Alright, so I am finally getting back to my blog after a long absence. I've been busy finishing up the rest of the semester, and so I'm going to go ahead and use that as my excuse for failing to update. And I'll be home in a few weeks anyway to talk to everyone and show my pictures. But I thought I would go ahead and write a little bit about what I've been up to to tide you over until I get home.

Since my last post, a lot has happened. I had my Easter break during which my Mom came over to visit and we traveled through the UK, and then I continued to Italy. I've finished my classes now, and only have two finals left. The Christian Union had its last meeting, which was sad. All that's left are some last minute trips and parties (such as the BBQ I will be attending tonight).

I will just write a brief summary of my Easter break, because it was two weeks full of adventure and it would end up being a very long blog entry if I wrote it all down. I'll just highlight the best parts and skim over all the parts where we sat in airports or on trains (which took up a lot of the journey). Hopefully I'll remember all the things we did, because honestly I haven't even finished writing in my journal yet.

Mom arrived the Thursday before my break, which is when I have my last class of the week, so I was done by the time she got here. Very exciting for her, since it was her first time coming to Europe. We met up at the train station, walked around town, ate a good Irish dinner (Irish stew, yum!), and walked around my campus. Unfortunately, Mom's camera battery died right when we got to the campus, so pictures of where I am will have to wait until I get them up. I think we might have walked Mom to death, but she kept up pretty well.

She was staying at a B&B on the other side of Coleraine, which really isn't very far away, so she headed back there somewhat early to catch up on her sleep. The next morning we hit Port Stewart, which is a little town on the coast, and then went up to Giant's Causeway. That place is gorgeous, and I'm very glad that we went. I actually hadn't been yet, though everyone here told me it is a must if you're in Northern Ireland. I definitely agree. The weather cooperated very nicely until we were done at Giant's Causeway, and then it decided to show Mom Northern Ireland's true colors and rain. But that only happened while we were waiting for the bus to take us back, so it was fine.

Saturday morning, we headed out very early to Belfast to fly to Glasgow. My friend Erin traveled with us because she had no plans for Easter. We decided once we got there that Edinburgh sounded much more exciting than Glasgow, so we didn't see much there before we took a train over to Edinburgh. Luckily, the hotel we had booked for our night in Edinburgh had room for an extra night for us, so we stayed there. It was right in the center of everything, and so Sunday morning we headed out early to see the sights.

In Edinburgh, we visited the castle and Holyrood Palace, which is where the royal family stays when they are in Scotland. It was a full day, but very fun. I think we all agreed by the end of the trip that Edinburgh was one of our favorite places we visited. We saw plenty of plaid and heard a lot of bagpipes throughout our stay, so it felt very Scottish.

Monday, we had an early flight to Cardiff. This, of course, is where they film Doctor Who, and so my inner science fiction geek was very excited to go here. The city is actually very interesting. It is the newest capital city in the United Kingdom, and when they built it they wanted it to be a modern city, so all the architecture is very modern and interesting and there is random art everywhere. We got to see the whole city, though we didn't really mean to, because we took the bus in the wrong direction. I could go on about bus problems throughout the trip, but we'll just say it wasn't the first or the last time we took the wrong bus.

We saw the Doctor Who exhibit and some of the places where they filmed, and Mom actually did quite well putting up with it. Erin and I are both big fans of the show (because I forced her to watch it), so we were like, "Oh, this was in that one episode!" I think Mom is going to have to start watching it now that she's been all the places where they film. That night, we ate in a restaurant that was in one episode. It was Turkish food, which I've never had before, but it was very good. That might have actually been my favorite restaurant the whole trip.

We left Cardiff Tuesday morning to go to London. Finding our hotel in London was a bit of a fiasco, but we eventually made it. All of Tuesday was spent traveling, with a bit of time in the evening for shopping. But that was fine since we had three more days in London.

We tried to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday morning, but learned that if you want to see that you need to get there really early. After we managed to get out of the crowd, we headed over to the Parliament and Big Ben and looked around there. We also saw Westminster, though we didn't go in anywhere because of a large protest happening across the street. That afternoon, we went to the British Museum, which is a world class museum. I have to tease Mom about that because she told us about 50 times that it is a world class museum. It was indeed a nice museum, although I missed about half of it because my two friends who are studying in London this semester met up with us. So I spent time catching up with them instead of looking at the exhibits. But it was very nice to see them. And we did see the Rosetta Stone, which made Mom happy.

