Dublin 2009

Monday

Smiling faces surrounded me on the day of departure. I nervously made my steps on the bus, unable to point out my expectations for the trip to Dublin. However, one thing was certain; I was more excited than a kid going to the candy store…

It was a long bus ride to Torp Airport. Our bags were measured, and very few of us had to pay the expenses of overweight. I had a baguette with the other guys and went to the gate. At the airplane I was very sleepy, and I slept most of the time during the flight to Dublin.

Arriving Dublin, I was astonished of the fact that the temperature was warm compared to the cold weather in Norway. Our bus arrived a tad late, but we kept the spirit high.

The rest of the day we rambled up and down the streets of Dublin, looking for a nice place to eat. We ended up in McDonalds, where I not unexpectedly ate a burger with fries. Later, we went into different stores on the way back to the hotel.

Tuesday

Waken by the boisterous sound of my mobile alarm clock; I rush out of bed on this sunny Tuesday. My roommate and I arrive in the lobby at 10:00 O’clock. I find myself in a position of exhaustiveness and tiredness. Luckily, I was not the only one feeling messy this morning.

We went out on the streets to find us a nice place to eat breakfast. After a ten minutes walk we ended up on a bagel café driven by Asians. They offered coffee, juice, croissants and all kinds of bagels. I had the New York Bagel and a glass of orange juice. In amazement I found that there were newspapers all over the café. The paper was named Herald Am. There were especially articles within politics and sports that caught my interest. I later discovered that these papers were delivered without charge.

After breakfast we went to Trinity University, which was located very close to the Hotel. We took the “hop on- hop off-bus” that covered the central area of Dublin city. The double-decker bus dropped off passengers at several interesting attractions. I was amazed by the beauty of the parks in the outer area of the city. We also drove past the Guinness Storehouse, which often is said to be the number one Irish tourist attraction. In lack of time, we never got the opportunity to visit the factory.

Our stop was the prison used in many famous Irish films, such as In the name of my father. It was a prison called Kilmanhaim Gaoul. The visit was guided by an Irishman, who was very vise. I learned a lot of history during the tour. An interesting point he made was that people rather wanted to stay in prison during the potato famine. In the prisons they had shelf, and they were provided with food. The problem was the cold. The fact that there were no doors in the prison, made it difficult for the people to survive. Ultimately, many people froze to death, and there were a lot of diseases harming the prisoners. However, people were more likely to survive in the prisons, rather than on the streets.

On the evening we went to a restaurant with Ingse. I had a hamburger and a beer. After a cozy evening we went straight back to our hotel rooms and got in bed early.

Wednesday

The next morning I was late for the bus that was travelling to Belfast in Northern Ireland. Six minutes late, I got my pen and paper ready for the excursion. We had a pit stop at a shopping center in Belfast, at which we could grab a snack before continuing the trip.

Arriving at the graveyard in Belfast, we came in contact with our guide, who was a formal IRA activist. The guide was 40 years of age, he had three kids, and all of them were raised in Belfast. He seemed like a normal person with a normal life. During the tour, I understood that he had experienced a lot of trouble and hate. He was one of the warriors in the history of Irish independence. The man had a lot of knowledge about the persons who starved to death during the struggle against the British Prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. I learned that the guide was a former bomb maker, and he had contributed in several of the major bombings in Britain. He admitted that in the making of the bombs, he knew several innocent people would be harmed. However, he claimed that the bombs were necessary to frighten the British.

From the graveyard we went straight to the Irish Parliament in Stormont. We were brought inside the building, and a strict lady showed us around. First, she skimmed through the history of the parliament and it’s important to the Irish independence. Afterwards, we went to the larger rooms of the building. The tour was very informative, and many aspects of Irish politics were covered. I felt that the presentation gave me a better overview and greater understanding of how the Parliament is run.

On the way home to Dublin, we were troubled with some of the people in Belfast. They were hitting the horn of their cars and waving the middle finger at our bus. We were later explained that it was because of the registration plate on the bus, which was of Irish origin.

Thursday

The weather outside was cold and windy. As I was preparing a bag for the Viking Center, of which we would attend at ten, I heard the sound of an alarm. The sound was very loud, and my roommate suggested that since we had arrived a tad late the day before, that the teacher had warned us with this sound. I looked at the clock again, it was ten to ten.

Surprisingly, we arrived in the lobby on time. After a count, we walked straight to the Viking Center that was located in a Cathedral close to the hotel. We were handed a paper with different tasks.

After, some of us went to Subway for lunch. I did not enjoy the food there, I thought it tasted crappy. However, I needed to save some money for the Greyhound Race.

At six O’clock we met in the lobby. From the hotel we walked to the DART, which is an electric train service in Dublin. The experience was not far from the tube in London, except it was over ground level.

After a short walk from the station we finally walked into the stadium. There were people offering information about the rules, and how the bidding worked. With the odds of 1:20 I lost some money, hopelessly frustrated of the tardiness of the red dog. However, the Greyhound race was a whole new and exciting experience and I therefore thought that the money was well spent.

