Ireland was fantastic. I have never been on such a great trip with school. There's a lot to say. Ireland is simply the best country I've ever seen. We had two busy weeks with a lot of sightseeing.
I miss everything about Ireland: to start from the kindness and hospitality of the people, the huge abundance of green that surrounds you, the warm weather with a cold fresh breeze and I can't forget Dublin with all the colorful shops, monuments and sights, like Trinity College and Dublinia or the Jameson Distillery, Guinness and much more. Trinity College is the oldest university in Ireland and has one of the largest libraries. There you can find the Book of Kells.
I also loved walking up the hills for example in Howth, it was just wonderful standing there and smelling the air, a cross between grass and saltwater. From all the things we saw and visited, I liked Howth the most. It was just a marvelous trip, and I liked the whole atmosphere there. We went for a walk for one and a half hours and after the walk we sat down, watched the ocean, ate our lunch and just enjoyed the moment.
One time we went to a nice park and Diane told us something about the big writer and poet Oscar Wilde. She told us that he married at the age of 40 and had 2 children, but later it came out that he was a homosexual and he got jailed. And after he was released, he had a very bad reputation, so nobody bought any of his works. After 6 years he died, and afterwards his wife had already gone to Switzerland with her 2 children.
We also had to go to school, to the Dublin Language School. It was not like school, sitting in class, bored and learning things you are not interested in. Barry, he was our teacher, made the lessons a great experience, we had a lot of craic, and talked about the Irish history, the financial crisis but also about the communication between teenage boys and girls. And with his guitar and vocals, was really entertaining. We also visited a lot of museums like Dublinia where you could dress yourself up like a Viking, and every museum had an entertaining show. Irish Dancing, cinema and dog racing were amusing activities. And the benefits of such a language trip are manifold because students gain a lot of experience in every respect.
They can easily improve their language skills by totally immersing in the culture and language. After having done a language holiday, students feel more at home in the language and all of a sudden they are eager to speak it. And of course I can speak for all of us when I say that this trip to Ireland weld us together as a class, as friends and as people. Everything is still in my mind and I hope to come back to this amazing country as soon as possible!
cheers.
also wenn es dir so geht wie mir im November-Februar09 !
