, experienced a new culture, lifestyle and language. It was really an unbelievable experience. I would do it again in a second. I’d encourage anyone to do it. It may be hard in the beginning but you won’t regret it.

Darragh
It was the summer of 2008 when I decided to leave Ireland and to go to France for 6 months. I was in Transition Year in Secondary School and really wanted to improve my French. I received information from my French teacher on several different organisations dealing with these exchanges. I was very keen and enthusiastic to do this exchange and to hopefully find a nice, sound family. My mom received a call from Jane in mid-August telling us that they had found a family in Paris for me so as you can imagine I was very excited.
I left in January 09 and arrived in a beautiful suburb north of Paris called Le Levallois. I was not at all anxious which worried my parents slightly. At the start I found it very enjoyable and made lots of friends in school who to this day I am still in contact with. My school was called Saint-Louis de Gonzague which was situated in the centre of Paris. We travelled there by metro. The school day was long 9-5 most days but we had a two hour lunch break. We also had to go to school on Saturdays for weekly tests on various subjects. However after coming from half term  in transition year I was quite giddy during class. After one week in school the principal phoned home to say that I had to make a bigger effort and I responded to this. I then got rid of my old Irish habits and got new French ones.  (As French schools in general are stricter than Irish ones. ) I never experienced any regrets whilst doing this exchange, my French family were hugely helpful and nice to me. It was also a very new and different lifestyle for me as I live in Wicklow in the countryside and this thing of living in Paris really made the exchange enjoyable in almost every aspect. As I already may of mentioned I was very privileged with the family I was given,  we went on many different trips throughout the exchange. We went to the Alps to ski for a week, we went to Morocco for a 5 day holiday and the family brought me to see the South, West and North of France. One thing I have to say if you are considering going away for 6 months would be to go over with a good attitude and most importantly to make friends. I was also very impressed about how Jane managed to keep in touch with me and my parents throughout the exchange.

George 2008: I find it extremely strange to think that roughly a year ago I was sitting exactly where I am now, reading one of the testimonials and wondering how on earth people can be happy leaving their home country for many months at a time. Now, I am adding to their collection of testimonials; another in the long list of happy people who have amazing memories of their exchanges abroad. At the start of my Transition Year I knew that I wanted to go to France for 3 months, but those 3 months always seemed so far away.  Even though I had my French exchange, Pierre over for 3 months before leaving myself, I just took them for granted and kept putting off thinking about them. Eventually February came around and I found myself waking up one morning and realizing that I have to go to the airport. I was terrified; I wasn’t going to see my parents, friends or relatives for 3 months or 12 weeks or 89 days. That time was all I could think about. In the taxi, the airport and the plane the only thing in my head was the wish to make those three months pass by as quickly as possible. I wanted to fall into a coma and wake up on the plane heading back to Ireland three months later. When I finally arrived in France I was greeted by my French family and they did everything they could to help me settle in. Despite this every morning for the first month I always said to myself ‘one day down, x days to go’. However, little by little I realized that I was saying it rarer and rarer and eventually it turned into me not wanting to leave. After spending so much time with my French family (and they really were a family, my family) I settled into the French lifestyle and did not want to leave.  I remember getting a phone call from my parents (a weekly affair and something that ended the week on a high note) and saying that I really regretted not spending 4 months instead of just 3. I can fullly understand that anyone reading this may think that I am completely crazy but believe me, eventually, once you start understanding the language, once you really connect with your exchange, once you become a family member instead of just a guest you realize that you’re not really all that eager to leave. As I type this I remember all the great times I spent in France. Pierre is sitting beside me, laughing along and reminiscing. If it wasn’t for our decision to go on this adventure none of this would have happened and I think a large part of who I am now would have ceased to exist.  All I have to say to all the people willing to try out this remarkable experience is bonne chance.

