"The Big Smoke"

We made it to Belfast! After packing everything back up and bidding a tearful goodbye to the North Coast, 8 of us are here in the city and moved into our flat at Stranmillis College. It's so cute!! I'll be sure to post pictures soon. We went grocery shopping when we arrived and each bought something to add to our "Belfiesta" dinner tonight (the name was my creation, obviously). Hence, tonight we feasted on burritos with rice, roasted peppers, and chicken for the non-vegetarians. Ohh my, it was probably one of the best dinners thus far. I feel like I say that a lot, but it was true.

Yesterday the group had a final Coleraine lunch at Nigel's house. We got to meet his wife and two small children, Lydia and Caleb. I'm fairly certain they are the cutest kids I've ever seen.


The whole group, plus Nigel, Lydia and Caleb

After lunch, we all ventured to a nearby beach and frolicked for a bit, despite the rain. It was our last afternoon all together, after all.


The girls :)


3/4 of the Men

It was quite a lovely afternoon. After the lunch/beach extravaganza, we all napped, packed, and then headed out for a night of "Traditional Irish Music" at none other than the anchor...




Ta ha. Anyway, I'm very tired and I think I'm going to call it an early night tonight. Goodnight!
-Karen

Belfast

Good morning!

It’s our last day of class up in Coleraine, and I think we’re all feeling pretty torn. The North Coast is extremely peaceful, serene, and beautiful, but after our field trips to our respective cities we’re all itching to explore them more. Yesterday we left bright and early for a day in Belfast, where 8 of us will live together for 7 weeks. I think we’re in love…

The city has everything we ever craved, and more. Chinese restaurants? Check. Quaint coffee shops? Check. Along with the perks, there’s bustling streets, gardens, a giant ferris wheel, historic buildings and sights, and a great public transit system. Yay :) I got to meet with my internship advisor and see my desk as well. Joanne (the advisor) was especially kind and seemed grateful for my help, and the two of us had coffee and biscuits and discussed the type of work I’ll be doing. So exciting.

Also on the agenda for the day was a tour of the Falls Road and the Shankill Road. Our tour guides were none other than ex-paramilitary men. Their excuse for having such a tame job today was they wanted the public to know the “real” stories from someone who lived it. We couldn’t have asked for anything more real/intense-the two IRA men had each been in jail for 15+ years and were only let out under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. One had a cell next to Bobby Sands and could remember the talks Bobby used to give at night…so incredible. The ex-UVF man had a life sentence in jail for numerous crimes (murder, attempted murder, robbery, you name it) and was also let free due to the Good Friday Agreement. All of these men seemed so perfectly normal, it was hard to imagine them doing the things they did. Anyway, the UVF man was extremely remorseful and was clear to give us his opinion that all paramilitaries today need to “wrap it up” because there is just no use. I suppose it’s easy to say once you’re let free and you’re side still has what it wants. Oh I shouldn’t say that. Oops.

Anyway, before I get too biased, I must say all three of these men were extremely nice and willing to answer any questions we had, despite the sensitivity. I’ll say that the Shankill was unlike no other place I’ve ever been-eerie, quiet, and dark. Even when we saw children on the road they seemed a bit off. Nigel even agreed it was an extremely “weird” and “creepy” area. Needless to say, I’m glad my internship is not on that side of town. Google the “Shankill Butchers” for a good bedtime story.

Ciao,
Karen

Lectures

Hiya.

The past two days have been extremely busy-it definitely hasn’t been an academic cakewalk around these parts! We sat in class from 9:00 in the morning until between 4-5:00 p.m. both Monday and Tuesday of this week and endured some of the most interesting (and probably longest) lectures I’ve ever experienced in a college classroom. Yesterday we met with Derick Wilson, who helped found Corrymeela Centre and we heard him speak about “Agents of Change.” We looked at contributions made by organizations around the country to aid in the peace process, as well as just what individuals are doing in general. We ended the days on a pretty sorrowful note when Nigel showed us a slideshow he put together. The background music was “Run” by Snow Patrol (a band from N. Ireland who I saw at First Ave a couple years back :)), and the pictures in it showed numerous events throughout the troubles relating to personal stories and death of loved ones. The most moving picture was probably a young boy helping carry his father’s coffin at his funeral. Honestly, I’m not really sure how many more days we can take about learning about this stuff as it’s all slowly taking a toll on our initially hopeful selves. There really doesn’t seem to be any practical answer about how to make anyone happy-but I suppose the same goes for life in general. It’s not about winning: it's about accepting, compromising, and overall respecting.

