Last month a group of students from Argentina came to Limerick to do some fun trips and learn more about Irish culture. My class had the opportunity to volunteer for the trips and join them. We, as volunteers were supposed to talk to them, tell them about our experiences in Ireland and maybe make some new friends.
Overview of our trips:
• Irish dancing in Ceilli
• Baking
• Sports
• Dublin
• Surfing
• Trip to university in Limerick
This blog will just be about our trip to Dublin.
On Saturday we took the bus really early in the morning from Limerick to Dublin. The drive was about 2.5 hours, so enough time to catch up on some sleep. After arriving in Dublin we first visited the Guinness Storehouse, which is a huge building and it shows exactly how Guinness is made. If you don’t know what that is, it’s like burned beer and very typical for Ireland. Have you ever been to Ireland or drunk Guinness?
It was really interesting and at the end we all could drink as much Guinness as we want… No of course not, I am just joking but we all got a soft drink on the highest floor with a view to Dublin. That was even better!
Afterwards, we finally drove into the center of Dublin. All of us got divided into different groups and we were allowed to explore the city on our own, which was definitely my highlight of the day. I had the opportunity to talk to some of the Argentinian students and explore Dublin. Dublin really surprised me, because it was much nicer than I had expected. It is colourful, the people are very friendly and there are so many pretty coffeeshops and restaurants. We were so lucky because the sun was shining and it was super warm. Of course, you can do a lot of shopping in Dublin. The best street for that is definitely Grafton street. And for everyone who likes thrift shopping and vintage clothing, Dublin is your city! I certainly did a lot of shopping.
Sightseeing:
Subsequently my group and I did a little bit of sight seeing. We went to Trinity College and visited the library. The college is beautiful and the campus is huge. We also got a little tour through Dublin and learned more about its history.
Did you know that Dublin was founded by the Vikings? They founded a new town on the south bank of the Liffey in 841. It was called Dubh Linn, which means black pool. The new town of Dublin was fortified with a ditch and an earth rampart with a wooden palisade on top. In the late 11th century stone walls were built around Dublin. If you come to Dublin one day and you are interested in history I really recommend doing the tour. Here is the link: dublin/tour-history@google.de
Our last destination was dinner. Finally!! We were eating at restaurant called Thunder Bar. There were a lot of people, good music, everyone was talking to each other and the food was so good. I had a big burger. You can never go wrong with that, right? To conclude, it was an amazing day and I can’t wait to go to Dublin again!!
Ariane Haas (2022-24)