DAY 1

07^th of March 2020: Let the fun begin.

From Carinthia via Munich to Galway 

On Saturday the 7th of March the day had finally come. Our long-awaited class trip to Ireland began. At 4 o’clock in the morning we gathered outside our school, more or less awake, and we went to Munich by bus. While some people were trying to sleep, others were singing  loudly. Galway girl and all the rest. Everyone, however, was excited and nervous at the same time. 

After five hours we finally arrived at the airport in Munich. Now we had to wait for a long time but thus we had the chance to have something to eat. We talked about how nervous everybody was because of the trip and we also compared our expectations. 

The majority of students was quite calm about flying, however, for some classmates this was their first flight. So, they were quite frightened. We had a comfortable flight, without any complications. The view we had was just amazing, and we remember seeing the houses and Dublin airport and telling each other, “Yeah, okay that’s it! We are going to land.” Don´t speak too soon. Instead of touching ground the pilot suddenly increased the speed and pulled the plane up. At that moment everybody was just confused and worried. What had gone wrong? Blocked runway? Problems with the wheels? Gusty winds? We will never know for sure but assume it was for the wind. Fortunately, everything went well in the second attempt. We had made a turn-around and could finally land safely. Everybody was applauding and cheering and really relieved.

 It took us three hours to get from Dublin to Galway by bus. The weather was getting worse the closer we went but we could see lambs in the fields, stone walls and daffodils. Everyone was super excited, mostly about how the daily life in a host family would be. Upon arrival in Galway we were welcomed by Carol, the lady who was in charge of dealing with the host families. She briefed us on basic rules which we had, of course, heard before from our teacher but now everybody was paying attention. We got our bus tickets and then we finally met our host families. One by one we picked up our suitcases and followed them to their cars.

Our lovely host mom Theresa and her husband welcomed us so warmly and when we got home, she showed us our room and the bathroom. At first, we were really confused about the shower, because you have to use an on-off button when in it. As Lisa and I were unpacking our suitcases Theresa told us that dinner was ready. We went straight to the kitchen and got some sort of stew with unpeeled potatoes as a side dish. For dessert we got chocolate cupcakes and we could choose between coffee or black tea with milk. We also met Yuki the other host kid from Japan. She didn’t talk much at all but was very kind and nice anyway. Later that evening we chatted with our classmates about their families and unfortunately not everyone was that happy and did not have the same comfortable house as we did. We went to bed at about 10:30 p.m. and both of us slept very well and dreamed about what was going to happen during the following days in Galway. We had no idea at all!

By Chiara Jessenitschnig / Lisa Magometschnig