Trip to Ireland

A travel diary by Jakob Maxelmoser

Trip to Ireland: Day 1

Thursday 12.4.:

4:45 on my alarm: Way too early. Met at the parking spot with some other students and Mr. Felber. We drove to Munich with a small bus. I don’t remember much of the journey because I slept nearly the whole drive.
Around 8:30: Finally, at the airport. Grouped up with all my classmates, checked in and got on the plane. The flight wasn’t that comfortable as I thought it would be. The plane was shaking a lot during the trip but we landed successfully in Dublin after two hours in the air.
Around 13:00: Everyone’s suitcase was loaded in the bus and we started our journey to the other side of the emerald island. We had a lot of fun during the bus drive because we were driving on the wrong/other side of the street and nobody was used to it. I picked up some funny Quotes from my friends:
Christan: “Schauts, da bleiben’s bei Rot ja a no stehn”.
Fabian: “Jo bist du deppat! Is des a Trichter”, because he saw a  building which looked like a gigantic funnel.
After two hours of driving we arrived at Tullamore DEW’s warehouse where we got a guided tour.
After two more hours of sleeping in the bus we finally arrived at the Language school in Ennis where we got picked up by our host families.

Trip to Ireland: Day 2

Friday 13.4.: (oh Friday 13th, what a creepy date :P)

8:00 o’clock: Got woken up by our host mother Orla. Got my teeth brushed and ate some cornflakes with milk for breakfast. After I had finished my bowl, Hermann got into the kitchen to eat his breakfast. He loves the bed way more than I do.
After the whole class met up at the school we got a tour through Ennis with Dylan from the Language school. He was very friendly and looked like a surfer. Ennis is not a very big town but it’s just lovely.

Trip to Ireland: Day 3

Saturday 14.4.:

9:00 o’clock: Met at school to drive to the Cliffs of Moher. In my opinion this was one of the highlights of the week. I have never seen such an amazing place like this before in my life. I think I took over 50 pictures at the cliffs. A lot of the environment but I think even more of my friends, especially James Wicked from BBC (Florian Entleitner) and my myself. There aren’t any words to describe my impressions about this place so I will just show you some pictures I took with my mobile phone.

Trip to Ireland: Day 4

Sunday 15.4.:

Exactly two months after my birthday we went to Dublin by train. It was a very long way back because the capital is on the other side of Ireland so it took us 3 hours to get there. We saw a lot huge and impressive looking buildings like Trinity College and it’s wooden entrance floor, the General Post Office in O’Connell Street, the Bank of Ireland, the Temple Bar and way more. We also saw the statue of Molly Malone and took pictures.

After visiting the metal lady, we went to the Guinness Storehouse. It is very huge and has around 6 floors. At the top floor, there is the Skybar, where we enjoyed the view over the City of Dublin. After that we were allowed to look around in town on our own for two hours. We spent one of those just for eating. After we had some nice pizza at Papa John’s we met and went back to the railway station. We were at home very late so nothing else happened at home this night.

Trip to Ireland: Day 5

Monday 16.4.:

After some good sleep, because of the long trip yesterday, we met again at 9:00 a.m. at Clare Language Centre. First our two English teachers showed us where the cinema in Ennis was located, so we could meet there on Tuesday after school. After that we got the morning off to look around Ennis and maybe buy some gifts for our beloved in Austria. At first Fabian, Hermann and I went to a coffee shop and got something warm to drink because it was very cold on that day. You can find a picture of that on my Instagram page: jakob_maxelmoser
After we warmed up our bodies with some good coffee, we looked around to find anything new in the town but weren’t successful because we have already seen everything in the small town. Meh :/
We were kind of glad when the school started. We finished our posters for our presentation and learned some new Irish words from Gavin.
After school Hermann and I were picked up by our host mother and we had dinner together. In the evening we watched a movie. After the movie I took a warm shower and went to bed.

Trip to Ireland: Day 6

Tuesday 17.4.:

The plan for today was to visit a school, the GMIT in Letterfrack, which also teaches their students how to work with wood as our school in Austria does. After a long bus trip we arrived there. We saw some cool projects from students. My favourite one was this table:

 

After the visit the teachers from the school told us that Connemara National Park was right beside the school so we drove up the small mountain to see what it looks like. This was the highlight of the day because it was a very open terrain and the wind was very strong. It is hard to describe the landscape therefore I will just show you some pictures to make it easier for you.

 

Then we drove back to Ennis. It was so hot in the bus that Hasi had to take of his shirt. I slept most of the way home on Maxi’s shoulder so there is not much to write about. In the evening we went to the cinema where I watched the movie Blockers with John Cena. It was very funny. After the film Hermann and I met up with our host mother and we drove home.

Trip to Ireland: Day 7

Wednesday 18.4.:

Our last day in Ireland had begun very early because we were driving to Lahinch to go surfing in the ocean. We all looked very funny but also very sexy as well in our wetsuits. After walking to the beach with the boards in our hands we hoped in the water which wasn’t even that cold as I had expected. I could stand on the board around three times. It was just amazing. After two hours of pure fun we had to stop and let the other group in and try. Therefore, we went back to the lockers to change but before that we used the spa area. We went in the sauna and the whirlpool which was very relaxing. This was definitely the best thing we have done in the week in Ireland. Just to show you how big the waves were here is a picture:

 

After everyone was on the bus we went back to the school to hold our presentations.

During the break the owner of Torpey Hurleys introduced us to the art of Hurley making. We spent the rest of the day with our families.
This night I slept very well.

 

Trip to Ireland: Day 8

Thursday 19.4.:

Our week in Ireland has come to an end so we said goodbye to Orla, our host mother. and thanked her for everything. Then we got on the bus and started our way home to Austria. After three hours of driving we finally arrived at the airport in Dublin. We checked in and went to the gate 420. We entered our plane and left the emerald island. After two hours of being in the air we landed in Munich and we all were very happy to be at home soon.

 

What a nice sunset!

All in all I can say. The week in Ireland was very funny. But we got some very cool impressions of the Island. It was definitely worth it to travel there.