In early April, students and teachers from the English advanced courses year 12 travelled to Ireland. Our plane left Berlin heading for Dublin on Sunday morning. We overcame all visa-related challenges and reached the Irish capital safely. A surprise waited for us at the hostel and that were the two ten-bed rooms that would house most people of the group. However, shock soon turned into acceptance and our early arrival gave us enough time to explore the neighborhood before visiting the Irish
Immigration Museum which offered numerous perspectives on why Irish people left their home and on the traces which Irish people have left all over the world.
We continued our exploration of Dublin when two tour guides picked us up at the hostel on Monday morning. They introduced us to the many different facets of the Irish capital, from its Viking origins, its tumultuous history and its modern challenges. The rest of the day was there for everybody to individually immerse in the city and its many attractions including (but not limited to) the historic Trinity College, the National (Art) Gallery, the National (Archeological) Museum, the enormous Phoenix Park, or the beach of the Dublin Bay.
The city was not our only destination, so we left it by bus on Tuesday and headed inland. At our first stop in the Wicklow Mountains we marveled at the stunning Glendalough lakes and the ruins of the Monastic site. Some of us even took to new heights by climbing one of the mountains for a view over the whole valley. Our trip continued to Kilkenny, a small town with a medieval layout and historical buildings, before it took us back to Dublin. The next day, the local train took us to the former fishing village Howth. There we hiked up and along the cliffs of the Howth Head peninsula and looked out on the Irish Sea and northern parts of Dublin Bay.
The cultural highlight of the trip certainly was the theatrical performance of “Murder in the Orient Express” on our last evening. Not just the captivating production itself, but also the moral questions of responsibility and justice sparked a few conversations.
As with all good things, our trip had to come to an end eventually. So, after some final shopping and exploring, we returned to Berlin on Thursday evening.
