The clock hits 12.45 on Monday the 24th of May and the nice lady in front of all the tables tells us to stop writing. Five minutes after chatter breaks out and the woman in front of the tables raises her voice just enough to announce that ‘the exams are now over…’. Everyone streams out the door towards the sun shining outside. The exams are now officially all over and for many that means they get to go home. Similarly, I get to go home as well and visit my family. A week after visiting the family I am enjoying the sun in Copenhagen for a few days before the trip goes back to Dublin and towards Cork and Galway.

Copenhagen was sunny and nothing was planned as the hostel was booked the night before, since I did not manage to find a couch to surf. My mum, second youngest brother and girlfriend came along on the train to visit my eldest younger brother in Copenhagen. He is serving in the Queens guard until end of August when his time is done. He showed us around town and told us about the history of the Kings and Queens, along with some anecdotes from the band-of-brothers. In the evening we dropped my mum and two brothers off at the train station for the night train back home. Hereafter I called a couchsurfer whom I stayed with last time I was in Copenhagen and we arranged to meet up at Studiestæde 15. We went there only to discover that he had left out that it was in the midst of a street festival named Distortion. Since the weather was amazingly good it seemed like the whole town had come out and the whole situation was quite similar to the 1st May Demo in Berlin (though on a slightly smaller scale).

The following day was another sunny one and we went around the city to visit Børsen, Christania, etc. The next morning we left and flew to Dublin then took the bus south the following day and arrived in Cork somewhat after noon. Cork is a very interesting place, the University is especially worth a visit. Also the Blarney Castle which contains the blarney stone that blesses the ones kissing it with eloquence is to be found there. For a more in depth info on Cork have a look at http://www.wikitravel.org/en/cork

On the third day we left for Galway and had some interesting days there. Recommendations would be the Salthill promenade or the Cathedral, also check http://www.wikitravel.org/en/galway for more.

We had some nice Irish days with rain and some amazing days with sun. The days with sun were even so good and plenty that we managed to get ourselves slightly reddish. In Galway we also bumped into a writer in the hostel. He had a lifetime of stories to tell. Most of all he was aiming to write one million words this year or, for my understanding, the equivalent of ten books! That was amazing. He started about three years ago when he and his wife departed from each other. He was 72 and had dedicated the last of his life to writing which he was very passionate about. If you see his book called O’Briens Brothers – Galway to New York in the stores a year from now flip through it, as he told me this was going to be his masterpiece!

Back in Dublin I will spend a week showing my grandmother around and the mother of my girlfriend. After that week we will walk into the wilderness of the Wicklow Mountains just south of Dublin. The walk is more than seven days long and stretches over 127km with trails sometimes over 400 meters above sea level. The trip will be in a tent and we have planned to take the first three days of the walk and then see if we will continue. You can see the trail for yourself here http://www.wicklowway.com/trail-maps/index.php