Language week in Ireland
We met on Sunday at five o’clock in the morning at the parking lot of the school to start our excursion.
At first, we had to drive to the Munich airport by bus. The flight to Dublin wasn’t spectacular and after our landing we drove with the bus to the White Sands Hotel where we met our host families. We had some time to meet them and then we had a guided tour through Dublin. We were divided in two groups, each of them had one guide. The tour started at the train station. From there, we went to the first sight, the Trinity College. After our guide had told us a bit about the history, he led us to Grafton street. There we could also see the statue of Molly Malone. Then we went to Temple Bar, a district of Dublin. Later, we crossed the river Liffey over the Ha’penny bridge. In O’Connell Street we could see the statue of Daniel O’Connell, Ireland’s national hero. Also, in O’Connell Street, we saw the National Post Office and the Spire.
On Monday we saw the National stud. We had a guided tour through almost the whole area. There were many things to see. For example, their stallions, like their most famous one Invincible Spirit. They have brought a lot of foals who became popular racing horses. Also interesting was the whole section about the mares and the foals. At the field we had seen a lot of dams with their foals. At the afternoon the bus brought us to a new racecourse called “Curragh Racecourse”, where we saw two very fascinating races. We also had the time to look around in a horse shop near the race course. Our last stop was a shopping centre on the way back to our host families.
On Tuesday, we went to the ‘’Future Learning’’ school for the first time. We drove to Dublin by bus and then our teachers showed us the way to the school, which began at 09:15. In the school, we were divided in two different groups. Then we had to talk about us to the others. Later, we formed groups of three. Then we had time to prepare our first presentation that was about something we found interesting about Ireland, e.g. food or horse breeds. At 13:20, school ended. In the afternoon, we travelled to Howth and had the Howth Cliff walk. The weather was good so that we could see the sea, cliffs and an island. Our guide informed us about history, the island and the landscape. After the cliff walk, we returned to Dublin.
On the next day we went to school again. At this day we talked about the differences of Ireland and Austria in our groups. We had to write some information about Austria on boards. Then we talk to Spanish or Irish students and asked them some questions about themselves and their country. We told them about us and Austria, too. In school we also played some funny games. In the afternoon we went to the Broadmeadow Equestrian Centre by bus. There we had a small tour in the equestrian facility and could see some of the horses. After that we saw a riding lesson and could watch Brian Duff train a rider and a horse in show jumping. Then we got some cookies and drink. Later we watched another riding lesson and asked Brian Duff some questions. He told us much about his horses, career and stables.
At Thursday we also went to school. There we planned, filmed and cut a documentary about a topic that interested us the most about Ireland. It was sometimes very funny and interesting. At the afternoon we drove with the bus to the Croke Park Stadium, where we got a guided tour through it. It was interesting because only Gaelic sports (Hurling and Gaelic football) are played in this stadium. We learned a lot about these sports from our guide. In the evening we had an Irish dance evening. It was a little bit exhausting, complicated and fast, but it was also a lot of fun.
On Friday we went to the Future Learning school for the last time. At first, we played some games and prepared our final presentation. Then all the groups had to do the presentation and show the documentary to the others. In the end a photo of the students and teachers of the language school was taken. When school was over, we had one hour of free time. Then we had to meet at a place behind the school. We drove to the airport in Dublin by bus. Sometime later we met at the gate from which the plane would depart. The plane brought us back to Munich airport from that we were taken back to Lambach by bus. From there we could drive back home.