Friday, epilogue

On the last day, I stayed in the hotel room in benefit of collecting my thoughts and finishing my keywords for the diary. I was happy for being able to participate in something that turned out as a pleasant trip. I felt that all students were included, and both classes got to know each other better. In brief, I learned a lot about the history between Ireland and Northern Ireland, I got the essence of what it is like to live in the modern society of Dublin. Ultimately, it was the whole experience that made me smile on the flight home to Torp Airport.

Thank you all,

Julian

Dublin 09

Dublin 2009

Monday had finally come. After i was done packing I set of to Stabekk vgs, where our buss was waiting taking us to Torp Airport. There we took rynair to Dublin. We arrived our hotel late at night, so we rushed out to find something to eat. After dinner we went back to our hotel rooms so we could get a good night of sleep. After a long day of travelling Daniel and I slept like babies.

Tuesday Daniel and I decided not to eat breakfast so we could sleep a little bit longer (not healthy though). We met Andreas and Ingse outside the hotel, and walked as a group over to the sightseeing bus. First stop was Kilmainham Goal (Jail), a historic place were a lot of Irish people were arrested. Our guide was a good talker so we all thought a lot of interesting history from the jail. The jail was also the filming location for the jail scenes in the movie “In the Name of the Father”. After that Aleksander, Nikolai, Daniel and I were so hungry that we got some pizza at the first restaurant we could fine. There we sat for about an hour, before we had to meet up at Trinity College for a “get to know Dublin”-tour. So we jumped on the sightseeing bus, which showed us a lot more of Dublin in only an hour. Since the buss took a while we we’re therefore late for the tour, and we’re sorry for that Andreas. After one and a half hour with an historical guide about historical events and buildings in Dublin, we got very tired. On our way back to the hotel we stopped by an American restaurant and bought milkshakes, which where very good. Instead of joing the pub-crawl, Daniel, Stian, Nikolai, Aleksander and I went to Hard Rock for dinner.

Wednesday we woke up and ate breakfast. Today we where going to Belfast in Northern Ireland. After one and a half hour with bus we stopped at a sad shopping mal. No real cool shops, kind of a sad place. The next one and a half hour Stian and I sang Michael Jackson’s biggest hits, which were lots of fun. Finally we arrived Belfast. There we met our guides, which were former IRA members. They took us across the street to Milltown Cemetery, a graveyard with over 250.000 buried people. The guide sowed us beautiful graves covered by flowers and other accessories. We got to see Bobby Sands and Giueseppe Conlon’s graves. After we put flowers on Conlon’s grave we ate lunch. At lunch we got a menu with lots of options. I ate ribs for starters, chicken for main corse and chocolate fudge for dessert. The food was delicious. After lunch we watched gaelic football for a couple of minutes. We took the buss and drew down to the republican street. Our IRA guide told us all the horrible things that happened in this street and tells us he sat in jail for 16 years, accused for killing an English police officer. The street had huge paintings of Bobby Sands and Frederick Douglas. After the tour we all gave the guide drinks and went back on the bus. Stormot Castle was our last stop in Belfast. The North Ireland Parliament is located in this castle. After we went through security we met the woman that was going to guide us. She thought us a lot of history from the castle and showed us a film on how they vote for important decisions. After a very interesting visit the sun went down and the darkness came through. The castle gave us amazing view over Belfast, a beautiful city. We decided to go home after a long day instead of spending an hour in Belfast. When we arrived home we went out to eat at Hard Rock again. And then that day was over.

Thursday we woke up, ate breakfast and went to the Viking museum. At the museum we got a paper with ten questions that we finished quickly. I took a lot of cool pictures with my camera and we walked through the church. After the museum we walked over to the pub, which we were eating lunch at. On our way we stopped by the freaky store American Apparel, which had a lot of cool rave cloths. Because of all the cool cloths we just forgot about everyone and everything, so Andreas had to come and find us. We then lost the rest of the group and could not find the way to the pub. But we found the park with the statue of Oscar Wilde. Stian and Magnus started climbing on the statue the same time as the security car came. They didn’t get in any trouble though. We took a group picture and Andreas read some quotes Wilde had written. After that we had to find the rest of the group, so we started calling around. Eventually we found the way to the pub. We ate a good lunch and had a good time. We got a few hours of free time before the greyhound race. To the race we took the sub way and walked a couple of blocks. When we arrived the stadium we decided which dogs we wanted to bid on. After four races and no wins, we gave up and went home. Back at the hotel we met Ingse and the rest of the group that didn’t go to the race. We walked together up to the restaurant we were going to eat our last dinner. We had a lot of fun at the dinner and ate great tasting food. After dinner we went back to the hotel. Packed and ready for going home the day after.

Friday Daniel and I woke up. Ate breakfast at a bagel place and jumped on the bus back to the airport. We arrived in Sandefjord late that night.

I had an amazing trip. We laughed much, learned a lot and made some very good memories.

Thank you Andreas and Ingse for a successfully trip to Ireland, which I won’t forget.

- Joachim

Dublin 09

IRELAND 2009
Monday 26th of October

We arrived from Stabekk Skole at 3.30 pm. We took a bus to Torp airport, and from Torp we took the plain to Dublin. We were in Dublin late in the evening. After checking in, on our hotel rooms, we went out for something to eat. Kathinka was my room partner. I went out with some of my friends, and we ate in the Temple Bar Street.

