6th Year Gaeltacht Trip 2024

“Tír gan teanga, Tír gan anam”

On Friday, 23rd of February myself, along with 32 other 6th year Irish students kicked off on the annual Gaeltacht trip. After one big bus, 6 hours later and a stop in the infamous Obama plaza (Saoirse K's favourite) we arrived in Dingle! The land of Fungi. 

We hopped off the bus and headed into the local aquarium. We saw all sorts of sea life including otters, great white sharks and penguins! My personal favourite was the naked frog (be sure to check this out in the pictures below). A frazzled Mr Hallisey did his headcount and everybody headed off to their own house. We met our bean an tí’s (teach Betty was the best) and we got settled in. We were served sicín agus scealloga. Caoimhe N was buzzing afterwards! We headed to the halla spóirt and began our Zumba class. Most really enjoyed it, some maybe too much… 

The following morning began with our Irish classes. These were based towards the scrúdu Cainte. Tar éis na ranganna, our tour of Slea head commenced with live commentary as Gaeilge! Michael, our tour guide, gave us great information about the long history of the most western point of Ireland. About an hour into the tour, we got off the bus and had a look around the Blasket centre, which they opened just for us! We learned about the history of the Blasket Islands, including Peig and others from her community.

We went back to our houses for dinner, some had bolognese whilst Matthew, our head boy, ate his gluten free, dairy free, nut free, vegan, organic falafels and then we headed back to the hall for our Ceilí! Most of us learned Irish dances from scratch except for Cára who was queen of the Ceilí. Will and Martha took the grand prize of the Gaeltacht jumper after going shrón to shrón and participating in an intense wheelbarrow race (justice for Rian and Eimear). We returned to our houses for our final night, drinking tea with biscuits and eating Nutella toast including a side of gossip with Ms O'Neill. 

In a blink of an eye, we were back on the bus for the long endeavour home. Of course with another stop in Obama plaza!!

Mar a deir a te a deir “Níl aon tintéan mar do thinteán féin!”

Go raibh míle chun Mr Hallisey, Mr O’Dowd agus Ms O’Neill!

By Ella Fitzsimons