Testimonial from Patricia McCarthy:
TY Europe was indirectly introduced to our family as we searched for possible opportunities for our daughter Sarah to conduct a language exchange with a Spanish student of a similar age. The idea of student exchange was initially proposed by Sarah’s Career Guidance Teacher and received enthusiastically by Sarah, not as much by her parents! While we her parents had reservations, we supported her in her challenge and it was at this point we were introduced to TY Europe. We attended an information day, which answered many of our queries and was followed by a home visit from Jane O Regan,. We found Jane to be a practical caring person who stressed that the most important attribute of a host family was the willingness to be enthusiastic about receiving a teenager to ones care. We felt we fitted that criteria. Jane again answered many of our queries, we had explored many other exchange organisations at this stage but never felt the confidence or reassurance that Jane had bestowed on us. Sarah returned to her school in September to commence Transition Year having almost given up hope of finding a possible exchange. It was good for her to be at home during this time as she celebrated her 16th birthday and received her Junior Cert results. I believe both of these occasions would have been particularly challenging times for her to have been away. Jane in the meantime had worked tirelessly and eventually she found a family that through her thorough assessment looked an ideal match. We were delighted. The girls name was Sara. Though she was two years younger than our daughter we were not put off, we felt it would give each the space to explore other friendships and avoid over familiarity. I got to speak with her father who spoke perfect English, I felt he had similar concerns to mine. We both seemed to feel a confidence in each others ability to act as appropriate adoptive parents for our daughters. Jane guided us throughout the whole planning stage, she was always at the end of the phone whenever I needed reassurance. She had such terrific advice that could only have been at hand from someone who had successfully conducted so many exchanges. Sarah has been in Spain for almost one month now, we miss her, she misses home, however she has been fortunate to have the most wonderful, caring host family that we could possibly have managed to find. Sarah is so happy, she is involved in so many activities with the family – she rides, swims, plays tennis, cycles and runs. After four weeks Sarah is now able to relate pretty well with her host family and friends. School however is still very difficult, each class is one hour long, she understands little of what is being said but she accepts this will get easier as time goes on. She has been embraced with enthusiasm to her new school. I got an email from her English teacher on her first day introducing himself as Sarah’s mentor and the only English speaking person on the school staff. He assured me he would look out for her and already felt she seemed happy. We were so happy to get this news, we couldn’t believe any staff member would take the trouble to contact us. We have nightly contact with Sarah, mostly just one text to confirm all’s well. Sarah loves to receive letters most of all and thankfully family and friends have all risen to the occasion! My greatest advice to anyone contemplating a language exchange is not to get too caught up in trivial details. It’s important to trust the ability of the host parents and let them get on with things. It’s also important to trust the professional judgement of TY Europe’s director, Jane O Regan. As our daughter is Jane’s first Spanish placement I think it has shown her extraordinary ability to coordinate suitable family matches.

Hello, my name is Lucia and I’m from Spain.  It was a wonderful experience for me to live in Ireland and go to an Irish school for five months.  At the beginning I was a little bit nervous  to get to know my new family but especially to know my new school.  When I arrived I couldn’t speak very much English, but now my English has improved a lot. Before I came I thought that the food would be a problem for me but it wasn´t. I was living in Kilmallock, a small town in Limerick. I went to Colaiste Iosaef, which was full of such lovely and friendly people.  The Irish education system is very different than it is in Spain. I have had the chance to do lots of new things like cooking, Business and Irish that are not possible at school in Spain. For St Patrick´s Day , my host family brought me to Dublin to see the parade, also, I was in Cork to see the Xpose Live , where I met Mr World 2010 who this year was from Limerick.  I can’t decide what has been the highlights so far for me, because I have had a lot of wonderful and different experiences during my stay in Ireland. Also, I’ve had the chance to learn different irish sports like, Camogie and Gaelic football, that were great. For me it was the best experience EVER. Actually, I think I made the right decision to spend five months in other country like Ireland, although I’m still saying that wasn’t easy, especially the first month. After this I can be proud of myself , because I can tell everybody that I had enough strength  to come to Ireland and live here for five months without my family and friends. If somebody asked me if I would like to come to Ireland or another country for a while again, I will say YES definitely, because I had a lot of new experiences which were very useful for my future and made a lot of new friends that I will NEVER forget .

Gareth 2010

My time in Spain was well worth the effort. Things like, learning Spanish, meeting new people and living a completely different lifestyle made it so good and enjoyable. It was an experience i think everyone should do. I went to Spain with the smallest bit of Spanish, when I got there I found it hard to speak, I was also very shy. I settled in and after a few days people would help me to say what I wanted, the people and family were very kind, school was the best place for learning, I only stayed 4 weeks, I regret not staying more as I learnt and enjoyed it so much.