Tuesday 27th of October

Kathinka and I waked up 8 o'clock, and went out 9 o'clock to eat some breakfast at a place nearby. At 10 o'clock we met everybody outside the Hotel. We hopped on a sightseeing bus, that drived around in the city. We stopped at the Kilmanhaim gaol, witch is an old jail that has played a important part in the Irish history. We had a guiding tour through the prison. The jail has held many irish and famous people, who were involved in the fight for Irish independence. The leader of the Eastern rising in 1916, was executed in this prison. It was a big prison, that has been used in many movies. “In the name of the father”, is one of the movies that is filmed in this jail. The Kilmanhaim gaol was built to house 200 persons, but it was up to 7000 people there, witch made it tight. The conditions were miserable and the cells were small. Many prisioners who stayed here was innocent. Some people preferd this prison, because they were fed here. After the guiding tour was over, we went for lunch. We ate at Mc Donalds. After the lunch we met our group, outside the Trinity College. We had a guide that learned us about Irish history. We walked around in Dublin city and saw different historical things, for one and a half our. It was a little bit difficult to understand what the guide said sometimes, because he had a very Irish accent. We went back to the hotel after a exhausting day. In the evening we went for an optional pub drawl with Andreas. This pub drawl contained hopping from bar too bar, with two musicians who guided us through three different bars. It was nice to learn and see more about the Irish culture. They are very interested in music in Ireland. It was a nice day.

Wednesday 28th of October

We met in the lobby 9 o'clock. This day we were going to Northern Ireland, Belfast. The drive took about two and a half hour, one way. When we arrived Belfast, we met three guides that were supposed to guide us through the day. These guides was previous IRA members and had experienced all the troubles in Belfast. The guiding tour startet on a republican graveyard, called the Millwall cemetery. It was a very big graveyard with a lot of graves. We put some flowers on some of the graves. On of the graves we put flowers on, was the grave of Gisueppe Conlon. Most of the people that were buried here, was people that had during the troubles and the fights from the 1970's and the 1980's. After the graveyard, we went for lunch. Everyone ate at the same place. The next guiding tour was in the street “ The falls” . Here we walked from the top of the street , to the bottom were the Englishmen were settled. The first we saw was a painting of Bobby Sands on a wall. Bobby Sands starved him self to death, during the hunger strike in 1981- 1982. The next stop in the falls, was a wall that divided the catholics and the republicans, during the troubles. Our guide told us that he had surved 16 years in jail, because he were accused of shooting a police officer. He told us his side of the story, and he told us about how the Englishmen had treated them. It was very interesting to listen to a man who had been there when everything happened. We also saw the primary school where the first gunshots was fired between the IRA men and the British soldiers. All this gave a strong impression.
After this we went to the parliament of Northern Ireland, witch is called Stormont. Here we met a lady who taught us about the government and how Northern Ireland is ruled. She showed us a nice power point presentation and a film clip from a voting session. The voting system they have in Northern Ireland is very special. When something should be adopted, the people that are against shouts no and the people that are for shouts aye, witch means yes. If the speaker can't determine who is the most clearly, he call or a division to take place to allow counting of votes in the division lobbies. have to walk out of the room and count the vote. We visited the halls in the parliament, were they takes their decisions. After an exhausting day, we went back to Dublin. It was a nice day where I learned a lot. We ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Thursday 28th of October

We started the day with eating breakfast at 9 o 'clock. 10 o'clock we all met outside the hotel, for then going to the viking museum. We got some tasks, that we were supposed to resolve inside the museum. We learned much about that the vikings that came from Norway to Dublin. It was an exciting museum. After we had walked around in the museum, witch was two floors, we went to a cathedral right beside the museum. It was wonderful. Then everybody met outside, and we walked around in th city until we came to a statue of Oscar Wilde. We talked about him, and then we went for some lunch. After the lunch we had time on out own. Kathinka and I walked around in the city and shopped. Later we went back to the hotel and slept for some hours. 6O'clock we went for an optional trip to Shelbourne park. This is a place where many people, goes for betting for greyhound dogs racing around a track, after a rabbit. This was very funny. We betted on many different dogs, but it was just two of us that won any money. The whole group ate dinner on an Italian resturant 10 o'clock. We ate a very good and pleasant meal. It was a very nice ending to the trip.

Friday 29th of October

We waked up 11o'clock. We packes our stuff and went out for the last breakfast in Dublin. The plain arrived at 3.30 pm. We were home around 9 o'clock. It was a very funny and interesting trip:)

Thea Bratterud

Dublin 2009

Monday 28.10

Finally they day had arrived. I was excited and looked forward to a fun trip. The bus left from Stabekk at 4 o'clock and our flight went from Torp Airport.
We landed in Dublin at 8 o'clock. Joachim and I left our bags in the Hunted hotel room and went to
eat dinner at an Italian restaurant in Tempel bar street. Went to bed early to be ready for the next day.




Tuesday 27.10

We woke up about 9 am and ate breakfast at a pub before we met everyone at 10am.
We took a tour bus and jumped off at the prison (Kilmanhaim gaol). The prison closed down in the 1920s, but played an important part in the history of Ireland. Everyone recognized parts of the prison from the movie “In the name of the father”. The guide told us lots of interesting facts and showed the prisoners’ cells and where some unfortunately were executed.




