The first mobility: Ireland

The Finnish team consisting of three teachers and four pupils left Alavus early Sunday morning, the 21st of April. When we arrived at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport, we soon found out that our first flight to Amsterdam was delayed and that we would not make it in time to our connecting flight to Dublin. After panicking for a few seconds, we collected our thoughts and decided to take everything as an adventure. And surely it would turn out to be one!

During our flight to Amsterdam we got the news that the airline had booked us on a new flight to Dublin. This time the layover was an hour so we thought that it would be a walk in the park. Well, we got some mixed information as to what to do since we didn't have boarding passes to the new flight. Long story short; after some running we found ourselves on board with Aer Lingus to Dublin.

The adventure continued in Dublin as we found out that our luggage was left in Amsterdam. We tried to see this from a positive point of view: we didn't have to carry the bags because they would bring them to the hotel the next day. Things got only better as we met our friends from Greece at the bus station. The bus from Dublin to Ballinasloe took about three hours and maybe that's when we started to feel that we had been travelling for 12 hours. We were really happy to arrive in Ballinasloe and meet our Irish hosts who came to meet us and drive us to the hotel. The travelling day was really long like they always are, but we were happy to finally be in Ballinasloe.

On Monday morning after breakfast a minibus picked us up from the hotel and took us to Kilglass school. Especially we from Finland really enjoyed the green landscape since the winter has lasted about 120 years in Finland this year... At the school we were greeted by the pupils who were as happy to see us as we were to see them. They gave us a nice concert with Irish songs, tin whistles, banjos and even a harp. It was amazing! We went to visit classes and got to answer lots of questions about Finland (for example about the weird wife-carrying and mosquito killing competitions we have). We left the school in the afternoon and went to visit local families whose children go to Kilglass school. We were hosted by lovely families who showed us their houses, gardens and barns. They also offered us delicious meals! Their friendliness was overwhelming and I think that the memories from these visits will stay with us forever.

Now it's time to get some sleep and we'll see what tomorrow brings! So far Ireland has been amazing!