As well as having a fantastic time in Dublin, the trip was also extremely useful to the understanding of the book we are studying, ‘Dubliners’ by James Joyce. It was a fast-paced tour; we left school on Thursday evening, and were back by lunchtime on Saturday. On the Friday, we visited the James Joyce Centre where we all sat and discussed the short stories of ‘Dubliners’ with a member of the centre. He opened up the stories and their meanings in ways that I would not have thought of or considered myself and made James Joyce’s intentions and motives clear when he was writing the short stories.

After this, we were taken on a tour around Dublin to see the parts of the city where Joyce was writing about and also places that had a close relationship with him, such as the college where he studied and some of the houses in which he lived. To see some of the places that are mentioned in the stories created a much clearer picture of the stories and also helped to understand why Joyce wrote about the things that he did.

In the evening we had a pub dinner in a traditional Irish pub, with great food, no Guinness, but nevertheless, great food and company. This pub was the starting point of the Dublin Literary Pub crawl which we embarked on through the evening, hosted by two actors who told tales of the literature, art, and the authors, that were associated with the Pubs. Were also taken to colleges where we were told stories of authors such as Oscar Wilde and streets to learn more about the History of Dublin.

Everyone had a great time on the trip and would like to thank both Mr Parker and Mrs Brookes for taking us, but also finance for organising the trip and the teachers that covered lessons for Mr Parker and Mrs Brookes.