After the visit at the prison, Joachim, Nicolai, Aleks and I ate pizza at a nice place.
After lunch we were stuffed. We found a new tour bus and ended up getting a whole new tour around the city. This was not planned and we came late to the second guided tour.
We wandered around Dublin and learned about history - from Trinity College to City Hall and Dublin Castle. After a long day with 2 guides, we relaxed at the hotel and went for dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. Cool place with good food.




Wednesday 28.10 Belfast next stop

We woke up early Wednesday morning and ate breakfast at the same pub. We needed a big breakfast before we set off to Belfast. After a 3 hour bus drive we arrived in Belfast.

There were four guides waiting for us. They were former IRA members. The first stop was Milltown Cemetery which is a catholic graveyard with over 250.000 people buried.. The guide showed us people’s graves from the troubles (70s and 80s) including Bobby Sands grave. The graveyard had lovely gravestones decorated with flowers. Before we carried on with the tour we put flowers on Giueseppe Conlon’s grave (from the movie in the name of the father). We started to get hungry and went for lunch at a restaurant in Belfast. After lunch we had some time to watch gaelic football. It was different, but fun to watch.




Next stop was a tour down the republican streets in Belfast. Several historical events happened in these streets. They showed us Bobby Sand’s painted wall and a primary school where the first gunfight broke out between British soldiers and IRA men. You can see the bullet holes in the wall. Our guides had spent time in jail and some had even spent 16 years behind bars. They had experienced everything and this made the tour very interesting.

Last stop of the day was Stormont castle. Stormont is where the parliament is located. The castle had an amazing view over Belfast. We learned about the history behind the castle and how the politicians voted. Stormount was closed because of the conflict, but was opened again in 2007 and is still functioning. When we were finished at Stormont we voted for going back to Dublin or staying in Belfast. People shouted AI and we headed back to Dublin. Belfast was an interesting city with a lot of history. I enjoyed the day a lot.

Thursday 29.10. Viking museum + +

Thursday morning we ate breakfast at a new place. When breakfast was finished we went to visit the Viking museum. Aleks and I managed to do all the questions after 10 min! We had a lot of fun and took loads of fun pictures. We learned about the Vikings who founded Dublin.



After the museum we walked for quite a while to find the restaurant where everyone was having lunch, but before we had lunch we visited the Oscar Wildes statue. Andreas told us a bit about the statue and read some quotes for us. After a long walk lunch tasted extra good. It was a nice place and we had many laughs.

In the evening we had a nice meal at Italian restaurant and Aleks gave me a nice Birthday present.

Friday 30.10 Home

We packed our bags and headed off home to Norway.

The trip was great and I had a really fun time!

Thanks Andreas and Ingse

Daniel

Dublin diary

Monday 26th
We left for Torp airport after school around 4pm. A bus ride that took about an hour and a half, filled with singing and instruments. When we arrived at the airport, some went shopping in the Duty Free others sat down for a meal, I was already tired, and we were not even half way. The plane left at 19.30 and was very crowded, but somehow Nora and I managed to fight our way through the crowd and get a whole row by ourselves. We fell asleep instantly. We stayed at a Temple Bar Hotel which is located on the south side of the River Liffey in central Dublin. The Temple Bar area is often referred as “Dublin’s cultural quarter” with shopping and lively nightlife nearby. The hotel was very nice, but we struggled a bit every time we went in and out of the room because everything looked similar. I shared room with Julie and Nina, whom I was in York with last year. It was good to catch up on things in similar environment. We unpacked our bags and went for a walk down the main street before I headed off to eat with some of the other people in a nice Italian restaurant.

Tuesday 27th
Woke up quite early to eat breakfast in subways and get ready for a long day. At 10am everyone met in the hotel lobby and went to Trinity College for a hop-on sightseeing bus! This was a great opportunity to get to see more of Dublin and get a wider perspective. First stop was Kilmainham gaol where a guide was waiting for us. The Kilmainham gaol is a former jail and it was built in 1796. Mainly Irish leaders of rebellions like the Easer Rising in 1916 for instance were imprisoned here, and some executed. It was very emotional to see the cells and the condition of the jail. No windows or heat, but cold concrete walls and dirt. The guide showed us some of the cells where famous former prisoners such as Thomas Clarke in 1916. Our guide told us that several movies and music videos have been recorded in the jail i.e. “In The Name of The Father” and “The Italian Job”. After the tour some of the pupils went to fine the bus stop, but ended up walking in circle for about an hour, so we did not have time to see any other sights, but we passed the Guinness Storehouse, Dublin Zoo, National museum and St. Patrick’s Cathed ral and many other famous landmarks. At 2 pm everyone met outside Trinity College for a historical guided walk through the centre of Dublin. The guide was extremely talented and told some interesting stories. We stopped at the Bank of Ireland, wall of fame, city Hall and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In the evening we got an insight of Irish pub- and culturelife when we went out for a musical pub crawl starting off at a pub called Oliver St. John Goarty’s in Temple bar.