Today’s lecture was a bit lighter-we looked at the education system in Northern Ireland and discussed how it affects young people’s perception of their own society. Sadly, only 6% of schools in Northern Ireland are integrated-meaning they contain both Catholic and Protestant students. Most children are educated separately, have separate social lives, and have a friend circle containing a majority of their own identity. On the happier side-it seems through studies most children nowadays are very open to and interested in the idea of intermingling with others different from themselves, they just haven’t been given as many chances as they would like. Strange stuff. At the moment there isn’t a demand for any more integrated schools, hence why the number sits at 6%. Parents who grew up in the midst of the conflict feel more comfortable knowing their children are among people and families they trust.

NI/USA difference of the day: Most of the toilets here have “sense” flushers-so genius!!! You stick your hand in front of the sensor and it flushes. No touching bacterial infested knobs, no trying to kick your leg high enough to reach buttons. Shudder. Way to go, Northern Ireland.

So far the songs I have been listening to a lot here:

-Really anything Snow Patrol-“Run”, “Eyes Open” and “You Could be Happy”, primarily.

-“Zombie” by the Cranberries. Who knew before coming here it was about the troubles? Not I.

-“If I Ever Leave this World Alive” by Flogging Molly

-“Sweet and Low” and “Boston” by Augustana

-“Where Do I Stand” by As Tall as Lions

-Anything by Explosions in the Sky.

Besides the music playlist, everything else is going well here. We’re headed to Belfast tomorrow for the day where we will be meeting with members from the Republican and Loyalist parties. “Tough guys” as Nigel has warned us. We’re also headed to the Shankill Road to mingle with some ex-paramilitary men. Yeah? Yeah. Should be interesting. I think I’ll be wearing some sort of neutral color tomorrow.

Lastly, we found out our living arrangements for our Belfast adventure (we leave Friday morning!). The 8 of us interning in Belfast are sharing an 8 person flat on the Stranmills University Campus. We each will have our own bedroom and bathroom, but a shared kitchen/dining area. I think I may have to have a “dishes” discussion before we settle in, as some of the girls I’m living with at the moment haven’t quite grasped it. Ew. Anyway, I have high hopes for our 7 week adventure in the city, despite the recent rise in crime. Who ever thought about random bombs going off in the city you live in? Certainly none of us before. We’ll be fine, it just ain't Kansas anymore.



This was the sun setting out my window last night :)

Alright! I must depart. We’ll be in Belfast tomorrow until late, so I’m not sure I’ll get a chance to update tomorrow but perhaps Thursday I’ll have news and pictures.

Cheers, mate
Karen

Beginning of the Final Week

Today is the first day I did laundry! Hoorah. It was actually pretty expensive: 1.6 pounds to wash and 1 to dry. Oh well. I guess I can justify it...haha.

Walking to Portstewart on Saturday has become sort of a ritual, but yesterday it appeared Justin and I were the only ones interested. Despite our mere duo, we trekked the 50 minutes to the coast for the afternoon and enjoyed the town for a couple hours. The day included a necessary lunch at Morelli's (I have now gotten the roasted red pepper and brie panini three times), helping Justin shop for fleece, "topping up" our cell phones, and getting some much needed exercise. Overall, I'd say it was a successful afternoon.

Not much new news, but I will leave you with this:

Some of the girls at the Anchor

I can't believe this is our last week in Coleraine! I'll be sad to go, but I'm highly anticipating Belfast.

More later,
Karen

Friday Feelings

So I've kept a little tally of my mental stability level (ha, ha) on a sheet of paper just to see how it progresses throughout the weeks here in Norn' Iron. I've been making little check marks between 1-10, 10 being the highest. Today I think it's a 10...not really sure why.



