My bags are packed and tests are over with. It’s time for Easter Break!

A 2 hour train ride to Belfast, a 45 minute plane ride, and I am in Cardiff, Wales. We came in late so we didn’t do much besides find our hostel and crashing in our room. The true adventure comes tomorrow.

April 19, 2019

A lot happened today. Alaina and I ate the free breakfast at the hostel and went off exploring Cardiff. The city is filled with these beautiful Victorian arcades that are filled with a variety of shops and restaurants.

Cardiff Castle and its grounds are also located right in the heart of the city. There is the old keep, the tunnels that were used as bomb shelters in World War II, and the House. It was such a great day the weather was nice and almost on the hot side. This has been some of the best weather since I came to the U.K.

And in honor of such good weather Alaina and I had lunch outside. In the rush to find our hostel last night we passed a delicious smelling restaurant that now in the light of day we went in search of. Giovanni’s Restaurant was all we could have asked for at that moment. Yummy Italian food, outdoor seating, a meal deal that included a started, and friendly people. The whole crew was full of personality and amazing.

For the rest of our trip, we are staying at Airbnb’s and our host in Cardiff was nice enough to pick us up from the city center. The room was great with our own shower and private entrance, plus she had dogs which made everything better. Our host was nice enough to tell us about a village called Whitchurch that was not too far away from the house that would be worth checking out. The village was a lot more than we were expecting when she said village. It was like a mini city center situated in the middle of a residential neighborhood. We explored a little bit and got dinner at Fino Lounge. All in all it was a super successful day.

April 20, 2019

The day started off with a bus ride back into the city center and to Barker’s Tea Room for some breakfast. A little window and not so window shopping in the arcades in which I bought more stationery that I did not need. A mid-morning snack of freshly baked Welsh cakes from Fabulous Welshcakes and we were off to St. Fagan’s National History Museum.

St. Fagan’s is an open-air museum and showcases the historical architecture, lifestyle, and culture of Wales. The museum is insanely huge with around 40 buildings which were rebuilt on the museum grounds from their original locations. It took the whole day to truly explore the grounds because of the size of the place. We started at the St. Fagan’s Castle and then made our way through the mills, blacksmith shops, old barns, and 15th-century farmhouses. That was not including the exhibitions in the main museum. Dead tired, we dragged ourselves to a Chinese takeout place and crashed at our Airbnb.

April 21, 2019

It’s time to leave Cardiff and I’m pretty sad to be leaving. It has been fun being here and there is still so much more to explore. But alas, it is time for Bath. We arrived in Bath after a train ride and bus substitute dragging our bags through town to our Airbnb. It wasn’t the closet place. however, we had this studio all to ourselves. We did a quick walk around town and got dinner at the Real Pizza Co. I can’t wait to explore more of Bath tomorrow.

I got the pleasure of taking my phone to the phone repair shop and getting it fixed for a lovely 130 GBP. On the bright-side, the gas station near Coppin House is finally finished. In fact, it seems to be more than just a regular gas station. It is part Centra and part Moran’s which means that they do sell gas (petrol), but they also sell produce, snacks, hot food, and ice cream. That night some friends from Coppin and I went try out their ice cream. Not bad and after having to get my phone fixed it made the day much better.

April 10, 2019

The weather was super nice today! No rain, not as cold, and *gasps* the sun decided to grace us with its appearance. This type of weather is too good to not be in it and I ended up going with Antonia and Josie on a walk.

After not having any assignments or tests this entire semester, final assignments and tests are rolling around all due around the same time. I have to say that even with deadlines coming up this semester has been the most relaxing semester of my entire academic career.

April 11, 2019

Presented on my topic for Irish Folklore today and it went well (it’s also over which is even better). I had chosen to research Irish wakes and funerary customs and I truly did enjoy researching that topic. It was a perfect mix of anthropology and history.

In typical Thursday class fashion, a group of us went to Boojum for lunch this time in celebration f being finished with presentations.

April 13, 2019

Somehow Alaina and I got it into our heads that we needed to visit Glenveagh National Park. It is the second largest national park in Ireland and is just a not so quick trip across the border. Of course, the only bus time that would get us there was at 8:30 am which lead to us getting up at 7 am. However, we almost didn’t get to Glenveagh.

