And finally...

It is hard to believe but, yes, the last week is gone and the bridging course is over. I will definitely miss Mountjoy Square. There, I have met very nice guys as well as taken some good notes to improve my English. This way, I really think this eighth post is quite better than the first one. Noticing my Engllish improving makes me think these two months were really worthy. There were long and tiring six daily hours, but must of them were also funny and usefull to bring me to a higher English level. 

We gave our last presentation on Friday and the sinergy between our classmates is something to be highlighted. Of course, must of us were very nervous, but, even so, we could interact to each other in a joking way. By the way, this friendly atmosphere helped a lot during these weeks. It turned the classes into something more enjoyable. In addiction, it is good to think must of us will still studying together or even at the same building, then, we don't need to say goodbye yet.  

Moreover, I would like to thank our teachers, who were always very pleasant and played a very important role in such a special moment for us CsFers. Thank you all for these great times! 

Almost there

There is been seven weeks since I have stepped on Dublin’s floor by the first time. It means I am about to complete my second month in Ireland, at the same time bridging course is in its final week. By the way, last Friday we were presented to our college course’s coordinators as well as it was given to us some general information about how things go on in DIT’s programs. It was also great to know the building where we are going to study for the next two semesters.

        

There is another topic I would like to comment from past week, but not as nice as knowing Kevin Street DIT. It is about Brazilians which live in Ireland and were attacked without any reason by xenophobic Irish people. It is frightening to think things like that still happening nowadays, especially in a so cosmopolite city where over ten thousand Brazilians are living in. A new describing the latest aggressions were presented in Brazilian websites and some of my relatives became concerned about my security. As I’ve discussed to them, the point is that violence is present in different ways all around the world. In Europe, maybe due to the economic crisis, hate speeches becomes stronger, which is regrettable. All we can do is to be always careful.

6

Six weeks have gone and we are about two weeks to say goodbye to Class D. Last week, we submitted our research essay draft and it was a quite exhausting task. Personally, I think researching about a theme which is chosen by ourselves is a great way to make it more interesting. Even so, looking for specific sources and extracting them better is not a simple job. It demands attention and also a well traced planning, because it becomes easy to loose the focus when there are so much available information.

Furthermore, in other to create a satisfactory text, I had to apply some techniques which were learned in class, like cohesion elements and summarizing. About cohesion, I’ve tried to use some expressions which can simply link phrases and establish correlations between paragraphs. They make the text more enjoyable as long as helps in concepts elucidation.

In its turn, summarizing is an indispensable tool for who intends to introduce an issue without presenting details. It’s, maybe, the most important technique which may be considered in a good essay construction. The text may not be too long, but, at the same time, it may present clearly every cited point. I’ve tried my best to achieve a cohesive such as a well summarized text. I hope I’ve done it well.

Five!

And here we are! The fifth week has passed as fast as a bullet. Now, we are definetly on the way to the final countdown. This fifth week in DIT's Bridging Course was interesting specially for the discussion which was proposed as an assignment. In my point of view, discussions whose themes are interesting and also polemic are the best way to practice English. It encourages us to talk more naturally as long as we become more excited to find the more appropriated words in order to support our argument. Our group have discussed about the current brazilian political and economic crisis. I think choosing this statement was a clever decision because all of us were really prepared to have a nice conversation.

In fact, the brazilian crisis is a subject which we have being in contact with for a long time. That is the reason for what we have just needed a simple article to start a fluent conversation. That is a very worrying matter which may concerns every brazilian, after all, it is not just our homeland, but the place we most love in the world. It is absolutely important to stress that Brazil has invested in our capacitation; therefore, coming back home to help to make this country a more decent place to our people is also our duty.

And the first month is gone

Four weeks… it’s delightful to notice a month has passed. At this point, the first Bridging Course’s half is gone and I’ve becoming even more anxious for the college semester’s beginning. I’m also anxious because there are still pending situations about the disciplines and modules which I’ll course this semester and solving it during the first week will certainlly make me more comfortable.

By the way, in order to be more relaxed, last week I’ve got my student visa. Going to GNIB in advance was a way I’ve found to start solving things as much earlier as possible. That was one of some suggestions we were presented to during the week; these suggestions were provided to help us, students, with our schedules, once must of us have revealed problems related to time management. I really think this kind of attitude will help me during the next two semesters on the amazing challenge I’m about to start.

And as we may also find new ways to relax, last weekend I’ve went in a tour to Wicklow and Killkenny. This trip just revealed me a liitle bit more about Ireland’s marvelous landscapes. Definetely, there is nothing better to do in Ireland than traveling. The more I know this country, the more I want to find out new places.

And there goes the third week...

Living in Dublin has been such a great experience. It's also really nice to notice how things which firstly used to seem so different are now totally common. I refer to things like the lack of turnstiles at buses to control the flux of passengers and the behavior of reciclying our waste, which, unhappily, still an unusual pratice in Brasil. I'm also glad for have knew Howth, a so beatiful place. The landscape which can be presenced at Howth is nothing but magnificent. It was the first great opportunity I've had to take some cool photos and send it to my parents and they were content for finally be seeing those amazing pictures. 

It has also been interesting talking to colleagues more naturally during our English classes. The students have brought great debates, which has made the lectures more enjoyable. Furthermore, my classmates seem more comfortable to participate and suggest topics during classes, which also contributes to relief the unvoidable stress of so many hours of lectures. I think we will be better english speakers within some weeks.

The second week

In my second week in Dublin, I'm clearly more adapted to the irish day-to-day. The main thing I've changed in my lifestyle until now is the diet. I've adopted a method wich seems more suitable to my current schedule: having a light luch during the day but a more complete dinner at night. It seems more adequate once I use to spend all the day at DIT classes and, this way, I'm able to have a better and calm meal at home by the night. As time goes by, walking around also becomes easier. With a great help from my GPS, I feel free to meet new places in Dublin, as shopping centres and touristic streets and parks. I already know new ways to go to Dublin centre by different buses, which also makes things pretty easier. By the way, last week I got the opportunity of walking by LUAS and it was a very nice experience. The system works very well, it's comfortable, and the fare payment is not just efficient but based on people honesty/civility, which is awesome. The English practice has becoming more intense too: this week it was more common talking to non-brazilian people and I've felt I little more confident about talking with spontaneity. Dublin is such a beatiful place and I feel glad to be here!