The sun is shining, we had a really interesting lecture this morning on young men in Northern Ireland, it's Sarah P.'s birthday, and we're all making dinner together tonight. Basically, I'm just really happy today and my apartment is starting to feel like a home (a week before I move out of it, of course).

-Karen

Doire

We had our class field trip to the city of Derry/Londonderry yesterday, and I think it was one of my favorite experiences thus far. First off, a bit about the odd name of the place: The city was originally named Doire, which means "oak grove" in Irish, and then simplified to Derry. When the English settled, they found the city to have much potential and decided on renaming the walled city "Londonderry". To make a long story short, Irish nationalists tend to refer to it by its original Irish name whereas British unionists call it by the latter. As far as I've seen, no one around here has really made a big deal about whatever you choose to call it, but it's definitely good to know what you're saying and how you're probably being perceived.

Apart from the name, the experience in the city was amazing. I haven't mentioned this yet, but Nigel has a lot of different music in our giant van and we have come to realize he times it fairly strategically so that it perfectly supplements our mood. As our van wound through small towns with extremely troubled pasts on our way to Derry, a beautiful but sorrowful Irish-folk song about the troubles set the tone. I think it was pretty appropriate preparation for our day in the Walled City.

We began in the morning by winding through the downtown. It was a pretty standard city despite the numerous abandoned Protestant churches and the run-down Apprentice Boys base with paint bombs all over the front of it. Once we reached the wall, we were overlooking the Catholic side of the city known as the "bogside". I'm not sure if everyone is familiar with the Battle of the Bogside or Bloody Sunday, but the "bog" has definitely had its fair share of violent history in the past few decades and there's an eerie sort of feeling on the streets. During the day, we had the honor of getting two extremely moving tours. The first was from an ex-IRA member who showed us Derry's "peace wall", some historic places, and of course, the murals. The second tour was of the museum of free derry and sort of a tour of where exactly the events of Bloody Sunday commenced.

The murals were amazing. The pictures definitely don't do them enough justice:



Bernadette Devlin is slowly becoming our new idol...


Father Daly waving a white handkerchief on bloody sunday, right before he got shot

There's a lot more murals, but these were some of my favorites.


The "peace wall"

I can't believe some of the things they had in the Museum of Free Derry. After a few minutes of curating, the man showing us around let us know that his 17 year old brother, Michael Kelly, was one of the victims on Bloody Sunday. He was comfortable with answering any questions we had, and it was really incredible hearing the story from someone who was present during the entire thing, and especially someone who had to help lift his lifeless teenage brother into an ambulance at that.








These are pretty self-explanatory. Needless to say, we were all in a pretty somber mood when we left the Museum for the tour on the streets. When we walked outside, we were alerted to the fact two victims had died on the sidewalk in front of the building. This tour shook us all up a bit, but I think when our curator showed us the place that his brother was shot was when a few in the group started to lose it. Anyway, our day in Derry was a pretty significant one and being in such a historic place makes everything seem so much more real.

Alright it's dinner time, I must depart!
cheers, k.g.

Long Day

Good afternoon! I'm on my lunch break in the middle of the class day. I said previously that most class days go from around 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but today is an unusually long day and we started early and won't be going home until 6 p.m. On the brighter side, the lectures we've been having are extremely interesting and we are hardly noticing the time at all. Yesterday we had a 3 hour long lecture on symbols (primarily murals) in Northern Ireland, this morning a woman spoke to us about women's role in the conflict as well as modern day NI, and this afternoon Nigel is lecturing us on the idea of "identity" and how our personal and group identity relates to how we view people. The women's role lecture was quite interesting-maternity leaves here are paid and last from 9 months to a year, abortions are illegal, and the average number of children for women is 2.5 (I think in the USA it's somewhere around 1.9, last I heard). As for the symbols lecture, the murals were all really interesting to analyze, and it was helpful to have an expert show us things we otherwise wouldn't have noticed/understood. They're good indicators of the current political status and opinion of the two religious groups, besides the fact they are usually amazing pieces of art. We're going on a field trip to Derry tomorrow and will get to see some of them first-hand. Of course I'll post pictures once I get them!