Wednesday 28th
Headed off to Belfast in Northern Ireland way too early in the morning, and it was cold and windy. The trip took about 2 ½ hours, so there was plenty of time to sleep. First we visited the Milltown Cemetery which is a catholic graveyard with over 250.000 people buried. The place is associated with Irish republicanism and Bobby Sands is one many IRA volunteers that is buried here. We also got to see Giuseppe Conlon of the Guildford Four’s grave. The volunteer guide who showed us around was a former IRA member and had spent several years in jail. Next we went further down the street to see the painted walls. Republicans have painted these great pieces of art. They show several events that have occurred during the conflict. After spending much time outside and a lot of walking, it was time for lunch.
Before we went back to Dublin, we visited the Northern Ireland Assembly where we got a lecture on how the political system works and a guided tour around the building. The place was spectacular, almost like the castle in Oslo, just much bigger. Everyone fell asleep on the journey back and went straight to bed.


Thursday 29th
Last day in Dublin! Everyone walked to the Viking Adventure museum and the Christchurch cathedral before we visited the statue of Oscar Wilde. For lunch we ate at a nice pub near the park. Rest of the day there was time for shopping before the big meal at an Italian restaurant.


Friday 30th
Packed our bags and checked out of the hotel before the bus took us back to the airport. It has been a fantastic week with many things going on constantly. I have enjoyed visiting a city and country I have never been to before, and it makes me long for England even more.

Ida

Dublin 2009

Dublin by Henriette Caroline Tønsberg

Monday 26.10
Now we have finally arrived in Dublin after a long journey, and I feel, probably like all the other students, quite exhausted. So I'm looking forward to slip into my pyjamas, tuck the duve around me and set off to wonderland. But before then I think I will go out and grab a bite with my other roomies. The hotel is probably the strangest hotel I've ever been in, it's straight from a Harry Potter movie. It is impossible to understand where to go, I think I spent 20 minutes trying to find the room. There is soo many corridors and rooms. It will be exciting to see wether or not i'll find the reseption tomorrow morning.

Tuesday 27.10
Today we went to see the the kilmanhaim gaol, a huge jail right outside the ciy center. It's history includes many tragedic stories, for example an eight year old girl being imprisoned. Nowadays it is not in use as a prison, but it is open for the public to go on guided walks around the jail. It has also been used in several movies, including one of Madonnas music videos, and as a prison in the movie «In the name of the father». I think most of us found the trip quite interresting.
Later during the day we went on a guided tour around the city, visiting several monuments. Some of them had played a great role in historical events in Dublin. The guide was a clever man, but frankly I would say that the first tour was quite more interresting.
In the evening we went out for dinner with Ingse. It was a nice, warm feeling pub with live Irish music. It has been a great day, and it was fun to see some bits of the irish culture.

Wednesday 28.10
Today we went all the way up to northern ireland, more precicly to Belfast. The drive took about two and a half ours. To make the time go, we all sang some irish songs. It definately made the drive less dull. We had two guided tours on our program in Belfast. The first one was by a former IRA member. He showed us the graves of Guiseppe Conlon and Bobby Sands. He also showed us around in the area close to the catholic cemetery. It was shocking to see that the wall which devides the catholics from the protestants was still in use. After a quite emotional tour we went to see the parliament of the Northern Ireland. To be honest it was a bit boring, but it gave us lots of information from a more objective view.

Thursday 29.10
Today we did not have such a full packed schedule as the other days. Until 12 o'clock we went to Dublinia, a viking senter in Dublin. The tour was inside an old church, datet from medieval times. After seing what the viking senter had to offer, we all went to have some lunch. Later on we had some time to spare, and I would say we that we used the time well. All the girls had some good, quality times together, doing what we can do best. We all went for shopping. Since it was our last day in Dublin we all went out for a dinner together at a nice Italian restaurant. The time has gone soo fast, it seems like we arrived yesterday.

Friday 30.10
Today we are heading back to Norway. Thank you for a wonderful trip, I really enjoyed it!

Dublin

We left for Dublin after school on Monday and arrived at about nine o'clock at night. We only had time to eat and walk down the street our hotel was on, before going to bed that night. The next day's itinerary was full of activities. After breakfast at Starbucks we all gathered outside the hotel and went on a hop on/hop off sightseeing bus. Most of the students, including me, went to a prison called “Kilmanhaim gaol”. There we were guided through different parts of the prison and told some fun facts and some not so fun facts about it. We were showed the cells of legendary people and the places the criminals were executed. The tour was really interesting. We were supposed to go to another historic site, but someone got us lost while trying to find the bus stop. Therefore we just took the bus back to the city, and listened to the guide on the bus.

Some of the girls and I went to lunch and meet up with the rest of the class in front of Trinity College. Here we met another guide who gave us a walking tour of Dublin in the historical area around our hotel. He first talked about Trinity College before taking us to City Hall, Dublin Castle and the Christchurch Cathedral. After the second guided tour of the day we had free time to do whatever we wanted. Some went shopping, while Nina and I watched “Bring it on, again” in her room until people came back and it was time for the evening activity. We had the choice between going on a pub crawl with Andreas or dinner with Ingse, and I went to dinner. We had a great time and a fun evening.

The third day, Wednesday, we all got up early to go to Belfast. We went by bus and it took about three hours with a stop. In Belfast we were divided into smaller groups and given a guide. First we went to a catholic cemetery were we saw the graves of Bobby Sands, Giuseppe Conlon and many IRA volunteers. We then had a three course lunch before we continued the tour of Belfast. After this our awesome bus driver took us to the Northern-Ireland parliament building, were we had another guided tour. The guide here was actually really good and explained the political system in Ireland to us in an interesting way. She also showed us two of the rooms in the parliament building. On our way back to Dublin we drove through Belfast city. There was no evening activity which was good because we were all tired from a day full of educational content.

