IRELAND-PORTFOLIO

Victoria Wakulicz

27.04.2011-
06.05.2011
 Bray Head
Victoria Wakulicz IRELAND-PORTFOLIO

Bray Head is a mountain in Bray, which is 241 meters high. Although it’s a quite
famous tourist attraction, I haven’t climbed it and just enjoyed the view on it from
Bray. I’m not quite a fan of hiking; I had a holiday in the Polish Carpathian
Mountains. Bray Head is not high, but I didn’t feel like climbing it and besides, I
hadn’t got the time! In other words, I was to lazy.

Apperently,
the
undergrowth
was set on
fire by
vandalists
during our
stay.
 DART
Victoria Wakulicz IRELAND-PORTFOLIO
The DART was a “place” where
we spent a lot of time together.
This was necessary to get to
Dublin where we often had
various activities. The difference
between the Irish and the
Austrian railway is especially
that there are barriers in Ireland
so you have to have a ticket to
pass it.
Mostly I spent my time there
listening to music, chatting,
looking at the beautiful shores or
The double-rainbow
just relaxing from the tiring day.
The best time I had there was
at the evening we returned from
the Greyhound racing. The
DART turned spontaneously
into a stage: two buskers gave us
a fantastic concert! Another
great moment was when we saw
a beautiful double-rainbow at
the beach.
Street Artists
In my opinion, the DART
was quite comfortable, but
as the picture on the left
suggests, the people in
Ireland are polluting the
environement as it happens
everywhere else in the
world.
Dublin has loads of various
buskers and street artists. We
have seen fire-eater, many
musicians and people who
distinguished themselves as
statues or leprechauns,. The by
far nicest experience I had was
with "Harry and Alfie", two
brothers who were busking for us
in the DART. It was a great
concert, which everybody loved.
Victoria Wakulicz IRELAND-PORTFOLIO

"The only way to get rid of a temptation is

to yield to it."
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

A statue in Dublin
Oscar Wilde
We came across this statue in a park at our city
tour through Dublin. I like it because it’s quite
extraordinary and provocative as Oscar Wilde is
placed lying on a rock. I think this suits him. At
the opposite of his statue there are two little
statues, one shows his pregnant wife and the
other a part of a male torso. The columns are
covered with quotations from him.
Victoria Wakulicz IRELAND-PORTFOLIO

The Spire
aka "The
Spike"

The Spire is a monument in Dublin, which looks

like a spike. In my point of view it’s a contrast to
the partially old buildings and generally the city. I
consider it to be quite an unusual and modern
construction for someone who is used to ordinary
statues.
 An item I bought
Victoria Wakulicz IRELAND-PORTFOLIO

This was the most unusual thing I bought: a Christmas ball. It’s
a Guinness Collector’s Edition and a present for the mom of
my boyfriend. I had brought her a Christmas ball from Poland
too, as their family collects them from all over the world. In
the moment I saw this item at the Cliffs of Moher, I knew
I had to buy it. It turned out she was really pleased
with this gift.
Victoria Wakulicz IRELAND-PORTFOLIO

Gaelic
When you’re in Ireland, you have to be blind not to see something in a strange language, namely Gaelic.
You can discover it on street or place name signs etc.
I’m not sure, but I think I’ve heard some fragments of conversations in Gaelic at the West coast. We
got to know that this Irish language is taught at school. In my opinion Gaelic looks quite beautiful, but
the sound is a bit weird.
 A place where I felt disappointed
Victoria Wakulicz IRELAND-PORTFOLIO

and shortly after relieved

I was having an image of a beautiful
landscape in mind as we were along the
way to the Cliffs of Moher. Unfortunately,
the weather didn’t do it’s best for us: it
was extremely foggy! The cliffs
disappeared behind a wall of non-
transparent fog. Everyone was upset and
the only thing we could do was to stay at
the museum, which showed wonderful
photographs of how the cliffs should look
like. Luckily, it cleared up and we spent
another hour enjoying the breathtaking
view that was refused to us before.