Erin and I bought dresses in London to wear to a play the next night. We got up early the next morning to go to a place that sells discounted tickets for plays. We ended up getting tickets to Les Miserables, and though they were restricted view, it really didn't make a difference when we saw the play. The play was excellent, and another one of my favorite things we did on our trip.

On Friday we went to the Globe Theatre and took a tour. The Globe in London is actually a reproduction of the original Globe, but it was very neat to see. I want to go back there during the play season, though. They were just preparing for Romeo and Juliet to be shown beginning in May.

While we were walking around the museum in the Globe, we ran into my friend Sarah who was also traveling in London over Easter break. That was quite random, but nice to see her. We also went to the Victoria and Albert Museum that day and to St. Paul's Cathedral. St. Paul's was closed to tours because it was Good Friday.

Friday was Mom's last day, and so she headed out very early on Saturday morning. Erin and I were to fly out that day as well, but our flight was in the evening so we spent the morning hitting a few last minute sights. We went back to Buckingham Palace after the changing of the guards to get some better pictures. After some last minute shopping, we went to the airport.

The airport and our trip to Milan were somewhat a mess, and probably the worst part of the trip. Let's just say, never fly with Ryanair. We didn't get to do much sight-seeing in Milan, and so I will just skip to Rome. Erin and I met up with my two friends from London at the airport and traveled to Rome together. We got there late, but made it to our hotel, which was very nice, and went to bed to start early again the next day.

Monday morning we took the hotel shuttle into downtown Rome. Rome is exactly like you would picture it. You walk down a street, and there's the Colosseum. Walk a little further, and there's the Pantheon. You can almost guarantee that every old-looking building will be a historic landmark of some kind. We wandered around and took way too many pictures of everything. There was so much to see.

One great thing about Italy is the massive number of places to get gelato. We ate gelato everyday, twice, and had to remind ourselves to eat real food, too. The gelato is so delicious, as is the pasta. We definitely took advantage of being in Italy and ate a lot of Italian food.

I think we hit all the major sights in Rome. We toured the Colosseum, saw the ruins, sat on the Spanish Steps, walked around Vatican City (though we did not see the Pope because the line was incredibally long), and went through the Sistine Chapel. Everything was so beautiful there. I greatly enjoyed Rome and would definitely go back.

Erin and I only got to spend three days in Rome, and then we had to head back to Belfast. I was actually somewhat relieved that we decided to go home on Wednesday, because we were so tired by the end of the trip. It was a long way home, but we made it back to Coleraine eventually. I think I slept an entire day when we got back, and then we started to worry about all the work coming up for the last two weeks of classes.

It was a very good trip, and I would certainly be up for another tour of Europe to see all the things I missed. I took about 2,000 pictures on the trip, which I am not going to be able to upload here. I will put up a few pictures from each place we went, but most will have to wait until I come home. I'm sure Mom has been showing off her photo album to everyone, so maybe you already have a taste of what we did.

I hope everyone at home is well, and I will be seeing you soon!

*Ok, blogger won't let me upload photos right now, so I will go ahead and post this and add photos later!

What? Really?

Some of the parade.

More of the parade.

We all got matching Ireland scarves.

Well, since I haven't updated since we went to Belfast, I think it's time for another exciting post about the life of Carrie. Honestly, I think the reason that I don't write too many blog entries is the fact that Coleraine, Northern Ireland is not the most exciting place on the planet. If you want a typical day/week in the life of Carrie, just think of sitting around inside a lot because it rains all the time, hanging out with other Americans because all the students go home on weekends, watching TV or just talking because we have no money to go out. We do walk into town every now and then, and sometimes we attend a small group Bible study (when it's not canceled), and on Thursdays there's the CU and then Spring Hill afterward. Otherwise, there just really isn't much to do.

But we did celebrate Pi(e) Day on March 14th. Wow, I haven't even written since then. Failure. Anyway, I love pie, and so do most people, so we thought it would be fun to have a little celebration. Seeing as how in the States, March 14th is 3/14 which corresponds to our favorite mathematical term of pi, 3.14, we wanted to share our American holiday with everyone here. Erin's mom sent her some measuring cups (they use the metric system here) and pumpkin, and both of our mothers sent recipies for our favorite pies. We had trouble finding pans for the crusts, but eventually found some foil ones that kind of worked. Then we made our own crusts and five different kinds of pie: apple, pumpkin, pecan, strawberry, and banana cream. No one here has ever had pumpkin pie, so that was probably the most exciting to share.

In the end, there were only six of us there to share the pies, so we ate way too much. But it was delicious. I think I might still have a couple of pieces left, actually... The funniest part of the night was later on when we went to the Irish Music Night that the International Friends put on, they had pie there as well. I had to pass on that.

