Three weeks of Internship in Ireland

The EU Erasmus+ program gave our group of 8 people the opportunity to go on a three-week internship abroad in Ireland. In this article, we report on our experiences.

Since the agency in Ireland, which organized our internship, only gave some of us information about the host family or the workplace a few days before the flight, we were excited to find out what to expect.

Fortunately, we had a relaxed flight at the airport and were able to collect our luggage without any problems. We then bought a Leap Card, which is used to pay for public transport in Ireland – you can top up the card either via your cell phone or in stores and then pay for each journey individually. It must be said that paying with the card is very popular in Ireland. We met very nice people in the city who had a positive and noticeable attitude to life.

We then took full buses from the airport to our host families. With the help of Google Maps, the Irish public transport app (TFI Live) and the announcements and displays of the buses in Irish and English, we all reached our destination. Many of us lived a little further away from Dublin city center. The host families were for the most part very friendly and welcomed us well; as always, you can be lucky or unlucky here, some already had experience with people from abroad. Germans in particular seem to enjoy visiting Ireland; you could often overhear German conversations on the street and on the buses and trains.

On the day of our arrival, we went to an Irish pub for the first time with the whole group, where we tried our first real Guinness, which many of us found very tasty! Afterwards we went back to our host families and were able to test the quality of the beds, which were very soft compared to Germany.

The next morning we had our first day at work: we were shown around the workplace, had our tasks explained to us and were able to make our first contact with our very open-minded and communicative colleagues. After the first working day, a kind of rhythm developed during our stay: during the week after work, we were able to do some sightseeing or try out the restaurants in the city. At the weekends, we went on longer tours through Ireland and were also very lucky to have really good weather with lots of sunshine. Over Easter, it was even possible to use a few days for excursions around the country.

Fortunately, the journeys were not too long due to the size of the country. We visited the impressive Cliffs of Moher, were able to visit the city of Galway, went to Northern Ireland (Belfast, Titanic Museum) and learned a lot about the Troubles (the Irish Civil War) and even witnessed the visit of Joe Biden who came to mediate.

The rest of the evenings we either relaxed a little or visited the recommended pubs or the beautiful parks with the group or colleagues/host families and enjoyed the evening.

In Dublin, we experienced an exuberant atmosphere and in the pubs we learned how determined a group of Germans can be. Sometimes, however, we were surprised about the early closing time of the clubs, as most of them closed at 11pm.

The three weeks went by faster than expected and it was time for the return flight. After we had said goodbye to our host family, the early morning odyssey to the airport began, as the buses only ran irregularly. The return flight was just as short as the outward flight (approx. 1:30 h) and we were greeted in Hamburg on Saturday with 20 °C sunshine.

Conclusion:

All in all, we had a great time. We had the opportunity to get to know a new country, its culture and its people and to gain an insight into how they organize their work and leisure time. We were lucky with the weather and the mostly friendly host families.Also, the nice and harmonious group and the excursions contributed to a unique experience that will be fondly remembered.

Many thanks for this opportunity and for making all the organizational things possible Diane & Sandra!