Here's an example:


All in all, I'm really enjoying the academic aspect of the trip. The days are long but we're already moving to our internships on the 27th and won't have class again until near the end of the semester. Time's going by fast! We've already seen the weather go from awful to just slightly-awful, we know our way around campus, and we've all made several Irish pals.

There was one pretty significant event from last weekend that I forgot to mention. A few of us walked to Portstewart on Saturday afternoon to grab lunch at our new favorite cafe, Morellis, and on the way home we came across a trio of young Northern Ireland lads on the street. They yelled "Are you American?" from the other side of the road, and we all casually just nodded and answered a unanimous "yes." Once we turned around and already began to forget about the encounter, I felt a painful smack on my left calf and a bunch of cheers from across the street. Sure enough, I looked down and saw a little golden yolk floating down the sidewalk. Yep, we got an egg thrown at us by children. How do you react by that? You can hardly challenge them to fight or threaten them (which I probably wouldn't do to anyone of any age). I'm just curious what you have been taught and how you form such passionate views by age 9. Kind of scary.

Northern Ireland/USA difference of the day: Everywhere the signs point to "toilet" rather than "bathroom" or "restroom". Nigel asked if we think the word "toilet" is an improper or embarrassing word and why we choose the latter, and none of us are really sure. Interesting.

Cheers :)
Karen

Dynamics of things

I'm sorry I don't have any exciting new pictures to post, but you will just have to make do with my attempt to describe everything in an interesting way!

Our first "real" day of class was Friday, and it was quite enjoyable. "Class" is basically going to consist of 1-2 speakers each day and generally goes from 10 in the morning until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. It should be pretty interesting-the speakers seem very talented and many of them have first-hand stories which are always nice.

We went to "Havana" night club last night, which was comparable to Spin in downtown Minneapolis except for the fact it is frequented by Portstewart locals and was perhaps a little classier. And by a little I mean a lot. The group is getting along fairly well, and we all seem to be trying to mind each others' space and feelings. It's difficult since the 13 of us probably would not be a group that would typically hang out together at home, but we're trying to coexist peacefully and friendly and enjoy the opportunity we all have at hand. Nigel is so adamant about good "group dynamics" I think it's stressing us all out more than if we would just not think about it.

I am sleepy today and still have a lot to read before tomorrow. The girls of the group walked about 25 minutes into Coleraine today and did a little shopping/indulging in some Starbucks. YES, of course there is Starbucks in Northern Ireland. It is basically the same as the ones in the US except there's an extra price to "sit in" and eat/drink. I haven't figured out why exactly-maybe it's an extra push to be environmentally friendly since the "sit in" price includes your drink being served in a mug. Anyway, it was good to have a Tall Soy Misto and envision for a moment that I was enjoying it with my dear Kate (we love our walks/starbucks runs), but I'll try to stick to the more local coffee in the future. Also-I do have yet to see a Mcdonalds, although I'm sure there's one around here somewhere.

Anyway besides the coffee in town this morning, I bought some clothing items that I felt were missing from the 70 lb suitcase I brought (Yes, 70 lbs wasn't quite enough) and am now content. My NI wardrobe now has a new pair of boots, a lighter jacket, and 2 nicer short-sleeved shirts that I could wear out. Also, I had a massive vegetable craving and stopped at a small market in town to buy some food items for dinner. I left with pea pods, carrots, mushrooms, and soy sauce and now am extremely excited for dinner. yay! My flat is making more of an effort to cook and eat together (I made french toast for us all yesterday!), but tonight I am tired and just want some stir fry for myself.

British TV is so awful. I watched something similar to "dancing with the stars" except it wasn't with stars, and it was on ice. So really I'm not sure what I watched, but I just had to cock my head sideways and try to understand how and for what reason these programmes (yes, programmes)have been made. Oh well!


Much to read! Cheers.
karen

Bore-ientation

Hello Hello.

