An American in Coleraine

So I can't believe it's been a week since I last updated... wow! Time seems to be slipping through my hands :) 

Let me just start this blog by letting ya'll know how much I love it here.  For some reason, I was hit once again this morning by how completely blessed I am to have this opportunity.  I just love it here and I feel so peaceful and right about being here.  

I don't think I'll go through details on each day because that would probably take forever, but I will just lay down some highlights.  Monday I was supposed to have my first class, but it got cancelled and since I only have class on Monday and Thursday, my week was pretty chill... Monday night was really fun- one of the pubs on campus has like a crazy discotec night every Monday and so a big group of international kids all went and we had a blast making fun of Irish "freshers" whose girls make Americans look modest (seriously, it was CRAZY, Nina, this adorable girl from Sweden, kept shaking her head and saying white trash) and dancing to crazy techno music.  Tuesday I was pretty wiped out so I just chilled all day :)  Then that night, after meeting the provost of the school and getting free food, I went over to Pieter and Lien's (Belgians) with a few other people and watched a ridiculous Japanese movie (LB, you would LOVE it).  Wednesday Courtney and I were going to try to go to Derry but we missed the train so we ended up just doing stuff in Coleraine and spending a few hours in an amazing cafe!  That night a lot of us went to the Anchorbar for Marcus's (German) birthday, which ended up being so much fun because it was trivia night and I convinced a ton of kids to make a team appropriately named "we aren't from around here" and laughed our way through language and culture barriers while attempting to compete. (We actually came in 7th out of 12 teams, which I was pretty stoked about).  Thursday I had my first class- woot! I actually had two classes and although they weren't extremely amazing, I think they are going to be pretty easy, which will be nice.  That night I tried out the CU (Christian Union), which was pretty cool.  It reminded me a lot of Intervarsity, but I was the only international student there so it was a little awkward.  After that I went out to the Anchorbar again (ya, there really aren't that many pubs around us) for their traditional Irish music night!  

Courtney, Tricia, and I were going to go to Dublin this weekend, but we realized shortly after looking up hostels that you have to plan these trips much more in advance.  So... we decided to spend Friday in Belfast and then take a trip into Derry on Saturday.  

So I'll start with the Belfast trip! Just in case ya'll don't know (I know I didn't), Belfast is the largest city in Northern Ireland.  It was so incredible being there.  One thing that I love about Europe is that everywhere you look there is this beautiful mix of old architecture with new stores.  It's almost like you can feel the history around you.  The first thing we did when we got there was find a pub and eat (I mean common do ya'll know me at all)- I can beef and guiness pie for the first time which was actually a lot better than it sounds.  One of the really cool things that we did there is we took a boat tour around the harbor where Titanic was built.  Although they don't have museums or anything about the ship (they feel like it is a black spot in their history), just being the same waters that launched it was such a mind-blowing concept.  Then we kind of just walked around- taking the city in.  We attempted to find to find this political murals depicting the wars in Northern Ireland, but ended up getting really lost in a very dodgy side of town.  But thanks to Courtney's amazing naviagation skills (they'd already learned to NEVER ask me to look at the map) we found our way back and saw many more beautiful churches and buildings before settling in to dinner at the crown pub, which is one of the most famous pubs in Northern Ireland.  It was really cool! 

Now on to Saturday, through a lot of randomness I ended up going to Derry with a bunch of Beligians, Germans, and Greeks.  Although I was the only American, it wasn't awkward at all and I had the best time! I loved Derry (Mom and Dad, I'm taking you there) it's so rich with history and you can almost feel all of the conflict that has taken place there.  We went to the Free Derry museum and then signed up for a tour that goes through all of the murals done by the Bogside artists (they show a lot of the violent history leading up to and after Bloody Sunday and are huge murals painted all throughout the bogside of town). Signing up for the tour, we really had no idea what we were getting into.  Our tour guide was this amazing older man who was a freedom fighter during all of those years.  He gave us his account of all that had happened in such a personal way that made everything so real.  For example, we were looking at this monument put up to memorialize the Irishmen who went on hunger strike and as we were looking at it, he pointed out names that were his friends and family members and then told us how he was put in charge of relaying information to them from the Irish party.  It was an experience I will never forget.  After that we actually got to go to the Bogside artist's studio and actually meet one of the artists that had painted all of the murals.  (Don't worry I took pictures of all of them and will probably put them on facebook later today)  After that we went to the Irish version of a waffle-house and I had a cheeseburger (I know I'm such an American) and then we went to a pub and had coffee and tea while waiting for the horrible horizontal rain to pass (ya, it's Ireland).  Once it had calmed down we went back outside and did some more sightseeing of churches and building and actually got to walk on the walls of the city before jumping on a train back to Coleraine.  Because we were all pretty exhausted, Lien, Pieter, and I watched Independence Day (which is so funny to watch with Europeans) before passing out.