Other than Pi(e) Day, the most exciting thing that has happened in the month of March was St. Patrick's Day. We are in Ireland, so we figured we might as well hit Dublin for the biggest holiday over here. It's funny, because actually, people in Northern Ireland don't think St. Patrick's Day is a big deal at all. And they kept telling us that Dublin is really overrated for the holiday. But we went anyway with about 30 international students. It's about a four hour drive from Coleraine to Dublin, so we had to leave at 6 a.m. This put us in Dublin at around 10, and then we settled in to watch the parade at noon.

It was very very crowded, and people in Dublin definitely enjoy St. Patrick's Day. Everyone was dressed up, and everywhere you looked there was a sea of green. We managed to get a decent spot to watch the parade, though I felt like I was in some kind of mosh pit the entire time. We were packed in quite tightly. The parade started on Irish time, meaning it was about a half-hour late. But it was pretty neat. I thought it was funny how many high school marching bands from the U.S. were in the parade (one from Indiana and one from Florida, weird).

After the parade, we got some lunch and then decided to walk around and look for other things to do. There was supposedly some kind of fair area or something, but we couldn't find it. The art museum was also open, but we didn't know that. So we just walked through shops, and then at about five o'clock when we got cold and tired and just wanted to go home but had three more hours to kill, we found somewhere to eat and sit. Not a pub, because those were all packed. Next time we go somewhere, we need to make sure we know what we can do. But all-in-all, the day was fun. Now I can check that off my bucket list. I have been in Dublin for St. Patrick's Day.

I've had a lot of homework this month. I've written four papers already, and have another one due this week, so I need to work hard on that this weekend. Once that is done, I just have a presentation and three exams, and that is the extent of the rest of my work for the semester.

I'm getting excited for Easter Break. Mom is coming today (crazy!), and she, Erin, and I are going to do some traveling. So far the plan is to hit Scotland, England, and Wales, so we'll see if we stick to that plan. The second week of break, I am meeting up with some friends who are studying in London and we are going to Italy (if we ever get it planned out). It's too bad we didn't have a little bit longer or we could have tried to go more places, but it gets expensive to travel in Europe.

The First Excursion to Belfast

My traveling buddies, Erin on the left and Louise on the right.

The two cranes that built the Titanic (bet you didn't know it was built in Northern Ireland), Samson and Goliath.

One of the many artistic monuments in Belfast.

The clocktower.

Looking out at the city from the globe on top of Victoria Square.

I found a new friend, the big fish.

The globe (where we looked out at the city) all lit up at night. It changed colors too!

A picturesque moment on our way back to the train to go home.

This past weekend, we decided to visit Belfast. All that we had seen of the city was the train station as we made our way to the university, and so a jaunt around the capital sounded good. And so Erin, Louise, and I rolled out of bed early again on Saturday to catch the 10:15 train to Belfast.

The ride was not quite as exciting as the one to Londonderry. No ocean view this time, but it was still a nice ride. We got off at the very last stop, Victoria Street, which is right smack dab in the middle of the city. Since it was around noon when we arrived, we decided lunch would be first on the agenda.

We found Victoria Square pretty quickly, which is probably the nicest indoor/outdoor mall I have ever been in. There is a big glass dome at the top and you can see the whole city from it. After rejecting many restaurants for being too expensive, we settled on a little Italian joint that had a good lunch deal. Of course, halfway through the meal we realized that the deal was only on Monday to Friday, so we ended up spending more anyway. Oh well, we tried.

From lunch, we headed out into the city to explore. We decided to just take things easy since we would certainly be returning to Belfast soon (I didn't realize at the time, but that would be this weekend). Without a schedule or specific destinations in mind, we did what any college girls would do and found all the most exciting parts of the city, like the big fish and the musical grating thing and the whirlwind machine that you could spin. We took our obligatory photos of the architecture and the pay-toilets. We found a nice cathedral and admired the stained glass. Erin discovered a little store that sold used everything, and she bought me a little blue box keychain (it's from Doctor Who, for those who don't know). Then we headed back to the mall to walk around shops.

I guess we picked the mall with all the expensive shops, but it was fun to look at all the nice dresses and wish that we actually had money to buy them. I was on a mission to find a poster for my, as of yet, bare room. Louise took us to the movie theatre and we asked if they had any UK movie poster that we "American tourists" could take home with us. The lady was really nice and brought us a few, though none were incredible. I now have the poster from Australia hanging on my wall, even though I haven't seen that movie. The poster is pretty.

