Day 2

It is said, that if something that starts with many difficulties, later on will turn out to be the best. If this saying is true, we are going to have the best Achill experience ever! :)

Everything was well prepared, Sabine, our travel manager, did a great job, but there was one thing that not even she could influence: The Weather. Snow and frost at Dublin airport meant that hundreds of flight were cancelled, and all of us had to start our trip with knowing, that the “only the certain is uncertainty”.

We, the Hungarian group, can say that we were among the lucky ones. With only about a half an hour delay, our plane safely landed in Dublin, and very soon the Lithuanian group arrived as well. We got to the hostel very late, but still had more time to gather energy for the trip to Achill as the German group had. Their flight got cancelled so they had to make a second try to get to Ireland early next morning.

For the ones already in Dublin, a coach waited in the morning to take us to the train station. Right at the end of our introduction workshop, Theo arrived as the first one of the German group. He told us that they all managed to get a plane in the morning to Dublin, they are already in the taxis on the way to the train station, and will probably arrive just about the time as the train is leaving. We understood: no matter what, we can’t let the train depart without getting each of us on it. It was a race against time, 12 minutes left…

12:39 just 1 minute before the official departure of the train, the first taxi arrived, students were running to the train with their huge luggage…a great relief: we did it. Or not yet. The second taxi was still missing and the train should have already left. The conductors were getting angry: “Everyone get on board NOW!” But we didn’t give up, we were stalling for time. 12:42 the miracle happens: the train still there, and the second group appears running. Yes, NOW we did it.

An exhilarating feeling: after several changes, delays and cancellations, we finally are all together on one train on the way to Achill. A bit of time to slow down and work begins. The coordinators get together to do some planning for the workshops, the social and language diversity team starts to organise the first group activities. The project has really begun…

Ágnes Dus (Hungarian group)

Heuston station, 11:00 a.m. Saturday stop Introductory workshop has started stop Having to memorize a lot of foreign names stop Lithuanian and Hungarian names are the hardest stop Irish travellers are curious about us stop Apparently we speak at least 10 languages stop I am amazed stop The mood is warming stop We have found the common language stop It is English stop And European culture stop Managers are working hard to make this first workshop memorable stop Found out we all like animals stop But no one has done parachuting yet stop Have got to go, or I will miss the train stop Hugs stop

Reka Farkas (Hungarian group)