What's the craic?

So, unfortunately this post will not be accompanied by any photos; I killed my camera in the Irish sea but am trying to revive it. My friend met a guy in Derry who said that white rice can somehow heal electronics from water damage- I guess I'll have to wait and see if it works :-)

Other than that this week has been great! I had my first real week of classes which was pretty awesome- I only have 9 hours of class a week with a 4 day weekend, a system the U.S. education system should definitely adopt :-) However, since classes here are pretty independent we have to do a lot of outside reading and research; but it isn't too bad when you get to pick the topic to dive deeper into. I'm enrolled in Oral and Aural Irish, Genocide and International Politics, and Irish Heritage and Folklore Studies- so far they all seem like they'll be interesting classes.

This weekend I went to Castlerock with a few friends (where my camera met it's untimely end). It's a really tiny town just north of Derry and is literally right on the coast. We went to the beach and ran around for a while which was great, especially after being cooped up in our flats all week because of the rain. From the beach we were able to see the top of the Mussenden Temple and started walking towards it. We ended up walking along the cliffs which was pretty nerve-racking because of the wind. Luckily, the National Trust anticipates such crazy walks by tourist and made a trail that led down the cliff, across the dam, and up to the Temple and Downhill house. Mussenden Temple was quite a sight, especially since it is also on its way into the sea, like Dunluce Castle. Both the Temple and the Downhill house were built by Frederick Hervey who served as Bishop of Derry in 1768 and as Earl of Bristol in 1778. Unfortunately, the house was destroyed in a fire, but different groups have been working to restore and protect the building. I think my favorite part of the outing was witnessing some sort of relay race/triathlon. While we were standing near the Temple my friend Hannah asked, "Are we in trouble?" We turned around and tons of people in neon vests were running (very quickly I might add) out of the Downhill house and straight towards us. We thought they might be some sort of National Trust security so we turned towards the ocean and pretended to look at the view trying to look like lost tourists (and probably succeeding). They ran past us and straight towards a hanging basket with maps inside and after seeing their bike helmets and the vests that read "Jeep" we weren't real sure what to make of the situation. We later found out that they were competing in a triathlon/relay and one of their checkpoints was at the Temple. One of the race photographers told us they had to run, bike, and do all sorts of activities including eating a ton of ice cream- sounds like my kind of race :-)

This morning I went to a church called Cornerstone with my friend from the Christian Union named Lauren.  The church was wonderful! Everyone was so friendly and welcoming and the worship and message were great! We are planning on going back for their night service which is supposed to be geared towards students. It was such a blessing to worship God with my brothers and sisters across the pond- the fellowship was refreshing and I am so excited to see God at work here in Northern Ireland!!