We ended off the day with Starbucks, where we sat at a checkers table and so, of course, had to find a way to play checkers. Just for your future reference, three-person checkers doesn't work. But we had fun trying.

We probably didn't even see half the city, but we had a really good time in Belfast. I took lots of photos, even though my camera insisted on dying half way through the day. And I'll be going back this weekend so hopefully we'll hit some different parts than we did last weekend.

Londonderry/Derry and Other Fun Events

St. Columb Cille's Cathedral

On the train ride there.

The walls

The group I traveled with, being touristy.

I figure that after two weeks of not posting anything, I would lose my audience completely unless I wrote something really interesting. So here is my attempt to remember everything I have done in the past two weeks and recount it in a tone that makes it sound more exciting than it really was.

Last weekend, the 21st of February, I went on my first "day trip" outside of Coleraine. A few friends planned a trip to Londonderry/Derry and invited me along, and of course I snatch up any opportunity to travel. So we dragged ourselves out of bed at 7 a.m. (unheard of at this school) to catch the early train to Londonderry. I'm going to be lazy and just call it Londonderry, even though being politically correct I should throw in the Derry too. Most people don't care what you call it, just those few extremists who continue the division between Catholics and Protestants.

I had a bit of caffiene so that I would actually stay awake on the train ride, which was class (a word I am picking up from these Northern Irelanders). Farms on one side, complete with sheep and newborn lambs, and the ocean on the other, the ride was definately worth it. We arrived in the city at around 9, walked to the tourist information center, and discovered that it didn't open until 10. Sarah and the kids from Hong Kong already had a map and headed off to explore, but Erin, Louise and I wanted to wait for our own map and information before we headed out. A man giving tours of the city kept us entertained with stories and questions about where we were from in the states, though.

Some things I have learned about people from Northern Ireland is that:
1) They are not Irish. They are closer to British, but really just their own entity.
2) They love to talk. About anything.
3) Just like we all claim some heritage from Ireland, they all know someone in the states. When you tell them where you're from, say Indiana for example, they will tell you that they know someone in Arizona and ask if that's anywhere close.

Anyway, just thought I would throw in my random observations. Back to my tale. The information center did eventually open and we got our map, along with brochures for many other places we might visit. You would be so proud, Mom. Then we headed out to the walls to do some sight-seeing.

We ran into the rest of our group almost immediately. They had been shopping a bit, so we timed it perfectly to meet up with them on the walls. Londonderry is the only city left in Northern Ireland with walls completely around the city. We took lots of very touristy photos and enjoyed the history of the perfectly intact walls. Stealing from Erin's blog (because she's a history major and I'm not) the walls of the city were built between 1613 and 1618, so they were very old. I found it really interesting that they are just integrated right into the city. You find that a lot here in Northern Ireland, and I'm sure in the rest of Europe. A very historical structure or building will be right next to a very modern-looking mall.

We found Saint Columb Cille's Cathedral and went inside. I learned about him in my Irish Literary History class, so it was very interesting to see the cathedral built in his honor. I love stained glass, and just seeing the details put into those structures is fascinating. The cathedral is still in use, and they even had an organist playing while we were there, which enhanced the tour.

After the cathedral, we all decided that lunch needed to be the next item on the agenda. We ate a Witherspoon's, and I don't remember if I mentioned this earlier, but it's a chain restraunt that takes historic buildings and turns the inside into a pub. We ate at the one in Coleraine earlier this year, and that used to be the courthouse. I really like it because it preserves history, but it's also not too expensive and the food is delicious. I got cottage pie, which was very good.

The group split again after lunch and Erin, Louise, and I found a little craft area. It was set back in an area of brick buildings and stone roads with brightly painted doors and window sills. Ivy grew all over the walls and made it feel like what I thought Ireland would be like. They probably keep the area intact for tourists, as they have touristy shops there, but it was very cool. I found an old-looking map of the Kingdom of Ireland and had to buy it. We also looked at a crystal shop because I have heard that Ireland makes nice crystal, but everything was really expensive.

We walked around for a long time, and eventually made our way back to one of the malls (they have 3) to rest for a bit. My feet were hurting after walking all day. Erin almost fell asleep while we were sitting, so we decided to take the earlier train back so we could have a break before the Ceilidh (pronounced KAY-lee) in the evening.

A Ceilidh is a traditional Irish dance, and the International Friends put it on for us in Coleraine. It was so much fun! We didn't do the river-dance type of thing you might think of when you think Irish dance, but we did get to see a girl do some of that which was neat. The dancing we did was group dancing and reminded me more of square dancing , except set to Irish music instead of country music. It was a lot of fun. By the time we got home that night, I slept like a log.