My name is Alice  In September 2009 I went to live in France for 4 months. I stayed with a lovely family in the west of France in a town called Brest. There were 6 children in the family, two boys and four girls. I did a direct swap so when I was in France my exchange partner was in Ireland .When I set off I remember everyone telling me how hard it was going to be but I never took that on board. I thought that it would be fine and that I would be fine. I had been in boarding school for three years before hand so I wrongly believed that this would be a doodle for me. I was badly mistaken! When I arrived I understood nothing even though I had done three years off French, they spoke so fast and I got completely lost. Also I was very homesick and for a few weeks incredibly tearful, I don’t know why but in the first month every thing made me cry. After about 4-5 weeks I started to understand and speak a little. I said to myself I don’t care if the verbs are not quite right I just have to speak. School was  hard in the beginning.  It was nine to five and with classes that were an hour long. We did have an hour and half for lunch though which helped break up the day. I got upset when I couldn’t do the work because I thought that the teachers would get cross. They didn’t, they were very understanding and didn’t expect too much. All they wanted was me to make an effort. After a while school got easier and enjoyable. I liked experiencing new things and meeting new people. I got to make friends and go out with them. I was very lucky because at mid term my family took me to the centre of France and the south for a holiday and to Paris. I had a wonderful four months and would recommend everyone to do an exchange. I was sad to leave at the end. I had made good friends and found a whole new family. Looking back now I realize just how lucky I was to have such an amazing experience and I wish I could do my transition year all over again. Also I would like to thank Jane who gave me such courage and good advice all the way through.

 My name is Cristina and I am from Barcelona. I have been in Ireland for 2 months now and I have really enjoyed this experience but I think staying away from home, living with an Irish family and going to an Irish school is one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. Before I came to Ireland I was very nervous about going to school, I knew the family was really nice so that wasn’t a problem.  My main problem was what would the school and the students be like, will they be kind? Will I understand the lessons and a lot of other things came into my mind. Now I go to Colaiste Ioseaf in Kilmallock, Co Limerick, which is a small school compared to my school in Spain which has over 2,000 students.  The school in Ireland is really different to school in Spain, first of all we don’t have TY so this year is like a break for everyone.  The subjects are very different as well, for example here in Ireland the classes are so short, only 40 mins instead of one hour in Spain which is sometimes a bit boring.  In Ireland the breaks are so short, in Spain we have a 30 minute break in the morning and then 2 hours at lunch time, which is why many students go home for lunch.  Another difference is the length of the school day, in Ireland we finish at 3.30pm and then the students have all their after school activities which finish quite early but in Spain we finish at 5pm and then we have all our after school activities.  In the beginning I found the lessons so hard because I needed to pay attention all the time so that I could understand but now I find it easier.  The hardest thing for me is when a group of students are all talking at the same time it is so hard to follow the teenager language but the teachers are fine because they speak clearly and they are very helpful when I don’t understand something. A big difference is the wearing of the school uniform, I have never worn a uniform before I came to Ireland so it’s kind of weird for me every morning wearing a long skirt and seeing all the other students looking exactly the same but I think it is better because there are no differences between the students and also because you don’t have to think what you are going to wear to school. The Irish teenage fashion is different from Spanish teenagers, in the beginning the main thing I noticed were the “canto pants” and “Ugg” boots but now I like them.  I don’t think the Irish teenagers are as free as the Spanish teenagers as they are more dependant on their parents for transport, in Spain all the teenagers have mopeds so its easy for them to go everywhere.  Spanish teenagers and Irish teenagers both have fun in the same way, staying with their friends, and my friends in Ireland have been really kind to me. In short I think that living in another country for 3,4,5,6 months is one of the best things that you can do when you are a teenager, you learn another language, another lifestyle and one of the most important things is you meet a lot of really nice people and spend time with them, that I will never forget.

Hola, mi nombre es Clementina Chereguini y soy la madre de Clementina Gómez Chereguini. Mi hija está pasando este primer trimestre del curso 2008-2009 en Irlanda,en casa de los O´Regan y, si bien al principio me cuestionaba la "utilidad" del intercambio, ahora no me queda ninguna duda: estoy contentísima de haberlo hecho. La niña no sólo está feliz allí, cálidamente acogida en la vida familiar, sino que también ha demostrado su fortaleza (superando la morriña de la primeras semanas), sus buenas maneras (parece mentira pero sí, cuando salen de casa sí saben comer!) y la madurez necesaria para saber aprovechar todo lo que Jane, Connor, su hija Nella y el resto de la familia (Tom, Alice y Billy ) le ofrecen durante su estancia allí. En cuanto al inglés, mi hija ya conocía la lengua, pero su estancia en Irlanda la ha dotado de una soltura en el manejo de la lengua y un conocimiento del idioma que nos garantiza que en el futuro no tendrá ningún problema para utilizarlo en su vida privada o profesional. Clementina y Nella van juntas al cole y allí comparten amigas, juegos de patio, deportes e Irish dancing. Por las tardes, como actividades extraescolares hacen soccer, piano y, a petición de ellas, hip-hop. A todo eso le sumamos la preparación de los disfraces de Halloween, las tardes de hacer compota de manzana para aprovechar la cosecha y las interminables jornadas de construcción de una casa con Lego o en el ordenador con el Sims al calor de la chimenea. Todo esto es posible gracias a la exhaustiva dedicación de Jane. Es una persona con una entrega y una capacidad ejemplar y vive intensamente la educación de sus hijos por lo que creo que la creación de Transition Spain es la consecuencia lógica de esta fe suya en los intercambios como método de aprendizaje de una lengua y para abrir los ojos de los niños a otras culturas, otros modos de vida, otros amigos...Estoy segura que la entrega profesional de Jane a esta causa , su sensata lucidez frente a lo que es conveniente o no, su  grandísima empatía, su gran inteligencia emocional y el respeto y cariño con el que educa a sus propios hijos dará como resultado  unas familias cuidadosísimamente  elegidas y unos intercambios como el que mi hija Clementina está teniendo el lujo de disfrutar. Todo esto que cuento no sólo es fruto de las conversaciones y mensajes con mi hija...Acabo de volver de pasar un fín de semana largo allí viendo a la niña y conviviendo con ellos... He vuelto feliz de comprobar, in situ, lo contenta que está, disfrutando en familia de todo lo que le brindan los O´Regan e Irlanda!! 

