Dublin to Achill Island - quite a trip!
After a way too short night we left the hostel in Dublin to explore the city a bit before heading on to our final destination: Achill Island. While some of us simply went out for breakfast others shopped till they dropped and had trouble fitting everything into their luggage and arrived at the station with more than what they carried the day before. The train ride went smoothly, we passed sheep and hills and hills and sheep, and had a first chance to get to know our fellow students from the other countries. A little excitement was added to our trip when we learned that at our final station we had to dragg our luggage through the whole train to reach the platform which was much shorter than the train itself. The last leg of the journey was a really bumpy busride to the island and while some of us rather enjoyed that roller coaster feeling most were indeed happy when the trip was over and we could finally settle into our hostel inKeel on Achill Island.
by Katrin Uhl
Swedish Saturday Morning
Most of us woke up around 9.00 o'clock, hungry, cold and miserable, but the majority of the ailments could be healed by very hot showers. After a much needed breakfast we split up into groups and went off on various sightseeing or shopping tours of Dublin. We all had to be back at the hostel, however, at 11.00 o'clock to meet with the lovely Pat, who was on time for the first time in her career. Some students, who counted on her being late, managed to miss her by a full minute and a half. That meant that they were delayed for half an hour and hardly had time to grab a burger at the nearest fast food restaurant since the group was going to meet again at 12. The fact that the restaurant provided the slowest service in Ireland didn't help either. It was 11.47 o'clock when the food finally arrived. We were all totally amazed by Jerry who effortlessly devoured a double hamburger in just under two minutes. He has in fact been dubbed Knight of the Holy Hamburger by a local newspaper. After a brisk walk we arrived at the hostel a mere 5 minutes late but, as luck would have it, the taxi taking us to the train station wasn't there yet. The taxi driver had very interesting opinions about Achill Island and its residents of which we eagerly took part. The Dublin train station left us entirely without impressions and soon our journey towards Westport began.by Anders Wappling
The British Journey
The seven of us started our journey from Brighton early on Saturday morning. We took the coach to Gatwick and got there with time to shop�However, time went quickly and suddenly we heard: ' Would the two remaining passengers for Dublin please go to gate D6 �..' Then we heard them say our names and we started to run, before they had a chance to remove our luggage from the plane. Successfully on the plane with the rest of the group we settled down to what turned out to be a long, turbulent flight due tohigh winds. We landed in Dublin an hour late but still had nearly 4 hours to wait before our train left for Westport. We decided to walk around and to explore Temple Bar, some of the group having their first taste of Irish Guiness to help settle their stomachs after the flight. I was asked for directions ( I think ) by some Irish men who seemed to speak only Irish and spent a few minutes using sign language and smiles to explain that I didn't really know what they meant and even if I did I wouldn't be able to give them any kind of directions. Back at Dublin station we met up with Thomas who had been delayed so we had another member to join our group. The train journey was long but most of us managed to sleep (especially the ones who'd had Guiness). We stayed on the train until the end of the line and felt like we'd reached the end of the world until we remembered the hour taxi ride ahead of us. The taxi driver played us some Irish music and drove through villages until we reached Achill and eventually the hostel. A pot of tea was waiting for us. Helen was relieved to find that there were enough beds for us all and we all slept soundly.
by Laura Duerden and Helen Silk
Dr. Laurent Borgmann
Last modified by:Oliver Reichhardt