Nothing too incredibly exciting has happened yesterday or this morning really, but I'll update none the less. Our class started off the morning yesterday by attending a large lecture/Guest speaker put on for Irish students. Just when we thought no one would notice our lack of invitation, Nigel decided it would be fun to inform the speaker of our presence and we got the honor of "Would the group of American students please raise your hands!" The horror. The speaker was pretty interesting, but he made some cracks at the States which made us all feel a little uncomfortable, I think. I wasn't sure if he had forgotten we were in the audience, wanted to prove a point to us, or simply didn't think it was anything we hadn't heard before and wouldn't be offended. I'm hoping the first, but I guess more so I would hope it wouldn't be appropriate at all in the first place to say negative things about other countries in a student lecture.

After the lecture, we had about 400 hours of orientation on every possible subject of the University. I didn't get near that thorough of an orientation at the U of M-and we're only staying here 3 weeks. From counseling to e-mail, I think we sat in a chair for a total of about 6 hours and listened to faculty drone on and on about things we could have easily figured out on our own. Oh well. At least their voices are pleasing to listen to. After we were free, Nigel wanted to meet with all of us "one on one". Not knowing what to expect, we all roamed around and waited for a phone call telling us to come into the room. Oddly, Bri and I got called into the room together and he simply wanted to discuss with us how we thought the group dynamics were working. I stated I thought everyone was friendly towards each other, and it was only natural at this point in the trip to start to find out who your better friends will be. He said he understood, but he was "quite concerned" with the amount of time Bri and I spent hanging out. He felt the other students were starting to view us more of a package, as "exclusive" and that soon they would not feel guilty about leaving the two of us out of things. I think Nigel gets a skewed perception of the group because he only sees us in the classroom, and I don't think his concerns really had much validity. None the less, we have agreed we will try to sit by other people in the classroom and hang out more with everyone. Who knows. He also thought perhaps the other students were "jealous" that Bri and I had found a good friend so fast, and hence were slightly resentful. Personally I think everyone needs to relax.

I made dinner last night with two of my roommates: Alyssa and Becca. We made a lovely mushroom pasta with red sauce and had a side salad as well. It was the first meal we made together as a flat and I think we'll attempt to keep it a daily occurrence.

I've been sniffly all day, unfortunately and did not pack enough kleenex to accommodate for a nose/fountain hybrid. Oh well. Hopefully it'll pass soon, I can always buy more kleenex. I just wish I was 100% healthy! I'm getting sick of this.

One more thing I wanted to mention. I was told by a Prod I was speaking with yesterday that everyone can distinguish Americans "if by nothing else, just by their teeth." Huh. He wondered why we put such a high priority on having perfect, straight, white teeth. I couldn't answer. All I know is if you had crooked, yellow teeth in the USA, people would wonder why you didn't get it fixed. No one cares over here. Odd.

Cheers!
-karen

An odd 3 days

So I’m assuming there comes a few points in everyone's study abroad experience where they want nothing more than to be surrounded by the comforts and people of their own home, and where they question if living in a foreign country for a few months was really the decision. Unfortunately, I had my first one Tuesday evening. It has luckily been remedied since then, but I suppose I shall discuss it.

The 14 of us arrived at Knocklayd Retreat Center near Ballycastle on Monday afternoon for a 3-day “getting to know each other” experience. We split up into pairs for bedrooms (Bri and I clung to each other, obviously) and settled in. The owners of the retreat center were American and were extremely excited to have us stay. They prepared the meals for us for the duration of the stay, and I suppose it was easier for them to plan the menu for Americans rather than for Irish folk who like things like corned beef and steak-and-kidney pie. Ish. Anyway, I didn’t take any pictures of this place because it was just a little house up in the mountains, and I’m pretty sure it snowed the whole time we were there. Hence, the pictures would have been of just the inside of a regular house, or a window with white and fog outside. Being from MN, I’m assuming both of these views are pretty well standard.

We spent the first day at Knocklayd playing ice breaking games and getting a wonderful meal of grilled cheese and lentil soup, mmm. It was fabulous to have functioning HEAT and trustworthy HOT showers, my goodness. It was nice to have someone else cooking for us for a couple days, but I have to admit I much rather enjoy being in charge of my own diet. On Tuesday afternoon, we did our internship selection process which was a good kick off to the theme of this trip-conflict resolution. Many of us wanted the same internships, and many of us also preferred to be in Belfast which is impossible because we were told we needed at least an 8/5 split between the cities. After about two hours of nasty glares, whining, and persuading, we all had a pamphlet in hand describing where and how we were going to spend 8 weeks of the semester. Ready for my outcome? Don don don….


