… which is what we did when we left behind the pouring rain in Austria to enjoy a marvellous week of sunshine in Ireland from April 12th to April 19th.
46 students from the 4th forms could hardly wait until they finally set off to Bray, a town close to Dublin, together with their teachers. The excitement started on the first day as it was the first flight for many students followed by meeting our host families for the first time. Fortunately, everything went really well and everybody was happy with the people they would spend the forthcoming week with.
On Thursday we went on a guided tour of Dublin to find that some streets were blocked due to the state visit of Joe Biden, the American president. We can proudly say that we also met Mr Biden (well, actually we just saw his car on our way to Bray, but still … 😊). After the first positive impressions of Ireland’s capital we went back to Bray to the ATC language school in order to improve our knowledge of English in a language course. Altogether we passed five afternoons at the school at the seaside. So we could enjoy a great view of the sea and spend our breaks at the beach – a pleasant change to Austrian school breaks.
On Friday we experienced an absolute highlight of our journey when visiting the Jeanie Johnston, a replica of the original ship on which many Irish fled to the USA because of the Great Famine. The special thing about this ship is that nobody died on it, which we found out during an impressive tour.
At the weekend we went on two full-day excursions, on Saturday to Glendalough and Wicklow Jail, on Sunday to Kilkenny Town and Castle. As there was some time left, we could try out our golfing skills on an 18-hole golf course, which was an exciting adventure for most of us.
On Monday and Tuesday we went back to Dublin in the mornings to find out more about the city and to do some shopping. During our visit to Dublinia and Christ Church Cathedral we got an idea of Viking and medieval Dublin.
The week passed really quickly and in no time we had to say goodbye to our host families, the school and the beach. When we met at 2:25 (in the morning!!) to be taken to the airport, our hearts were full of joy to see our families again but also packed with wonderful memories of an unforgettable stay on the Emerald Isle.