To travel is to live - Ireland, days 2-3

October 2nd, 6.20 pm

Today started amazing. When Annika and me went down for breakfast, we saw a table full of yummy stuff. Little Baby Nora was sitting in her feeder, smiling. There was a note from our "Mom", Claire, telling us what we'll find in the fridge. They made us lunch boxes and even put name tags on them. 

But after we left the house, the chaos kinda started. We did get on the right bus, but our "parents" thought we'd have our lessons in the language institue and not the hotel where they were really held. We had to change into a different bus to get there, and we found that out the hard way. 

Nevertheless, with JUST a minute delay, we made it to class. After 3 hours of lessons with the others and a really nice teacher, we walked around Bray and heard a bit about historical things. (For example the different coloured doors. 

Next thing we did was getting on the train to Dublin. We took a look at the statue of Oscar Wilde, were stunned by the Trinity College, and already made a list in our heads which shops, fancy pubs or cafés we have to go to in a gorgeous part of town named Temple Bar. 

I was impressed by the feeling of the city: a bit Hamburg; a bit typical british; a bit typical european, similar to Paris. Everything reminds me a bit of London, but a lot more calm. The bus drive home was really fun, we laughed a ton with our classmates. Now we're at the host homes again before we're off at eight to do some irish dancing all together! 

By the way, what I wrote as a little plus that day, because Dublin kind of inspired me, is the following: 

"And in that moment, when the music of the street musicians reached my ears and my soul, the flowers on the balconies shone in their prettiest colours, and the air smelled of gorgeous food and possibilities, I knew that that was how it has to feel to be alive and happy with every bit of your own being..."

October 3rd, 6.15 pm

Lying on "my" bed again. Today was rather exhausting. We met with our class at the Wilton Hotel, and then had a two hour bus drive to Wexford. The heating in the bus didn't work, so we were already kinda frozen, but as soon as we got out of the bus, it was worse. So after we all paid the local toilets a visit, we got ourselves some hot cups of tea and strolled through a souvenir shop. I saw some really pretty shamrock necklaces, sweaters and scarfs, but what I bought were two tin boxes with black tea in them, one for Anna, one for me. 

Then started what we came here for: a tour through the irish heritage open air museum. They built very cool looking prehistoric buildings there, and we had 2 interesting hours. 

Afterwards we went into Wexford town, strolled through a supermarket and were stunned by their sortiment, checked out a vintage clothing store, a book shop, a chocolate shop and a drugstore. We also got a few cups of tea and then, after a very chill and fun afternoon, we were headed back to Bray (or Bré, in Gaelic). 

Our way to our house was looooong (40 minutes by foot), but after a gorgeous supper (roasted veggies, mashed potatoes, gravy and roasted chicken) AND the prospect of hummus and rice cakes tomorrow, we had a lovely remaining evening. 

Annika and me met up with the 2 Anjas, the 2 Julias, Vanessa and Lisa. We sang, shouted and danced on our way to Starbucks. While having chilled talks and drinking Pumpkin Spice Latte, we enjoyed our time. After running like crazies to catch our bus, we arrived safely in our homes.