We were not able to exchange our GBP for Euros and the bus did not take card payments. Fortunately, the bus driver was an amazingly sweet woman who set a positive tone for our entire trip. She allowed us to ride to the Letterkenny bus station and just use the ATM there to get the money to her. She even pointed us in the right direction to catch our other bus towards the actual park. She was so helpful and nice that it made our day. The thing we didn’t account for is that there is only one bus that goes to and from the national park and it drops you off at 10:15 am and does not come back until 5 pm. That is the only bus. That meant we were at that park for almost six hours. Six. Hours.

When life tries to give you lemons, make lemonade. The park was huge and we were able to explore basically all the park had to offer. From the gift shop and restaurant to the Glenveagh castle and the beautiful gardens. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside of the Castle but it was truly beautiful.

April 14, 2019

Today was just spent studying for my upcoming finals and working on my research paper for my From Civil Rights to Brexit class. I decided to explore hunger striking and its use in Irish resistance. It is going pretty well and I am learning things that I had wanted to explore when I decided I wanted to come here.

After a 2-hour train ride, we made it to Belfast. It was sort of impromptu trip with a few friends. We had talked about going but had not made anything concrete until a few days ago. Long journeys are relaxing to me for some reason especially when I am not the one navigating to the destination. Some people hate spending time traveling but sometimes the journey is more enjoyable than the destination.

It felt good to be back in Belfast though. The Airbnb was a little farther from the train station than we anticipated but it was a manageable walk to do in the day. The house itself was super cute, plus having an entire home yourself is always great. After living in university accommodation we were more excited at the possibility of sleeping on a comfy mattress and showering with no shower shoes. The most notable aspect of the Airbnb was its location.

The street art, the waving British flags, and churches around the neighborhood were indicative of Loyalist Protestants. In fact, on one of the building Loyalist Tiger on the front and some had pro-Brexit signs. The environment proved to be an interesting shift in the attitudes I’ve been exposed to in L’Derry.

After settling in and crying over how wonderful the Airbnb was, we set about finding some food. We were all ravenous and sushi was on the menu for the night. If anyone is in Belfast I would recommend trying out Sakura Japanese Ramen and Sushi.

I haven’t had sushi in awhile and I found that I kinda missed it. I ended up ordering tempura California rolls with Japanese garlic rice. It was my first time having tempura sushi and it was just as good, sadly, I was too focused on eating to take a picture of it. However, I managed to get one of the Japanese garlic rice.

Jenny had been to Belfast and recommended that we try out the Duke of York. It was charming with a traditional Irish pub aesthetic and live music. The pub was also nestled inside this street that was lined with string lights.

I had an interesting interaction with one of the bouncers. Don’t worry I wasn’t making trouble just friendly banter. For some reason, I referred to Derry as Londonderry when he asked where we were coming in from probably thinking about the location of the Airbnb and what I was seeing there. However, his reaction was interesting. He repeated Londonderry with a confused look stating that London is over the water and de-legitimatized Londonderry while legitimizing Derry as the only true name of the city. Most people in L’Derry refer to it as Derry but on train stations and bus, announcements its referred to as “Derry-Londonderry”, an acknowledgment of both terms.

The interaction really highlights the importance of naming and the role of power relations and historical conflict in the name of places. Who has the power to define and why? What does a name mean beyond the surface?

These are some of the questions I have had since coming to Northern Ireland.

April 6, 2019

The weather this weekend has been the best we have gotten here in a while. We started the day with a visit to the Victoria Square Mall.

The mall is a multi-level semi-open air space with a viewing point at the top that is free. Now, I am afraid of heights and would not go towards the edge. Besides the general fear of heights, the views were very nice and I still enjoyed it. After a quick lunch, it was time for the Titanic Museum. Fun fact: Titanic was built in Belfast.

The walk there was nice and were able to see the Lagan River and the Salmon of Knowledge. The Titanic Museum has to be one of the most interactive museums I have been in so far while in Northern Ireland. I felt like I learned a lot about the a side of the Titanic that I have never learned about before such as the stories of the men who built it and how the ship would have looked and functioned. There was an amazing 180 degree video that took you through the different levels of the ship from the boilers and engines of the ship to the top decks of the ship. The museum also had replicas of what the rooms would have looked like for 1st class and 2nd class passengers.