Well, I think this post is long enough. We went to Belfast this weekend, but I'm going to have to write about that in another post, hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday. I need to get some work done now, and tonight we're going over to a friend's house. I might also hold off on posting photos until I finish some work, so maybe I'll get those up tonight. So, Mom, if you're reading this, wait until I post photos to print it off so you don't waste printer ink. I know it's hard, but patience is a virtue.

Missio Dei

The building where we stayed.

Most of the group (missing a couple).

The chapel on campus.

A poor bee that we terrorized for a while to get this photo.

They had small doors inside the big doors to our building.

This weekend I attended a conference with IFES called Missio Dei. We left Ulster on Friday afternoon and drove down to Maynooth, which is in the South (the Republic, but no one here calls it that). It is close to Dublin. I rode with Rachel and Ashely, along with Sarah and Erin, so we had a good time. The countryside is beautiful.

The drive took about four hours, plus a pit stop at Rachel's house to switch cars because hers was dying. We got there just in time to take a walk across the campus, then walk back because we realized the sessions were actually held in a building fairly close to the one we were staying in. There weren't as many people as I was expecting, no more than 100 students, but that ended up being very nice so that we got to talk with a lot of them. About 12 came from Coleraine, so we were actually one of the larger groups there.

The music was very good, and I learned some new songs. Our speaker came all the way from Australia (yep, Chelsea, I got to listen to his accent all weekend), and at first I wasn't sure about him, but he ended up giving a powerful message.

We stayed in very nice accomodation with warm cozy beds (I say this because the room where we had sessions had no heat so we froze all weekend). The only problem was that the girls had no showers. The boys did, and we actually had cold showers on Friday night, but then the water was shut off so we didn't have any showers and had to wash our hair in the sink. I luckily got a cold shower on Friday night, so at least I was somewhat clean for the weekend.

Breakfast was amazing. They gave us all kinds of choices, and these included delicious danishes and croissants filled with chocolate. I ate some fruit too so I felt healthier. The provided lunch, too, but for dinner we had to get our own. Friday night we got Chinese (but no silverware, good times) and Saturday we went out for dinner. Can I just say that chiken and sweet corn sandwiches are genius?

On Saturday, we had a couple hours of free time, so Erin and I walked around campus taking pictures. I think I ended up with about 200 for the whole weekend. But it was gorgeous, so we had to take pictures.

Saturday night there was a prayer time where they put up different stations to pray for different things such as the world, our campuses, friends, etc. I've done things like this before, but this one had a few different ideas than I've seen, so it was neat. And prayer is always good.

After all the sessions, Erin and I convinced a couple of kids to learn Euchre, so we taught them. We were excited to play, though I'm not sure they appreciated our competitive attitudes. One guy I learned is also obsessed with Doctor Who, so I think we're going to have a party and make a Tardis cake since we never did that before I left.

Sunday was the final session, and then we packed up to leave. On the drive back, we stopped at Robin's house for some tea and sandwiches and dessert. His family is so sweet, and his little niece was entertaining. We also made a stop back at Rachel's house to switch back cars, since she was using her mom's. They had a nice fire going, something they do a lot over here, and we sat and talked for a while with her family. It seems her suspension in her car was not quite right, which is why it was making strange noises, but it was alright to drive, so we took it the rest of the way home. I think Erin, Sarah, and I slept most of the way back.

It was a great weekend, and very encouraging to see so many Christian groups throughout Ireland, and learn about more throughout the world. I got to know people a lot better, and I'm so glad I went.

A Week's Worth of Posts

A waterfall on my campus in the daffodil garden.

They say the grass is greener in Ireland, and they're right.

The beach at Port Stewart. Very pretty.

A snapshot of the town of Coleraine.

Saint Patrick's church in Coleraine.

Wow, it has been quite a while since I last wrote. Sorry about that. Not much has happened the past week. Let's see, there were a couple of events with the International Friends which is put on by a local church and just gets all the international kids together to do stuff. We went to the beach in Port Stewart yesterday, which was very cold but cool. They feed us so we appreciate that.

I've met some pretty cool people. My housemates, of course, and their friends, and a lot of internationals, and also the kids in the CU. Everyone has been very nice, and I feel more like I'm fitting in now.

We went to Spring Hill Thursday after CU with a few of the kids there. It's a cute little pub that plays traditional live Irish music. That was really cool. We sat by the fire and chatted, and then at midnight they gave us little ham and Coleraine cheese sandwiches on wheaton bread. They were amazing. Some of my housemates' friends showed up (I guess they 'live' there), and one of them bought me a coke. So I got a guy to buy me a drink, haha. I will definately be revisiting that little pub.

