Well, I've been here almost a week now and life in Monkstown is very different to life in glorious Bangor. To be honest I'm enjoying living away from home, it feels like I've got a lot more freedom and independence to do what I want to do and not be restricted by time limits or having to answer to anyone about anything and everything I do outside of the house.
While being here I've been praying about what to do next year and I have a few options although I am struggling with what to do. My parents are also wondering what I'm doing next year which is fair enough but they aren't satisfied with the answer "I don't know." This is the only answer I can give because I'm still wondering myself what I'll be doing and I cannot prepare myself for it unless I know what I'll actually be doing. I want to get out of Northern Ireland, it's such a small country and everything seems so happy and comfortable here, too comfortable to just go to university and live in Bangor for the rest of my life. That's something I definitely don't want to do, live in Bangor for the rest of my life! Or Northern Ireland for that matter. Somewhere else would be great, even better if it was outside the UK but hey, we'll see what happens.
This week we've been meeting the youth in Monkstown by attending the drop ins which are great to get kids off the streets doing goodness knows what! The youth that come in are all from the estate and they seem to be great fun and obviously very passionate about fifa and pool! I'm going to be with the girls here and I want to get to know them a bit more before I go and start up stuff with them. I've been chatting to them, hearing about school life and their families which is always a good place to start. Most of the girls are about 12 and are quite open to talking which is always helpful.
The youth in the church are very different. They are quiet and tame compared to the youth at the drop in. I'm not saying this is a bad thing because it means that I'll be able to start stuff up with them easier and they seem open to talk about anything that I'll talk to them about. I can't wait to work with the girls in the church and find out more about them.
At the minute everything is about relationship building and looking about the place, finding our way around Monkstown. We're going to join a gym here to try and get back into shape, well I have to get back into shape anyway as I seemed to go up a jean size in Romania somehow.
In other news, life without braces is amazing. I feel like I can smile without feeling like my mouth might be ripped out by the metal that was jagging into my cheeks and holding my teeth in an unnatural position until they rooted in that position. Plus its nice to have a clean white smile without purple rubber and silver metal in the way of my teeth.
That's all that's been happening so adios!
Charlotte x
Sounds like you are off to a great start well done and very wise to get to know the girls before you start anything. As to future well it will unfold in time but you will have more than enough to do in Monkstown by the sounds of it. Enjoy the gym, blessings, Neil
ReplyDelete