The Antrim Coast Part 2

Well first off I feel like I need to thank Dansko for making some of the most amazing clogs ever. I've almost walked the entirety of the Antrim Coast in them through quite the variety of terrain. But in other news, this weekend included my first pint and another trip to the coast.

On Saturday Mary Clare, Luisa, and I took the train to Portrush and started our day with a taxi ride to Dunluce castle. Last weekend we didn't get the chance to see the inside of the castle since we arrived after closing so we were excited to go back. We were pretty tired after chatting until 2 the night before but the firing demo did a decent job of waking us up- especially since we weren't expecting it! It was so neat to wander around the castle, especially since it was a pretty cold and stormy day complete with a raging sea below. I am loving living in a country where such old buildings dot the landscape- it was amazing to imagine how many people have crossed the castle floor before me.

^ This is where part of the kitchen fell into the sea! 

After the castle we walked to Bushmills for directions to the Giant's Causeway. The lady who gave us directions made it sound like it wasn't too far from the town so we decided to walk. While the walk was beautiful the road wasn't exactly pedestrian-friendly, so we definitely had to jump out of the road a few times to avoid tractors and buses. But I am beginning to think that Northern Ireland is best seen on foot; walking definitely gives you more time and freedom to stop and stare at the landscape. And it's always fun to wave at random people passing by!

The Giant's Causeway was amazing! I tried to understand the volcanic activity and such that created it, but it was a bit over my head. I'd rather stick to the giant story. There are a couple of variations on the story, but according to legend a giant living in Ulster named Finn MacCool built a path to reach his love living in Staffa, an island off the Scottish coast. But after a fight with Finn, one of his rivals wrecked the causeway to keep Finn from catching him. It must've been quite a run back across the causeway; I don't know whether a giant would be more graceful than me but I definitely had a few close calls while climbing around on the rocks!

Giants and volcanoes aside, I felt like the Giant's Causeway served as a testament of God's handiwork- at least in my mind :-) Looking down on the causeway it was easy for me to picture God piecing the rocks together. It was a good time to think and pray about God's presence in Northern Ireland. Our trip to the Giant's Causeway definitely served as a good reminder of just how small I am in this great big world we live in.

:-)

Getting acquainted

These last few days have been full of class registration and getting better acquainted with the university and the city. On Tuesday Mary Clare, Lacey, and I walked along the River Foyle which splits the city of Derry in half. It was an abnormally sunny day so we decided to enjoy it as much as possible! 

We also visited the Guildhall in the city center where cultural and city events often take place. The building first opened in 1890 but has been rebuilt and repaired after damage by a fire in 1913 and IRA bombs in 1972. The building is beautiful and has amazing stained glass windows, some of which depict the history of Derry.

That night I joined the Christian Union (CU) on campus. Each week a group of Christian students get together for worship, prayer, fellowship, and Bible study. This semester they are planning on studying Colossians which I am pretty stoked about! After a quick introductory meeting we went bowling in town. The students were all so nice and I am so excited to get to know them and get more plugged into the community here. 

Some of my friends are also trying to convince me to join up with the women's rugby team. It sounds like an intramural situation since they only play different University of Ulster campus teams and a lot of the girls who go out for the team don't know how to play. I think I might check it out next week.

Last night my friends Hannah, Lacey, Mary Clare, Luisa, and I decided to go out and experience Derry's pub culture. We ended up at a pub called Peadar O'Donnell's near the city walls. I think we got there a bit too early though; there was hardly anyone there and they stared at us as we looked around for a table- we all felt a little awkward. But later on more and more people kept showing up and we felt like we could blend in better. We ended up talking with Barry, a musician from the Republic who moved here a month or so ago and his really drunk uncle David. They were both super nice but it was nearly impossible to understand a word David said! At one point though he asked me if I was related to Mariah Carey; apparently I look exactly like her :-) 

Peadar O'Donnell's was a really fun environment- if they weren't watching the football game, people were sitting around and talking. We definitely felt more comfortable here than at the clubs many of the students frequent.

After last night I can also say I've been kissed by two Irishmen! As we were getting up to leave Barry and David gave us hugs and I got kissed on the cheek a few times. But I darted out of the pub pretty quickly after David told me he would think of me while he was at home in Belfast. 

