A Week of Firsts

Hello again and Happy Day-Before-Halloween! I hope this post finds you well! I am quickly discovering that Derry is the place to be on Halloween and can't believe the mass of Halloween decorations all over the city. I have heard that around 30,000 people come to Derry for a night of fireworks, good craic, and drink. It should definitely be an interesting night...

This week has definitely been a week of firsts, which might be the best way to divide this post:

1. First concert in Derry!- I went with some friends to hear the Battlefield Band, a traditional music group from Scotland, which was amazing!! They played at Sandino's, a pretty popular bar in Derry. I had never been there before and from first impression it seems like a pretty eclectic place- especially with the FSLN signs along the walls :-) The music was great and it was fun to run into friends from uni; one of the students from the music department got up and played with the band which was awesome :-)

2. First visit to the Republic of Ireland: my favorite part is that we had no idea we were in the Republic :-) I went with Lacey and Hannah to Armagh, which is in Northern Ireland, but we had to change buses in Monaghan, a city we thought was in Northern Ireland. When we got to Monaghan I stopped by an ATM and was semi-annoyed with it because it wouldn't let me get pounds, only euros. I was about to go in the bank to ask whether the machine was busted but changed my mind after seeing ads along the walls with euro symbols. We thought it would be odd to stop someone and ask which country we were in so we stopped into a cafe and checked the price list and saw some flyers that confirmed that we were in the Republic and not in the North :-) 

Armagh was a fun city to visit; we visited the site where St. Patrick established the first church in Ireland, saw the ruins of an old friary, and tried to make sense of the human orrery at the observatory. Apparently a human orrery is a map of how planets and comets move throughout the year; the human factor meant that we could act out the movement of the planets and comets revolving around the sun. There were different stepping stones to show where to move around the sun/stepping stone in the center of the map. We had far too much fun with that (probably because we were exhausted from being out the night before) and I was Halley's comet (that's for you sister!!).

3. First time eating kangaroo: Yep, I had a kangaroo burger in Northern Ireland from a stand at an international market in town- probably not the best idea now that I think of it. Ironically enough it tasted like a veggie burger- in case you're wondering :-)

4. First time at the Student Union: We have a bar/club on campus and after my first visit I quickly decided that it wasn't quite my scene. Instead I have been going to Masons, a bar in the walled city, with friends. A couple of them are musicians and have been playing at open mic night which is a blast! I love hearing different musicians from around town while chatting with friends- it's great craic :-)

Other than that, there isn't too much to report. I'm still loving it here and can't believe October is pretty much over! Boy is time flying....