Sprachprojektwoche der 7A in Irland vom 12. – 22. März

A trip to Ireland – without rain?

This March we, the 7A, went on a 10 day language trip to Ireland. Together with our teachers, Mrs. Wurm-Smole and Mrs. Graimann, we embarked on a journey to the wonderful Republic of Ireland. Having already covered certain topics about the country in our English and Geography classes, we were eager to discover what the “Emerald Isle” has to offer. The first three days of our voyage we spent in the town of Monaghan. For two nights we stayed in the “Tanagh Outdoor Centre”, spending time with students from St. Louis Secondary School, a local girls’ school. We got the chance to try out exciting activities, such as canoeing, a number of mud games and mud sliding. The last day in Monaghan, we visited the girls’ school and could attend several lessons. This was followed by a paperchase together with local students, where we could discover Monaghan and compete for small prizes. All in all, a good start of our trip. In this short time, we had already met many Irish people and picked up new vocabulary, like muck, a dialect word for mud.

Monaghan was followed by Dublin, the capital of Ireland. There, we spent the rest of the week, living with host families. Two or three students stayed with one family, where we would have breakfast and dinner. We weren’t at home very often, because our days in Dublin were filled with activities. Five times we went to a language school, to improve our English skills. Together with our teachers we had a self-guided tour through Dublin, with small groups presenting the city’s most important sights to their classmates. Among other things, we visited Trinity College and were in awe of the Book of Kells and the great library. We saw the Ha’penny Bridge, Dublin Castle and the National Gallery and visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral on St. Patrick’s Day. One day, the class visited the Guinness Storehouse, another day we were conducting interviews with the people of Dublin. To say we did a lot is an understatement, because there always was something new and exciting to be discovered. A whole day was dedicated to a visit to Howth, the peninsula near Dublin, where we had a cliff walk and attended the Prawn Festival.

Sadly, everything has to come to an end. On March 22^nd we returned to Austria. We all got home safely, with new experiences, pictures and thoughts. Yet, we still hadn’t seen the true Ireland – because in all our time there, it hadn’t rained once.

Martin Otto
(27.04.2016)