Tell us about your exchange year!
It’s been brilliant! Everyone has been so nice, and I immediately made friends with Irish people and international people. I’ve made some really great friends. I get on so well with my host family – they have been so nice from the beginning and they include me with everything in their family life. I got to see lots of different places and go on trips – we even went ice skating with some Irish people!

What have been the best bits of your exchange?
I really liked it when we went to Dublin. We organised this with some Irish people and we had great fun! We made the best of it despite the weather – it was lashing down, but we just laughed! It was great. We’ve been on lots of day trips, but Dublin was one of the best.

What is school life like?
I really love school – especially English. The Irish school system is very different from the German school system back home, and that was difficult to get used to at first. I also had to get used to wearing a school uniform because we don’t wear school uniforms in Germany. But I love school, especially English Literature.

I want to study English, and I’m so happy and delighted that I came here. I’m really in to Classics and ready poetry in my spare time.

What’s it like living with a host family?
Obviously it’s not the same as living with your real family, but I feel so comfortable with my host family that they’ve become like my second family. They involve me in every part of family life, and they are really nice. In the beginning, it was a bit intimidating living with strangers, but I made sure to keep talking to them and that was definitely the best thing to do because then it got easier and easier and I got more comfortable!