Erasmus Irlanda por Carla Montiel

This Saturday morning, we went to see a hurling match at the pitch. The match was really exciting. Later that day, we went home to have dinner. At night, we went to see a concert by a traditional Irish music group called The Fógues . I loved the concert because it was something different. On Sunday morning, we went to see Darragh and Gearóid playing musical instruments. It was a commemorative event for the Irish people who fled to Canada many years ago due to religious problems. Their descendants, who migrated to Canada, returned to Ireland this week for the event. The event took place in a beautiful forest called Griston East. When we arrived, Laura and I had a cup of coffee. Later, we went to see them playing the instruments. Next, we went home to have dinner. After that, we went roller skating with some of the Erasmus students. We had a great time and really enjoyed it.            

Today we didn’t go to school because we had a trip to Fitzgerald’s Woodlands Hotel. When we arrived, the first thing we saw was a small farm with donkeys, goats, and ducks. Later, we went into the hotel, which was really nice and big. A tour guide gave us a tour of the hotel and started to explain where they get the energy to make the hotel work efficiently. The tour guide told us that they use over 1 liter of water every minute, but they also use a lot of renewable energy, like solar panels. They also have a very large organic garden where they grow much of the food used in the hotel restaurant. After seeing more parts of the hotel, we had lunch. Later, we took the bus and visited more places, like Adare a big town with beautiful gardens. We also visited a very nice ruined castle. After all that, we returned to Kilfinnane. I had dinner and then went to watch the hurling training. I found the hotel’s sustainable management very interesting.   

Today we woke up at 7:00 to go to Limerick, a beautiful city where we had a lot of fun. Just as we arrived, it started to rain heavily, so we went into a small museum where we saw some amazing pictures. Later, when it stopped raining, we visited a house museum that had many historical items, and the tour guide explained all the historical places in the city to us. After visiting the house museum, we went to a very large market with lots of shops. Then, we went to a shopping center where we visited more stores and had lunch at a restaurant. When we returned to Kilfinnane, we went to watch a hurling match between two local teams. After the match, we went to one of the Erasmus student’s houses, where we had dinner and had a lot of fun playing some games. I really liked the city of Limerick, and I had a great time that day watching the hurling match.

Today we traveled to Cork from Bilbao. The flight was from 16:00 to 16:55 (local time). The flight wasn’t very calm because there was some turbulence. When we arrived at Cork Airport, we met our Erasmus students and took a one-hour bus ride to Kilfinnane. The host family took me to the house, where we had a delicious curry. After that, we went to a pub where he played a traditional Irish instrument. When he finished, we met more of the Erasmus students and went to another pub, where we had fun playing billiards and darts. At 10:00 we went back home because the next day we had to wake up early. It was a very exciting day.

Today we woke up very early because we needed to catch the plane that would take us back to Spain. First, I said goodbye to the host family. That was the sad part of the day because they had been so kind to me throughout the whole experience. We took a bus that took about 3 hours to get to Dublin and dropped us off at the airport. When we arrived at the airport, the first thing we did was check in our luggage. Then we said goodbye to the Erasmus students. After that, we went through all the security checks and headed to the boarding gate. There, we had a lot of problems because the flight was delayed several times. It was a very stressful time, but finally we ended up taking the correct flight. The flight was calm. We arrived in Spain at 8. I was happy to be back and to see my family, but I was also a bit sad to return to Spain because I had such a great time in Ireland and made a lot of friends.

This Saturday we went to see the Cliffs of Moher. These cliffs are very popular because they have appeared in a lot of films, like Harry Potter . First, we had about a 2-hour car ride from Kilfinnane to the cliffs. When we arrived at the village near the cliffs, we had lunch at a very nice restaurant. After lunch, we went to see the cliffs. I really liked the cliffs and the views. After enjoying the views, we visited O'Brien's Tower, which is a very small tower where you can go upstairs and see some historical items they have there. You can also get a better view of the cliffs from the top. After all that, we went to a museum about the cliffs, where we watched a short video about the animals that live there. When we returned to Kilfinnane, we went to a pub because the hurling team was having a gathering there, so we joined them. We had some pizzas for dinner. At 10, we left the pub and went home. This Sunday was a great day. First, I woke up at 8 and had a typical Irish b...