2016 Lexington-County Kildare Student Exchange
As one who had always wanted to
travel, the moment I heard about the Lexington Sister Cities Exchange, I knew I
had to apply. Applying was probably one of the best decisions I ever made,
because now I have made lifelong friends and memories I could never forget.
For those of you reading this that
want to apply and get accepted into this amazing program, I encourage you to
immediately contact your counterpart. Molly and I were friends from day one in
January when we first began talking. We would FaceTime at least once or twice a
week, we knew everything about each other. From the moment she got to Kentucky
we were best friends.
While our Irish counterparts were
in Kentucky, we did hundreds of activities. We went rock climbing, hiking at
natural bridge, swimming, camping and ate so much food. Molly and I also gave
Zoey her first ever corn dog. Also, we went laser tagging and watch a Legends
baseball game.
Day 1: After a very long flight, I
was absolutely exhausted but way too excited to care. We got our luggage and
got on a bus that took us into Kildare, where we met our counterparts to have
breakfast. With all the excitement, you would have thought we hadn’t seen each
other in months. After breakfast we all went our separate ways. Molly’s mom
took us back to the house and I got settled in before we went back out to meet
Molly’s friends. We decided to meet up with two other pairs, and we went to a
farm to relax for the rest of the night.
Day 2: This day was one of the days
i was looking forward to the most and one of the only days we really slept in.
Molly’s dad started the morning with a traditional Irish breakfast. We soon
started to get ready for Longitude, a music festival that we had all been
looking forward to. We arrived at the festival around 3 o’clock and immediately
ran into Molly’s friends. I had never met so many people in such a small amount
of time. They were all so welcoming and wanted to know so much about where I
was from and about America in general. I felt as if I had been their friends
forever. We listened to music, danced and had one of the best nights ever.
Day 3: Today we went into Dublin to
visit the Guinness factory and do a little bit of sightseeing. We walked around
Dublin and did some shopping and ate lunch. We then all met up at St. Stephen's
Green, a beautiful park in Dublin and just relax and played a bit of soccer.
Day 4: On day 4, it was our first
planned group activity. We spent most of the day at Avon Ri, where we all threw
on our wetsuits and went kayaking. We paired up, played games and raced back
and forth across the lake in our kayaks. We also did some archery and then ate
lunch. After lunch, we did some rock climbing and a participated in a rope
course. After we were done we drove back into Kildare and went to Eddie Rockets
for dinner and then got our camping stuff for Zoey’s house. We had bonfire and
camped out on her farm.
Day 5: Molly and I didn’t really
have much planned for this day so we took our time getting ready and went
shopping at Newbridge. We spent most of the day there and ate lunch and I did a
lot of shopping. Later that night all of us met up at Brona and Gavin’s house.
We had a BBQ and they taught the Americans how to play rugby.
Day 6: After Molly and I had gone
to Newbridge the day before, many of the other counterparts decided take their
counterparts there also. We joined them for a second round of shopping and
lunch. Later that evening when we had taken the bus back home, we got ready to
go to the Naas Racecourse. It was only a short walk from Molly’s house, which
was perfect since we didn’t have to find a bus or ride to get there.
Day 7/8: Molly, Oscar, Ellie and I
headed to Dingle with Molly’s family. Molly has a house in Dingle so we spent
two nights there. When we arrived we walked into Dingle to grab dinner. The
next morning, we woke up and went to the beach and drove around Dingle and went
to see the Blasket Islands.
Day 9: We headed back to Kildare.
We ordered a pizza and relaxed after the long drive. Later that night Molly had
everyone over to enjoy the last night as a group.
Day 10: Last day in Ireland. We
decided to go into Dublin one last time. We got lunch, met with a few others in
the group and did some last minute shopping. After, we went back to Molly’s
house so I could begin to pack. After packing, we went over to Liadan’s house
and enjoyed some music and dessert.
I hope this encourages those of you
who are unsure of applying. I would recommend it to anyone who loves traveling
and new cultural experiences. Making
friends and memories while being able to experience a new culture is one of the
best choices I have ever made. Saying goodbye to everyone was the definitely
the hardest part. I have missed everyone so much but I know I will be back soon
and make more memories with some of the best people I have ever met.
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