Blogs from Limerick, County Limerick, Ireland, Europe - page 7

Ireland: Counties Clare, Limerick, and Cork Chuck subscribes to the travelzoo website. He receives weekly promotions of discounted airfare, hotel rates, entertainment, and travel packages. In July Chuck was notified of a travel package to Ireland through Sceptre Tours, I looked into it and loved the idea, we contacted our friends Andy and Patti (we will call her “Paddy” for this blog; seems fittingly funny), and within days our reservation was reserved and confirmed. (www.sceptretours.com) Five months later and we were leaving on a jet plane headed for the Emerald Isle. The package we booked, with all taxes and fees, was $800 per person. Our package included airfare, vehicle, and 3 bedroom villa for one week. Our villa was situated on the grounds of Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort. (www.adaremanor.com) The villa, the manor, the ... read more

Tuesday 9th June The real West of Ireland,Galway to Limerick via the Burren The fine dry weather continues for us and its amazing to think that since we started travelling on 19th April we have had only one day of rain and that was in Santorini,a place we least expected it. The tour director ,whose cold she reckoned was starting to improve,had what looked like a relatively short drive on the plans for today to Limerick.Well it would have been a short drive had we taken the direct route but that would have meant we would have missed one of Ireland’s most spectacular scenic sights,the Cliffs of Moher. The early part of the drive out of Galway took us around the end of the huge Galway Bay and then east into the area known as the ... read more

Thursday We left Sneem very early, because we had two school visits to do in Killarney. First, we visited a secondary school. The children were doing their exams, so we didn't really have a place to be. The principal talked to us for like 45 minutes in the hallway while we stood. We then went to a school called St. Oliver's which was probably my second favorite school that we visited, after St. Michael's in Sneem. The principal was awesome. He had a great vision statement for the school. He talked about how he believes in instilling worth with children. He mentioned how the church lost sight of it, and that's what the scandal occurred. If you've been following the Ryan Report, a nine-year report in the making, about the abuses in the Irish Catholic Church, ... read more

All of the International students had to attend an orientation for two days. They split up the International Students from Europe and those from "abroad." So for orientation I was with mostly Americans, a few other Canadians and one Australian. There were probably 100 or so in total so ALOT of Americans! Because of the way we were split up i've mostly made friends with Americans and Irish (those who were there for orientation and their friends). I've made some really good friends! Kaelyn from the U of C, Becca who is from New Jersey, Sarah from Pennsylvania, MK and Gabby from Massachusetts (yes I had to look up how to spell that...), and Christine from New Jersey. Orientation was long but very helpful. They showed us around campus and gave us information on how to ... read more

This is definitely the highlight of the trip so far. I have met some wonderful and generous people here in Cork, and I got the opportunity to attend a Sale vs. Munster match. I enjoyed the match throughly, I got to see some wonderful play my Ronan O'Gara, Peter Warrick, and even Sale's Sebastien Chabal. We were in the north terrace and stood around 6 rows from the level field. It was an amazing pitch and park. We even got to see the Munster side get off their bus before the match! It was a dream for me and plus Munster won 34-14! The atmosphere was grand and it was a proper time indeed. ... read more