Page 94 - IFAFA ebook v4

38.

Saoirse Brannigan (13)

This is my fifth year in Brussels. We arrived when I was in fourth

grade in primary school. I attend the English section of the

European School of Laeken here. I really like it. In the European

school you meet a lot of people from different countries and

everyone is different, so it is really cool.

Over the five years, I saw people coming and going. One of my best

friends left two years ago. It is upsetting, but I guess I am happy

for them. I am still in contact with some of them. One of my friends

moved to Australia, to a different time zone so we don’t talk that

much anymore. I know that eventually I will be leaving as well.

My father is a diplomat so there is a great possibility that we will

have to go. I personally don’t want to leave. I really love it here. I

love my school and the area where we live. I would like to stay here

until I finish school, which is in four years. I think my parents

would also like to stay, especially my mother. Both, my brother and

my sister like it here as well. My brother finishes school next year

and then he goes to a university.

Outside of school, I have done a lot of activities. I did dance,

swimming and I play piano and ukulele and I am teaching myself to

play the guitar. And I like to sing. I am very close to my brother

who is three years older than me.

I was born in Greece and then we moved to Bulgaria, Poland and

Ireland. For me it is easy to make new friends but it is also quite

annoying because each time we move I have to adapt to a new

environment. Each school has different ways of teaching. It is quite

hard to adapt at first but I guess you get used to it. I see it as an

advantage, being adaptable.

I don’t remember Bulgaria, I was too young. I liked it in Poland, I

went to a kindergarten there. I didn’t like it in Ireland as much

because I went to an all-girl school. Now, I have friends both, girls

and boys. I am friends with everybody.

I don’t know yet what I want to do in the future. I like psychology

or neuroscience, but I don’t know. I like literature and music.

The benefits of diplomacy are that you can meet all sorts of

different people and you can travel to lots of different countries

and you become more adaptable. I speak English, French and Greek

and I am learning Spanish and Irish at school. I would also like to

learn German. I feel I am Irish but my base, my home, is Brussels

at the moment. I would not want to live in Ireland at the moment.

My mother is Greek so I am also half-Greek. We go to Greece every

85 summer, I have grandparents there. And in Ireland I have my

cousins and aunts. So, we are a big family.