The sister ship to Titanic, the RMS Olympic, also sits in front of the museum and is a part of the ticket if I remember correctly. Within the museum, there was even a ride kind of like what you would expect at a fair or carnival. Essentially, it is designed to take you through the different parts of the ship as though you were really moving through the actual ship during its construction. They really tried to capture the experience with changes in elevation, sounds, and when we were in the boiler room there were heaters that gave off heat to give an idea as to what the workers would have felt. All of this was done while narratives were being told from the workers themselves. I have to say that the curators really did a great job at trying to make the history tangible and real.

Dinner was a huge margarita pizza from Pizza Express and another interesting interaction about L’Derry with our taxi driver. Unlike the bouncer from last night, the taxi driver made a point of saying Londonderry and warning of the bias that can occur in Derry, essentially stating that there were more sides of the story. His attitude proved to be in complete opposite as the bouncer from yesterday and fit more with the Loyalist side of the debate. It is always interesting to see the nationalist versus loyalist aspect of Northern Ireland on a micro-level. It is one thing to read about the conflict and study in class, but another to see it unfold with you being a participant in the social climate.

April 7, 2019

Belfast has been great and extremely informative, but now it’s time to head home. I got back around 5 pm and did nothing for the rest of the evening really except manage to break the screen of my phone. But, that is a problem for tomorrow at this point.

• Malls are called shopping centers
• Parking lots are called car parks
• Three hour-long classes with 10 minute “comfort” breaks that only meet once a week
• Most people don’t have classes on Monday or Friday and most people go home on for the weekend. Some people even have full-on jobs back homes that they go to on the weekend.
• Going out days Sunday/ Monday and Wednesday nights since most people are either returning back to campus (Sunday/Monday night) or leaving campus to go home on Thursday night (which is why Wednesday night is going out night)
• Makeup and the wearing of makeup. Some of the girls from Magee and around Northern Ireland wear what I would call a full face of makeup. Full coverage foundation, highlight, contour, smoky eye, and lipstick. Some are dressed up and sometimes others are wearing a sweatshirt and leggings. I honestly want to know their secret to how they keep their face set with all this rain and mist here.
• People definitely dress nicer/ are more fashionable here. Again it’s like the makeup, it’s not everyone, but enough to where I’ve noticed.
• It would also be nothing to see someone walking around with a skirt or a dress and maybe some tights or not even though it’s totally cold outside.
• Heels on cobblestones =a very impressive sight to see.
• Smoking! Whether it’s cigarettes or vapers, people seem to smoke a lot more here. It would be nothing to see a group of students standing outside for a smoke between classes, or seeing people crowding around the outside of a pub for a smoke, or seeing someone riding a bike and also having a smoke.
• Sinks in the dorm rooms. There is a sink next to my wardrobe which is very useful! You don’t need to go to the bathroom, every time you need to wash your hands, or do your face routine, or brush your teeth. It’s just very convenient and I wish we had that in the States.
• Single rooms/ no roommates. My entire dorm building here is made up of nothing but singles.
• Dialects and range of accents. People from L’Derry tend to speak faster than some other parts of Northern Ireland. I meet a man you grew up in a different region in Northern Ireland and we got to talking about the range of accents here. He’s from a county that talks noticeably slower than those who grew up in L’Derry whereas Belfast has their own distinct dialect.
• Paying for bags at stores. If you do not bring your own reusable bag or a bookbag to put your stuff in, getting a bag from the store costs some money. It’s nothing outrageous, it just makes bringing your own bag an initiative for most people which I appreciate thinking about it from a sustainable standpoint.
• Alcohol and pub culture. I ‘ve never had a professor or advisor give a recommendation for a pub or bar before, but it seems to be a thing here. Whiskey and little cups of Guinness was also offered at a Culture Shock event that was put on for international students. There was also a Refresher’s Quiz put on my either the student union or Reslife that was BYOB (bring your own bottle). Not necessarily bad, it’s just different.
• The obvious driving on the opposite side of the road and the use of roundabouts. I’ve almost been hit at least 10-15 times since being here just because I keep looking the wrong way. I dream for the day that I don’t have to look at both ends of the road 4 times before crossing.
• Young men wearing Adidas tracksuits seems to be a popular thing
• “What’s the craic”? “Where the craic”? Now, in Northern Ireland and the Republic “craic” means the news/gossip, entertainment, fun, how’s it going, etc. The first time someone said that to me I just stood there like a deer in headlights and said “Good”. What I was saying good to or why I was saying good, I don’t know but it was a natural response.
• “Cheers”! I am not completely sure of the use, it just seems to be an exclamation after an action. For example, a cashier saying cheers after I’ve signed my signature on the receipt after a transaction. I’ve seen a man buying a bus ticket and saying cheers after getting their ticket, and he said it again as he was getting off the bus.
• “Wee” is a word used pretty frequently here. “Can I have a wee signature”? “It’s just a wee walk”. “Do you need a wee bag”? “We’re gonna take a wee break”.
• You pay for meals at the till (cash register) at restaurants rather than a waiter/waitress bringing out the check and you handing them the money. Sometimes you tell the person what you had and other times they seem to already know.
• Brexit is a hot and relevant topic here given the history of L’Derry and its proximity to the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
• Stay in a pub long enough and you’re bound to be approached by an older Irish man and regaled with a story or two along with a firm handshake.
• There is literally a street with nothing but pubs.
• There are switches that turn on the outlets. In order to use the outlet, you have to turn on the outlet.

