A group of five Jr. Bills — freshmen Rhett Morris, Ryan Simon, and Malachy Morris; sophomore Patrick Kelly; and junior Aarush Mumgandi — and students from St. Joseph’s Academy (SJA) departed St. Louis on Friday, March 14, to travel across the pond to Ireland. As a part of St. Louis U. High’s Global Education program these students were accompanied by Technical Support Specialist Mary Duron and attended SLUH’s partner school, Coláiste Ailigh, to immerse themselves in a culture that is not directly represented in SLUH’s curriculum.

Coláiste Ailigh is a secondary school, with students ranging from 12 to 18 years old. Located in Letterkenny, Ireland in county Donegal in the northwest tip of Ireland, the county is a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Ireland's capital, Dublin. Ailigh is a part of SLUH’s Global Education program, and has been for the past decade. Director of Global Education Rob Chura opens the application for the trip to all students, regardless of grade level or their language study. 

“(Mr. Chura) is amazing to work with,” said Morris. “He is (really) flexible, and will help you do a lot of different things leading up to it: permission slips are really easy to do; deadlines are really clear; you are emailed (a lot). It was really just an easy process to go through. In general, I recommend it.”

Departing on March 14, the Jr. Bills had a long flight from St. Louis Lambert International Airport to Philadelphia, then to Boston where they met up with the SJA students to finally take the flight to Dublin — around 12 hours of flight time. 

“It's cross-Atlantic, it sucks, like there's no way to not make a cross Atlantic flight suck because it was from Boston to (Ireland),” said Morris. “So (a) long travel day to get there, but then (you get there and) it's just beautiful.”

When the students arrived in Dublin, they still had to take the three-hour drive to Letterkenny. Upon arrival, they finally met with their host families and went separate ways to get settled into their respective host family’s houses. Throughout the weekend, Jr. Bills and their host families explored different places across northern Ireland.

“(My family) went up to a place called Giants Causeway, and we got (to) swim in the ocean, where it was about 45 degrees,” said Morris. “Really that's one of the best experiences I've ever had. I love swimming in the ocean, just how cold it was: it was just this really natural, amazing feeling.”

Following their weekend the group explored the hallways of Coláiste Ailigh Monday morning.

“(The school is) definitely a way smaller school. It's kind of like SLUH where everyone in class (knows) each other very well,” said Morris.

Along with educational activities at the school, the students also took a day trip to Derry, in Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.

“It was definitely the walls and the border and the fighting zones from Ireland to Northern Ireland,” said Duron. “So they got to learn all about that history and actually walk past the old walls and the cannons and all those kinds of things too, (and) I think that they really got a lot out of that.”

As a final destination before heading back to St. Louis, the Jr. Bills drove back to Dublin to spend the weekend sightseeing. The students were able to have a private tour of Dublin’s Gaelic football stadium, Croke Park — recently used to host the Vikings vs. Steelers NFL game.

“We did a skyline tour at one point. You have to wear a harness, and it goes out on this bridge that's wobbling, and it gets to look over the stadium,” said Duron. “Some of them are getting a little bit more experience of hearing at least about Croke Park, because now we've had a few NFL matches that have gone over to Dublin and played there so the boys just kind of knew of it, and they really liked that one.”

Sunday they packed their bags for the airport ahead of school resuming. Though their plane was delayed, they arrived Monday after a week of green.

“I learned more about advocating, people have stories everywhere, like even in this tiny, little town,” said Morris. “My host mom played professional rugby, everyone has a story. You should always ask people about their story.”