In one week I will be in Germany. If I want to have enough time for friends and family there, I should really be doing a lot of homework this weekend… Let’s get started.

Reading week is definitely over… This week’s lectures have been quite a workout for my brain. It’s been very exciting. In fact, to give my poor head a break form thinking too much, I went to the gym to run for a while!

This afternoon some of us went to a lecture entitled Children and Migration at the Goethe Institute. The first presenter is a lecturer at the University of Hamburg, where my sister is studying as well. What a coincidence… I started thinking that my sister and I could do some amazing work together. As a linguist and early childhood educator we could work with newcomers to Canada. This could be a possibility.

I’m too sleepy.

I received an e-mail this week from one of the writers who is following up on the Best Practices report. I think it will be published soon…

I remembered that amazing week in Ottawa, and I just saw on their webpage that the video of the ceremony is available now. It’s just a couple of minutes, have a look.

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/pmaece-ppmepe.nsf/eng/wy00448.html

We took a trip to Galway. From there we explored the Cliffs of Moher, Connemara, and the Aran Islands. What great fun.

The young man at the hostel printed a letter for me, he laughed when he saw that it was addressed to my bank in Norway. He banks with them too and is actually Norwegian. The world is so small.

The Cliffs of Moher are amazing and a tourist magnet. I can’t imagine going there in the summer with hordes of tourists.

On the way to the Cliffs you pass through an area called The Burren, meaning “rocky place”. The burren would be the botanist’s and geologist’s heaven.

                                                       Blackhead Mountain 🙂

Connemara, Galways hinterland, was another lovely trip. It’s basically a combination of bogs, lakes, mountains, and magic. Absolutely beautiful also as well (one of the bus drivers liked saying both ‘also’ and ‘as well’). The bus driver surprised us with Irish music at this stop (picture below) and my eyes got a bit teary. I am really in Ireland!

Kylemore Abbey

I especially loved the day on Inishmore, the largest of the three islands that make up the Aran Islands. We had typical Irish weather, barely made the ferry ride (I’m getting sick just thinking about that), and loved every minute of it. At night time we went to a local pub and brought the German fellow that we met at the hostel. Soon enough one of the locals sat with us, one guy from Australia, and one from the U.S. Half of us were drying their shoes near the fireplace. It was just magical.

Esther and Monique

Time flies when you’re having fun.

After our Friday culture tour to the Chester Beatty Library we went out to a nice cafe. Anna, from the first IMEC cohort was our guide all afternoon. Is it ever nice to have her.

http://www.cbl.ie/

I was just getting ready to go home when Anna suggested to go to a pub with an in-house brewery…. And the Friday culture trip continued.

http://www.messrsmaguire.ie/

hi friends
i’ve decided to learn how to type
it’s really fun and i am reminded of playing the piano
i know all the letters
as well as ; and ‘
i’m still slow but am having a great time
i think it’s addictive

This is week two of my 10K training program.

Today I will run for 2min and walk for 2min, repeat 7 times. Thanks Mia for the little kick in the butt… That’s all I needed. Now I can concentrate on something at the gym rather than doing random exercises every time. I will continue to go to the sauna of course, it’s the nicest thing about Dublin.