Céad Míle Fáilte^[1]
Economics Ireland

This September my class the 7M went on a very exciting trip to Ireland for one week with our teachers Ms. Jennifer Conry-Lindner and Ms. Andrea Zemljak, our homeroom teacher. After flying to Dublin we travelled across to the west coast of Ireland, Galway. We spent two days in this city, which is the European Cultural city in 2020. It is a centre for traditional music, which was to be seen on the mainstreet on Thursday and Friday evening. We stayed in the centre in a Hostel. We were lucky as the weather was really good and we could enjoy surprisingly warm summer days on a bike tour around Aran Islands and up to the celtic fortress of Dun Aengus on the most westerly point of Ireland. Some of us even got to go for a run on the beach and explore the town that morning. On our way back to Dublin we stopped for an interesting visit at the historic monastery Clonmacnoise.

As we spent the rest of the week in Dublin, where we stayed with host families, we also got a little insight into their everyday lives and could have talks about current issues such as the Brexit and its effects on the Republic of Ireland with our host families. In Dublin we also learned some more about Irish history and culture when we took part in a walking tour and discovered how long the Vikings had spent in Dublin and that they were responsible for giving the city its name. We visited Trinity College and Dublin Castle, too. The next day we heard about a replica of the Jeannie Johnston Famine ship and in the evening had a crack at traditional Irish dance.

Apart from all those impressions, we got the chance to find out about some organizations and companies, one of them being the Dogpatch Labs, which is an incubator for start-ups. They support entrepreneurs in achieving their goals by providing office space as well as consulting and a network to other companies. We did a workshop that introduced us to how people try to solve problems by thinking outside the box there. Another organization was Advantage Austria, which helps to connect Austrian and Irish companies. They also organize many events addressing different topics. Sometimes Advantage Austria also rents space at fairs to provide space for Austrian companies trying to gain a foothold in the country to make their products better known.

Our last visit was to the Guinness Brewery to learn about the business and how it is produced and marketed throughout the world. After a week of travelling with Green lightrail Train called the DART in and out of town we were quickly able to find our way around the city with some of us going out to BRAY head on the last afternoon to enjoy the sun and take in the scenery in County Wicklow. It was a really enjoyable week.