Otherwise, the week has been filled with class. I have to make a movie about the ocean for my oceanography class. So I think I'm going to make it about sea turtles since I have some footage of them from last summer. Nothing is ever easy, though, so today I am going to try and work out all the kinks in my video and Windows Movie Maker which is a pain.

Next weekend I am going with the CU to a conference near Dublin. It will be somewhat like Sonburst, the Intervarsity conference I attended last semester. I'm excited to go, and since there are only about ten or fifteen other kids going, I think we'll get to know them better. That will be neat.

I am going to try to post some pictures, so hopefully it works so y'all can see what I've been up to. I'm sure Mom will be very excited, print them off, and show them to everyone. So I'll pick good ones. Hope everything is going well back home! I miss you all!

IFES

Today was by far the best day yet, and I knew that it would be. That is because today was the meeting for the CU (Christian Union). You see, I have met lots of nice people in Ireland, and I've done some fun things, but I had yet to meet a Christian who shared my values and my faith.

I didn't realize how taxing it can be to be around non-Christians, and I think it's one of those things that you don't really notice until you've done it for a while and then gone back to a group of Christians. It's a completely different experience. Sure, there are loads of really nice, polite, friendly non-Christians, and it's great to hang out with them. But there is something much deeper and more comfortable with relationships with other Christians.

Looking back at this week, the difference is staggering. I drug myself out of bed in the morning to go to class, which I didn't really enjoy, I came back to my room and hopped on my computer to either talk to friends on Skype or muddle around on Facebook for a few hours, and if I had to, I would go downstairs to chat with my roommates or grab a bite to eat. And I slept a lot to make up for time I just couldn't fill doing these other things.

And the reason, which is so obvious to me now, is that I had nothing in common with anyone, and that's depressing! Well, I have some things in common with my roommates. They are very sweet girls and I love them all. They've been very hospitable to me and helped me transition to the new country very nicely. But they also spend their time gossiping and partying, and I just really don't find that very fun.

But tonight at IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students aka their version of InterVarsity), I met other students who don't party. Who sing the same worship songs that I do back home. I met another American student, from Ohio, who loves Euchre (yay)! It was like a breath of fresh air, and a huge sigh of relief that, yes indeed, there are Christians in Ireland.

The meeting followed normal procedure: there were announcements, some singing (all songs I know including some favorites such as How Deep the Father's Love for Us and In Christ Alone), small group discussion, and a message. It was fun and good and normal. I met some Irish students who were happy to chat for a while afterwards, and a couple of girls that insisted we go out with them tomorrow before they cook for us and we watch some movies. We also found a Vineyard church to check out on Sunday, so that's pretty exciting.

I am just ecstatic that I found people that I have something in common with. Maybe this semester won't be so bad afterall. Oh, and before you all ask, yes, there were some cute Christian Irish boys there...

Class? Isn't This Vacation?

It has been a while since my last update because I've been busy this week starting classes. I am taking 3 "modules": Fisheries and Aquaculture, Oceanography, and an Irish Literary History class. The latter two are very interesting, the fisheries class is a little dull, but that's ok. I only have class Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so that's pretty amazing.

Everyone is back at school now, so the campus is much busier than last week. I met the rest of my housemates, who are all very nice. Last night, they took me over to a friend's house who cooked dinner, and that was good. Afterwards we went to the pub where I think the entire school had gathered. They had music and dancing, and of course beer, but I stuck with the dancing. They played every 80's song I know, which was a lot of fun.

Not much has been happening, otherwise. I want to travel some, but I'm saving that for the weekends, and I don't have much homework yet to work on. So this week is just a lot of hanging out. I'm hoping my camera will get here soon so that I can start posting some pictures for everyone to see, and maybe when it gets here the sun will even come out so that I can get some good photos!

Some New Friends

So today started out pretty normal. Got up really late (I enjoyed my one day to sleep in ridiculously late), went to Tesco on the free bus to get some groceries (Tesco is their version of Target, except they have groceries there too), and then came back to chat with some friends on Skype. By the way, sorry I don't have video, but you didn't have to ignore me... :(

After that, my friend Sarah who is another American student came and got me to go hang out with a couple of French students she met yesterday. We met up with them and then headed over to some other French students' flat where they proceeded to make us crepes. The crepes were delicious, and the French people were hilarious. They actually speak pretty good English, but sometimes they wouldn't understand what we were saying, and sometimes they would all start speaking French and we would feel left out.