I’ll be in Belfast :) Hoorah! My internship is with Corrymeela Centre, which is a safe-haven type community that teaches about and promotes peaceful living. So exciting! P.S. It was my #1 first choice, you can clearly see my negotiation skills at work.

Here’s where the story sours a little. Happy after my internship assignment but feeling slightly sick from the amounts of coffee I had drank during the afternoon, I decided to try to sleep off the strange shaky feeling with a nap before dinner. Two hours later I woke up feeling nauseous but decided to go dinner anyway (it takes a lot for me to miss a meal). I sat down at the table with Becca, Laureen, and Nigel and ate about two bites of my fried rice before starting to get really dizzy, mumbling something, and getting up and stumbling to the living room. Suddenly my whole body ached, I was sweating, my head was pounding, and my vision was blurring. I was slightly taken aback that no one at the dinner table had come to see if I was alright, but I decided to just put myself to bed and not worry about it. Half an hour later, I was awoken by shouts and footsteps running around the house. The phrases I caught were “going to the pub!” and “can’t wait!”, blah blah blah. Bri creaked open my door and asked if I wanted to go out, and I think I just sort of stared in a disbelief fashion. Clearly I was dying and no one cared. The next hour consisted of dozing off, breaking into a sweat, and convulsing from being cold on repeat. After a few minutes of being awake, I heard footsteps coming upstairs. Once again, it was Bri who opened the door. She had stayed home from the pub to make sure I was okay. I can’t really put into words the appreciation I felt for my friend who I had only met one week before, but I don’t know what kind of people think leaving someone who is violently ill alone in a dark house in the Northern Irish mountains with no idea how to call anyone was a nice idea. I tell you. Before I had known she stayed home, I was so upset I didn’t know what to do. I was feeling SO sick, had no medication with me, was in a strange place with a comforter that wasn’t washed, thought that I was home alone, and quite frankly I was wondering why I came on this trip. Luckily the night began to get better once I had some company and drank several glasses of water. I think my sickness was brought upon by a mixture of extreme dehydration, food that I don’t normally eat, and intense amounts of coffee and tea. All in all, Tuesday night was awful.

Now things look up from here, thank goodness. I awoke this morning feeling 95% better, ate a bowl of rice krispies, and packed up my things. The 14 of us left Knocklayd (thank goodness, in my opinion) for a day of tourist-related activities before returning home to Coleraine. The idea of the retreat was nice, but it isn’t exactly my cup of tea being given fatty meals 3 times a day, sharing a bathroom with 9 people (one boy with extremely smelly digestive issues, not really sure what’s going on there…), and thinking I was going to need to go to the hospital while the rest of my class was at the pub. Sigh. ANYWAY. We drove away from that wretched place and spent a lovely day taking in the sights of the Giant’s Causeway (supposedly one of the most beautiful places on the island of Ireland), Dunluce Castle, and touring the Bushmill’s Distillery. It was interesting to see the process in which the whiskey was made, but I definitely took the free coffee rather than free whiskey glass at the end of the tour-blegh to whiskey, bourbon, and sherry. Isn’t really my thing, I guess. I think I’m a more vineyard-touring type girl!

Finally after making a stop at the grocery store we’re back at our flat in Coleraine. I bought immense amounts of cereal, bananas, veggie burgers, apples, bread, and peanut butter and am looking forward to sleeping in my own room and eating my own food for the next two weeks. Hoorah! Sorry this was so long, I shall leave you with some pictures now:

Giant's Causeway:





Bushmill's Distillery:



Dunluce Castle:






p.s. In the awkward shadow pic we were trying to spell "HECUA"

