IFSA Belfast Weekend!

Thursday, November 17th

-------------------------------------

Today was another "get ready for my weekend away" day....but it was a bit different feeling because I was getting ready to be gone the whole weekend, but only about 8 miles away from where I normally am. This weekend is my Belfast Weekend with my program and I'm soooooo excited! I get to do the things that are in my area that I've really been wanted to do (and could have done with friends that already went) but I've been waiting for this weekend so I wouldn't do them multiple times. Well, I will be doing them twice as they are things I'm taking my parents on, but I figured I didn't need to do them three different times. We will be going to the Giant's Causeway, some castle in Bushmills and the rope ladder tomorrow and then Saturday is a black taxi tour! I'm so happy, Jess still didn't decide to come (sad) but Catherine did and we are getting to room together!!! :)

I headed for Belfast on the train about 6pm so that I could get to the hotel by 6:30pm. Everyone else got here at 5:30, but I had a later meeting I had already set up with my Politics teacher to talk about my Politics final, WHICH I GOT GREAT NEWS!!!!! I now don't have to take my exam in class! It's usually a 2 hour in class exam in which you have 10 essay questions to choose from and write essays on the 3 of your choice. I was really stressing because the whole idea of learning a new form of Politics has been hard for me, especially since I'm not really that interested in Politics I'm used to in the U.S. So, my professor met with me and gave me some options and now I will just be writing some essays from home. I gave him 5 topics to write up questions on and I get to pick 3 of them and write those three essays each about 1,200 words. MUCH happier about this!

Anyways, back to the weekend! Got here (Jurys Inn Hotel...same hotel my parents and I are staying at in Belfast in December) and had a quick dinner and then Catherine, Geoff, Arlene (a newer IFSA staff member) and I went right next door to the Grand Opera House to see the Beauty and the Beast Musical! It was very good! It was my night out since I couldn't go with the other Northern Irelanders to the rugby game since I'm gone travelling every weekend. Really...I'm glad it worked out this way! I would much rather go to a fantastic play than sit and freeze through a game I don't understand. :P

After the play we went out with some other IFSA students. First, we went to a club called The Stiff Kitten. Got a drink and danced a bit, but then most of the group decided they really didn't like the club so we headed on. We ended up at Filthy McNasty's for a little bit but then it was already midnight and we have to be up early tomorrow so Catherine and I headed back. Doesn't mean we went to bed though. We decided we were hungry and it just so happens that the Subway across the street from our hotel was open. This is AMAZING for Belfast...you can't ever seem to find food after 9 or 10 any night of the week and this Subway is open until 2am!!! It was funny though...at night you order through a window! Then, we came back to our hotel room and we have been up talking and now it's after 2am so we're ready to get some sleep!

Friday, November 18th

---------------------------------

This was the main day of the trip for our IFSA weekend and the day I was most excited for! We got to go see everything that my friends at Jordanstown have mostly all gone to that I've been waiting for. Didn't want to spend the money on transportation and everything if I was getting to go this weekend without having to pay (although it was already paid for through my whole program fee...but who's looking at those details?!).

We started our day early with breakfast at 8am and on the road by 8:30. It's about an hour and a half drive to where we were getting to and we wanted to be able to do everything still in the day light (it's getting dark around 5pm!). First we stopped off at the Carrick-a-rede bridge to take pictures and get to walk across the bridge. It was a smaller bride than I was expecting but I ended up being really glad about that. There is something about being on a bridge that swings more than I would like really high above the rocks and water that puts me a little on edge haha. It was still very cool and I'm glad I got to go! Especially since I am taking my parents to the Giant's Causeway but this bride is something I doubt my mom would want to do so I'm glad I did it this weekend!