• If something says it costs 5 GBP then it costs exactly 5 GBP
• Raincoats are a must because the wind can and will destroy your umbrella.
• Speaking of the wind here, it is a force to be reckoned with. I’ve almost taken flight a couple of times.
• There are restaurants that sell literally everything. A food shop could sell burgers, kebabs, pasta, pizza, wings, Indian food, traditional Irish breakfast, and everything else under the sun. You could literally eat several different kinds of foods at one place.

That’s all I could think of for now. Until next time!

I went grocery shopping and worked u the courage to take out money from a bank here. It was either be hit with a $8 ATM fee or keep paying for the 3% fees on every purchase I made with my card. Plus, not every place will take cards like little independent bakeries or markets. The only other option was paying 10.50 pounds for a train ticket to Coleraine where the nearest Barclay’s ATM was (Barclay’s being the only bank here that I can use without some sort of fee from Bank of America). And I had to think, was it worth the trip?

Apparently not.

I’ve also somewhat conquered my fear of the ovens here. Now let me explain. The ovens are not the same here as they are in the U.S. Firstly, in order to operate them at all you must first flip the switch on the wall to turn it on.

Now, the first time I tried to use the stove I didn’t know this major tidbit. Cue me waiting for far too long for my sweet potato to bake before realizing that the oven wasn’t getting hot and nothing was happening. That was not my proudest moment and neither was me removing my sweet potato from the oven and promptly putting it back on my shelf like nothing ever happened.

However, I think I have finally figured it out ( with the help of Alaina who I video called and forced to help me). After putting my groceries away, I tried again-and voila! It was cooking!! The only problem was that I forgot how long a potato of that size takes to bake and promptly got impatient which ended up with my nuking the potato in the microwave after approximately 30 minutes. But, I did! I use the oven!

February 5, 2019

I had my Introduction into Speaking Irish class today, although the professor still was not there and Dr. O Ciardha ended up teaching us again. It was a pretty fun class in my humble opinion. Some random stuff I thought was interesting from class:

• Dr. O Ciardha had apparently never tried or even heard of a fried oreo
• The Romans never physically conquered Ireland, but the arrival of Christianity via St. Patrick in 432 AD greatly altered the Irish language
• There are less letters in the Irish alphabet and they do not have the letters: J, K, V, W, X, Y, and Z

Today was also the first day of the boxing class that signed up for last week. I’ve always wanted to try boxing and for 10 pounds I decided why not. We did a lot more than just throwing some punches let me tell you. We started with a warm up moved to a series of core exercises, 2 rounds of jump roping, throwing punches while walking forward and backwards, and then ended with a 11 part circuit. It was still fun, even though I felt like dying (a slight exaggeration). It was good, well until the soreness kicked in the next morning.

February 7, 2019

I honestly thought I had the oven situation all figured out, I really did. Guess who ended up burning her dinner to a crisp in the oven. I just don’t think this should not be that hard to figure out (apparently it is for me considering the amount of food I burned in this oven). The funny thing is that like an idiot I somehow decided to sign for bakeoff here. Oh well, I have until March to get my life together and figure this out.

February 9, 2019

Ever since watching the Vagabond Brothers video, Alaina and I knew we had to visit the Mussenden Temple. It did not disappoint.

I meet up with Alaina in Castlerock, a beautiful town situated along the Causeway coast. Before venturing in search of the actual temple after receiving directions from the sweet older lady in the Visitor Center, we dropped into Crusoe’s Coffee Shop for a warm drink and a snack.

