Chiara Gölles, Katharina Herzog und Jana Pail

Through Erasmus+, the three of us had the unique opportunity to work at the Earagails Arts Festival from June 27th to July 25th. Our journey started on the 25^th of June at the airport Graz Thalerhof from where we took the plane to Frankfurt and then to Dublin. We spend the night at the airport and in the morning, we took the bus to Letterkenny where we lived for the next month. Letterkenny is the largest and most populous town in the County Donegal with a great range of cultural offers. The people in Letterkenny were very kind and humorous which made it easier for us to settle in.

Our work at the festival
The Earagail Arts Festival is a bilingual festival (Irish and English language) that contains elements of music, theatre, visual arts, film, literature, and circus. However, the actual festival didn’t start before the 9^th of July so the first two weeks we were needed in their “little” office where we were busy doing general office duties like paperwork, taking calls, and putting information in excel sheets. We also distributed brochures, posters, and flyers to promote the festival, which was great to get in touch with the Irish people and come around in the city. Our colleagues were the friendliest people with such a big heart and a lot of humor, and we already miss them a lot. Although the work in the office made fun and was filled with creativity, we were excited to finally help at the various events that took place all over the Northern part of Ireland.

Letterkenny doesn’t have the best public transport system so nearly everyone is depending on their car. Luckily our colleagues always offered us to “give us a lift” when we were working at events that were out of town. Some of the venues we went to were Oakfield Park, Arranmore and Malin, which are all beautiful places we really enjoyed spending our day at. One time we were working in Malin for three days, so we spend two nights there which was an amazing experience because we got to come around in the city, meet new people, and experience its beautiful nature.
At the events our main tasks consisted of box office and ticket sales, but we always had some other little spontaneous jobs to do which made work diverse and exciting. At the events we were always around a lot of people which helped us a lot to step out of our comfort zone and develop our social skills more. What we liked most about our work at the different events was that we were always facing new situations and got to know so many nice people.

Free time
Due to Covid we weren’t always able to work in the office the first week, so we used that time to do some exciting activities and discover different sides of Ireland. No matter how bad the weather was, whether it was freezing, raining or extremely windy we still wanted to see Irelands highlights and went on some adventurous and fun trips together. We visited beautiful cities like Bundoran, Killybegs and Donegal where we discovered more of Irelands culture. One day we faced the challenge of hiking to the Slieve League Cliffs, which was exhausting but the extraordinary view made it totally worth it. We also saw a lot of beautiful beaches like the Bundoran Beach and watched some surfers riding waves in the cold Atlantic Sea. The festival also offered us some interesting events we could visit during our free time, which we did of course and experienced more of Irelands wonderful culture. We went to concerts, watched Irish dance and acting performances and much more.

The warm-hearted people and unforgettable experiences made this summer very special to us. All these memories will always have a special place in our hearts, and we will forever look back at this time with a big smile on our faces.