Erasmus Blog: Ireland 2025

       This time I lived in a farmer’s house. The reason for the latter is because they are proffesionals at showjumping, A discipline inside equitition that consist of jumping different heights with a horse/pony. Due to this attatchment to the horses, the whole Hanafin family was inside the bussiness of showjumping horses.       Because of all the animals they had, they usually had to move the to a different land in order tol et the grass grow again. For this proccess, we set up a long electiced fence so the horses are led into the right direction, This is called “fencing”, and it is an activity done once a month.        Altough I said they were farmers, they were so deeply involved in the showjumping world that it sometimes felt lie the only topic anyone could come up at the table.

         I knew from the first moment that I was going to be shocked. But, to my surprise, the food is not that different. They actually love potatoes. However, they cook everything inside the airfryer. At first, i didn´t really get used to that style of cooking. Nevertheless, after eating airfried food day in day out, my taste buds started to accept the new textures and flavours. Also, i thought that I would be eating much more vegetables, but it wasn´t the case. Maybe it was only my household, but every time they cooked some kind of meat, they will always add some spice to it.          The meals wasn´t something crazy, they were something simple, like a normal Burger. Sometimes they could cook something a bit fancier, something as pasta a la carbonara, all from scratch. By and large, they just like something easy to make, quick but also tasty.           But, at the end of the day, I prefer th...

After high school, many teenagers in Ireland have a fairly active social life, although a lot depends on where they live. In cities, it is common for them to meet friends in cafes, shopping centers or parks. They often go to the movies, go for a walk or just meet up to chat. In small towns, the options may be more limited, but always look for ways to spend time together.   An important part of your social life is extracurricular activities. Many young people play sports such as Gaelic football, rugby or hurling, allowing them to make friends and stay active. There are also music, theater or youth volunteer groups.   In general, the family continues to play an important role, but little by little adolescents begin to gain independence. Although social media and technology are very influential, they still highly value face-to-face contact with their friends and shared experiences.   A very usual irish brand where we spent most of the time

     The weather of Ireland and Spain are quite different. In Ireland, the weather is very changeable: it can rain in the morning, the sun comes out at noon and it can be windy in the afternoon. Temperatures are usually mild, but it is rarely very hot.       On the other hand, in Spain, especially in the south, summers are very hot and dry. In some cities, such as Seville or Córdoba, temperatures easily exceed 40 degrees in July and August. In addition, there are more hours of sunshine throughout the year. This also influences lifestyle: in Spain it is common to be outdoors, dine late and enjoy terraces. In Ireland, outdoor activities are very weather dependent.       Therefore, climate affects not only the landscape, but also the way people live. Both climates have advantages and disadvantages depending on the time of year. As you would expect, I prefer the weather from my country.

  The Ploughing Camphionship, or Ploughing for short, is a tournament of, you guessed it, ploughing. It took place far from us, like an hour train journey.        There were so many tractor all over the place. But altough the ploughing itself could have been cool, we went because all the shops that they set up at the competition. And, lucky us! We had the opportunity to be there, beacuse its only once a year. Moreover, we had the greatest weather that we could have had. Usually, the place its very muddy due to all the rain. But while we were there, the previous days were really sunny, so the event was really enjoyable.        The competition normally has around 60.000 people that go, mainly for the shops. The trick to atract so many people are the prices and the free samples. The clearest example is O´neails. O´neails its a hurling shop, the biggest in Ireland. The usual prices are more or less, 50 euros per jacket. Ne...

  Right away, on our second day, we went to the nearest big city: Limerick. The single act of driving there already took one hour. When we arrived, we were showed the typical things a big historical city like itself had. A case in point, the longest river in Ireland, Shannon, goes through the city. From a near park, we had and incredible view where we could see both the river and the castle.                   After a bit of walking, we eventually started seeing all the stores. As we walk, surrounded by these, we realised we were entering a market. As expected, we quickly saw a circular estructure. Of course, it was the nucleus of the market.            The way back seemed a lot slower than the first drive, maybe because we were too tired to acknowledge the time we spent there. But, overall, Limerick is a well-rounded city with its its own special plac...