"The school that I taught at was Our Lady of Lourde in Ruxburo, Limerick. Our Lady of Lourde is placed in a very low-income community where parental involvement is at a minimum. A large portion of my teaching experience included giving remedial attention to students in areas such as reading, writing, and math. One of the lessons that I did for my second class was on firefighters and fire safety. First, I did a small lesson about firefighters and the roles they play in the community. The activity for the lesson included making a paper fire truck. The students really enjoyed adding features to the fire truck, such as a yellow string for the hose and circles for the wheels. To really enhance the lesson, I went to the Limerick fire department and asked one of the firefighters if they could come to the school and talk to the students about fire safety. The firefighter did a great job and the students really got a kick out of the fire outfit he brought to the class. He even had the students crawling around in the hallway pretending that there was a fire in the school. The lesson turned out to be a great success!

Limerick is a very old city that has a lot of unique cathedrals and churches that are worth seeing up close. The Broad Street Hostel is only a block away from the Shannon River, where one can cross over an old stone bridge to get to one of Limerick's finest bar and restaurants, the Loch Bar. Also, not far from the Broad Street Hostel is King John's Castle. One can take a tour through King John's Castle and learn some really interesting facts about the city of Limerick and about the origins of the castle.

One of the great advantages of living in Limerick City is that all of the major attractions are only a hop, skip, and a jump away. The first place that I visited outside of Limerick was the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare. The Cliffs of Moher was absolutely breath taking with its steep cliffs and rocky countryside. The second place that I visited was the Blarney Castle in County Cork. Kissing the Blarney Stone was an experience in itself. First, you have to lie down on a mat that covers a small hump in front of the stone. Then one has to slide backwards over the hump down into a small hole to kiss the small gray stone. So far, the Blarney Stone has given me lots of luck. Being a true country gal, I did not find the city of Dublin to be overly exciting, but it was still well worth the visit. If you like to shop until you drop and drink the night away in Dublin's famous pubs then I would highly recommend visiting Dublin. Otherwise, I would stick to the countryside! Ireland is a very unique country with its old architecture, green hillsides, amazing attractions, and smiling faces that greet you as if you were one of the locals. Cheers!"

Kim conquers her fear of heights while overlooking the waters of the Cliffs of Moher