All in all it was a wonderful night and I am definitely growing to love the craic and culture here in Derry. 

Cheers!

The Antrim Coast

This weekend I learned that Northern Ireland is ridiculously beautiful! I made it over to the Antrim coast with my friends Lacey, Hannah, and Mary Clare where we spent Saturday seeing some of the sights the coast has to offer.

We took a morning train to Portrush which was a beautiful ride- a mixture of pastureland and ocean. Portrush is a busy beach town in the summer but pretty dead in September on a Saturday morning. So we cut our time in Portrush short and took a taxi to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. The bridge is 80 feet high and 65 feet long and connects the mainland to a small island. Fishermen have hung bridges here for 200 years in order to catch salmon as the come round the coast. It was a 1 mile walk along the coastline to the bridge which was absolutely beautiful! And praise the Lord, Saturday was on of the few days of sun in Northern Ireland! :-)

After crossing the bridge we walked to an old limestone quarry called Larrybane. At Larrybane we found amazing coastal views and a good place to nap :-)

We found a path from Larrybane to Ballintoy, a tiny coastal town. When we got to the bus stop we met some travelers from Belfast who informed us that the next bus didn't leave Ballintoy until later that evening. So we went to the nearest pub, the Carrick-a-Rede Restaurant and Bar, to see if they could call a taxi for us. Fortunately the bartender's brother is a taxi driver so she gave him a call to come get us. While we waited for him we got to talk with some locals about the area and other places to see in Ireland. All of the locals I have encountered so far on this trip are so friendly and quick to give advice on what to do and see; but I'm still working on grasping the Northern Irish accent. I definitely didn't realize just how thick it would be!

We took the taxi down to the Old Bushmills Distillery where they have been making Irish whiskey for 400 years. We got a free drink after the tour which was pretty cool. 

After the distillery we decided to walk the 6 miles back to Portrush. We definitely looked like tourists when we paused to take pictures of the sheep :-) The walk was beautiful, especially since the road continued along the coastline! We found a trail that led through pastures so we decided it would definitely be more Northern Irish of us to walk the trail instead of alongside the road. Unfortunately, our romantic beach path led straight into a thick grouping of thistle and our only choice was to hop a barbed wire fence into a cow pasture. We kept laughing at the cows staring at us as we hopped the fence and picked our way around cow chum. But the pasture ended up being amazingly muddy and by the time we made it across our shoes were soaked in mud and reeked pretty badly as well! 

On the other side of the cow pasture we found Dun Luce castle which was built in the Middle Ages. But during dinner one night in 1639 half of the kitchen fell  into the sea! After that night the Countess of Antrim decided to move elsewhere- I don't blame her! People are working to keep the castle maintained, especially since other parts of the castle look like they might fall off the edge soon.

We met John and Anna who were from a city outside Belfast while we watched the sun set from the castle. They told us a bit about the history of the castle and also about its ongoing restoration. We talked a bit about the US too since their son had studied in Iowa a few years back. They were so sweet and we were so grateful when they offered to give us a ride back to Portrush!

We finished off our Saturday with a night walk on the beach and train ride back to Derry. I am so glad we got to spend our weekend seeing more of Northern Ireland and got to meet such wonderful people along the way :-) This trip was definitely a gift!

Greetings from the parrot :-)

I say parrot because I have developed an interesting habit of mimicking the accents I'm hearing. I met another student who told me he couldn't tell if I was Irish or Canadian :-) I hope I'll get a handle on that soon! God has blessed me with a wonderful group of girls who love to explore and travel rather than stay out all night at the clubs and bars- which seems to be the main choice of entertainment here.  

Yesterday after orientation we stumbled upon the cathedral of St. Eugene. I couldn't find anything about it in my travel book, but it was a beautiful church and provided a welcome break from the rain.

The stained glass windows and stations of the cross were amazing to see. Unfortunately I disrupted the silence in the chapel when I turned a corner and hit my nalgene bottle against a pillar. I couldn't believe the echo it made! So I decided to stay behind the pillar until the sound went away :-) It's amazing to me how easy it is to find such beautiful and historic places all throughout the city! But I guess that's a perk of being in the UK!

