Settling In

This past week has been a whirlwind!  I spent most of my time settling in at my halls of residence, or dorm, and going to meetings and classes.  Below is a picture of the hall that I'm living in while I'm here.  It is called Dunseverick Hall.

Dunseverick Hall, my residence while at Stranmillis

I have my own room and my own bathroom, so I really like where I am living!  I'm up on the third floor, and the rest of my friends who are here are in the same building, so it's really convenient.

Even though my week was spent mostly in meetings and class, on Friday I was able to visit the school I will be teaching in.   It is called Gilnahirk Primary School.  In primary schools over here, they have different names for the grades.  So I will be teaching in a P6 class.  This stands for Primary 6, and it means that the students are 10 years old.  P6 is the equivalent of 5th grade in the US.  They are a bit older (and bigger!) than the students I am used to teaching, but I'm excited for this new experience and challenge.

I forgot to take pictures on Friday of Gilnahirk Primary School, but I promise to take pictures next week!  Here is the link to their school website.

http://www.gilnahirkps.org.uk

Besides going to classes, meetings, and visiting Gilnahirk, I did manage to explore the city of Belfast a little bit.  I went to the Ulster Museum, found the grocery store, and went back into the city centre to do a little shopping.  I'm trying to get a head start on some Christmas gifts for my family!

However, the coolest things from this week were the rainbows!  I saw two rainbows this past week!  TWO!  They were so bright and clear and I could see all of the colors.  One was so close I could almost see where it touched the ground!  I didn't see any leprechauns or pots of gold, but I still think that they were lucky rainbows.  Below is a picture of the second one I saw.

Hopefully I will see more rainbows this week, and I promise to have pictures of Gilnahirk Primary School for my next post!

Stay tuned!