The place was super cute and Apple Toffee scone was definitely a 10 out of 10. The walk to Mussenden Temple was not bad at all and to our luck, it didn’t really rain at all. Although there was enough wind for me to take flight. It goes without saying that the views were amazing and surreal just on the walk alone.

It wouldn’t be a tale of Alaina and Sylvia trying to go somewhere if we didn’t get a little lost along the way trying to go the backway. Luckily, a kind man with his dog saved us going the wrong way and escorted us all the way to the entrance of Mussenden Temple. Shout out to that man whose name I cannot remember.

I’m pretty much gonna let the photos speak for me rather than trying to explain every little thing. Although you could not physically go into the temple, it was still pretty cool to see up close and personal. But I wanted to mention that fact that there were sheep!! A whole field of them near the Downhill Demesne House. Can you tell that was the highlight of this trip? We even got to see a mother sheep and her lamb up close. It was not on purpose though. We kind of turned a corner around the wall of the Downhill house and there they were. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture because of the whole defensive mother protecting her child thing which I could completely understand. I was not about to get into with an upset mama sheep for a picture.

After that adventure and a trek on the beach, we ventured to a little hole-in-the-wall shop called Ruth’s Bakery. Ruth was a lovely woman who knew what she was doing in the kitchen. And then it was parting our separate ways home.

I meet up with Ric, another international student at Magee, in the city center. We ended up looking at different shops around town and going to dinner at Bentley’s a restaurant and bar with like three floors that we got lost in.

Until next time.

January 26, 2019

Today, I got to walk where the giants walked. Today, was the Game of Thrones.

It started with me waking up at 6:45 in the morning to get ready and be on the 8:38 am train to Coleraine. Others from Magee were also going and we met up to begin our trek to the train station across the bridge to the other side of L’Derry. Thankfully, there was a veteran international student that let us in on a little secret.

There is a free bus service that goes from the bus center on our side of the River Foyle directly to the train station across the bridge. He essentially saved us from a 34-minute walk. We meet up with the Coleraine students and I meet up with Alaina.

The tour was amazing! I’ll admit–I am not a Game of Thrones Fan and I have never actually watched even one episode of the show. Nonetheless, the places that we saw were unbelievable.

We started off at Dunluce Castle and traveled to the Giant’s Causeway, Ballintoy Harbour, Carrick-a-Rede Bridge, and the Dark Hedges. Of course it was raining for most of the time, but the sun did make an appear at one point.

It was an exhausting jam packed day, but so worth it.

January 27, 2019

To be honest, I didn’t really do much today and I think that was much needed. It has been a whirlwind of activity for the last few days, and after having walked a little over 10 miles yesterday, a rest day was needed. The last thing on the agenda for orientation was dinner with the Chaplaincy.

It was a nice dinner and the people were very warm and welcoming. It felt nice to get a home cooked meal.

January 28, 2019

Not having classes on Mondays are gonna be super weird.

The Refresher’s Fair was today and I went with another international student, Jenny, to look around. What better way to meet new people than to sign up for clubs? I ended up signing up for a international student club and boxing classes. I have never done boxing before and thought why not.

Jenny and I meet up with some of the French international students to go to the Foyleside Mall. It was nice to get to know some of the international students better and talking about some of the differences in our countries.

Jenny and I tried out Cowbog, a vegetarian and vegan place in town. Although I am neither vegetarian or vegan, I don’t mind eating it most of the time and the burger was good

Later on that evening the Student Union put on a Culture Shock event and I got to try a crisp sandwich which they assured was legit. It’s made up of butter bread with chips (called crisps) for the filling. I’m not gonna lie…I was not a fan but I tried it.

January 29, 2019

The first day of classes and several things happened.

So there are around 6 other Americans in the Irish Studies program and we have all the same classes, including this first class, Introduction to Speaking Irish. Now, the timetable they gave us was like a chart but it was hard to understand what time the classes started and ended. That was how we all ended up showing up to class a whole HOUR AND A HALF EARLY. I think after say…20 minutes we knew we had messed up.

But, it gets even better. Today it was snowing which from what I’ve gathered from the locals is pretty unusual. So perhaps our professor was snowed in, either way, class time rolled around and no professor. Instead, the head of the Irish Studies department came and gave us a crash course in the history of Irish Gaelic.