The last whole day abroad was Thursday. We started the day with walking to the Dublin Viking Adventure, a Viking exhibition. We also went through an exhibition of the time of the plague and another one showing how modern day technology is used to find historical traces. We ended up inside the Christchurch cathedral were we looked around before heading to the statue of Oscar Wilde. Many of us went to lunch with the teachers before going shopping and having free time until dinner at 10. Some went with Andreas to see Greyhound racing before dinner, but I did not. We had dinner at this cute Italian place before going back to the hotel and going to bed.

The last day in Dublin I slept in and only got to go to Starbucks before we went home. I had a great time!

Thea H.

Ireland 2009

Monday October 26th.

I had been looking forward to this trip since I’ve heard about it, so when the day finally got here I was pretty excited. My English class, and the other English class at our school took the bus from Stabekk at four o’clock in the afternoon, and we arrived in Dublin, Ireland around nine o’clock in the evening (I think). When we arrived at the Hotel called The Street Fleet Hotel, we got our keys and settled down in our rooms. Thea H. and I weren’t too happy about our room, because there were dirty towels on the floor. But after we had complained to the man in the reception we got out and grabbed something to eat. Since our curfew was half past eleven, Thea H. and I went to bed after a walk around the Temple Bar area.

Tuesday October 27th.

Thea H. and I went out at half past nine to get a coffee, and we got thrilled when we found a Starbuck coffee shop. After eating, we all went on a guided tour through the Kilmainhaim Gaol. We heard a lot of stories from the jail, and some of them were pretty horrible. The tour was very interesting and I feel like I have learned a lot. After the trip to Kilmainhaim Gaol we got some time off to eat, so almost all of the girls went to Starbucks. Later on we had a guide, who was a formed student at Trinity College, who showed and told us about historical events that had happened in Dublin. I liked the first tour a lot, it was more interesting, and the last one was not that interesting. The last guide talked and talked for almost two hours, and it was not that easy to pay attention when we were standing all the time.
After two hours of talking we got some time off to do what ever we wanted to. Benedicte L., Ida and I went shopping for some hours. When we got home, me feet was hurting so much so I had to lay down on the bed for a while. Around nine or ten in the evening some of us went on a Irish restaurant with Ingse. Some of the girls went for a walk around in Dublin before going to bed. Thea H. and I were exhausted.






Wednesday October 28th.

We took the bus from Dublin to Belfast around nine o’clock in the morning, and arrived three hours later. When we arrived we started our first tour at the Millwall cemetery, where Giuseppe Conlon and Bobby Sand are buried. Our guide was a former IRA member who had been held in prison for sixteen years, and when he was eight years old his father got killed. He told us some very interesting things, and he gave us information about “the troubles”. Our second guided tour of the day, and the last, was at the North-Ireland Parliament, which was not that interesting considering the guides we had earlier. The guide at the parliament gave us information about Northern Ireland and she showed us how the political system works. When we got home I went to Subway, and then back to the hotel room.
Thursday October 29th.
We met at the lobby at ten o’clock, and went straight up to the Viking Museum, where we had to answer some questions. The museum was very interesting, but it wasn’t something new because we all had seen Vikings before … ! After the museum me and some other girls decided went shopping, while the rest of the class was eating lunch together (Ingse said it was ok for us to leave). After a long day of shopping I was pretty exhausted. Later in the evening we all went out to eat at this fancy restaurant that I don’t remember the name of. Unfortunately I felt really bad, and had to go back to the hotel.

Friday October 30th.

Thea H. and I woke up at ten or something I guess, and we went to our regular place … Starbucks. After that we got on the bus that was going to take us to the airport. After spending time at the airport we got on the plane headed home to Norway. Had a great trip !
Benedicte C.

Trip to Ireland

Monday: We drove with Schaus bus from school at four o clock, and the trip took almost two hours. When we arrived at the air port we got our luggage and checked in. Everyone was ready for take-off, except ryan-air, so we waited a little while before we could border and leave Norway. We arrived late in Ireland. Since we came a bit earlier than expected, we had to wait for the bus. We arrived at the hotel about a quarter past nine. Most of us took a shower and went out to eat. I do not remember what the place we ate at was called, but it was good. Fully stuffed, we walked back to our rooms and jumped into the sack.

Tuesday: We woke up around 8 o clock. Walking around in Dublin, looking for a place to eat, we found this little korean place. They sold bagles and coffee. After a delicious brea

kfast we met at trinity college. From there we took the "hop on, hop off" bus around dublin. We left the bus when we arrived at the Kilmainhaim Gaol. It was a prison where important people that had fought for an independent ireland had bin kept lo

cked up, or killed. After leaving the prison, we went to find a bus stop. That was going to be easier said than done. While we were looking for the bus station, we grew more and more hungry. So after we got back to our "main part" of dublin we went to eat. We had loads of free time.

Later that day we met a guide who showed us around dublin. He knew alot about the history of Dublin.