A couple of Spanish students came over and we hung out there for a while, and then we joined them in taking a train to Port Rush where a bunch of French students were having a party. I think in the entire apartment there were about four total Americans and thirty French, Spanish, and Germans. I felt like such a minority...

It was fun, though, and we got to talk to a lot of people. We caught a cab back to campus, and now I am going to bed because tomorrow we are taking a train to Londonderry to spend the day exploring there. And hopefully tomorrow night I'll get to meet the rest of my flat-mates, as they will be coming back to school for classes on Monday.

Day Two

Like I predicted, life became better after orientation today. I got much needed information, which was good, and I also got into a tour group that was better than your average tour. We walked around the campus, yes, but we also took a hike down to Coleraine and walked around the city. The tour was led by an American student who studied at Ulster for a year via ISEP exchange and her husband who she met while at Ulster. He is a local to Coleraine, and so made the tour very interesting with stories about the local haunted house (which really did look haunted and creepy) and his old boarding school. We also found out where to do our shopping and get discounts and get good food. While at Tesco, their verson of Target, I even spotted some Doctor Who action figures, which made me super excited.

After walking around Coleraine for about three hours, we came back to campus and I found out where some of my exchange student friends live. Two of them were the ones I met yesterday during my travels, so that was nice. The married couple invited us to Londonderry on Sunday, so I think we're catching a train there in the morning and exploring all day. It will be great.

I was incredibly hungry after our escapades, so the two I met at the airport, Sarah and Casey, and I decided to get dinner. I haven't bought that much food yet, and most is snacky, so I wanted a good warm meal. Unfortunately, all the places on campus close at five, so we caught a bus to a nearby town so we could get something. We ended up going to The Anchor, which is a pub that's very popular with the students. I got lasagne (spelled different, I know), which was made with Coleraine cheese and tasted delicious.

My campus here is very gorgeous when the sun shines, which is rare. It rains a lot. But I'm very excited about spring because my tour guide was telling us that in the spring there is one field on campus that is covered in daffodils. There is also a waterfall and stream running through to the River Bann, so can't get better than that, can it?

Chelsea should be sending my camera soon, and in the meantime the couple of friends that I found are taking pictures that they said they will email to me. So there you go. If I'm not taking them, there will be more of me anyway.

Hope you are all doing well at home. I miss you all a ton, and I wish you could be here with me. I have fallen in love with the Irish accent, and am getting used to the different vocabulary they use. It can be confusing.

Well, I'm sure I'll have more adventures tomorrow!

Takeoffs and Landings

It's hard to believe that so much can happen within the span of two days until you experience it and are sleep-deprived enough to delay processing events until later. Wow. From the time I left Tampa to sitting here right now typing this blog, I have gone through every emotion possible, and I don't even think I'm done yet. But let me start at the beginning because otherwise I will not make any sense at all, to you or myself.

Leaving Tampa International was one of the funniest and saddest things I have ever done. Thanks to a few friends who push the help button instead of the down button in the elevator (ahem-Heather) and others who insist on taking pictures of everything, I felt like a high schooler again. But it was good. A little embarassing when the lady who was checking me in told me to turn around because my friends were taking a picture, but good. And I did see you all waving as I rode the tram to the terminal.

On a side note, I am incredibally sorry to all those whom I did not get to bid farewell to before I left. I know, I am lame, but I didn't mean to leave without saying goodbye. I love you all!

The flight from Tampa to Newark was pretty routine. Oh! I got window seats on every flight which was a bonus. Good booking, Mom. Got to Newark and found one of those money exchange things, so I'm set on that. I treated myself to a Jamba Juice before the next flight, which was Newark to Heathrow, London.

This was the flight I was nervous about because it was the long one and I was afraid I would get stuck between two big fat guys or something, but it was actually my best flight. Hardly anyone was on the plane, so we all got our own row to spread out and sleep on. Of course, I was too wired to sleep, so I watched a movie, The Rocker. Laura Schultz, if you are reading this blog, you need to go watch that movie. You would enjoy it. The dude that plays Dwight, Teddy Geiger, AND their first gig they booked was for none other than Fort Wayne, Indiana. Yes. I know.

I'm kind of writing this to stay awake, because I took a nice warm shower and have nothing else to do tonight other than figure out a way to set an alarm in the morning so I will wake up in time for my orientation, and I can't sleep for at least four more hours. Boo time changes. I think I'm going to end up using my phone to wake me up, so no one call me or text me or I will make you pay the bill.

