I'll Be Home For Christmas

It’s getting real: We are now in the single digits in the countdown for the end of our Northern Ireland Cross Cultural Experience. I have absolutely loved my time here on the Emerald Isle and I’m going to miss it something fierce, but I am looking forward to getting home and seeing my friends and family. I’m trying to enjoy my last few days here though – last Thursday we made fools of ourselves in front of the Mayor of Derry and our host families by performing our (awful) tin whistle and Irish dance; this past weekend the whole group went back to Corrymeela for one last bonding and sight-seeing experience; and this Saturday the Sevens are celebrating our own Thanksgiving.

Starting with Thursday night, we all got together at the Guildhall to show off our skills of the tin whistle (which we did not display very well – to be honest, our teacher was not very good at teaching). We played a few traditional Irish songs, and then we performed our dancing. Personally, I enjoyed our Irish dancing classes. Our dances were traditional Irish barn dances – The Walls of Limerick, The Haymaker’s Jig, and The Sweets of May. Unfortunately, I do not have pictures for you all to see!

Friday we took a bus to Corrymeela. It was just odd to think back that the last time we were there; we were all totally different people, fresh off of the plane. We relaxed that evening and gorged ourselves with the snacks and candy Mervyn gifted us. The next morning, we got on the bus again to see the Dark Hedges, something I had seen all over the “Travel” section of Pinterest long before I got to Ireland, and apparently is a filming location for The Game of Thrones (which probably would have made it even cooler if I was in the fandom). We then traversed to Dunluce Castle, which was the site for a power struggle between Irish clans during medieval times (You can learn more about it here.). It apparently inspired the idea for Cair Paravel in Narnia! Mervyn gave us a quest to find an etching of an old viking ship in the walls of the castle, with a £10 (About $16) prize. Not being the competitive type and having a hunger for adventure, I disregarded the challenge and dashed off to explore the castle ruins.

The Dark Hedges

Dunluce Castle

It was breath taking...

Sheep! I'm going to miss these guys!

After our excursion at the castle, our bus driver, Francis, took us out to see his guest house and...donkeys! 

Donkey Selfie!

A famine graveyard

A miniature goat!

That evening, Mervyn treated us to the Causeway Hotel restaurant, which was DELICIOUS. I had carrot soup for my appetizer, cod goujons for my main course, and a beautiful hot mess of peanut butter crème brûlée for dessert. It was a great time to just relax and hang out one last time before we have to return to the States.

The gang with Mervyn and our Corrymeela volunteer at the hotel (Photo credit: Sara Klenke)

That about brings us up to now. Right now I'm focused on getting all of my stuff packed, buying last-minute gifts, and making the most of my time left here. Since we won't be home for Thanksgiving, the Seven's are doing a "Friendsgiving" this weekend to make up for it. It's so scary and exciting to think that we are leaving a week from tomorrow! I can't wait to get home, but I will definitely miss here: Derry, the culture, the landscape, the history, the experience. This will likely be my last blog post, so I will leave you all with a wish to travel - learn what it's like to immerse yourself in a new culture. I've learned so much about myself on this trip and there is no way I could have gotten the same lessons sitting at home. 

Slán agat, Northern Ireland. I will see you again someday.

   

The Last Stretch! (Halloween and my Placement)

Okay, so this post is a little belated, but first things first:

Derry knows how to do Halloween.

Seriously, America does not know how to celebrate the holiday. Of course, that may be due to the face that Ireland is a place of origin for Halloween. We had been told over and over that Halloween was Derry's biggest night, and that may have been an understatement. The city has a weekend-long festival, with activities and events for all ages. The Sevens got dressed up at our house and then we set out in search of food. Unfortunately, they weren't kidding when they said that people come from all over the world for the celebration. We tried to hit up our favorite pizza joint, Danano's, and to our horror they were only accepting reservations that night. Ravenous, we wound up at Subway for some quick and cheap food. Alas, it did not fill the hole that was reserved for a Danano's pizza. Later, we waited in some chilly weather for the Halloween, watched some fireworks, listened to some live music, and traipsed around the main drag. It was almost mayhem - there were SO MANY PEOPLE.

