DublinSeminar2018

        This weekend I had a chance to sleep in. While waiting for Hugh to come back from his hammer throw training, I ate a breakfast of toast and talked with his mom. Once he got back we played Madden and plenty of Fortnite. Then at about 2:00pm, we left the house and went to the yacht club to have lunch with his dad after his regata. I had a burger with chips, which are what we call in America french fries. Once we got back to his house we invited Simon and Greg over. We played Madden and Fifa for most of the night. We also devoured 2 pizzas. After they left we watched a little TV while eating ice cream and after, we went to bed. Howth Harbor Howth views Spice bag          On Sunday I had another opportunity to catch up on some sleep. I woke up, had another breakfast of toast, and caught up on what happened in sports the day before. While Hugh was waiting to go to his rugby practice, we watched TV. Once he left I playe...

Today was a day full of fun, sports, and lots of exercise. We headed out to Distillery Road, which is just the name of a big athletic park near Croke Park. The Belvedere boys were able to join us for the walk and a morning of athletics. We met Mr. Phil Conway, who actually competed in the Olympics many years ago! He shared with us about his life, playing, and coaching. Everyone participated in relay races, jogs around the field (or pitch as they call it), soccer, kickball, and some frisbee. It was a blast!  We walked over to Wallace's Asti for a delicious Italian lunch - many started with mini pizzas formed in the shape of baskets, or soup, and then had pasta or pizza for their main meal. It may not have been traditional Irish food, but it was good to get a little taste to remind us of home or the North End. The adventure of the day began at Croke Park Stadium, the 28th largest stadium in the world. It can seat 82,000 people, which is more than Gilette and about t...

           Like every morning, we started off the day with breakfast, except this time in a home economics class. There were two teachers who taught us how to make Guinness brown bread and scones. After they made both to show us how, they gave us the chance to make them ourselves. We were each assigned a partner, and had our own station. We all made scones, and it was a very fun experience for the BC High boys to cook and make food that is popular in Ireland. After they were ready, we all sat down together and ate the scones we made and the brown bread with Irish smoked salmon, ham, Irish cheeses, Irish jams, clotted cream, and homemade pickles. It was a very fun and enjoyable experience for all of us.   Today we also went to the Irish Parliamentary building. There, we saw where the lower house and the upper house, or senate, meet. It was very interesting for the BC High students to see how similar the room where the Irish Parliament...

Nothing feels quite as good as starting the day off early with a long road trip on a bus. While the bus ride was long, it was still very enjoyable, allowing some time for the BCHigh students to socialize or just take a nap. Our first stop of the day was at a small rest stop where we could stretch our legs and buy food at Burger King or Subway for the ride ahead. After getting back on the bus we made our way to Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. Once we had arrived in Belfast, we made a few stops to take look at the murals scattered on various walls around the city, and the Belfast Garden of Remembrance. Then, going on both sides, we went to look at one of the peace walls separating the Catholic and Protestant citizens of Belfast, to prevent conflict. The walls are covered in graffiti saying to destroy the wall dividing them, with many people signing their names on it, even as we walked by. Soon after seeing the wall we came to the titanic museum to look around shortly, an...

Today we went to see the Jeanie Johnston tall ship. It served as a famine ship during the height of the potato famine. We were able to experience first hand what it was like to leave your country on a cramped ship and head for opportunity. It was a solemn experience, but it was important to see how things were during one of the worst times in Irish history.    Jeanie Johnson ship Real looking children aboard the Jeanie Johnson Afterwards, we went to the Irish Emigration Museum (EPIC) that was conveniently across the road from the ship. The museum is set up in stages that are sorted by subject. The museum touched on everything from why the people left to how they have contributed to our world. This had a deep rooted message for most of our boys, as many have Irish heritage. This museum also taught us that no matter how bad something may get, good can come from it. It was a remarkable museum. EPIC museum  - Henry Hayes After all tha...

             On the first day at Belvedere College, the first thing I noticed was the similarities it had to BC High. It had all the same messages and quotes from Jesuits, and also the same map that BC High has of all the Jesuit schools in the world. Our 5 graduate at graduation values hung at the top of their stairs. Besides from that, there were some differences. For instance, Belvedere students have to wear shirt and tie every single day and BC High kids think it’s bad when we have to wear them for mass. Another difference between the two schools was the location and also the set up of the school. BC High obviously is very spread out with all the fields and even the big campus, but also it’s outside of Boston. Belvedere, on the other hand, is in the heart of Dublin and for that the school building is a lot different from BC High. It is in the middle of other buildings so there are multiple floors to it but it is not close to as wide as BC High. B...

Friday night, April 6th, we traveled through non-ideal weather and too much traffic, but we finally arrived at Logan Airport. After only one forgotten passport, the group was ready, and we checked our bags. There were many group pictures and goodbyes from parents as we moved on to security. After some of the bags were checked, including mine because I forgot  that I had a bottle of sunscreen from 7th grade in there, and a few pat downs, we continued on to our terminal. Students dispersed for food and waited in long lines to get snacks and drinks for the long plane ride ahead. We boarded the plane, and everyone tried to  trade seats last minute for an aisle or window seat. The flight was filled with sleep, movie watching, talking with friends, and eating the dinner and breakfast they served. We landed in Dublin, had our passports stamped, reclaimed out luggage, and met up with our host brothers without any troubles. We met our ho...