About This Project

In September 2025, 28 students and two teachers from Germany travelled to Limerick for a week-long school visit and cultural exchange organised by IBD Partnership Group. The group stayed at the Absolute Hotel from 22 to 28 September, with local tutors coordinating everything from arrival to the closing ceremony, a full itinerary built around cultural sites, language exposure, school visits and time spent well beyond Limerick’s own city limits.

The week paired structured learning with genuine sightseeing, giving students a look at Irish life that stretched from local classrooms to a working hydro station to some of the country’s most recognisable coastline. It closed with a certificate presentation at the Absolute Hotel before the group returned to Dublin Airport for the flight home.

What the Students Did

The programme opened gently: introductions, an icebreaker, and a city tour that took in the Limerick City Art Gallery and Limerick City Museum. By day three, students were sitting in on English language classes at a local school, watching how language teaching actually works in an Irish classroom rather than reading about it.

Two further school visits gave the trip its real substance. Students joined Irish peers for group sports activities, sat in on literature classes to compare how texts are taught on each side of the Channel, and observed a science class built around a different curriculum entirely. Teachers spent time with their Irish counterparts too, comparing notes on classroom practice and swapping the kind of practical, staffroom-level detail that doesn’t show up in any official exchange programme literature. That same day brought a guided tour of the Ardnacrusha Hydro Station, one of Ireland’s major renewable energy sites, followed by dinner at the Locke Bar and a night of traditional Irish music and dance.

The middle of the week is where the trip really opened up. A private tour of Cork City and Cobh led into an overnight excursion along the Wild Atlantic Way, taking in the Burren, the Poulnabrone Dolmen, Fanore Beach, Lahinch and the Cliffs of Moher, before a coastal drive to Galway with views out over the Aran Islands and Galway Bay. After a night in Galway and a free morning to explore the city, the group headed back to Limerick for a final evening together, then closed the week with a certificate ceremony at the Absolute Hotel.

About IBD Partnership Group

IBD Partnership Group has organised international school visits and cultural exchange programmes since 2005, working with more than 50,000 participants across Europe. Trips like this one combine structured learning with genuine cultural immersion and peer-to-peer connection, itinerary planning, accommodation and on-the-ground support handled from arrival to departure. Schools looking to organise an international visit can contact us today.