This weekend I went to Dublin! for Saint Patrick's day with some of my friends from the Lattitude program. We stayed in a nice hotel in Lepardstown which was about 20 minuets by tram away from Dublin City Center. The first night I just looked around Dublin with Caitlyn while everyone else went to the Guinness brewery. We bought some T-shirts and fun things to wear for Saint Patrick's day! All green stuff obviously ;)! Some of the things we bought included a cute little hat with a clover on it and some feathers and a little green tutu with clovers on it. On the second day in Dublin ( Friday march 16th) we went around and looked at the Dublin castle and st Stephen's Green Park as well as the University! Where lucky for me, got to see the book of kells. Both were extremely beautiful. It was nice to see some of Dublin's culture and history! On Saturday March 17th was saint Patrick day! Where Caitlyn and I dressed up in green and went to the Saint Patrick's day parade, which was pretty awesome to watch. I loved going to Dublin and would love love love to go back! maybe one day i will go back! 

Betty:)

We were given the entire week off this week. In this time we went to the gym and started preparing for Dublin. ☺ The gym proved to be lots of fun as we are taking all the classes in Polish (which means we have no idea what the are saying).
Dublin was such a beautiful place. It was great to see everything covered in green. However it rained most of the weekend. We did a lot of sight seeing. We visited the Dublin Castle, St Stephen’s green, Trinity College and some of the old cathedrals. I loved it all. We also got to see the St Patricks Day Parade. It was definitely not what I was expecting it had lots of weird looking dress ups and floats in the parade. It has been one of my favourite weekends by far and I am definitely going to miss Dublin!!!
Caitlyn:)

 

After going to Krakow last week, I just stayed home this weekend,  and sometimes going out to a movie with my roommate Caitlyn. We also joined a gym at the City Center, because always sitting in a house became boring for us. we are now going to the gym 4 days a week taking different classes. It was a pretty relaxing weekend, nothing big happened, I took the rest of the time during the weekend to recover from my mass attack of sicknesses.
Betty

This week I had only some of my classes so I didn’t get to see many of you however the classes I did have were lots of fun ☺
On the weekend my roommate Betty and I joined a gym. We have both been eating a little too many lollies and junk food and thought it was time we did something about it. We spent the rest of our weekend just relaxing and watching all our TV shows from back home ☺

Caitlyn


 

This weekend I went to Krakow,unfortunately I was sick the whole time with the stomach flu and an eye infection. but that didn't stop me from having a great time. I visited Auschwitz with some of my friends from lattitude, I am a huge history person so going and actually seeing a part of history was so amazing, but also very sad. It makes me want to appreciate more the life I have now, and how fortunate I am to be living in a society where I don't have to live in fear. Krakow is a beautiful city, old beautiful buildings everywhere ( which I love) the church in the center of Krakow old town was breathtaking inside, the delicate and detailed designs on the walls where so amazing. I love Krakow, and would love to go back before I leave Poland to find out more that Krakow has to offer.

Betty:)

School went very quickly for me this week, as I didn’t have a lot of my classes. My favourite moments during my classes this week was with class 4d which I teach with Beata and I was told to make up an imaginary room and the students had to ask questions and then draw it. I really did get some funny looks when they thought I really did have an orange couch and a red floor and a purple computer. Another of my favourite moments this week was with Justyna class 6b where we spent our lesson playing charades and celebrity heads. It was lots of fun ☺

On my weekend I went to Krakow with some of my friends. We took a train from Warsaw to Krakow and stayed close to the Old Town. On Saturday we went to Auschwitz and spent the whole day having a first hand history lesson. For me it really opened me up to some of Europe’s history. Sunday was spent sight seeing. We went and saw St Mary Basilica Cathedral, which was built in the 14th century it was amazing. It looked just like a castle out of a Walt Disney movie. Overall I had a fantastic and memorable weekend ☺

Caitlyn

Last weekend I stayed in Warsaw with my roommate. We didn't do very much but we did find an american style restaurant, where we enjoyed a nice american style meal that consisted of steak, chicken fingers, french fries and potato skins!! We were very excited to find a place that had all these delicious options. We also found another movie theater that happened to have more movies in English playing in it! and of course we took advantage of that and went to a comedy with another friend staying in Warsaw. However after the very eventful weekend, I got the flu :( so I am still trying to recover! This weekend I am planning on going to Krakow with a bunch of people from lattitude! I am looking forward to it.