The Sevens in character (Back row: Zombie - Joe, Pirate - Christie, Ke$ha - Sara, Cowboy/Garth Brooks - Chay. Front row: Rosie the Riveter - Me, Cat - Lydia, Daisy Buchanan - Lexi)

After Halloween weekend, we started our placements on the 4th of November. Sara and I were placed at the same women's center. I was nervous starting my placement because I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Back in March/April when we had signed up for the placements we were interested in, I knew I wanted to be able to work with kids to get experience for my major (Youth Ministry), but I was also feeling called to be at a women's center. I randomly listed the three that were listed and hoped for the best. The center I am at specializes in finding aid for women and their children who have been abused by men. I was hoping to be able to shadow a youth worker or something, but the center just hired something like 40 people, so work for Sara and I is pretty scarce. Right now we are doing your typical intern work: making copies, filing, covering reception, lounging around and drinking tea. 

I asked our supervisor if I could shadow their youth worker, but she is still new herself and is getting settled in. So hopefully, I can get some real experience. I'm trying to look on the bright side though: Everyone I work with has been helpful and friendly, and Sara and I are pretending that we are starring on an all-female version of "The Office."

So there you have it folks. It's the final month. I'm missing home and my friends and family and American things, like Taco Bell and good coffee (No, I'm serious. We REALLY miss Taco Bell.). I'm eager for December 5th to come, but at the same time, I'm going to miss Northern Ireland when I'm back in the states, so I'm going to "yolo it" this month and try to make the best of my time left here. I'll post in a few weeks again about our tin whistle and Irish dance performance for the mayor (yikes!) and how my internship is turning out. Take care!

London, Baby!

I got my papers done, which meant...LONDON! *Screams*

Ever since I was little, I have dreamt of going to the capital of England. My dream was finally realized! We left Derry Saturday morning and hopped on a plane to the Stansted Airport. We arrived a our hostel in Wimbledon that night (Btdubs, I would NOT recommend Travel Joy Hostels - Wimbledon.). The hostel staff wasn't very friendly, they would randomly come into our room for no apparent reason, and our room was not clean when we arrived. Since there was seven of us (Lexi, Joe, Chay, Sara, Christie, Lydia, and I) we had to book an 8-person room, so we were worried that we were going to be rooming with some random creeper. Luckily our first roommate was a medical student named Bahaa from Palestine. He was friendly, but I got the feeling he was kind of scared of us (Seven loud Americans, yeah, I would be too). He was there one night, and then we had the pleasure of rooming with Adam, a student of aircraft mechanical engineering, or something like that. He was from England, so we had a good time getting to know him and having conversations about differences between British and American life. We lucked out on the roommate situation!

Sunday we ventured out and our first stop was the National Gallery. It was pretty awesome seeing classical works of art. There were street performers dressed up in costumes outside! Afterwards we checked out the Chinatown of London to get some lunch. We ate at a restaurant called Gerrard's Corner, which was definitely not as great as we hoping. The food itself wasn't bad, but the service was awful. Our server was rather rude and after we had all ordered, she so kindly informed us that we had to spend a minimum of £8 per person. I even was bothered enough by the service that I wrote a review on Yelp. After our misadventure in Chinatown, we visited the Camden Market, which is a giant and congested flea market-like place. I found a stellar galaxy print scarf (See what I did there?)! We also took a quick trip to the Piccadilly Circus, the London equivalent of Times Square.

Monsieur Canard in Chinatown

Piccadilly Circus

 

A levitating Yoda amazes the crowd

Inside the National Gallery

On Monday we got up and trekked to Buckingham Palace in hopes to see the changing of the guard. Unfortunately, we went on the wrong day, but it was still cool to see the Queen's place of living. We ate lunch in Hyde Park and met some furry critters that were even friendlier than their Bluffton counterparts!

A squirrel greeting Lydia

After lunch, we scouted out the famous Platform 9 and 3/4. When we arrived, I was fangirling and geeking out to the MAX. There was a long line to have your picture taken, but it was so worth it. The attendee was a total Sass Master and he kept the crowd entertained during the wait. He poked fun at Lexi and I, both Hufflepuffs. Whatevs. Hufflepuffs are great finders. After we all had our picture taken, we rushed to the Harry Potter gift shop in King's Cross, where more fangirling and geeking out ensued. It was a dream come true! (Yes, I am wearing a Gryffindor shirt. 1. I bought the shirt pre-Pottermore. 2. I consider myself the Luna Lovegood of Hufflepuff house. I support Gryffindor to support Harry.)