This morning was really great because I actually got to church all by myself! It took me like 45 minutes to get there (I get lost...) but I did it! It was just such a great feeling to know that I can get there by myself.  Afterwards I just sat and did a devotion in a cafe and it was amazing! 

Alright well I'll try to write more often so it doesn't have to be this long.  I love ya'll and I'm so blessed to have each one of you in my life! 

If I find my way, how much will I find?

Well I did promise to write again... :) It's so hard to think of where to begin, although it's only been four days since my last "update" I feel like SO much has happened.  One of the most surreal things about this experience is that part of me feels like I've been here forever and at the same time another part of me hasn't really grasped where I am.

So where to start... I guess Maria Von Trapp would tell me to start at the very beginning so that is what I will do! (Oh wait a second, I'm not in Austria)

Tuesday night me and a few of my American friends decided to try and each actual Irish food... so we walked the few miles down to Coleraine and then realized that Irish people don't eat out on weekends as we found aimlessly wandered around the town and found that almost all of the places were closed.  However we lucked out and found this really adorable wee fish and chip shop that was incredible!  (seriously, so far I've loved all of their food)  Although I had NO idea what the women was telling me as I ordered, and for the first time she couldn't understand me at all either, I miraculously ended up with what I wanted.  The shop was only take-away so we took our fish and chips and ate it on some benches in the center of town- it was so surreal.  Then we went to check out one of the pubs on campus (yes, there are several) and I ordered by first beer! It was a little more ceremonious than my first accidental drink, but all-in-all not that big of a deal.  Side note- I love all of the girls I'm hanging out with, they make sure that I'm not drinking anything too strong.  We ended up staying there for a while and talking to some kids from Sweden.  Then, we all headed over to one of the flats of some of the kids from Spain who were having an international shindig of sorts.  It was actually really fun, unlike American parties, everyone was more interested in talking to each other than getting wasted so I had some really great conversations and met some really cool people!

Wednesday  was the first day that I realized that I am here- in Northern Ireland.  After orientation meetings were over, me and a few of my friends (Courtney, Tricia, and Hailey) headed down to Coleraine to get some essentials from Tesco (the Irish publics and wallmart all rolled into one).  If you've looked at my pictures, all of those were taken on Wednesday, as you can see, we got super distracted and ended up sight seeing most of our time there.  It is still so incredible to me that things like St. Patrick's Church (see pictures) are just hanging out in the middle of their town.  It seems like every time I turn around I see something else that literally (and yes I do mean literally) takes my breath away.  After running around like tourists (much to the chagrin of all of the locals), we decided to take a tea break and sat down for an hour or so at a cafe, where we had deep conversations and talked about all of the places we want to visit. That night, a few of us (Molly, Tricia, and I) went to Portstewert, a town right on the sea that is a few minutes driving time away from us, to visit Jean-Marie and Julien's house (two French international students) and then all of us went to a pub and discussed American politics (Alice, all of my friends here are extremely into Obama, even the international ones).  

Ok, this is so long, I'm so sorry if you are bored I don't really blame you.... just skim :) 

Thursday, I got to meet the mayor of Coleraine... who was very nice and I sort of understood him, which is a plus.  He had a reception for all of the international students and I think my picture is going to be in the local paper.  That night a lot of the international kids decided to hit up the Anchor club, which is this AMAZING pub in the middle of Portstewert.  I can't even describe it to you, I walked in and I felt like I was in a movie- the pub was everything that I ever thought an Irish would be.  There were beautiful wood carvings and huge leader booths everywhere.  There was even an Irish band that played Galway girl (one of the songs from P.S. I Love You- I tried to record it, but I don't know if it worked) and some of the locals would clear the floor for Irish dancing.  Like most pubs here, there was a discotec on top of the pub where a lot of the Americans went.  But, I ended up hanging out with some of my Belgian friends (I kind of have a crush on one of the Belgian guys, who came and sat next to me the whole night- woot) and German friends in the pub.  I did have a Guiness, which I actually liked more than other beer because it isn't as biting, but I finished after one... Needless to say, it was amazing.

Friday was pretty chill. I did get registered for classes- finally.  I'm taking Abnormal and Clinical Psychology, Individual Differences, and Social Psychology, the best part of it is that I don't have classes on Fridays so I'll have longer weekends to travel!  Tricia, Courtney, and I went back into Coleraine and did some fun shopping- I got my first pair of skinny jeans, which my Irish flat-mate assured me made me look less American (however, she said I was still way too tan to ever fully look Irish, but I think that'll change soon).  We were all pretty exhausted from staying out every night so we just watched some Arrested Development and then went to bed. 