January 30, 2019

3 hour long classes are going to truly be a test of my endurance, and we did not even go the whole 3 hours today. Thankfully, I am very interested in all of my classes. Today was Northern Ireland: Civil Rights to Brexit. I am excited to learn about the subject because it is something I have little knowledge of. It is also very fitting of our time in Northern Ireland where there is a debate around Brexit and a hard or soft border between the Republic of Ireland and the North.

January 31, 2019

My last class of the week is Irish Folklore and it’s also the only class this week where the professor lectured to entire 3 hours. The entire 3 hours.

Now, the subject matter is very interesting and I cannot wait to develop into the anthropology and history of Irish mythology but we go pretty quickly in class. One moment we were on the syllabus and the next we were covering a few centuries of history. The class is also broken up into a lecture (2 hours) with a three hour gap and then seminar (1 hour). It’s very different from the structure of classes at Agnes, but that’s a post for another day.

Guess who finally did laundry? I have been spoiled by Agnes where we do not have to pay for laundry. As such, I already did not like the idea of having to pay for laundry but it couldn’t be helped. The laundry process is so complicated here and I will save you the long story. The short of it is that you have to have a laundry card in which you go to a website to put money on it (5 pounds per load), activate that card at the kiosk on the 1st floor, and use card to operate washer and dryer.

Did all the steps including putting more money on my card to dry my clothes, and they still were wet after the second dry. So, I ended up hanging them on every available surface in my room.

The night wasn’t a total bust. I went to the Ice Wharf with a couple of international students which was fun, and I got to eat at a new place called Romeo’s.

February 2, 2019

My roommate is here! She’s visiting from Coleraine for the weekend. Last night we went with two other international students to the Ice Wharf and I introduced her to Romeo’s.

Today was another day of walking over 10 miles. We went on a hunt for a place called Taboo Donuts for breakfast which took 30 minutes and several loops around Diamond Square. But the donuts were worth it in my opinion.

We walked part of the city walls and the view was beautiful. I also found St. Columb’s cathedral which I want to revisit during my time here. After a while we had to get off because the pathway a slip-n-slide of ice.

We decided to revisit the Tower Museum since the last time was so rushed. I have to say that I like the setup of the museum in general. I like how they tell the story of Derry and it’s like your going through a maze in time. However, the mannequins in some of the exhibitions almost gave me a heart attack. This time around we even got to see the exhibition on the Spanish Armada.

We did a good bit that day like trying out the Cafe Gate in the Craft Village and of course doing a bit of shopping. I think this is the most we’ve shopped together in the 3 years of living with each other.

And that’s a wrap until next week.

I finally made it to L’Derry (easier than writing Derry-Londonderry)!

The day Alaina and I left our hostel (hauling all of our stuff BACK down 4 flights of stairs) it was, of course, cloudy with a chance of rain. Thankfully, the train station wasn’t too far from our hostel which was in a great location because dragging two suitcases and a backpack across Belfast was not on my to-do list.

For only 12.50 pounds I was able to take a train from Belfast to L’Derry and it was only a two hour train ride. Alaina’s stop was two ahead of mine, roughly 50 minutes before my stop, but the stretch between Coleraine and L’Derry were the most scenic views.

The train travels along the coast and seeing the beautiful beach and the rock formations jutting from the clear blue water was a great sight. Sadly, I was too busy experiencing the sight rather than taking a video but there will be other chances. I made my way to the Residential Services Office from the train station, collected my ID card, and was escorted by a student from ResLife. It has been interesting to see and hear the reactions to the bomb that went off Saturday on Bishop Street.

She mostly laughed it off, casually saying “Oh yea there was a car bomb and like 4 threats, but it’s all good”. She was telling me that people had a different way of reacting here because of The Troubles which lasted from the 1960s into the 1990s, so not too long ago. It’s crazy to think about how the girl showing me around, someone close to my age, has memories of The Troubles as a child.

Back to my riveting arrival store, I was shown around the dorm and left to unpack and crash. It was nice to unpack my stuff after living out of my suitcase for two days. I also have a sink in my room which is different, but very useful. I managed to find my way to a store called B&M which has been a literal Godsent. I got some packs for organzing, some snacks (essential), two fleece blankets for the price of one, and a hamper. Nothing too exciting.

