Sister City Carrickfergus students welcomed to Danville

lance.gaither@bluegrassnewsmedia.com

Students from Danville’s Sister City, Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland, were welcomed to Danville with a reception on July 12 at the Boyle County Library.

This trip was the second Sister Cities high school exchange, the first being in 2022. Eight students from Danville spent time from July 1 to 9 in Carrickfergus staying with the families of Irish students. Now the Irish students are visiting after students from Danville returned from Carrickfergus.

“It is great you all have the chance to come and share your experiences and culture with us, and we can share our culture with you,” said Boyle County Judge Executive Trille Bottom. “Embrace everything you can while you are here.”

Danville Mayor James Atkins hopes the trip will be a crucial memory for the students.

“This will be a life-changing, life-forming event in your life,” Atkins says. “Enjoy and embrace it.”

Danville students said they enjoyed seeing the geography and learning about the history of Carrickfergus and Ireland.  One student shared that her host family decorated their house for the Fourth of July so that she would feel at home.

The Carrickfergus students were eager to learn about America and Kentucky’s history of horse racing, Mammoth Cave, and Danville’s Glass Museum at the Art Center of the Bluegrass.

“It has been great so far,” said Danville student Henry Sheene. “We have been taking my exchange partner around, showing him things that are normal to us but exciting and different to them. Carrickfergus is a very religious city. The food was a lot different.”

Danville student Emily Beaumann was surprised by the similarities between the cities.

“I can tell why they are sister cities. Being on the coast was amazing,”  Beaumann said. “Everything was much more compact. I think my car is small, but my partner thinks it is a big car. The houses are way bigger here.”

The Irish students were surprised by the variety of brands offered in grocery stores and the size of the roads, and were excited to find out what the famous Buc-ee’s gas station is.

The trip was put together in part by the Danville Sister Cities Commission. Carrickfergus became Danville’s sister city in 2008, and the commission was started by former Danville Mayor John Bowling.

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