Dublin report

1. Name 3 items in Irelands recent history that you consider interesting

The Easter rising/rebellion

From the 24th until the 29th of april 2016 there was a rebellion in the centre of
Dublin. Irish republicans came together to fight for independence for Ireland. The
rebellion was against Great Britain which ruled over Ireland. Lots of people died
during the rising in Easterweek. At least 485 people died. The men that declared
the rebellion were all assassinated.

Mary Robinson first female president

Mary Therese Winifred Robinson became the first female president of Ireland in
1990 until 1997. She had many experiences with politics before. Besides that,
Mary is the first female chancellor of Trinitry College.

Celtic Tiger
Celtic tiger is a term that is used to express the economical growth of Ireland
from mid-1990s until mid-2000s. the economic growth grew rapidly mainly
because of foreign investments. It has also been called the the boom or
Irelands economic miracle.

2. Give a brief history of Ireland with regard to its relation to the EU

Ireland has joined the EU on 1 January 1973

Ireland plays a central role in the EU. Ireland helps to shape the EU
by their input into economic and social policies. A policy is a
document showing an official agreement made by a group of people,
business organization, a government or a political party. Being a
member of the EU, they make a valuable contribution to world
affairs, mostly which affect Ireland. Besides this they also promote
and protects Irelands interests in the EU. They do this by means of:
o The work of the Department of Taoiseach
 3. Name three persons or things that Irelands is famous for

Shamrock
A shamrock is similar to a clover. Its a symbol of Ireland because it is said that
Sint Patrick used it as a metaphor for the Christian Holy Trinity. Shamrock is a
typical Irish word because normally people would say clover.

Celtic harp
A Celtic harp is a triangular harp. Its a tradition in Ireland but also in Britain,
Wales and Scotland. The image of a harp is often present on the back of a Irish
coin. In the Early 19th century a new harp was invented because the other harp
had died out.

Riverdance
On the most famous things of Ireland is the Riverdance. Typical Irish music is
used during the dance. It became famous when it first showed in 1994 at the
Eurovision Song Contest. The dance is famous all over the world, people in
America are doing it as well.

4. Name three differences and three similarities between the school system
in Ireland and in the Netherlands
Differences:
Uniforms
The first difference we have
found is that in Ireland children
wear uniforms and in the
Netherlands we dont. A few
reasons for this are:
o Everyone is equal which
causes a decrease in
bullying
o It gives a feeling of
standing strong together
o Everyone is dressed neatly
This is the uniform of the Community
College Lusk

Lockers
Secondly, children in Ireland have different lockers. At our school in the
Netherlands we just have to swipe a card in front of a sensor which causes
a personal locker to click open and then you just have to switch a button.
In Ireland everyone has their own key for their own personal locker.

iPads
The final difference is that iPads are used in every single lesson in Ireland.
At our school in the Netherlands phones are allowed in some lessons but
that is just to listen to music and they are not used as study material. In
Ireland books of all the subjects are on their iPad which they therefore use
in every lesson.
Similarities:
Subjects
We have walked through the whole school and all the classrooms we have
seen were adapted to subjects we also have in the Netherlands. For
instance chemistry, arts, music and French.
Posters
A thing that stood out when we entered the school were the posters and
drawings hanging on the wall. A lot of them were about behaving well and
against bullying. At our school we also have a lot of posters and drawings
made by students. One of these posters contains the 10 golden rules
which are also drawn up to remind the students of behaving well at school
and prevent conflicts and inequality between the students.
Music classroom
Just like here in the Netherlands the music classroom at the school in
Ireland contained a lot of different music instruments. We have seen a
drum set, guitar and a flute for example

5. Share a funny anecdote which you experienced in your trip abroad

This question was the hardest because this was absolutely the best trip we had
together. Every day we had so much fun that it was hard to choose one funny
moment.
I chose to tell the first funny moment.
Because of health reasons Emkea and I didnt joy the city tour. Together with miss
Van Grimbergen we stayed in a Starbucks to drink some tea and to eat a
delicious piece of brownie. When we finished eating Emkea and I went to the
bathroom. When we came back we missed an amazing moment. An Irish guy
asked our teacher on a date. Talking about this Irish guy and searching for our
other classmates at the same time wasnt probably our best idea. Woman always
say they can do two things at the same time... well we got lost in a street where
we only had to walk straight on. Maybe it was our fault but I think we need to
blame google maps because after all the dot wasnt working.