Hi .My name is Alice  and last year in my Transition Year between January and June I went to Spain for 5 months. .When I left in January after spending a lovely Christmas with my family and friends I was dreading arriving in Spain I did not want to go at all but I felt that I had committed myself and that if I backed out now I would regret it for the rest of my life. For the first 6 weeks of being in Spain I was miserable, to be honest I can never remember being that miserable in my life. I woke up wanting to go home and fall asleep hoping that when I woke up I would be on the flight home. It is hard to describe that feeling. The longing to go home was extremely strong .My whole family and my friends, were such a support to me .I remember being really down with everyone. I did try to speak and be cheerful but I was so lonely that I couldn’t. After 6 weeks I decided that this couldn’t go on, I either had to get over my homesickness or go home because I was achieving nothing .After that settling in period I settled down. I had the best family in the whole world. I could not have chosen a better exchange family if I had tried .They bent over backwards and after that 6 weeks I returned the effort they had made. I realized that I had to speak to learn and to me learning the language was the most important thing.  I can not describe how kind the family was to me .They took me places, gave me presents, but most of all they treated me like their daughter. I felt really at home. School was actually quite enjoyable. Unlike Irish school, it is a shorter school day, finishing at 2.30.The people were really friendly and so were the teachers. I was very privileged because during my stay in Spain the school took my class to Mallorca which was amazing. By the time the end came I was very sad to say goodbye .I think of them and my experience in Spain almost everyday and not a day goes passed that I am not glad I did it .It was an experience of a lifetime and I got a lot more than a language, I got a family friends and a life changing experience. To me it is impossible to describe .All I can say is the biggest thank you to my wonderful family in Spain.

My name is Keelan and I did an exchange through Ty Europe with Thibault. Thibault came to our house from September to December 2009, because I was going on a ski-trip with my school I could not go to France until after Easter 2010.  I was in north France in Plouzec it’s a small town 2 hours from Rennes. I arrived in France and spent 6 weeks in school. Surprising enough school was when I had most fun even though it started at 8am and finished at 5pm. I was just meeting new people everyday and made some very good friends that I will keep in contact with. I was living right at the coast so I went to the beach a lot with friends. I didn’t really get on well with Thibault but his brother and the father were both very nice and helpful. I would like to go back to France but not necessarily to see the family more the friends that I made. My time in France was not always enjoyable but I would nearly put it down to bad timing. See I went to France with the majority of my time on summer holidays. Granted this was nice because I got the French sun and not the Irish rain. I found most days I was sitting at home but the friends I made in school would invite me down to the beach and to meet up in the town. I found this enjoyable because I was out talking to people. So my advice is to go when there is school you pick up everything so much easier and you make friends so much easier as well, I even made friends with a load of rockers which would not really be the people I would normally hang out with. I would usually hang out with very sporty people who would either play or know about sports. People told me that the teachers would be very strict but I found nearly every teacher to be very nice and understanding. Don’t worry if your French is brutal because when I went over I could barely string a sentence together and now I can have a basic conversation. Stuff like “How are you” and “What’s news” general small talk and can also understand so much more now.  

