Northern Ireland

I'm having a really hard time motivating myself to write lately (in case you hadn't noticed) but I'm going to do my best to write a post about my recent trip to Northern Ireland.

Last Wednesday I headed out fairly early to get on a bus headed for Derry. I had been throwing around the idea of going for awhile but hadn't actually made any solid plans until a few days beforehand. I booked my hostel and bought a buss ticket all just hours before setting off. Definitely different for me, I normally plan things out to the point of over-preparing. So here I am with only a vague idea of what I am going to do when I get there, no plans for returning, and no one going with me. All new experiences. The drive to Derry was lovely and the weather was pretty great for me the whole trip! A blessing for sure. Derry still has it's original city walls intact and you can walk up on them, so cool!

                                                                   City Walls!

                                              Fence around the Loyalist (protestant) quarter.

Amazing pipe organ in City Hall

                                                                    Fence at a school.

Peace bridge that extends across the river to the rest of Northern Ireland thus uniting Irish Northern Ireland and British Northern Ireland. As the guy at the hostel told me, most people in Derry still feel Irish.

Derry was an amazing city and I'm so glad I got to visit. I was only there one night but I was able to see most of the city. 

I then headed to Belfast for three nights and I spent a day out at the Giant's Causeway. 

 Linen Hall Library. I'm pretty sure it's the oldest library in Belfast. I'm really into libraries so I went in several others as well. All lovely.

 Belfast City Hall. The architect who designed this building was awarded a knighthood.

                                                    Me sitting in the Lord Mayor's chair

Clock tower that leans. They did this intentionally, it's about 4ft off. 

Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge!

Bushmills Distillery. The first company to receive a license to make whiskey making it the oldest legal brewery in the world. 

 Dunluce Castle. This castle is now in ruins, as you can tell, and for good reason. It is sitting very precariously on the edge of the cliffs. The last time anyone lived in this castle they were preparing for a party, there was a sudden rumbling and loud noise. The gardens, the kitchen (holding all the food for that night's party), and a few other rooms of the castle had just plunged into the sea below. That was the last straw for the lady of the house and she said she wouldn't spend another night there. So they left and the castle is now abandoned and in ruins.

Giant's Causeway 

The Giant's Boot 

 Docks where Titanic was built. The brick building on the right was the drawing offices where the ship was designed.

                                   War ship involved in WW1, don't remember the name.

 White Star house (named for the White Star line that owned Titanic). The height of the building was the approximate height of the deck that the 1st class passengers would have been standing on. So if you were Kate Winslet that's how high up your balcony was.

Cranes in the ship yard. 

Queen's University. Gorgeous campus!!!

Botanical Gardens. 

Opera House

St. Anne's Cathedral 

Kelly's Cellars! 

St. George's Market. One of my favorite things in Belfast. 

After Belfast I headed west and stopped in Enniskillen and Ballyshannon and then decided to stay a night in Belleek! It was lovely.

Belleek Pottery 

gorgeous view from my hotel in Belleek

This is a cake topper before it's finished. I want one. 

Kind reminder for all us visiting tourists. 

What, classes are over already?!?!?

Well yes they are, after just three months classes have ended and it is now on to exam time. Great. Just as we were all getting into our routines and finally getting the hang of classes they go and end. But it was a really great three months and I'm so thankful for them. I have learned so much and grown so much from my experience here, I just wish it wasn't all going by so fast. We now have a two month period in which we take exams and hand in projects. For those with just papers they can hand them in as soon as they write them and then they're done! I however have no papers, just exams. And so I must wait for the scheduled day to take my exam and thus prolong the period of suffering a bit longer. I have six exams the first being next Monday, the 11th, and the last being May 10th. Yeah, lots of time to ah study, I guess ;)

I was taking business classes, similar to the topics being offered at home. At the beginning of the semester I thought I wouldn't be getting as much out of these classes as the kids who got to take classes on Irish history and medieval castles and literature classes. But not only did I learn tons in my lecturers, I also loved them! I'm also super happy that I don't have to write the 3000 word essays that those kids are now struggling through! For the most part my entire grade rests on a few short answer questions given in the two hour long exam. A little nervous about that one.

This past weekend I went down to the Saturday market in town for the first time. I have no idea why I never went before because it was great!!! It helped that the weather was being lovely, but it was seriously the greatest Saturday morning ever. This weekend was great overall, filled with great friends and food and sunshine (for the most part!). I've been blessed with some pretty awesome friends and I am so thankful that the Lord has brought them into my life. It will be really hard to say goodbye to them (some are leaving in a few weeks :( ). But we are enjoying the time we have been given. You can check out my Facebook video for some of the fun we have on a regular basis at Java's coffee shop.

Here are a few pictures from the past few days: