Thursday, July 19, 2007

Sidetracked

I know I am not the only one this happens to. I sat down at the PC with the intention of going to the 4 County Library System to renew some books and I still haven't gotten there! On the way to the bookmark I passed my old school website and checked to see if after many years, they had actually updated it. And they had! I wish my kids could have half the education I had at that school in Ireland. Really the education here is sadly lacking. Anyway check it out: http://www.midletoncollege.ie/index.cfm/page/home . Some of my best years as a teen were at this school and i have the fondest memories. Of course at the time I attended, we were the first girls accepted into what had been an all boys school so my class only had 5 girls. In my last year, I was also one of two boarders, the first females ever to sleep at the school during the week, going home on weekends. It was a small private school with very small classes. In Ireland, at that time, you went to either private school or Christian Brothers schools. The Christian schools were free. Opposite of here I guess. Most of the schools had uniforms and probably still do, an idea I wholeheartedly support and would love to see here for all schools. Also my college education was about $400/year and that was for a science degree where we used all kinds of equipment! So... you ask why did I leave? At the time, the economy wasn't great and job prospects were slim and I was, after all, an American lass. Now however the economy is booming and is one of the best economies in Europe. The city we lived in was designated the cultural capital of Europe a few years ago and don't think I haven't been tempted to move right back there since this place has gone to hell in a Bush basket.

Just as an aside, the public transportation there is so good there are no school buses.