Next, we stopped for lunch in Port Rush and had some salmon and mashed potatoes and apple pie (dessert at lunch?! YAY!). Next, we took a quick stop at the Dunluce Castle. Funny thing about this castle is that in Irish Dun means Fort but Luce in Irish also means Fort...se we went to a fort fort. It's a castle in ruins but it's one of the more intact ones with a very dramatic location being right on the edge of a cliff. I'm going to skip ahead to tonight for a second and then go back because there is something really cool about this castle. So...tonight when we were just wasting time in the hotel room cause we had nothing better to do I decided to look through all the pictures on my computer from starting when I got it up til now. As I'm looking through I have a picture that I put on here back on January 30th of this year and IT IS OF DUNLUCE CASTLE!!! I could not for the life of me remember why I put that on there so I decided to look back on my facebook to see what posts I had done on January 30th cause I couldn't think of any other way to possibly figure it out and on January 30th I was doing my 60 day picture challenge thing and I posted that picture for a place I would like to travel!!! I didn't at the time know what castle that was I just knew I was planning on hopefully studying abroad in Ireland and so I found a random picture and posted it. Didn't expect to ever actually go to that exact castle!!! I was amazed and still kind of am!!!

This is the picture that I took on January 30th and posted to my facebook as a place I'd like to travel.

Here is me at the Dunluce Castle...the same exact castle as in the picture above! Can life get any better?

Back to earlier. Our last stop was our longest stop of the day and the coolest part, the Giant's Causeway. It was incredible to see and we got to have a tour guide which was very fun. He told us all the "boring truths" about the causeway and how it was formed by what geologists have told them and then the "real truths" of the Irish folklore of an Irish Giant who built the causeway to get to his Scottish giant friend and when something went wrong with their friendship he came back to Ireland breaking away the causeway and the ability for the other giant to follow on his way.

When we got back to the hotel we were on our own for dinner so I took Catherine to an Italian restuarant I've been meaning to try here in Victoria Square and we STUFFED ourselves...but we decided it wasn't enough so we got cake and brought it back to our hotel haha. After we finished our desserts I took advantage of the fact that our hotel isn't just a stand up shower and TOOK A BATH!!

So, our day is done and we get to sleep in tomorrow so that's nice! We have our black taxi tour at 11am and then we have a tour of where the Titanic was built here in Belfast around 2pm. Also, the Christmas Market opens up tomorrow so we will definitely be checking that out!

Saturday, November 19th

------------------------------------

Today was a big history lesson and for those of you who know me well know that I'm NOT a history fan. But today was amazing and soooo interesting. We did a black taxi tour and learned so much. The men that give these tours are so knowledgeable on the subject of the troubles that have gone on here in Belfast because they lived the troubles and are very good at explaining things and keeping it interesting.

The troubles happened because of the division of Northern Ireland into the Protestants and the Catholics. The Protestants live in an area of Belfast called Shankill and the Catholics in the Falls. What we learned today is that the division of these two groups runs deeper than even their faith, it also has to do with the country. The Protestants see themselves as part of the UK and therefore are loyal to the queen and do not see themselves as Irish in anyway. The Catholics are the Irish part of Northern Ireland and follow the Pope as opposed to the queen of England.

To be able to drive from Shankill to the Falls took us about 10 minutes but what we learned today is that to drive from one to the other during the night used to take you around 6 hours. There were alls and gates that closed off these parts of town between 7pm-7am. There are STILL some walls and gates that are closed betwee those times to this day that are the main gateways to Shankill and the Falls. There is a wall that blocks the area of the Falls where Bombay Street is (the street where it is said to have all started) and runs about 3.5 miles  and is 45 feet tall. our taxi driver explained to us that itis looked at by some as another example of the Berlin Wall but he then explained how it is very different.  The Berlin Wall was placed to keep people from getting out and was against the wishes of the people. The wall here in Belfast was built to kep people out and was put up because the people asked for it. This also means that it will not be taken down until the people ask for it to be taken down. The construction started in 69 and was finished in 71 and our taxi driver believes it will be another 20 years before the idea is put in place for it to be taken down. He said the hope is for the next generation who did not grow up with the daily bombings, daily riots, and daily shootings to make a change for Belfast. He told us that he has three childrin, his oldest daughter being 10 years old and she knows absolutely nothing of the troubles or that they even happened. And that is this mans job to take people on these tours. 

