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!