6. Give two examples of how daily life in a family in another country is

structed
Daily life of our host wasnt very different than in the
Netherlands. Our host was retired. In her free time she took care
of her grandchildren.

7. What new words did you learn during your trip

The first word is Cymbals. I came across this word in the
music class in the school we visited. Cymbals means
bekkens. This is a part of the drums.
The second word is Timpani. Also this word is from the
music class. The timpani is a percussion instrument and it means pauken.
 The third word is bruscar. It is an Irish word in English
it means trash. We saw this word on a bin in the
streets of Dublin.

8. What other rules than the ones youre used to at home, did you come
across during your trip
In the host family we had one rule and that was that we werent allowed to
shower in the morning. This was because there was only one bathroom and
in the morning our host wanted to shower.

Another rule was that we had to walk on sliffers in the house. We didnt
know this rule so we didnt brought sliffers. We came up with the solution
that we walked on socks in the house.

9. What did you find out about working, living or studying in Ireland?
About working I found out that If you want to be a teacher in Ireland you
need to be able to speak Irish. Even if you are a history teacher which
lessons are in English you are required to be able to speak Irish.

About living I found out that Irish people are really social. Like for example
birthdays when I celebrate my birthday we give a party at home for my
friends and family. Our host had her birthday when we visited but she
didnt gave a party. Instead of a party she went to the pub together we her
family to drink a beer and celebrate her birthday.

10.What things were the same if you compare your own country and the
country you visited?
We discovered that its really unusual to give three kisses on each others
cheeks. In Ireland they are used to one. The Netherlands in one of the few
countries who gives three kisses.

We found out that in Ireland you work more hours than we in the
Netherlands do. in the Netherlands we work on average 1380 hours and in
Ireland people work on average 1815 hours.

11.How did you communicate with others in Ireland?

The communication with our host went really well. Every evening we drank a cup
of tea together and talked about the thing we did and about differences between
Ireland and the Netherlands. She was also really interested in us. She asked
questions about our school, hobbies, friends and about our families.
12.A brief diary of your trip on a day-to-day basis
Day 1: my alarm was set on half past 4 because I wanted to stay in bed as
long as possible. A quarter past 5 we left to be on time in Brussel. After our
110 minutes long flight we arrived in Dublin. With the public transport we
travelled to a place where we could store our suitcases. After everyone had
put their suitcases in the building we walked to the Trinity university.
Everyone had a city tour but I didnt joy because of health reasons. A few
hours later we went to station to meet our host families. Together with
Floor and Mette I stayed in a really nice host family.
Day 2: we started with an English lesson. I didnt know exactly what to
expect but it was definitely worse. Our teacher was an older man and he
was really really slow. But we managed to survive the lesson and we went
to Centrum of Dublin for a speurtocht. With the speurtocht we walked
across the city which was really nice. We also visited the St. Patricks
Cathedral which was a beautiful Cathedral. In the evening we had a Ceili
evening. It was the tradional dance of Ireland. It was really fun to do this
dance!

Day 3: this day we had again an English lesson. I wasnt looking forward to
it but I hoped he had improved his lesson. The lesson started and it was
again really boring but after the break we played a game and that was fun
to do. in the afternoon we visited Lusk community college and after that
we went to Howth. The weather was really good but we still had a lot of fun
and made some nice pictures. In the evening we stayed at our host family.
Day 4: this day we visited 2 museums. First a museum about the history of
Ireland and secondly a museum with dead animals. In the afternoon we
went to the GAA to do the national sports. It was funny to watch because
almost everyone had absolutely no idea what they were doing. In the
evening we went to a comic movie. When we walked back home we were
so busy talking that we walked past our house. So we freaked out a little
bit but in 5 minutes we found our house.
Day 5: our last day in Ireland. When we left our house Sandra gave us
three kisses which was really funny because every time it was kind of
awkward because we wanted to give 3 kisses and she 1. The day before
we talked about and the last day she gave us 3 kisses. Before we had
some shopping time we went to the GPO witness history museum. Which I
thought was the most interesting museum we visited. When we had some
free time we went shopping and eat a delicious donut.