On the 25th of January the TYs left Limerick from Castletroy College on their way to Dublin. The first day was full of travelling and excitement with a 2 hour bus journey to Dublin airport, a 3 hour flight from Dublin to Bergamo and then another 3 hour bus journey to reach the skiing destination of Madonna di Campiglio.
The first day began with a fitting of ski boots and the collection of skis, ski poles and helmets. The students had their first ski lesson at around 10 o'clock and were split up into 10 different ski groups. There were 2 advanced ski groups and 8 beginner groups. The group for skiing this year was the largest group that has ever been taken to Italy by the school.
The daily timetable usually consisted of students waking up at around 8 o’clock to go down to breakfast. After breakfast the students would get dressed into their ski gear and then head to the ski room to put on their ski boots and collect their skis and ski poles to take across the road to the actual ski resort. The students would then have a ski lesson from 9-11 o' clock, they would have lunch from 11-1 o' clock and then another lesson from 1-3 o’ clock.
Some days the students were offered an extra hour of free skiing and it was enthusiastically received with large groups heading back out to the slopes with their teachers until 4 o’clock.
After the days skiing was over the students would return to the hotel and have some free time until around 6 o' clock where they would be able to shower or take a trip to the local shop. At around 6 o' clock the evening activities began and the students would be split into 2 seperate groups to participate. One group would go to the pizzeria whilst the other group would go on the snow walk. The next day the groups would swap activities. The excellent behaviour of the students while on the trip rewarded them with an extra night at the pizzeria and some time to go shopping in the ski town.
On the last night of the ski trip all of the students and teachers gathered in the small seating area to perform different karaoke songs. It was an incredibly enjoyable night as all of the students got thoroughly involved and I am sure that all of Italy could hear them singing together. Mr O’Reilly was talented on the guitar and succeeded in making all the solo singers feel comfortable in front of their audience.
Overall it was an extremely enjoyable trip. All of the students and teachers cooperated perfectly to make the trip a success and to ensure the safety of everyone involved.