This year the students of 3AHW together with their form teacher Andrea Hofer and their Mathematics teacher Brigit Pflegpeter decided to pay Ireland a visit, because in the 3rd year of HLW Wolfsberg going to an English speaking country is on the agenda. Well-prepared through presentations we started our journey to Bray on a Thursday morning. Taking off from Vienna airport and landing at Dublin airport 2 1/2 hours later was quite exciting, especially since the flight was a bit bumpy at the beginning.
Another exciting thing was meeting the host families. Luckily there were no major problems in this respect so nothing was in the way of finding out more about the Irish way of living. Unfortunately, we couldn´t find out more about Irish schools or meet Irish students, for learners of the English language are usually taught in separate language schools.
Exploring the surroundings, the capital and the rest of the country – this is what the weekends and the afternoons were all about. A cliff walk from Bray to Greystones on a beautiful autumn afternoon helped us find out more about the place we lived. And so did the stop at the cinema in Dun Loagahire (we would have never found this town because the pronunciation is completely different from its spelling) which is in the opposite direction. Dublin itself, of course, is always worth a visit. From the National Gallery to Trinity College, from Dublin Castle to the Spire, from Even Song in Christ Church to Irish tunes in Temple Bar, Dublin offers something for everybody. Of course, there was also time to explore the city on one’s own including the many clothes and souvenir shops …..
Anyway, according to the students, the two highlights of our stay were the excursion trip to the Cliffs of Moher and the evening of Irish Dance. The former started as early as 7.30 am and lasted almost 12 hours. The driver of a Paddywagon tour bus informed us about the major sights coming up on the way to the “other side” of Ireland. It was interesting to see the place where Barack Obama´s great-great-great grandfather came from or to have a look at Bunratty Castle, etc. And then there were the Cliffs, a very impressive formation of rock as high as 214 m. Spending a bit more than 1 ½ hours there simply wasn´t enough to enjoy the stunning view over the sea while the sun was shining.
Talking about the sun, it must be said that the weather was on our side. Even though it was a bit chilly at times – especially in the houses of the host families – we hardly had any rain at all, at least not during the day. If you don´t believe us, have a look at the pictures!!!
All in all, our trip to Ireland was quite a success and I´m sure most of us will go there again sooner or later because there is still so much to see and do.
