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!