That's all for now!
Love, Karen

Fun in Portstewart

After discussing just “popping by” to see the ocean on Saturday afternoon, all of us realized we were quite unaware of how far the trek would actually be. It must’ve been a sight: ten Americans walking down a long road through the country, stopping every few feet to snap a picture of the landscape. After about an hour, houses began to get more frequent and a Portstewart road sign finally welcomed us to our destination. Let me tell you, it was completely and utterly worth it. The road winded down (San Francisco-esque) and let us to view that made us all gasp. The sun was low in the sky and reflecting off a huge, blue-grey ocean surrounded by rocky cliffs. Portstewart was a quaint little village which wound around on the right side of us, and up on the topmost cliff on our left sat a beautiful convent. “If I were ever going to join a convent, I think I’d pick that one.” I stated. We then decided our human requirements outweighed our desire to play on the beach first, so we all sat down at “Morelli’s” and had the best meal of the trip thus far. I inhaled a roasted red pepper Panini with brie and carmelized onions, and we all sat amused as we watched Justin chow down on a quarter-pounder with cheese.

After the meal, we gave in and did the tourist thing for a while. Iain snapped a photo of me with the ocean behind me, I took one of Alyssa and Jordan, Ben snapped one of the girls with the convent in the background, etc. etc. etc. 435 pictures later…Just kidding. But probably nearly. I don’t feel that guilty-It was honestly one of the prettiest scenes I’ve ever seen in my life.

All in all, after stating “I think I could handle living in Portstewart”, I stepped out into street and nearly died before Iain grabbed my shirt, pulled me back, and hence saved my life from the car speeding down the left side of the road. Okay, so maybe I would need to learn some things before I purchase a house abroad. But just saying.

We decided to make the trek on foot back, rather than take a bus. We haven’t done much walking yet around here, and it felt good to exercise and take in our surroundings despite all of us being violently sore today. Oh well. Crucial sacrifices, people. We arrived back to campus as the stars were starting to come out, and decided we would all meet up at the “F-3” girls’ apartment at 8:00 to make a plan for the evening. Nigel told us he thought Americans are always talking about their “schedule” and stressing out over the daily “schedule.” Thus, we are trying to play everything a little more by ear here. We ended up getting cabs back to Portstewart for the evening, where we all hung out together at “The Anchor” pub. I tried a Guinness, and I have to say I really hated it. Blegh. We stayed for a bit, then eventually decided to come home to the Cranagh Village and gather in the other girls’ apartment. The night ended with a noise violation warning from the RA (I’m not sure that’s what they’re called here, but equivilant to). Ha, ha. I guess 1:00 a.m. Saturday night dance parties in the dorms are out of the question for the future.

It’s snowing again. We’re supposed to be headed on a retreat tomorrow through Wednesday, but Nigel said if the snow keeps up he won’t be able to drive the bus and we might have to stay home. The snow isn’t even sticking to the ground. Heck, I can drive the bus if it’s the weather he’s worried about. He clearly doesn’t understand the kind of place we come from.
YES!! I can add pictures now! These first few are from Portstewart yesterday:






This is the view out of my window:


My kitchen:


My cubby/Bedroom:


Snow in NI?!


Alrighty! I must go. Adios!
-k.g.

Saturday

This one has to be really quick, since the gang and I are headed down to Portrush for our first glimpse of the ocean. I see the sun today! Apparently this is a pretty epic event in Northern Ireland.

One of our group has already left us. The first night here she had a "panic attack" and decided she was to homesick (after the first day?) to stay. Alas, there is now one empty bedroom in my apartment and we have a whole shelf of extra food to share. Perhaps I'm looking at the situation the wrong way, but I feel like you need to give it more than a day before you make a decision as big as going home.

About ten of us went to a pub in Portrush last evening. It must've been a pretty local pub, because pretty much every person in the place's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their head when the room suddenly was taken over by loud (Iain) American students. Bri and I played a game of pool with three Portrush lads-Sylvano, Jordan, and Lee and I accidentally tried to pay for my drink partly in Euros. There went my cover.

Gah! My group is calling me. Mas Luego.

-Karen

Settling In

Hello! I'm sitting in the computer lab at the University of Coleraine. I'm a little dissapointed to find out I don't have an internet connection in my room, but I suppose I'll have to make do.

