A Song of Ice and Ire

Trip Region: Western Europe
Country(ies): Iceland & Ireland
Partners Trek? No
Cost: $2795
Airfare Estimate: $950
Structure: 3   •   Lodging: 3   •   Nightlife: 3   •   Activity: 3

Join 15 of the coolest (literally, cool as Ice-land) Rossers around as we explore and party our way through Iceland and Ireland. We promise there will be adventures, misadventures, boats, the most scenic views, and Jameson. Get ready, the fun on this trip won’t stop until the sun goes down (FYI – the sun doesn’t go down in Iceland during August)!

Day 1 — Saturday, Aug 19

Pat yourselves on the back, Orientation and Impact Challenge are over, and MTrek begins! Meet your up with your fellow I*eland trekkers in Ann Arbor and hop on a flight to Rakejevic, I mean Raykjovich, or is it Reykjavik? We’ll figure out how to spell it eventually.

Day 2 — Sunday, Aug 20

Welcome to Reykjavik! After a long travel day get ready for a basic Icelandic class, just kidding, it's more fun when you can’t speak the language. After we check into our hotel, we will head over to the (GO) Blue Lagoon for a spa day. In the evening, we will have a group welcome dinner with the finest Icelandic food we can find, fingers crossed we don’t have to catch it ourselves. After dinner it’s time to explore the Reykjavik nightlife. Fun fact, Iceland’s signature liquor is Brennivin, or as the locals call it , “Black Death.” Remember all of that stuff you learned in orientation? Yeah, we don’t either.

Day 3 — Monday, Aug 21

Rise and shine! No time for jetlag. There will be plenty of time for sleep in 8am Stats class. We’re off to explore the Golden Circle! We’ll head to Þingvellir National Park where we will see the Strokkur Geyser and the Gullfoss waterfall (don’t worry, we can’t pronounce these either but they look cool in the pictures), before whitewater rafting on the Hvita River (GoPros recommended). At night, we’ll tell each other our deepest, darkest secrets in order to bind our friendships permanently. Just kidding, but your Trek leaders do have a few ideas in store to keep things interesting...

Day 4 — Tuesday, Aug 22

How do you follow up a day of rafting down Iceland’s clear blue rivers? By channeling your inner Viking spirit and traversing the glacial lands of Iceland’s South Coast, obviously. We will meet our guide in the lobby of the hotel and head down to the South Coast where they will take us to see (and hike) a few waterfalls, some black sand beaches, and a glacier or two. In the evening it’s back to Reykjavik for some...fun.

Day 5 — Wednesday, Aug 23

Today we have a free morning in Reykjavik before we start our journey to the land of leprechauns. Anyone down for a geothermal spa day? Then we’ll head to the airport and it’s off to Dublin!

Day 6 — Thursday, Aug 24

Time to get serious. Our full day in Dublin will be devoted to culture, history, and education. We’ll start off with a traditional Irish (coffee) breakfast before we head to the historical Jameson Distillery for a tour. Provided we can pry Caitlin away from the gift shop, we’re off to the Guinness Storehouse for a lesson in how to justify drinking before noon. Hope you studied up for your final: it’s a pub crawl through Dublin! If you can make it to last call then those McKinsey interviews will be a breeze.

Day 7 — Friday, Aug 25

Rise and shine, but slowly…. We have a free day in Dublin (there’s a ton of cool stuff to see) before we hop on a train to Galway in the evening. We’ll kick off our time in Galway in style, with a group dinner, and some traditional Irish music (and dancing?).

Day 8 — Saturday, Aug 26

Today we’re hanging out in Western Ireland! Our activities for the day are a secret (hint: national parks and boats) but we promise it’s going to be epic.

Day 9 — Sunday, Aug 27

Ahh, it’s our last day in Ireland. Let’s see, have you ever wanted to sit on a cliff as the sun sets slowly over the misty blue horizon? We’re going to do our best to recreate the ending to every romantic movie you’ve ever seen at the Cliffs of Moher! So get ready to become Instagram famous (or at least make all your friends jealous of the views). Then it’s our farewell dinner and our finale night in Galway.

Day 10 — Monday, Aug 28

This is the end… or is it? We’ll be packing our bags and heading back to Ann Arbor.