Thursday's Classes and Debate Team by John Cetrino and Nathan Manzione

This morning the BC High students took a class on the topography of Ireland, the 4 provinces, and the counties in English and Gaelic. They then took a class on Irish music and dancing. We had the luxury of listening to three students play traditional Irish instruments, fiddle, barren, penny whistle. It took a couple tries to get the dance down, but we eventually figured it out. Afterwards, we had a lecture about Irish scientific discoveries, especially Jocelyn Bell Burnell's discovery of the pulsar. We then heard the interesting life story of Mr. Foley, and his immigration story, back to Ireland from England.  

After lunch, we went to 14 Henrietta Street and learned what it was like in Ireland in the 18th and 19th century. 14 Henrietta Street was a tenement building that originally started out as one big mansion. At its peak it housed 100 people and up to 20 families. The house is well preserved and still has the original wood and graffiti. After Henrietta Street we went back to Belvedere and the debate team prepared for the debate while the others played basketball with their host brothers. There was then a debate against Belvedere. Unfortunately, the judges were more convinced by the Belvedere students, and we lost the debate, but both sides did an excellent job.