19.30 those who were going to a irish pub with Ingse met in the hotel lobby. Struggeling to find the way, most of us became more hungry, except me who had already bin eating. Finally we arrived at the restaurant. I ordered some icecream cake or someth

ing. It was really good. After the meal I went back to the Hotel and we watched some scrubs and two and a half men before we went to bed.

Wednesday:

Me and Julian overslept so our alarm clock was Andreas knocking on the door,

telling us that we were late. We rushed down to the bus and found ourselves a seat. The bus ride took about three hours, and we had a stop at a tesco market. They had most of their stuff on sale, so you could buy one six-pack of pepsi and get one six-pack free. It was awesome. When we arrived in Northern Ireland I noticed that there was alot of flats. Many kilometers between the diferent houses. Until we arrived in Belfast ofcourse, wich is the biggest city in Northern Ireland. In belfast the class met some former IRA members. They showed us around a grave yard. We saw the grave of Giuseppe and Bobby Sands. After the gave yard tour it was time to eat. All of us headed of to some sort of club house and we got our food. I got some fried potatos wich was really nice, for main course i got chicken, and the desert was a coconut cake. Everything was good except the cake, but it did not matt

er because i was not hungry anymore. Then the bus drove us ten minutes away, to a place where we could see some "wall drawings" of historical intrest. Then it was the Parlaments turn to have Norwegian visitors. After the security scan we met in the third floor. The lady that was our guide told us about Irish politics and how it worked. For example they needed two "leaders" one catholic and one protestant. After her s

peech we went down to look at some of the rooms where the big decisions were made. After that we went to the bus, drove back to Dublin and me and some other guys went to the Steak house. about 11 o clock we went back to our hotel and fell asleep after a long day.

Thursday: We met in the lobby at 10am. The viking museum was our next stop, it was only a ten minutes walk from our hotel. At the museum we got a sheet with diferent questions. The answers was planted on the walls, so we had to read our way through the museum.

After our little viking trip we could either go to a statue of Oscar Wilde or we could do what we wanted. Me and some other guys did what we wanted, so we had free time from about 12 o clock, to 18 o clock. Then we went to see greyhound racing. It was exciting to see all the kinds of diferent people who went there to bet. Everything from Young kids with their family to old ladies who had just recieved their paycheck. After the race, we all met on a restaurant. Me and Julian ordered a dish togheter. It consisted of chicken, shrimps, blue mussel and rice. It was delicious but neither of us managed to eat the whole thing. After the restaurant visit, we went back to the hotel to watch the anchorman with Nikolai, Kriss, Julian and Brigg. When the movie was done, we went back to our rooms and fell asleep.

Friday: We had to be out of our rooms at 12 o clock. We put or luggage in the bus and drove away. When we arrived at the auroirt, we checked our bags and we found a seat in the waiting room. We bordered the plain around 4 o clock, and we were on our way back to the motherland. We arrived at the school at 9 o clock, got our luggage and drove home.

Erlend Synnevåg

Ireland 2009

Monday 26/10
We took the bus towards Torp Airport at 15:30 from the school. When we got there, everyone was anxious about the RyanAir weight limit, which was 15 kg. We arrived in Ireland at 21:00. When we finished unpacking Magnus, Mikkel, Thea, Kathinka, Aleksander, Nikolai, Joachim, Daniel and I went down the street to find something to eat. We ended up eating at a place called La Med, just across Temple Bar. After eating we went back to the hotel and went to bed.

Tuesday 27/10
The day started with breakfast at "The Joy of Coffee", which was awesome. We later went on a guided tour in a closed prison called Kilmanhaim Gaoul. Then we carried on to Trinity College where we met up with guide, who guided us through Dublin City. It was quite boring. We had multiple options that night; we could either join Andreas on a musical pub crawl, join Ingse and eat dinner, and to just relax at home. I'm a lazy gut, so I gave myself a break and stayed home.

Wednesday 28/10
We started the day with breakfast at some kind of bagelplace, which was a good start. Then we hopped on the bus to Belfast, Northern Ireland. The busride took what seemed to be forever, but we finally got there. We were met by three men, who was our guides. All of them were IRA members and did the tour for "free". We were guided around the cemetary where, amongst others, Giusseppe Conlon is burried. We later ate dinner at a local place. Then we were guided around the city of Belfast, a city with a lot of horrible history. The day continued with a visit in the Parliament of Northern Ireland. The busride back to Dublin actually did take forever.

Thursday 29/10
Today we visited the viking musemum in Dublin. That was very fun. Later on we walked for a long time to find the park where the statue of Oscar Wilde was located. We ate lunch at a pub, and it was delicious. Then we had some time to kill, so most of us went shopping. I wasn't back in my room before four o'clock. I took some time off with Nikolai, while most of the class went to see the greyhound races. At 21:30 we met outside of the hotel and walked to a restaurant and ate a nice dinner. Then I went to bed, because Aleksander, Nikolai and I were leaving for Copenhagen early the next morning.

Friday 30/10
Luckily, we got up at the time we were supposed to, and checked out of the hotel.

Thanks to Ingse and Andres for a lovely trip.

Ireland 09

Monday 26. October

My class-trip to Ireland

We took the bus from our school about four o'clock in the afternoon and arrived in Ireland about nine o'clock in the evening(not counting the time difference). When we arrived we just settled in our rooms and went out to grab a bit. Curfew was half past eleven, so me and Magnus were of course sleeping tight by then.

