One of the best things about going on projects like Erasmus+ is the opportunity to see new places and discover other cultures. It was no different on this particular occasion. Ireland is known as the land of “céad míle fáilte” (lit. “a hundred thousand welcomes”) and the sentiment proved to be alive and well. Wherever we went, everyone seemed to welcome us with open arms. From the dormitory chef making a traditional Guinness stew for us, to the teacher trainer sharing some Irish dance steps, the tour guide making sure we could introduce ourselves in Irish, and the barmaid inviting us to come behind the bar and draw a pint of beer – people went out of their way to make our stay in Ireland memorable.
When it comes to discovering this beautiful country, we were lucky to have a whole weekend to go sightseeing, visit various castles and towns and learn more about Irish history. The trip that I personally enjoyed the most was the one to Blarney castle. Walking through the stunning grounds (green even in the middle of January!) and discovering what it must have been like for people to actually live there in the Middle Ages was exciting in itself. However, the highlight of the tour was something called “the Blarney stone”.
Legend has it that whoever kisses this one, very specific stone in the castle will be forever graced with the gift of eloquence. Seeing as we are language teachers, we all obviously jumped at the chance of improving our speaking competences! The only problem was the stone’s extremely inconvenient location. In order to be able to actually get close enough to kiss it, you had to lie on the ground and lean backwards into a hole while holding on to two metal bars, one on each side of your head. The task is such a feat that the castle actually hires a man whose sole responsibility is to hold everyone attempting it.