After the cathedral we walked back to the walled city and visited the Tower Museum. Since it was about to close one of the museum employees offered to give us a quick tour for only a pound which was a great deal. The tour was definitely a quick one but we got to learn some of the history of the Troubles and hear a story or two. We heard about half-hanged McNaughton and the story behind the red hand on the Ulster flag. A long time ago families in the Ulster (Northern Ireland) area would compete for power by seeing who could paddle to shore and touch land first. One competitor wanted to win so badly that he cut off his left hand and threw it ashore! 

It started raining harder so we decided to make it an early evening and head back- I feel like I'm starting to get my bearings in the city which is a huge comfort. However, the accent here is a whole other story! I was in the market the other day when an older man asked me to get something down for him. He asked me all sorts of questions but I couldn't understand a word he said- so far I've been able to get by on the "smile and nod" tactic which I hope won't backfire on me anytime soon!

I am so enjoying my time here and am excited to start classes this Monday. The university staff here is very laid back so we can add/drop classes fairly easily throughout the next two weeks- which will be a good way to narrow down my list of class choices!

Thank you so much for all the prayers and encouraging notes- it is such a blessing to hear from you all! 

Another day in Derry

Orientation week has been a great way to meet more students! Last night on the way to the market Lacey and I met one of the other students from Ghana. He invited us to his flat for dinner and taught us some Twi over fried eggs, soup, and grapes. I never thought I would be learning Twi phrases while in Northern Ireland :-) Today during orientation I met some other students and we ended up wandering through Derry together which was a blast! We made it to the walled city of Derry- the walls were built in 1613 and are still standing except for the gates which were widened in order to accommodate modern vehicles.
There is a walking path on top of the wall with amazing views of the city and some old cannons. 

There is also a craft village in the city where we found a tea house called "The Boston Tea Party"- we decided to stop in and try some of the local brew which was fun :-) While walking through the craft village a local stopped us and chatted for a bit- people here are so friendly! 

On our way back to campus we ended up in the Bogside area- a predominately Catholic area in Derry that Rick Steves refers to as "the tinderbox of the modern Troubles in Ireland." I still haven't been able to completely wrap my head around the Troubles, but it was evident that the Bogside area chooses to align itself with the Republic of Ireland rather than the North which is part of the United Kingdom. The sidewalks and lamp posts were painted green, white, and orange and we got to see some of the political murals scattered throughout the area which were way more powerful in person. I'm planning on going back to see the rest of the murals sometime this week.

It's funny to talk with some of the American students and hear their accents and lingo changing. Today someone told me I sounded Canadian which could be the influence of one of my flatmates :-) 

Well tonight I'm going out with some of the other international students to locate a good pub (and craic) which should definitely be an adventure... 

I'm here!!!!

Hi friends! 

After 24 hours of traveling, plane delays, some mechanical errors, Heathrow Airport (holy huge!), and the wonderful grace of God I finally made it to Derry! It was so neat to fly into Northern Ireland on a tiny plane and see it from above- so green with lots of sheep. I traveled most of the way with my friend Lacey and after landing in Derry we had no idea where to find a bus or taxi to campus. Fortunately we found another American in the same situation and after standing on the sidewalk for a while and feeling totally jet lagged we found a taxi. I couldn't believe it when he threw all of our suitcases in the trunk- we had so much stuff!!! On the way to campus he told us about the city and how smart we were to choose Derry and not a huge city. The people here are really friendly, but I have definitely encountered some people I can barely understand. I think it'll take some time for me to get an ear for the accent. I'm living in a flat with 4 other girls from the US, Canada, and France who are all great! It's nice to be living with other girls in the same situation as me :-)

We had our first day of orientation today which consisted of a short tour and a meeting with professors about registering for classes. It was so great to meet more international students- I still feel so weird calling myself that. 

I have walked a bit around the city yesterday and today which has been neat- definitely a lot of exploring to do :-)

I hope you are doing well- I would love to hear from you! My camera has been acting weird, but I hope I can post pictures soon!

Hi...

Hello all!

Well, I can't believe my last days at home are wrapping up so quickly! On Sunday I am leaving for Northern Ireland to spend a semester at the University of Ulster- yikes! While I am definitely a bit anxious about going, I am also beyond excited to spend three months in another country :-)

I will do my best to keep you updated on what's going on with me while I am gone through this blog so check back often.

I am going to miss you all dearly- so please be sure to keep in touch and let me know what's going on with you!