Our journey to Ireland started on the 20th of September as we took off from Fürstenfeld in the early morning. Our first evening, we spent in Galway, exploring the whimsical inner city and some of us tried the delicious speciality: fish & chips. We stayed at a youth hostel and, on the next day, our trip towards Cork went on. The bus took us through the western part of Ireland, where we stopped at various places.
The highlights were the Cliffs of Moher, which were covered in fog when we arrived, but after a while the sky cleared up and revealed the breathtaking view, and also experiencing the Medieval age in the Bunratty Castle & Folk Park. Later on, we met our host parents in Cork, with who we stayed for the rest of the trip.
The next mornings, we always had classes in the CEC English school, where we did several exercises to improve our language skills. A programme was planned for us every afternoon. On Tuesday, we explored the city with a tour guide, on Wednesday a visit of the Fitzgerald’s park was planned, and on Thursday we went to the Marina Market, a food hall and definitely a place worth to see! After our last day of school, we walked through the City Gaol and heard some stories about what this jail was like ages ago, which were quite informative. In the evening, we had an Irish dance class, where we had a lot of fun in and which we will never forget!
We spent our Saturday in Cobh, a beautiful city, visited the stunning cathedral and experienced the Titanic tragedy, which was really interesting. The final day started shortly after midnight, as the bus picked us up at 01:30am. We landed safely in Austria and made our way to Fürstenfeld.
The trip to Ireland was an amazing experience, which bonded us and which we will never forget. We learned about the history and culture, improved our language skills and had a wonderful week. Professor Schnecker, who organised the journey, Professor Wild and Professor Pierbaumer-Mauthner accompanied us and made it such a memorable adventure for all of us.
Sophia Painsipp, 6a
