Hello everyone,

I posted on the old form a couple of months ago wanting to know how accessible Ireland is for someone with a disability (because I have Cerebral Palsy that affects my mobility) and at that time I was considering applying to go on a study abroad trip to Ireland that is offered through my university. Since then, I have met with the trip directors and discussed my disability with them and considering the itinerary for the trip and my state of mobility, they did not forsee any difficulties with me participating fully in the trip. A week ago, I was formally accepted to go on the trip and I am SO excited! It's been a lifelong dream of mine to go to Ireland.

The trip is 6 weeks long, and I'll spend two weeks each in Dublin. Cork and Galway, with a weekend excursion to the Aran Islands. I will be housed in university facilities for all of those locations (except for the Aran Islands, where I will stay in a B+B) because the group that I will be traveling with will be staying at university campuses in these locations.

I will be receiving college credits during this trip, so a lot of my mornings will be spent doing coursework but the majority of my afternoons and evenings will be free. I'd really welcome some suggestions on some cool, inexpensive things to do in any of the places that I will be staying. I am an avid music lover, actually taking courses in Music Industry here at my school since that is the field I aspire to work in after graduation, so I would paricularly be interested in anything related to music, such as good pubs to go to for live music, good places to buy Irish music CD's, musical instrument shops, etc. I have some vague ideas of places that I would like to check out, but I also would like to avoid wandering around aimlessly if I can help it :)

As far as transportation goes, I have heard that the bus system in Ireland is a great way to travel. I have good endurance and plan on walking a lot of places, but as far as a bus goes, I use a small lightweight walker to get around most of the time....do you think the bus drivers would be patient while I folded up the walker and brought it on the bus with me? What about a cab service? As far as the drivers there, are they pretty knowledgable about the area, if I was to just give them an address or a name of a pub would they be able to get me there without any problems?

Lastly, what about food? I'm a college student on a budget, so I won't be looking to eat out at expensive restaurants except on maybe the last night in a certain city or something like that, so for the most part, I'm looking for something inexpensive, and I will probably look into buying some food at an Irish grocery store that I can keep in my room. I'm not one to eat really big meals, so I was planning on having a breakfast in my room, a snack for midday, and then a larger dinner out somewhere inexpensive each day, but I'm not sure if that would get too pricey. As part of the cost of the trip, I'll be given a 60 Euro food allowance per week, which seems kind of skimpy to me, and is one of the reasons why I'll probably be shopping for some stuff at an Irish grocery store.

Also, I have been teaching myself Irish Gaelic for a while now and would love to go somewhere that it is still extensively spoken. I know there are certain regions in Ireland where it is still like this, but are they all pretty far from either Dublin, Cork or Galway?

Thanks so much! This site is such a wonderful resource!

Sarah