Irish Gap Year Reviews

It was a great program that was plenty of fun. If you enjoy adventure this a great program for you. It has a large focus on surfing while also doing other activities. Since it is a new program there are some issues since they have to sort out the kinks; however, as a guinea pig for this group it was definitely worth it. They are improving the program day by day as the learn from their mistakes. The staff is great and friendly and will easily adapt to your needs.

Hi I'm Meghan, and in the summer of 2016 I participated in the Transition Adventure Program for three weeks. It was an enriching and amazing program where we had modules that taught us critical life skills such as time management, strengths and weaknesses, and how to work effectively in groups. The skills we covered in the modules will not only help in college, but also allow us to succeed throughout life. The modules were interactive learning sessions with group discussions held in an open environment and fun activities where we applied what we had learned. We also toured around the country in the beginning and the end of the trip seeing beautifully stunning historical and geographic landmarks such as the Cliffs of Moher, Derry/Londonderry, and Giant's Causeway. In between traveling around we stayed in Bundoran where we did lots of fun group activities like camping, cliff jumping, surfing, paddle boarding, and kayaking. We also got to see what the town was like by going to the fair they had and walking around the shops. The house in Bundoran was absolutely beautiful with horses surrounding it, large rooms, and fantastic views of the rolling green hills and the ocean. Lastly the food they had at the Bundoran house was amazing their cook Rita made delicious meals every night. Overall, I'm glad that I had the opportunity to take part in this program, and if I had the chance I would happily do it again!

Hi, my name is Julen and I undertook the Transition Adventure Programme last summer. The course took 3 weeks in time, but millions of good moments in practice. The programme was based on preparing High School students who want to be socially prepared for College life.
To achieve the aim, we had some morning lessons most of the days. The contents were related to some learning valuable skills (time management, goal setting, leadership, ...) together with knowing ourselfes better to improve our habits and characteristics.
I thought that those lessons would be as the traditional ones (the teacher speaks while students pay attention) but luckily, the lessons were so well designed that we did everything in a much more collaborative way. Activities we did were focused on team work and we could discuss and argue any subject, as a group. In other words, we learned useful things in an interactive and funny way.
What's more, we did uncountable outdoor activities dealing with Ireland beautiful landscapes and culture. For example, we went surfing several times, SUPing, kayaking, etc. We also did some activities to reforce teamwork such going camping by ourselves or hiking.
The thing is that the TAP is divided in 3 parts to do all those activities while you are visiting Ireland and lerning it's culture. In this way, the first part takes 5 days to visit some fantastic places of Ireland while you are meeting new people. The second one, takes 10 days in Bundoran. Students are located in a marvelous house where they will live with each other and do all the activities I have mentioned before (lessons, surfing, etc). Tha last part is the same as the first one and it takes another 5 days.
To sum up, I highly recommend this programme to any young person who wants to know about Ireland, improve as a human and learn some useful things for life. Every thing, of course, acompanied by lots of funny activities, free time, and lovely staff.

Pd: I'm sorry if I have done some mistakes, I'm from Spain!

I am an educational consultant based out of NYC and spent a week in Ireland visiting the Tap and Gap Year program. I also had four students there that I had recommended to the program that were in the TAP program. The location, housing, people and education were all beyond my expectations. My students reported the same. They all said they had a lot of fun, while learning valuable skills that they will be able to use in high school, college and beyond. I highly recommend this program for any young person that wants to have a unique experience in a beautiful and safe environment.