At 6:30pm I went down to find my way to the welcome dinner for international students. I ran into another international student from Chile and we both walked over to campus trying to find our way around the place. Eventually, we did find, thankfully not too late. It was nice meeting other people in the program. There are people from France, Italy, Vietnam, Finland, and some like two other people from the U.S.

That was pretty much my first day in L’Derry.

Belfast Day 1

January 19, 2019

Landed at George Best Belfast City Airport after taking two flights, Atlanta to London to Belfast, and hailed a taxi from the airport to my hostel. Getting to Belfast from the London/Heathrow airport was a time especially since this is the 1st time I’m flying alone. If you can imagine a chicken running around with its head cut off while simultaneously sweating then you have a perfect image of what I looked like in that airport. I was worried about missing my connecting flight to Belfast since my flight from Atlanta was delayed by 30 minutes and I still had to go through the UK Border and Visa line.

But, I got here in one piece.

Alaina (my roommate from Agnes) and I decided to stay in Belfast for two days since orientation for Ulster didn’t start until the 21st. We stayed at Global Village Belfast which was a new experience–it’s kind of like dorm living. There was no elevator and of course I had the room that was on the top floor–up 4 flights of stairs.

Out of sheer pride and stubbornness, I refused help like an idiot and dragged carried my carry-on, check-in suitcase, and bookbag up the stairs. I settled in and went off in search of a UK sim card.

I walked to the city center, of course getting slightly turned around along the way. It was pretty cool seeing all the shops and hearing the local Belfast dialect. By the time I had walked back to the hostel and set up my phone, Alaina had was there. We honestly had no plan or course of action, and at this point it was like 4pm or 5pm. We just walked around in search of dinner which took longer than what most people take because we both refuse to make a decision.

We ended up going to Maggie May’s which was pretty good. I had traditional fish and chips with a side of mashed peas. From there we just walked around Belfast, getting a sense of the place and the people. Belfast is poppin’ on a Saturday night. Women in heels on cobblestones sidewalks, music bumping from a lounge, and a man walking by with a whole bottle of Smirnoff Vodka already half way finished. People watching is the best.

And that’s all folks.

Today is the day I fly from the U.S. to Belfast, Northern Ireland. It’s strange because the days leading up to today I have been asked if I was nercous or excited and all I could say was that I felt nothing.

And it was true. I have been pretty chill this entire time, but I knew that eventually, it would hit me. I am leaving for 5 months to study in an entirely different country. Now I can feel the excitement and nervousness creep up on me. I’ve weighed and re-weighed by suitcase, measured and re-measured my carry-on and personal items, and I’ve tried to plan out my every move in both airports .

It’s kind of like going off to college 1st year. It’s a slow burn that I’m guessing won’t be fully realized until I’m on the airplane sailing through the sky.

The next time I post, I’ll be in Northern Ireland.

I don’t think I ever actually decided to study abroad per se. Instead, it was more like I knew I wanted to go abroad and I just needed to figure out where to go and how to go. The “where to go” would seem like it would be the easy part of that equation, except it’s not.

There are so many factors to think about like which schools offer courses relevant to my majors (I’m a double major in anthropology and history), how expensive is it to live there for a semester (exchange rates?), ISEP or no, and the list goes on. I’m going to be honest, despite taking French for years, I can’t speak it to save my life and I didn’t learn any other languages, unfortunately. So I had one factor decided, I needed to go to an Anglophone country.

Somewhere down the line after hours of research and avoiding doing actual homework, Northern Ireland came into the mix. I remember sitting dowm in my study abroad advisor’s office telling her basically everything I wrote in this post and the next thing I know I’m writing an application to Irish American Scholars.  Fast forward into time and I’m watching capsule wardrobe tutorials and trying to plan for living in Derry and attending Ulster University.

It’s funny because my first year of college was the first time I had ever traveled outside of the U.S. I went to Croatia for my Journeys trip in 2018 spring. It was amazing. That was my first time on an airplane which for someone who is afraid of heights and not having the ground under her feet at all times is terrifying. But the adventure was awesome. Being in a different country and experiencing a different language, food, and place was mindblowing. But it made me want more, and here we are today.

Zagreb, Croatia

Traveling alone without the comfort of a large group or an actual adult guiding me through airports and check-ins is absolutely nerve-wracking. I’ve already gotten over my first hurdle which was finding and paying for a plane ticket and I’m going to bask at this moment for as long as I can.

Next up: deciding what to pack.