Where was I? Oh, yes. I definately couldn't sleep at all on the plane, and I tried for three hours. But it ended up only being about a six hour flight, so not bad at all. Then it was time for Heathrow, which if you don't know is a large and confusing airport.

Forgot to mention, flying over New Jersey and London at night is gorgeous. I highly recommend it to all of you. Unfortunately, I didn't have my CAMERA so I can't share the loveliness. It's only saved in my brain.

I'm not going to go into details about Heathrow but I did meet up with a couple other ISEP students there who were also attending University of Ulster. One was going to my campus and the other girl was going to a different campus, but we were all on the same flight, so we helped each other navigate the airport and customs. P.S. The girl who was going to Coleraine with me had really long hair, and you could tell. That last statement will only make sense to a couple of you.

So we got on the plane to Belfast and that flight was pretty short. It's really cloudy over here, so we flew above the clouds for most of it, but once we got below them and you could see the country, it was gorgeous. That was one of the points where I got really excited versus before I got on the plane to Newark when I just felt sick. Feelings, I tell you.

I went to claim my luggage, and as it was coming down the conveyer belt I was telling my newfound friends about how my luggage is always broken somehow after flights. And lo and behold, there was a wheel missing from my suitcase. And not just like the wheel itself fell off. No, the entire wheel mechanism was broken off and the bottom of the suitcase was open. Of course. That suitcase is toast, by the way, Mother. We'll talk about that later.

So I had to drag this stupid broken suitcase with one wheel around all day, because what else was I suppossed to do with it? That is what led my emotions to wanting to go home the most, I think. That stupid suitcase. And the fact that I somehow forgot my CAMERA after I told Laura that I thought I forgot to pack it and then convinced myself that I had indeed packed it. Sorry, I'm a little bitter. (Or, if you've seen The Rocker, I'm Not Bitter).

This is probably going to be my longest blog ever, just so y'all know. I'm just finding things to do to keep myself awake, and I do want to tell you all about my amazing wonderful horrible and slightly confusing trip. So on with the story.

Anyway, we took a bus to the train station and then took the train to the school (no taxi's, Beca), and everyone was helpful because they knew we were clueless American's. Oh, and by we I mean myself, long-haired girl from Heathrow, and two others we met on the bus. I don't actually remember any of their names because I am a horrible person. But I will see them tomorrow and maybe then I will remember.

The train ride was very pretty, but also very hypnotic and I kept catching myself falling asleep. Once we got off the train, we were walking over to the Accommodation Office where we were supposed to get keys to our rooms, and poor pathetic I was dragging my suitcase along the sidewalk (which is hard work, man, my arms are going to be sore tomorrow). So an Irish girl we met on the train who was taking us to the office flagged down a random car and asked them if they could drive me and my bag over since it is such a long walk. And they were nice people and took me. It was this lady and her son who was around my age. Don't worry Mom, I hardly spoke to him. I was following instructions.

Yeah, so they definately drive on the opposite side, of the road and the car. Which is very strange. So I got to ride in my first wrong side car. Fun times. But they got me over to the office and those people had a trolley to put my bag on and help. And my dorms are very close to the office anyway.

So I got to my dorm. Here's how it is set up. There are two stories, and there are suites. So in my dorm there are three of four suites I think, and each one has three or four bedrooms on each floor, plus a toilet (not bathroom, toilet) and shower room. So it's a little hall with three rooms, then stairs, then three more rooms with stairs. But I have my own bedroom. Desk with chair, an armchair type of deal, a bed, a closet, and a sink. And the bedding kit they gave me does not compare with my bed last semester. One thing I will miss dearly. The pillow is hardly a pillow, and the quilt isn't very warm. So I might need to get myself another blanket, because it's cold here.

Ok, so I unpacked, found the little store on campus to buy some food and toilet paper because I guess we have to get our own, and then I showered and then sat down to write this. So you are all caught up with the adventures of me.

My overall impression of the semester is that it will be somewhat like camp for me. I just has a camp feel to it so far. And I think once I find a routine it will be good. It's just a big change from normal, so at the moment it feels a bit daunting. But all the people I've met are very nice, though there's only one other girl in my dorm right now. They all come back this weekend. So hopefully they'll all be as nice as her. It is definately a different feel than Eckerd. I'm sure orientation will help me out a lot, since at this point I don't know where anything is or how to get places.

If you made it this far, kudoes to you! You are either really bored or have a strange sense of what intrests you. Like I said, this will probably be the longest blog I ever write, so I hope you have enjoyed it. Feel free to write stuff on here, because I miss you all and would love to hear from you!