Here are some of the murals we were shown and the information we learned about them:

No matter where you go the gun is always pointing straight at you...it's really creepy.

This is the portrait of a man who murdered 14 Catholics. There were 59 gates closed off between Shankill and the Falls and for awhile they only closed 58. This man found the one open, went through and murdered those Catholics for no good reason, just because they were Catholic. Underneath his portrait it is hard to see but there are brand new flowers hanging...he is still praised as a good man by the Protestants of Shankill...unbelieveable.

The wall is covered in graffiti...but graffiti that is accepted here as to give people a place to express their art without placing it on companies buildings. Many people have written their names on the wall including Bill Clinton, Justin Beiber and Lady Gaga as the taxi driver told us. It was so nice of them to bring markers to let all of us write our names on the wall too!

The wall is 45 feet tall and there are Catholic homes right on the opposite side of it. Those rocks and glass are there because people still attempt to throw things over hoping to hurt someone.

Bobby Sands, probably the most famous Belfast mural. He was a prisoner who was a part of the Hunger Strike and died participating.

Our black taxi group...the girl next to Matt is also from the Seattle are and her and the girl to the left of the taxi driver both go to college in Tacoma!

After we went on our black taxi tours we went and got a quick lunch of sandwiches, chips and a soda. We were on our own for lunch so we just went to the little convenienve store acoss from our hotel. It was amazing...for 2.50 pouds you can get chips and a soda in addition to your sandwich. However, if you only want a sandwich it costs 2.70 pounds. So pretty much they pay you 20 pence to take a bag of chips and soda with your sandwich? Sounds good to me!

Next, it was time for what they had told us was a titanic tour but that's not really what it was. We did go to see the dry dock where the titanic was build but that's about all that had to do with the titanic but was still cool to see.

After we went to the titanic dry dock we droce to Stormont, which is the Northern Ireland Praliament Building and it is very impressive looking. We went and took pictures there and then headed back. I was glad I went on this tour because being in a UK politics class we have talked about Stormont a lot and it was nice to see what we've been talking about.

Today was the grand opening of the Continental Market which is a Christmas Market in from of Belfast's city hall. We went and it was pretty cool except for the fact that since it was the opening night everyone and their dog was there! We got in, got some treats and got out haha. Now we're back in our room just hanging out. Catherine and I are just taking time to hang out together because they head back to Dublin tomorrow morning at 9:15am and then I won't be seeing her again. :( This weekend has been great and I'm so glad she decided to come here instead of go to Galway! I also talked with my whole family tonight on skype because they are all in different places on Thanksgiving so they're doing theirs today. So weird not being there...

Sunday, November 20th
----------------------------------
This morning everyone headed out at 9:15am. I looked up the train schedule to get me home but it was going to be another hour and a half until the next train and I didn't want to wait that long so I just got a taxi. When I got home it took me lots of time to go through all my pictures and edit them and about the time I finished editing mine Catherine had gotten home and sent me hers so I had a lot more editting to do. Then, I uploaded them on facebook and on here and that really was about my entire day. With the addition of watching Disney's Cinderella of course. :)

It is getting so close to the end of being here and it is completely bittersweet. As much as I am going to miss this I am beyond excited to know that my parents will be here in 28 days and then 10 days later I'll be flying into SeaTac where Robert is picking me up!!!! :D I had an amazing weekend and I believe that is the last time I will be seeing the IFSA group this trip so thanks for everything!!!!!!!!

P.S. there are a few pictures on Arlene's camera that I will add to this later once she posts them on facebook....one of Catherine and me at the Opera House and one of the group that went to Stormont and I don't know...there may be more but that's what I can think of. I'll post on whatever blog I do the day I add them to this so you can see. :)