...And then
the sun
came out! :D
Victoria Wakulicz IRELAND-PORTFOLIO

West coast tour: favorite sight

My favorite sight was a place on the coast where
the sea was so clear and bright that it looked like
the water of the Côte d’Azur. We didn’t plan a stop
there but our bus driver was so kind to let us enjoy
the good weather at the gentle, green hills and the
beautiful beach.
 West coast tour: youth hostel
Victoria Wakulicz IRELAND-PORTFOLIO

We stayed at two youth hostels; the first

one was really shabby, cold and
uncomfortable, but the second one was
unexpectedly nice. We were only three in
a room, the bathroom wasn’t disguising
and small like the first one and I got a
double bed for my own. However, the best
thing about the youth hostels was the free
wi-fi access.

Picture of
the
Neptune's,
the second
hostel
 Food / Drink
Victoria Wakulicz IRELAND-PORTFOLIO

I’m not that fond of Irish food, I

suppose. Thank goodness our Y
host family wasn’t cooking
traditional meals except once. I u
can’t remember the name of the
dish (on this picture) but that’s
m
Y
not necessary, as I definitely
don’t want to cook it myself.
What I found amusing was what u
we always got for our lunches to
take with. It usually contained m.
sandwiches (Why don’t they
have any bread?), fruit and
something sweet; a few times we
even got Easter candy!

Guinness couldn’t even taste it; the only

thing that was accepted was to
On the last day we visited the smell it. Instead of a cold, free
Guinness Storehouse and the beer we got a soft drink. I don’t
only thing I felt was complete like beer but it’s a matter of
boredom. It was some kind of principle.
museum where we could follow
the production of the famous
beer thanks to medial support
and exhibits. Because it’s not
At the Guinness
Storehouse allowed to drink under 18, we
Victoria Wakulicz IRELAND-PORTFOLIO

Our host mom, Michele Our host dad, David

Jack and Martha Dinkie Erica

Our host family

The McNerneys
All the time before our arrival in Bray, I was preoccupied with the
question how our host family would be like. I imagined a perfectly
nice family with a big house and a dog, but as I had quite bad
experiences in France, I was skeptical. To
everybody’s pleasant surprise, our host family
exactly fulfilled my high expectations. Our
room was so beautiful, we even had a proper bathroom, the kids were
really cute, the food was fine and our host mom and dad were very kind and
helpful. Therefore, I really enjoyed my stay in Bray.
Victoria Wakulicz IRELAND-PORTFOLIO

The Liffey and a bridge across

Dublin
Dublin is truly a city of bridges. When
you are driving along the bank of the
Liffey, you will always find only a few
yards away a way to cross the river, as
there are so many bridges. Some of them
look quite nice and are worth seeing!
Victoria Wakulicz IRELAND-PORTFOLIO

Temple
Bar
District

This district is not only charming in its traditional

look, but also a paradise for every girl who likes
shopping. It’s the place where I spent the greatest
amount of money, I guess. I enjoyed being in
Temple Bar because it’s so lively and you can find
a lot of buskers and street artists there.
 Language
Victoria Wakulicz IRELAND-PORTFOLIO

school
The thing I hated the most in Bray was
the language school. And the cold
weather. And our long way to the hated
school. I just loathed the long lessons,
especially the horrible day we had
classes until 16:30. At least I liked one
teacher out of two, unfortunately he
was the one with whom we had less
classes. Additionally our group had the
ugliest class room of the school.
Whereas the others had sea view, we
had a view on walls - how inspiring! I
must admit that I was happy as Larry
when the last lesson we had there on
our stay was over.
Victoria Wakulicz IRELAND-PORTFOLIO

A class trip
Kilmainham Gaol
On Sunday, the 1st May, we visited Kilmainham
Jail, where we were told a lot of historical
background concerning Ireland and its struggle
for freedom. I found this class trip really
interesting, above all we had a fantastic guide who
managed to convey this topic in a fascinating
manner. The former prison was dark, dreary,
musty and sobering. This mood was reflected on
the photographs I took, which I mostly shot in
black and white.
Victoria Wakulicz IRELAND-PORTFOLIO

A class trip:
The Greyhound racing
One evening, we were at a greyhound racing, which took place in Dublin. Although I wasn’t interested
in it at first, it was a lot of fun. I bet three times together with friends and lost every single bet. The good
thing was that I have only lost 1,90€!
Victoria Wakulicz IRELAND-PORTFOLIO

A person I enjoyed being in

Ireland with: Stefanie Hasiber