The room 7 people plus our adopted roomie Ciara slept in our own room for the first night since the window shattered. I actually became a fan of the bottom bunk during my time there.
We were woken up using pots and pans to go dance. I almost didn't, but eventually we went downstairs and then outside in the blazing heat (26 C! Literally double Irish temperature) to do a dance class. I think we learned something Charleston-related. Our instructors were great and had great chemistry together. One of them was related to Sobelema, so it was funny watching her give orders. She's great. After the first routine, many of us went and stayed inside rehydrating and resting. It was just ridiculously hot. My Greek friend makes fun of me for saying that's hot, but again - double my normal heat.
After that, we very briefly had a finger food lunch before spending two hours on various trains to get to Oxygen Freejumping, a trampolining place. I had to run around frantically looking for a pair of shoes before we left, because I very rarely needed shoes while there. I had an interesting conversation with Carmen on the way up to the first train station, she's lovely.
The trains took forever (so glad they had AC) and I got a a headache, but eventually we reached the Freejumping place (OF). We queued for ages, then were told that their system had failed to book us in and they wouldn't be ready for us for two hours. So we walked to the nearest shopping centre and hung out there for a while. Gabi, Ciara, Chloe and I bought twelve large cookies for £3.99 at Subway, then briefly went to Costa and a general shop before returning to the meeting point. We had good chats.
I have become a hand.
We went back to Jumpzone and queued some more, then finally got in properly at 5 pm. The jumping was alright, but there were individual small trampolines and they would only let one person on each, so what was the fun in that? Running and jumping onto the air cushion was quite fun though. At one point Amy and I went for a rest on rolled up carpets underneath the staircase. I discovered only at the end that there was actually free water. I wish I could've got photos, but alas I didn't bring in my iPad.
After that, more tube and train rides so we only got home around eight.
We tried to pull an all-nighter on Saturday night, the Room 7 crew including our two adoptees Amy and Ciara. Amy spent ages making the most amazing cards for us. 'I'm not good with words,' she said' 'So I made you a circuit.' We spent most of the evening with the five of us plus PJ (via Skype) and Cian (via Facebook call) playing party games. I fell asleep between two and four thirty in the morning (I was absolutely wrecked) then woke up in a panic thinking we were supposed to be up at four. But all was fine. I finished packing, finished writing goodbye letters to people, hugged a good few people, was very tired, left the house and got into the car with Catrina and Kate without my passport (luckily Chloe had brought it and my boarding pass for me) and then we were off, driving for an hour through early-morning London to get to Gatwick.
Once at Gatwick, we reunited (there were a lot of Irish girls going home last Sunday, including Niamh, Gabi, Ciara, Chloe, Catrina and Kate) and went around the shops, getting food for a while before going to the gate in plenty of time. I sat beside Chloe on the plane even though I wasn't really supposed to and discovered that Ryanair is extremely cramped. Gabi was the only one not with us, as due to her age she had to go through Heathrow. Which was sad.
I got to the see the coast, which was pretty awesome.
We landed in Dublin after about 55 minutes and got through bag pickup and customs no problem, reunited with Gabi and then said goodbye to everyone. I waited about an hour for Dad to pick me up, texting Cian the whole time (shoutout to Cian).
I got home around 1 p.m. and pretty much just dozed until seven, so when I woke up in the evening it felt like Monday.
And that's how my Outbox experience ended. It's different from CTYI ending in a lot of ways - it's not over for everyone in Outbox yet, because we're all staggered, plus it's not like it's an annual experience I have to wait for. It's more of a once-in-a-lifetime thing I'm glad I got to experience. I'm not too worried about seeing my Irish people - I'm meeting up with some of them this Saturday at the CTYI reunion (!!!) and I'll see others at Outbox reunions. But I will miss my English Outbox friends quite a lot. Amy has promised to come over through Holyhead, so that's exciting.
I'll probably do one more Outbox post, so stay posted.
On an unrelated note: This blog got long listed for the Irish Blog Awards 2015 in the Youth category! Yay! If it gets through to the shortlist and finals, I'm going to need you guys for the public vote. So look out for that too.
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