Tuesday 27. October

We started the day of with a guided tour at the Kilmanhaim gaol, where we heard some pretty horrible stories, one including an eight years old children being prisoned. Then we had a guided tour through Dublin, and the historical events that had went down there. The last tour wasn't quite as interesting as the first one...

In the evening we went out for a pub crawl, which would have been off the hook if we were allowed to drink more than one pint of beer one the last pub. Otherwise, very nice crawl and the musicians were very skilled.

Wednesday 28. October

We left for Northern-Ireland pretty early. The drive took about two and a half hour. In Northern-Ireland we had two guided tours. The first one was by an IRA member who had been in prison for 16 years, had his father killed at the age of eight and had seen some pretty heavy stuff. He gave us a lot of first hand information about “the troubles” and showed us the grave of Bobby Sands and Guiseppe Conlon. The other tour was inside the North-Ireland parliament. That tour wasn't quite as interesting as the first one, but it gave us a lot of information on the same matters, but only with a more objective view. The tour-guide also gave us some insight in the political system in Northern-Ireland.

When we came home(as in Dublin) we had a dinner at Hard Rock café and just enjoyed our stay.

Thursday 29. October

This day we were supposedly having a tour till twelve o'clock, but we had to see the damn Oscar Wildes statue after the Viking tour, so we weren't back in the hotel room to kick back before 4 o'clock.

About 7 o'clock we went to see the greyhounds and it was great. I lost some euros and had a blast. Later in the evening we had dinner at some restaurant, and still weren't allowed to drink any alcohol, but still had a pretty good time, considering the lack of alcohol.

Friday 30. October

This was the day of departure, so we only slept till eleven o'clock and took the bus to the airport. Nothing interesting happened on the flight home, so I guess that's it.

Mikkel fuckings Hamar

Ireland 2009!

Ireland 2009

Ireland 2009


We were all looking forward on travelling to Ireland. With Andreas' ukelele and a very nice busdriver, we got to our hotel late Monday night. A couple of us went out for something to eat, and had a nice meal in the Temple Bar- Street, right beside the hotel. That night, i sleepwalked out in the hallway, into a closet. That was kind of scary, but no worries. I made it back to bed. I was looking forward to the next day, when we were visiting the jail.


Our hotel is in the picture




Tuesday 27/10: GETTING TO KNOW DUBLIN



Stian, Kris, Mikkel and I went out at 9 o'clock to get some breakfast and got some eggs and bacon at a place called “joy of coffee”. After that, we took a sightseeing- bus to a jail in Dublin, where we had a guided tour. It was very interesting and the guide was very nice. He told us facts and the history of the prison, and we learned a lot.
After the jail-visit, we made it to McDonalds(they have it in Ireland to!) and ate lunch. Later, we went on a guided tour in Dublin. Our guide was a former history-student at Trinity College. He told us a lot about Dublin's history, but after 90 minutes standing up, it got kind of hard listening to his fast-talking lecture. We were tired and went back to the hotel and slept for 2 hours.
In the evening, we went on a pub-crawl with Andreas.















Two musicians played some Irish music for us in three different bars. I enjoyed this very much, and the artists were really good.
We didn't eat dinner that night. Instead, in a desperate hunt for fish n' chips, we made it to “Abrakebabra” where I ate some fries. They were not good.



Wednesday 28/10: BELFAST


We took a bus to Belfast. It took us 3 hours to get there. We were guided by three men who had experienced “the troubles” and were former IRA members. Our guide had sat in jail for 16 years, accused for killing a police-man. We started off in Millwall cemetery, where Guiseppe Conlon and the hunger-strikers were buried. After this, we watched some Gaelic Football and had a nice meal.
We drove to the street “The falls”, where we walked from the top, down to the tower where the Englishmen were settled during “The troubles”. He told us about the walls dividing Belfast and about how it was back in the 70's, how the Englishmen treated them, divided them and decided what would happen. This was very interesting, especially coming from a man with the very experience.












Then we went on to the Parliament of Northern Ireland, Stormont. A very nice castle and a nice lady who talked 30 minuted about the governing in Northern Ireland. I think this was the most interesting on the whole trip, because I really wanted to know a little more about the government in Northern Ireland. We were sent to the halls in the parliament, where they decide the laws for the country. We also got to see the room the Englishmen used during the World War 2.
We went back to Dublin after an exhausting day in Belfast, but it was the most interesting day!





Thursday 29/10: ENJOYING DUBLIN





After eating at the “joy of coffee” once again, we headed for the Viking Museum. This was an interesting museum, and we got a lot of good pictures taken. After the Viking museum we walked through the whole city, at least it felt like we did. We saw the statue of Oscar Wilde and Andreas read us some quotes. It was kind of a cosy-time with the boys + Ida of course, since she knew the way and Andreas didn't. We ate lunch and went shopping before we went betting on dogs. The Greyhound dog race was a couple of miles north and I lost a lot of money. This was really cool, though Jacksonair was the slowest dog of all time!


On friday, we went home!

Thank you for a wonderful trip with a lot of fun stuff to do. Digged it!

Magnus<3>