Baptiste – July 2010
 
In first I have to thank Margit and Jane for this marvelous month. I think it’s a very good idea because we can learn a new language, we can know a new country, a new family and some news traditions. I assisted for the first to the church office (that was very interesting and funny), I did surf (it was very good and funny), golf (I did a competition) and I went to the beach (the water was cold but it was okay), so we can do a lot of activities. And the Irish people are very nice so 1 month isn't too difficult and too long. Thank you again See you soon 

Charlotte – July 2010

 " First I want to thank Jane and Margit for this marvelous Month in Ireland!   Thanks to my Irish Family too because she was very nice and always present!   I was always happy, I did so many things! I did ski in Dublin, gravity, I went lot of time to pool and I went for the first time in a church!!  This trip was very interesting for my English, for my culture and for a lot of other thing.   I discovered another country, another Family and another Food. The schedule was very different and so it was the most difficult for me.  But all was very funny and I really loved this trip!! THANKS FOR ALL!!!!

My name is Alba, I'm from Spain and I spent the first term of my 4th of Eso in Ireland doing Transiton year. I stayed with the O’Regan family and I went to school in Kilmallock.

First of all, my sister speny four months in Ireland, exactly the first term of 2009. When she came back after her successfull home-stay, my parents thought that I could enjoy too, in the beginning I said NO WAY! But I started to get really good marks at the end of 3rd of ESO, so they decided, I should be fine in Ireland in the first term of 2010, I said allright, honestly I wasn't very excited.

When I started to say to my friends that I was going away, they said you are mad, you gonna be very homesick, some of them got disappointed because they didn't want me away, but I decided for myself that I was going, and they had to accept it. I was really sorry when they cry and cry, but I knew they will be fine.

At the end of August I started packing up my things. I didn't realize that I was leaving my life. It's like you pause everything in your life for four months, I was worried too because the things could change when I was away, but I realized that my friends will still be there when I come back.

I arrived in Ireland, and my English wasn't great and I was quite sad the first week because I'm a person who needs to chat a lot and it was impossible because I couldn't speak English properly so I decided that I really had to learn English. The weeks were going really fast and my English improved a lot. For my home-stay, the worst part was the school, the girls were nice, but they don't know how hard it is starting your life in another country, anyway they were quite nice with me, but when you still have your friends in Spain its hard to feel confident in another group, maybe I didn't feel so confident because I had to speak English. In my case the family was really helpful because they made me feel like home and it's really nice feel like your home.

Now I'm near  the end, I have two weeks left and I feel that I'm glad I did it. "I'm in the end" and this feeling is so much better than get 100 points in an English test because no teacher can say the result to you. You can feel the result of staying in Ireland, for yourself.

My name is Hugo I am 13 years old and come from French Guyane.  I came to Ireland for 4 months in August 2010 to learn English.  I am very happy I came.  My Irish family met me at Cork Airport and brought me to my new home. While I am here, my new family brought me to many hurling, football and soccer matches.  They brought me to the Aquadome in Tralee, to Waterford, to the Ballyhoura Halloween Walk and to Limerick to the Australian Rules Football match.  After we saw the big fireworks display.  I really enjoyed this.  I went to school in Colaiste Iosaef in Kilmallock and I am really happy there.  I made lots of friends and I will really miss everyone.  My English has improved and now I really love Irish Stew, X-Factor and Manchester United.  I really hope to come back again soon.

Nathan

Hi, My name is Claude and I have spent 6 months in Ireland. I arrived in August and I'm going home in a few days to France. I went to school here, the week after I arrived. I was in TY (transition year). Transition year is a nicer year than the French 3eme, because we were working on projects and we learnt how to push ourselves to do new things. TY is very good because we all talked a lot when we were doing our projects.I did two weeks work experience in a pet shop!! I did not like cleaning out the animals but I really enjoyed the snakes. Irish schools are really different to French ones, firstly because we have to wear a school uniform, and secondly because boys and girls are not in the same school. With my class I have complete most of my Bronze Gaisce challanges. I will finish it in France.

The weather in Ireland is very different. It is very cold sometimes, but I enjoyed the snow. I went to the beach and I went swimming but everything was so cold. The food was different. I liked an Irish stew called Coddle. I cooked crepes for the family and for selling at my school. When I was leaving my school, all the class had a goodbye party for me. I got gifts and the teachers came to say goodbye too. It was very good to say goodbye like that. At weekends I went to different places like swimming-pools, the shops and to Dublin and Wexford, with my exchange family. I participated in different activities like Wexford Youth-Theatre and the local youth-club with Daniel,my exchange brother. Everything worked perfectly and I would like to Thank every one who was around me directly and indirectly. Thanks!!! 

PS: I recomended to every one who could do an exchange to do it!!!