Week 17: Personal Blog: 7.06.13 - 14.06.13

My Penultimate Blog: Where has the time gone?

My journey

This week was the final week for most of my classes. I presented my last performance in acting craft in Polish theatre class and watched the other students perform their journeys. We also got to talk about our stories after, which for me was the most interesting, as we got to hear the explanation behind their physical movement journeys.  Some people had been very creative and their stories reflected their emotions which was very fascinating.

 I also gave a presentation on ‘Education and Multiculturalism’ in Social Capital class this week. This assignment has given me an opportunity to really research the topic of Multicultural Education, especially giving me an insight in relation to the criticisms the topic has received.  I think that this assignment will really help me to begin my research for next year’s dissertation on Multiculturalism in Education.

For our last class the professor from 'Critical thinking Through Educational Designing' class

Some of us at Professor Dylak's house

kindly invited us to his home for the last class, which was a very nice way to end the semester. In general, I found this class very out of the ordinary, as we had several different teachers throughout the course who all taught in very different ways, however I think it was a very effective way to teach this subject as it definitely developed my ability to think critically, something which often I find hard, like many teachers.

However, the main event for me this week was when I unexpectedly received a prize for the ‘Let it happen in Poznan’ blog writing competition (Study in Poznan, 2013). I never usually enter these types of competitions, however the ESN president, Natalia, had encouraged me to enter and I thought about the phrase ""Forget regret, or life is yours to miss" (Larson, 1997) so I entered. 

I was invited to Poznan’s town hall to receive my prize.  The people I met to collect the prize talked to me about the relationship between Ireland and Poland, especially after Euro 2012
and how attitudes towards Poland are changing. Poznan called the Irish supporters 'Kings of the craic' and, from what I've heard from friends who went to Poznan for it, they definitely had some craic!

 I received spa vouchers, vouchers for restaurants, a certificate, which will be added to my CV and  a double room in a four star hotel. 

At last!

After much consideration, I decided to book Lutfullah and myself into the hotel over the weekend for a much needed break! After being so busy trying to get assignments finished, I finally got a chance to relax in a very luxurious hotel, which also provided a free buffet breakfast and had a sauna! One word - Heaven! 

Room service!

Even though the week has been so enjoyable, reality has begun to hit me. I have one more week of Erasmus left, and then I’m leaving Poznan.

References:

Larson, J. (1997) "Rent" It Books

Study in Poznan (2013) available at: http://www.poznan.pl/mim/studia/en/news/results-of-the-blog-contest-iii-edition,61935.html accessed on: 15/06/13