May 20th, The Day has Arrived!

After days of discussions, packing, and settling down those nervous butterflies in my stomach, the day has finally come to take our educational journey with University of Louisville one step further- to Ireland! My name is Lucy Torpey and I am going into my third year at UofL. With family from Ireland and an opportunity to learn about the home of the Leprechaun, I could not pass up this amazing opportunity. 

Being an elementary education major, one of my greatest passions is the spread of knowledge. During this trip I hope to learn about how the Ireland education system works and how different cultures can influence the type of curriculum, strategies, and development that is taught and focused upon.

The preparation for this trip has had quite an advanced spectrum of events. Like other trips I have gone on over the years, there is the packing of the clothing, shoes, etc. Simple right? No. This time I am going into the packing process knowing that 80% of the time when we will be outside, we will rain upon by the unforgiving Irish clouds. Try finding waterproof EVERYTHING. Then there is the preparation for this actual class such as weekly meetings and readings. Last but not least, there is the mental preparation. Yes, we will be traveling as a group, but traveling to another country without any family members or die-hard best friends by your side is very scary to say the least, and this might be one issue for me personally that I will have to face, cope, and conquer during this trip. 

Today, May 20^th, will be the day we buckle into our assigned seats and are shot up into the sky in an established metal tube to eventually land in the Irish homeland. Not quite like the assigned seats all of us had on our first day of kindergarten, but with the similarity that this is the first step to an educational journey that will impact and influence our entire lives to come.

Enjoy the rest of the blogs over the next couple of weeks!

~ Lucy Torpey