Students of the Commercial and Trade School in Bjelovar, Croatia, had an opportunity to experience life and work in Ireland by participating in an Erasmus+ project named “2in1 Together in Ireland”. The mobility was held in Dublin from 23rd April to 7th May 2022. Some students took a two week course, organized by Martello Training enterprise, on how to found a training firm in Ireland, while others got a chance to work in two different shops as part of their praxis. Graduate student Maja Domitrović shares her impressions of this unique experience.

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In my third year of high school, I had a chance to travel abroad to Ireland as part of an Erasmus+ project which gave me an opportunity to learn, meet new people and explore.

When we landed in Dublin I still couldn’t believe I was two thousand kilometers away from my home. Settling in with my host family in Bray was nice. It was in the middle of the night when we arrived because the flights took off a bit late. But we managed and had fun on the way.

Talking to Irish people for the first time was confusing, of course, because of the accent, but after a while we got used to it and they got used to our Croatian accents as well. We had a chance to experience a genuine family life in Ireland. We tried the food, got used to daily routines, and in general, we were just hanging out with our hosts. We talked a lot so we got a chance to see each other’s perspectives, too. Ireland itself is absolutely amazing and people there are so kind so, at times, it almost felt like a prank.

At work, we were divided in groups and had to make a business plan on how to create a company in a span of 10 days and at the end present it. It was just a rough idea of a company but still we learned a lot. Our mentor was great as he was patient and gave a good presentation about each of the tasks we had to do. He was also very committed to helping the students who were struggling with certain parts of the task.

We didn’t work all the time though. In our downtime we managed to organize some trips and activities. For example, we travelled all the way to the other side of Ireland to visit Cliffs of Moher and Galway. We also had a small Cliff walk trip from Greystones back to Bray, where we were located, which I did twice. My friend also went to laser tag and bowling, which was awesome in his opinion.

All in all, an Erasmus+ project is definitely something worth signing up for, because a person can build more confidence, create a sense of independence, experience other cultures and, most importantly, learn and perfect their skills.

Written by Maja Domitrović, Commercial and Trade School Bjelovar, Croatia