The flight was long, but pretty painless. I can't sleep on planes, and naturally my movie player was broken so I had to work with a fading in and out picture and arab subtitles. Oh well. The woman next to me was from Texas, but grew up in Northern Ireland and goes back once a year to visit her family. Her and I chatted a bit about life in Ulster, and I was unsure whether or not it was appropriate to ask her if she was Protestant or Catholic. Deciding to put PC aside, I asked her, and she was more than happy to describe her Protestant upbringing (gulp), and her neighbor who was murdered a few years back by getting a cinderblock dropped on his head by a gang of Catholics. My goodness. What a way to start off the trip, eh?

We touched down at Belfast International Airport around 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, only to be greeted by a less-than-enthusiastic man at customs. He seemed pretty unsure about the 14 Americans who claimed to be studying at the University of Ulster, but luckily Brienna was the smart one and had all of her HECUA paperwork in her carry on. The customs man stated that we all "owe her a drink", that other customs officials might not have been so allowing, and let us on our merry way. Nigel greeted us at baggage claim (all of our bags arrived safely), and we all boarded a bus headed to Coleraine. We were all a bit taken aback by the blanket of snow on the ground ("I always envisioned it as green", someone said), but we were ensured it was very unnatural and there would be green in hopefully a few days time. Let's hope, because I've definitely had my fair share of snow over the past few months.

The flats at the University are pretty amazing. They call them "dorms" but I would compare them to something along the lines of Melrose at the University of Minnesota. We each have our own private room and bathroom, and we share a kitchen and living room with 4 others. Nigel had allowed us to make a pit stop at ASDA, a local grocery store before we arrived, so we had some food to put in the barren cupboards. After an informational chat, we were allowed to unpack and relax the rest of the day. I naturally decided to allocate a 3-hour time slot for a "nap", did all of my unpacking, ate a bowl of raisin bran, and read some more of my textbook before hitting the hay for a 9 hour nights sleep. Sigh, jet lag.

I am proud to say my alarm worked this morning, I got up in time to shower, figured out my Italian hairdryer in the UK converter, and make it out the door in time to meet for our orientation. It helped that my window opens up to rolling hills and the River Bann, which gave me some incentive to kick things into gear so I could go outside and enjoy my surroundings.

One of the most horrifying moments: Finding there was no coffeepot in our room after I purchased a pound of ground coffee at the store.
One of my more brilliant moments: Putting a cloth over a mug, setting coffee grounds on top, and pouring boiling water over it. It worked! Praise the lord. I feel like this is something my uncle John would be proud of.

OK! I don't have much time left in here because we are all headed "tea and scones" with a few professors. This definitely isn't the USA, anymore. On that note, can I add that there is a bar in the Student Center? I can see where the priorities lie here.

I'm sad that I can't add photos that I've taken, but hopefully I'll get a chance to somehow soon.

More later! Love you all!
-karen

The First Post

Hello my lovely readers, k.g. here. This is my very first post in moichroiinthenorth, which is Irish Gaelic for my heart in the north. I'm extremely excited to begin this blog about my travels in Northern Ireland. My flight leaves tomorrow afternoon (3 hours to New Jersey, 7 more to Belfast, yikes!), and I will return on May 17th, hopefully along with some more worldly insight and perhaps a new appreciation for potatoes.

Packing for this adventure is a little ridiculous. How is it possible for one's life fit into a 3x2 blue box with wheels? I'm not sure how I accumulated so much stuff throughout my 20 years, but it really is difficult distinguishing what's important and what I simply "might wear". All in all, I'm ending up with a giant blue suitcase and a decent sized backpacker's pack. Woot!



The past few days have been filled with some final tasks including calling the bank to reassure them the individual charging things to my credit card in the UK really is me, saying a few goodbyes, planning my packing, and making a few purchases to simplify my travels. I think my favorite addition is my new webcam, which was oddly easy to set up. My skype name is "kgski5", so if you have skype (or are planning on downloading it, hopefully!), make sure you look me up and add me as a contact!

One more thing before I depart. Of course Brittany, I didn't forget about this(and hopefully you didn't either!):



"you cannot discover new oceans
unless you have the courage
to lose sight of the shore."

Ciao for now!
-k.g.