After another hearty breakfast at Newtown, the kids re-packed all their belongings and loaded their suitcases onto the bus. Off to Dublin we go! King’s Hospital, another boarding school located on the outskirts of Dublin, will be our outpost until the 13th. This location is slightly more modern than the previous and multiple schools are using the facilities with us. This allows for the students to intermingle and meet other students from around the world. There are language groups from Spain, Italy, France, and a few sport camps from Ireland. Our students have a new buzz about them after arriving to King’s Hospital and I am not sure if it is because of the access to candy vending machines, meeting other cultures, more allotted free-time, or all of the above.
Before arriving to Dublin, we made a stop at the Irish National Heritage Park at Ferrycarrig. We ate a quick lunch before we joined our tour guide for a short audio visual presentation that ran through a few basics of ancient Irish history. The video mostly focused on recent excavations of tombs like the Knowth passage tomb.
We began in the Stone Age with replicas of prehistoric houses used by the first ancient hunter gatherers. From there we moved into the Bronze Age with its mysterious stone circles and fulacht fiadh. Fulacht fiadh is a cooking pit in the ground, using hot stones to boil the water. We actually got to try some ham cooked in the fulacht fiadh in the way archaeologists have theorized the ancients used to. Not to waste perfectly good hot water, the ancients would also use the fulacht fidh for bathing after the food was cooked. It is also theorized that this is what started herbal baths in Ireland, as herbs and flowers were added to the bath water to cover the smell of cooked ham.
After this enlightening detour, we loaded the bus and headed towards Dublin. At 7:00 PM, we gathered again for Irish Dance and Drama groups. The kids were tasked with finishing their team Coat of Arms and music video based off of a classic Irish song.
Finally settled in, we did a bedtime check at 11:30 to ensure the kids are well rested for the upcoming activities.
Stay tuned!