Hufflepuffs: The Canadians of the Wizarding World.

After trying to get to Hogwarts, we searched out Baker Street to solve some mysteries with Sherlock. Okay, not really, but at 221b Baker Street, they have the Sherlock Holmes Museum! I wanted to go in, but I also didn't want to pay and wait in a long line. However they also had a gift shop attached to the museum, we we poked around in there for a while. I still have the urge to watch "The Great Mouse Detective" and BBC's Sherlock and cry until season 3 FINALLY airs in January.

These last two pictures are from the Baker Street London Underground station. It was totally awesome!

On Tuesday, we took the Tube to the Westminster area, which is where most of the iconic London landmarks are. We also took a ride on the London Eye. It was £20, but it was worth it. Also I'd just like to say that Big Ben is not as big as pictures and TV makes it seem. Still, it was pretty impressive. 

The Houses of Parliament

Westminster Abbey

The River Thames

Some guy just chillin' on his sand couch

The Globe Theatre!

The London Eye

Big Ben at twilight.

Since our plane back to Belfast flew back Wednesday evening, we didn't have much time to see a whole lot more. However, we did make time to go to Abbey Road and stand where the Beatles stood (Cue more fangirling). It's a working road, so there are cars, but there was a guy who would stop traffic and take your picture for free and told you how to stand to recreate the photo! Joe, Lydia, Lexi, and I walked on Abbey Road!

Overall, I loved London. I was a little worried that the food was going to be gross and people were going to be mean and unfriendly because my eye doctor, also a friend of the family, told me that when he visited that the people were rude and the food was awful, but aside from the Chinese place and our hostel, everyone was helpful and the food wasn't that bad. I still think that the Irish folk are much more hospitable and the food is generally better, but I wouldn't hesitate at the chance to go back to Great Britian!

 

On The Rocky Road, All the Way to Dublin!

Hey guys. Soooo...Dublin happened. Was it magical? Yes. Was it terrifying? Mildly.

Monday midday we grabbed a bus for a 4 hour trip to Dublin where Mervyn greeted us to take us to Kinlay Hostel (not a bad place and reasonable prices for anyone looking for a place to stay!) and show us around the Temple Bar area. He then left us to spend the rest of the evening to do as we pleased. Ravenous, the groups split up to destroy some food. We found a nice little Italian place not far from our Hostel and downed pizzas and other pasta dishes and chilled in the hostel room for the rest of the night.

I fell in love with Dublin immediately. It was surprisingly clean for the size of the city, the architecture was beautiful, and its inhabitants were friendly. For those of you wondering, Dublin is only about the size of Columbus, Ohio, so it's actually nothing compared to the bigger metropolises of the US. Would I like to stay in Dublin long term? Probably not, but it's nice for a visit.

Tuesday morning we attended a lecture at the Buswells Hotel by a professor named Stephen Harrison, who specialized on the 1916 period of Ireland's history. For those of you who don't know, the year 1916 was a time for huge social and political reform and revolution in Ireland. After the lecture and lunch, we had a tour of the Irish parliament, Dáil Éireann/Leinster House. We even got to see the Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland, Enda Kenny! (Sorry, no pictures because it's not allowed inside the the building)

...But here's one of the whole group outside! (Photo Credit: Alexi Parsons)

Later that evening we went to see to the Gate Theatre to see The Threepenny Opera, a musical set in what I think was supposed to be 1920's gangster era (One fault with the production was that the costumes were not consistent with each other). It was a gateway musical for racier theatre productions like Chicago. It wasn't a bad performance. The acting was great, but the story line wasn't exactly my cup of tea. It was good, but I can't say I have a strong desire to see it again.

Wednesday morning we all met to take a tour of the Kilmainham Gaol Prision, which I thought was pretty interesting. It was built in 1796 and used until 1920's. The prison held the rebels of the 1916 Easter Rising and was used largely as a political prison, although other criminal offenders were detained there as well. Our tour guide told us stories about the prisoners and executions that took place there. He told us that the youngest prisoner was a 5-year old boy who was charged with stealing (I can't remember exactly what, but it was something petty). 