I don't even know how I'm going to describe yesterday to ya'll.  I went on the tour of the Northern Coast from 9 until 5.  I got to see Gaint's Causeway, Dunluce castle, and went across the Carrick-a-Rede bridge (actually I kind of jumped across it, which freaked people out).  It was one of those days where you see so many things that are so incredible and almost inspiring that you can't even wrap your mind around it all.  I kept trying to convince myself that it was all real.  One of the things that really hit me when we were walking the trail up to the rope bridge and just surrounded by all of the natural beauty around us was that in the face of all of this, God says that we are more beautiful and precious to Him.  It was such an elated feeling to know that God must see me, and all of us, in a way that we can't even imagine.  I will put the pictures up right after I'm done, but I'm sure even those won't really capture it.  Last night, Jean-Marie and Julien had a house party and we all went over to hang out there.  For one of the first times, an Irish student hung out with us- a very funny rugby player- and was super intense about drinking and playing drinking games.  Don't worry, my competitiveness turned out to be an asset because I dominated and really didn't have to drink more than a sip :) Just wait till they see me in Disney trivia.  After the drinking games got old, we all just sat around and talked- it was really relaxed and nice.  

Alrighty then, I think I have just exhausted the attention span of even my parents, so I'm gonna close up and go put up some pictures.  I love ya'll and I'm thinking about ya'll. 

Pictures!!!

Hey ya'll, I just put up some pictures on Facebook and I thought ya'll might want to check them out :) I don't really have a lot of time so I'll have to update ya'll later... don't worry I promise to write soon! 

Here is the link: www.new.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31817321&id=15805419

Where the toilet paper isn't free...

Yup you have to pay for your toilet paper here!!! Weird!

Well after that extremely interesting disclaimer I guess you can figure out that I made it to Northern Ireland- woot! It was a LONG trip filled with layovers, delays, waiting hours for a bus in the rain, and then getting dropped off in the middle of campus and attempting to find my dorm... all in all it took me 22 hours to get here oh and did I mention I can't sleep while traveling..... ya. One little tangent about the bus, it for real looked like it was from the 70s, ashtrays behind the seats, tacky orange and brown patterned fabric, a radio that looked like it inspired star trek, and orange curtains :) But, I finally got here and it is beautiful (albeit freezing and a little rainy)! Seriously, I keep looking around trying to convince myself that I'm not looking at a picture out of my Ireland book.

Let's see... what else would ya'll want to know? I have definitely met some really cool people so far. We've been going to this orientation for international students which, is probably the most hilariously unorganized orientation I've ever been to- last night they literally stuck all of us into a room, watched as we awkwardly tried to make small talk, and tried to force feed us weirdly flavored pringles (prawn cocktail??) ya. So I've been around mostly international people, including a few Americans, which has been really interesting. I'm also living in international housing so my 6 housemates are from Italy, Japan, Taiwan, Ireland, and the last one is an American from Seattle (it seems like I can never escape those crazy Washingtonians). Everyone I'm living with is super sweet, my Italian housemate even made dinner for me and the other American girl last night after she heard we hadn't been fed since breakfast on the plane- back to my point about how unorganized the orientation is. It was a great dinner, we ended up spending most of it laughing about messed up sayings (their English is a work in progress). OH, and she poured us drinks when I wasn't paying attention and I didn't realize until I was halfway done with mine that I was drinking alcohol (ya, I was that exhausted) so my first drink wasn't a very ceremonious affair. I do find it funny that I am probably one of the only people alive that drank alcohol for the first time without realizing it :)

Today all of the international kids went to Coleraine (about a 20 min walk) and it is such a quaint town- it seriously looks like something Disney would drool over. The architecture in some areas is breathtaking and the history nerd inside of me is freaking out a little :) Although I didn't take pictures today for fear of being the obnoxious touristy American, I will most definitely be taking some tomorrow! We didn't have too much time to explore, but I think we (me and some other Americans) are going to go to dinner there tonight and maybe do some shopping tomorrow!

For all of you ladies out there, I haven't met too many Irishmen yet, but just listening to the accents has been fantastic! But, I have met some guys from all over the world (and, of course, talked to one of them about Disney for a really long time, trying to convince him that princess movies were worth watching)... hopefully I'll have more to say about that later on!

The rest of my week is filled with sporadic orientation meetings and then Friday I FINALLY get to register for classes, which start on Monday (and I still don't have a complete course list). I'm really excited about Thursday and Saturday because Thursday my whole house is going to this town nearby to a really cool pub (hopefully there will be an Irish guitarist...) and on Saturday all the international kids are going on a tour of the northern coast!!!

So I think that's about it, I hope this wasn't too boring, I'll try to do something crazy so that my next one will be more entertaining. Email me so I can hear about what is going on on your side of the sea (everyone but Jill).