My favorite travel memory has to be a trip that I took in my twenties with my now-husband. We spent a month cycling around France with nothing but a backpack, our bikes, and a two-man tent. Eating smelly camembert cheese on a crusty baguette and having no plans or agendas. We just followed an old paper map and cycled a little every day until we decided to stop and pitch the tent.
We have since brought our children back to the places we visited, but a bit more planning had to go into that trip!
Yes, I have definitely changed since working with Irish Gap Year, having taken a break in my career when our children were small, it was a nervous time starting back at work. Irish Gap Year helped make the transition back to work simple and I felt encouraged all the way. My confidence has grown immensely over the years.
We stay in touch with a lot of our students and I guess just hearing from them all from time to time and hearing how their lives are going is so great.
Also, I give the students some cooking lessons to teach them a few basic home-cooked meals that they can do when they go to college or for their family, I love it when the once reluctant chefs send me photos months after their return of the dishes that they are still creating.
I would definitely choose the Irish Arts and Culture program. Having studied art in college and later working as a ceramicist and then an Art technician in a college it would be a dream of mine to immerse myself for 12 weeks in all the fantastic workshops and cultural trips of the Arts and Culture program.
I feel our company is unique because we are a small, really close team and we all truly care about the job at hand and the well-being of our students. As a team, we are all really good friends and that shows through in the students who regularly comment on how close we all are.
I am always proud of the staff of Irish Gap Year, everyone gives 100% but the proudest days are when we are saying goodbye to tearful students who have loved their time with IGY and we know that we have delivered a great program and given some kids from America memories to cherish.
I believe the biggest factor in a company being successful is having a great team. I feel that everyone in Irish Gap Year truly loves what they do. Loving your job and always striving to do your best will inevitably make a company more successful and make the experience for the students one to remember for the rest of their lives.