It was flat-out creepy.

The room reserved for prisoners who were to be executed the next day

U2 filmed a music video in here!

The inside of a cell

White bonnets in memory of the women who were shipped to Australia 

The chapel for prisoners. Men sat in in the seats shown, women and children in the balcony.

After the tour, we had the afternoon free so we hit up the shops for souvenirs. That evening we went to the Gaiety Theatre where we saw Houdini. It was wonderful! The best part of it was seeing EVANNA LYNCH (Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter movies) act as Houdini's wife. Guys. I was in the same room as LUNA LOVEGOOD. The plot of the play was basically about Harry Houdini's rise to fame through his death. It was a little slow moving at points, but they recreated Houdini's Chinese Water Torture Cell escape! This play I wouldn't mind seeing again (even if Evanna Lynch wasn't in it).

Thursday was our day to explore Dublin and do whatever we wanted. Some of us went to go see the Book of Kells at Trinity College, which I highly recommend. FYI - when you put a religion major in the same place as an ancient Bible written in Latin with beautiful illustrations, she will experience euphoria and GEEK OUT. Admission for the Book of Kells also included the exhibit of the music library at Trinity. It was stunning. Absolutely breathtaking. And it smelled HEAVENLY. That old book smell...it gets me.

No pictures were allowed to be taken in the Book of Kells exhibit, sorry!

That beautiful, beautiful library.

A few of us also went to St. Patrick's Cathedral. I love going to the cathedrals because they're always so beautiful and dramatic.

Monsieur Canard chillin' by the fountain in St. Patrick's Park

St. Patrick!

On Friday while most of the group headed back to Derry, we took a day trip to Galway. Galway is absolutely beautiful and everyone was so friendly. Our main reason for going to Galway was to get Claddagh rings because that's where they originated. I was looking for a simple sliver one for myself, which wouldn't be hard to find. The first place we stopped at was a family-owned business where they made the rings themselves. The lady who was running the shop greeted us and was very welcoming and helpful. She could look at our hands and just know what our ring size was and what ring would look best on our hand. We checked out the other shops but in the end we ended up back at the first one. It's kind of funny because out of the 5 of us girls we all got different rings! After we got our rings, we picked up a visitor's map that had things to do in Galway and explored it. I would have to say that Galway was my favorite city we visited so far. If I was going to live in Ireland, I would definitely pick Galway. 

Where we bought our rings!

Such a cute town!

The King's Head, an 800 year old pub

Me under the Spanish Arches

My Claddagh Ring!

Us girls with our rings! (Photo credit: Alexi Parsons)

Before we left to go back to Derry, we found another cathedral to check out (Although I don't remember the name of this one)!

So everything went swimmingly until we wanted to get back to Dublin. Some of us wanted to get back in time for a Ghost Walk Tour, so Christina, Selina, and I hopped on a sardine-packed train around 5:30, while Lydia and Lexi stayed behind to catch the next train. Our train was standing room only and I was in close quarters with a lady who kept giving me the death glare like it was my fault that the train was so crowded. We weren't able to even sit down until after we made a few stops along the way to let people off. It was a 2 1/2 - 3 hour bumpy ride all the way to Dublin. While we were waiting on the train, we looked up the time and location of our ghost tour, and to our dismay discovered that the tour was only available on certain days, and Friday was not one of them. Had we know this crucial bit of information, we could have stayed in Galway longer. When the three of us got back to the hostel, we checked in and waited for the other two to return. Their ride back was even more complicated than ours - the train took off late and they had to switch trains, which tacked on even more time than expected. When they finally arrived at 9:30 PM, they couldn't check into the hostel due to miscommunication and card issues. Luckily they finally straightened things out and were able to get in, but by that time we were all mentally and physically exhausted, so we bought a pizza and crashed hard in our room so we could take the next bus to Derry Saturday morning.     

In short, Dublin week was fantastic, save for the nightmare at the very end. We arrived in Derry yesterday afternoon and now we have to two and a half weeks for finish our papers until we leave for London! It's likely there won't be a blog post until after Paper Writing Week is over, unless I'm looking to procrastinate on my papers!