Saturday, July 26, 2008

By: Justine Howard and Elizabeth Robson

Group 2 – Denmark to Ireland (Group 1 traveled earlier in the day)

Today, for Group 2, we had a decent amount of sleep in time. Wake up call was around 9:30 at which time we managed to crawl out of our soft, fluffy beds in time to semi-compose ourselves to head out to breakfast. After breakfast, we were given until 10:30 to pack. It was a bit of a scramble for some people who spent most of that time panicking about not being able to find everything and whether or not their bag was overweight.

Once we had all tidied our rooms and piled our belongings outside to remain under the vigilant watch of Mrs. Atkin, we made our way to the mall.

The 25 minute walk was scorching under the 30 degree sun, but we managed to make it seat and all!

We had a total of two hours shopping and it was just the right amount of time to get through the mall. The mall was quite nice (and not to mention air conditioned!!)

Once our shopping was done, we made the walk back to the hotel in what seemed much warmer air.

The wait at the hotel wasn’t long when the bus came. We handed off our luggage and piled aboard hot and even more sweaty.

The plane ride from Denmark to Ireland wasn’t too long and most of the time we either slept or dozed off briefly until we landed. We arrived in Dublin around 7:30 p.m. Ireland time. From the plane we went directly to retrieve our baggage. We scrambled to the bathroom and managed to change our few remaining Kroners to Euros.


By the time we got on the bus, everyone was pretty hyped up and slightly hungry. We drove for a while, looking for a place to eat and found it in a lovely little town called Durrow. The group got their first real taste of Irish hospitality from a wonderful restaurant which quickly provided the whole busload with fish and chips. We also got acquainted with some Irish boys who were very set on getting our numbers.

The rest of the bus ride was uneventful, during which many choristers slept and the others watched an Irish movie, “The Quiet Man”. I believe it came to a starting stop sometime during the night!

We arrived at Sheila’s Hostel at around quarter to one. Once again we were greeted with wonderful hospitality. Then once we had our room assignments, we hit the sack for a much awaited sleep.