Betty:)

The first thing I noticed about this week was the weather. It went from snowing to bright and sunny with no snow and then to the weekend being miserable and rainy. Although I still love seeing all this snow it was very exciting to see the sun once again ☺

The plans for my weekend were to spend some time in Old Town in hope that the weather would be nice enough to do some more exploring. However on Saturday morning I woke to a really sick roommate (Betty) and such miserable weather. So my weekend plans were changed to staying indoors and watching scary movies with Betty. ☺

During my school week I spent time with each of my classes, which was fun. I am enjoying getting to know all my students in each of my classes. It is still nice to have the students come up to you and say hello and goodbye.
Caitlyn:)

This weekend I went to Germany to celebrate German carnival!! which was so much fun! I got to dress up in a costume and catch candy from people in the parade who were also dressed up. German carnival lasts about 4 days, and each day there is a different parade in each little town. But I only got to stay about 3 days. It was nice to see friends in Germany. The weather there is much warmer than in Poland so it was a nice "summer vacation". I hope I will be able to go back to Germany soon so I can visit my friends again! :)

Betty

Hello

This week has been lots of fun. Its great getting to know all the students and the amount of hellos and goodbyes I get each day you would think I was some sort of celebrity. We also got to guest judge in the grade 4-6 English singing competition which was lots of fun. Clearly the school has lots of talented students ☺

On my weekend I caught up with other Latittude volunteers who are also living around Warsaw we were meant to do some sightseeing but the rain put us off and we ended up hanging out in one of the shopping centres where it was much warmer and the rain couldn’t get us. I also spent some time with my host family, on Saturday night I made them sit through Mr and Mrs Smith ☺ It’s hard to believe I have been in Poland for a month already. The time is really flying.
Caitlyn

Hello,

Week one at school has been so much fun. The teachers and students have all been really friendly and helpful. I spent most of the week talking about myself and my life in Australia so I’m looking for to getting to know more about everyone else as the weeks go on. This week Betty and I visited Old Town on our days off it was beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it. We also visited the uprising museum which was a very good learning experience and allowed me to understand a little more of the polish history ☺

Caitlyn

Last week was my first week of teaching at school ( Warsaw 306) and already i have made new friends, children at least! Every time i would walk down the hall there would be a mini parade of kids following me, laughing and pretending that they weren't following me. Some would even say my name and then run away. They are so adorable. Every teachers im working with at the school are very friendly and up beat, which is awesome because it makes working at the school so much easier. My first week was just pretty much just introductions with the students, where all I did was talk about myself, which I guess is never a bad thing ;).. but on the 3rd day I got bored of talking to myself. I am happy with my work schedule working 3 days, and then having time to travel, which I'm really keen about. I am looking forward to the second week of teaching,  I am sure it will be just as much fun as the first.

Betty

" I've been in Europe for about 2 weeks now and I have made so many memories since arriving. I stopped over in Germany to visit one of my friends and then traveled over to Poland a few days later.

The first week in Warsaw I spent with many of the other volunteers from Lattitude going to school and learning about class management, in order to prepare all of us for our actual placements in schools around Poland. Most of the people in Poland are from Australia and New Zealand, all super nice people!!. After the first week of school, i was sent over to my house placement where i would be living with a family and their kids ( lovely people, very kind and understanding), and on top of having an amazing house to stay in and people to live with, I was also placed with a girl names Caitlyn from Australia, who happens to be my age and teaching at the same school as me. I'm very happy to be placed with someone my age, makes living away from my family easier. Next month we are planning on travelling to Krakow and Dublin for Saint Patrick's Day. I've been to Europe before but never to these places. I am looking forward to the experience!! Poland is a beautiful place, even though its extremely cold (even my hair freezes). LOOKING FORWARD TO A GREAT CAP YEAR!!"

Betty:)

Hi Everyone,

Poland! What an amazing country! Getting off the plane two weeks ago and stepping into snow was crazy. In Australia we don’t have snow so for me this is my first time experiencing it. Our first week in Poland was spent getting to know our way around Warsaw and making some amazing new friends ☺ Soon enough Betty and I were off to our host family who we are sharing for the next 5 months. We have settled in great with the family and are getting very excited to be starting at the school ☺

Caitlyn