Chan Weng Kit's Blogspot: DAY 590-598

Apr 14 - 22

1) This past week, I have been busy with a number of things. In between slogging away for our final semester exams, I had other things on my mind as well. First off was an invitation to attend the International Student Ambassador Award Ceremony, which took place yesterday (Apr 20th) at Farmleigh House Dublin, Ireland's Official State Guest House. As much as I needed to study and catch up, there was no way I would want to miss such an important event. So early yesterday morning, I took bus 27b to Eden Quay, before walking to the bus stop near Temple Bar, before taking the 37 bus to Castleknock.

2) I arrived early (almost an hour earlier!) and began walking towards the venue. Here's where my luck ran out. There are four entrances to Farmleigh; I immediately discounted the entrance on my left as there did not appear to be a proper road leading to it. Instead I looked for the entrances to the right - first entrance was locked. So was the second a couple of blocks down. Since I was now at the junction, I decided to walk the rest of the distance to the main entrance of the premises. Surely they would be open, right? But no, sadly it was gated as well, with no guard there to even talk to.

3) After chatting with the others on social media, I decided to back track and look for the last remaining entrance to this place. On my return, I saw a number of Student Ambassadors who were just as lost as me. Together, we walked to the last remaining entrance point (the one on the left that I initially discounted) and it turned out to lead right to Farmleigh House! We were indeed fortunate that we arrived early, as we reached the venue just in time for registration.

4) There was a light reception in the conservatory - where Student Ambassadors, Scholars and other Country Representatives and VIPs had the chance to meet each other. Soon, the guest of honour - the Minister of Education and Skills, Richard Bruton T.D. arrived. After a short speech and officiating of the ceremony, it was time for the awards presentation. There were two groups of recipients - Scholars who were sponsored by the Government of Ireland International Education Scholarships, and the Student Ambassadors from the Education in Ireland programme. We found out Her Excellency Ambassador Siti Hajjar Adnin was initially attending, but was not able to make it, so a representative came instead.

5) After the ceremony, we were cordially invited for a luncheon at The Church Dublin - a cafe, bar, and modern Irish Restaurant. Throughout the whole trip, I had the opportunity to make a whole host of new friends, from countries as diverse as India, China, Canada, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Mexico, and USA. I've never been to The Church Dublin before, and had always wondered what it looked inside. To my surprise, it looked exactly like a church/cathedral - with it's sun filled terraces, huge stained glass windows, and massive pipe organ. Taking centre stage was undoubtably the wine bar, which stood on a raised, illuminated platform.

6) We had free reign to order whatever we wanted based on the set course menu, so I opted for the lamb stew. For dessert I went with the chocolate tart with vanilla ice cream. While the tart was decadent and rich, it was the lamb stew that truly amazed me. I usually am not a big fan of lamb as I find that it can be quite chewy, but this was literally melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Coupled with the light broth and accompanying veggies and it was truly a match made in heaven! Good food, good company - it's no wonder I had forgotten about my studies for the moment :)

7) As they say, all good things must come to an end. One by one, everyone started leaving... It would be the last formal/ official meeting that we would have as Student Ambassadors, and everyone was a little sad. Nevertheless, we exchanged contact details, and - with the advent of technology and social media - there's no excuse not to keep in touch with each other. After bidding "au revoir" (definition: goodbye until we meet again) to my friends, I proceeded to take the bus back home from Eden Quay. Thus capping off a perfect day with the best weather we could possibly have hoped for. That has been my blog update, and stay tuned for the next one. Thanks for visiting, cheers!