Our Trip to the Wild West of Ireland : Part 1

Our global navigators took a two-night trip to Westport and explored many different areas on the western coast of Ireland.  I asked two students to tell me about their experiences on the trip. 

For the first part of the trip, I talked to our amazing entrepreneur, Akhsheiy Tangatur, about his reactions. 

- Tell us about what you thought of Strokestown and what we learned at the Famine Museum. 

I thought the Strokestown main house was really cool.  I liked how it showed a different perspective of their time period, especially the schoolroom and the how the tour guides explained how the house had changed over the years that the Mahon family owned.  The Famine Museum was also really interesting because I liked learning how Ireland dealt with the famine.  It was particularly interesting learning about the workhouses and how that was similar yet different to how FDR dealt with the Great Depression, but it was way way worse for the Irish people.  I just drew a connection with the idea that there were communal working spaces and relief efforts, but it definitely didn't work out well for the Irish. 

- What was your impression of Westport? How did it compare to Dublin?

I like Dublin more than Westport, but Westport reminds me of port cities in Texas too because they're very quaint and small, but of course Texas has no hills surrounding and Westport was near mountains. 

- Did you enjoy visiting Galway? What did you like (or not like) about it?

We did some walking around and we saw the port and the Spanish Arch.  I liked that.  It reminded me of medieval cities with all of the cobblestones.  I also liked the Eyre Square and the art festival they were having which reminded me of Austin actually since they're both art focused cities.

- What’s your favorite thing about our whole trip (the total program) so far?

I would have to say the trip to Westport was definitely the best.  Thursday was my favorite day.  I loved the sheepherding, the scone baking, and the scenery was amazing. 

Akhsheiy is a rising senior from Round Rock, Texas.