Over this past spring break 9 fellow students and I participated in the Sister Cities Irish Exchange. We left for Ireland on March 19 and returned on March 31.

We arrived in the Dublin airport on Thursday, March 20.. We then had a four-hour bus ride to Buncrana. After the bus ride, we got to reunite with our host students and went on a walk by the shore. After my host’s school day had ended, we went home and I got to meet her parents, Shauna and Fergal, and her dog, Riley.

On our first full day in Ireland, we spent the day at our hosts’ school. They go to Scoil Mhuire in Buncrana, which is also known as Convent due to its previous history of being a convent for nuns. One major difference between Scoil Mhuire and American Schools is how open the school is. Most classrooms don’t have locks and even teachers that have a classroom that is by itself will leave their doors wide open throughout the school day. They also have two breaks throughout the day. Their little break is a 20 minute break during the morning, and then they have a lunch break for 40 minutes. After school, we went out into the town and got food at Four Lanterns. It is a popular restaurant that serves food that is similar to what most fast food places do. Despite this, it was not nearly as greasy as fast food is in America.

On Saturday, my host student, Maya, and I met up with some of the other students on the trip and went shopping in Derry. We went to a pop up shop for jellycats and visited some popular stores like Primark, The Works, Waterstones, and Dunnes. During our shopping trip, we took a break and went to a Mexican restaurant called Guapo. The food there was amazing and it was also the first time I had an Orange Fanta while we were there. In Europe, Orange Fanta is different from Fanta in America because of different laws on what can go into their foods. The flavor of the Fanta there is more like a carbonated orange juice than an artificial orange flavor. They also have Lemon Fanta, which is like sparkling lemonade.

The next day, we went to a Gaelic football match. It was Mayo vs. Donegal. The game was easy to follow and understand. It was like an American football game and soccer combined. We rooted for Donegal, but sadly they lost the game to Mayo by 2 points.

Monday was a day for sightseeing. We went to the Carrick-a-Rede, which is a famous rope bridge. Once you cross the bridge and finish climbing the path, you can look out and see Scotland. The water was gorgeous and had a vibrant blue color. Then we went to the Giant’s Causeway. We went on an audio-guided tour that told us about the myth of how the causeway came to be. The shape of some of the rocks almost makes it look fake.

Not much happened on Tuesday because both me and Maya got sick, but Wednesday was more exciting. We toured ATU, which is a university in Letterkenny. They showed us their different departments and what cool projects they are working on. Some of their engineers have been working on parts for electric vehicles and their fashion students had some very impressive designs. After the field trip, Maya and I went out for dinner and bowling with her parents.

Thursday took us back to Derry where we went on a tour of the Derry wall and murals. The tour guide told us the story behind the wall and the events that the murals represented. After the tour, we had free time to get lunch and shop in Derry. Me and Maya went to Nando’s with our friend Eve for lunch. Nando’s is a restaurant that serves many different forms of chicken. I got a chicken sandwich with garlic bread and mac and cheese. The food was very good and I would definitely go back! After lunch, Maya and I went to O’Neils so I could get souvenirs to bring back to my family. Before we headed back to Buncrana, everyone met up to see the Derry Girl’s mural and took a picture. Once we got back to the school, one of the teachers there had us try a crisp sandwich and Football Special soda. The crisp sandwich consisted of a bread bun, butter, and potato chips and the Football Special was a little like a cream soda. They were both surprisingly good.

On Friday, we got to go Alpaca walking. The alpaca Maya and I had was named Ollie. While he was very cute, he was definitely mischievous. He kept running while we were trying to walk him, but then later he would just stand there and not want to move. The path we walked them on was very windy, but the view was definitely worth it. After our trip with the Alpacas, everyone on the trip went to a sleepover at Aoife’s house, who was another host on the exchange. We played lots of card games and had fun reminiscing on everything we had done together so far.

Saturday was our last day in Ireland. After we left the sleepover, we got acai bowls and went home to get ready for the day. For lunch, we went to Derry one last time to go to Notorious Street Food. They have different booths with different types of food you can order. I got a smash burger and Maya got tacos. After lunch, we walked around Derry for a bit and went to a record store before going home. That night, we had one last big group dinner and packed to head home early the next morning.

This trip was one of the best experiences of my life and I will definitely have to go back and visit everyone. Everything was so gorgeous and even just the grass was more vibrant than it is in America. I definitely think that everyone who has the opportunity should go on this trip. You will make so many new friends and memories.