Maybe the landslide will bring it down...

Well hello again! As I'm beginning to accept as a norm of my study abroad experience, more things happened last week then I could possibly begin to describe.  So I'm having a little bit of a conundrum about what I should include...

Well, let me start by telling ya'll that I am now "officially" dating Pieter! Woot! Who would have guessed that I would go to Northern Ireland and start dating a Belgian- WHAT? Only I could do that. 

But, moving on, I am starting to fall into a little bit of a routine here.  Although I spend just under 7 hours in class each week, I still feel like there is always something that I want to do or people that I want to spend time with- so ya, I still don't really get anything done (however, I read for my classes today for the first time- oh how far I've fallen from the overachiever I once was).  On Wednesday I went to Kelly's- this nightclub in Portrush- and it was INSANE! There were sooo many people there (it was student night) dancing very awkwardly (I never thought I would miss American dances, but here everyone dances like 3 feet away from each other while awkwardly glancing around at the other people attempting to dance).  Don't worry, I found a room (each room played different music etc.) that played alternative music and we all just went crazy jumping up and down.  I also taught some other international kids how to do the shopping cart and other ridiculous dances.  It was definitely an interesting experience.

Thursday was really relaxing- me, Courtney, Tricia, Lien, Elaine, and Genifer decided to make Pieter watch The Holiday with us.  It was hilarious! 

Then Friday morning, I went into town with Pieter, Courtney, and Genifer to do some grocery shopping and pick up Jill!  Courtney and Genifer had to head back to uni and so Pieter and I went shopping and I found really cute boots (and it was actually his suggestion to go shoe shopping since he knew I needed boots).  And then we had coffee until Jill got in.  It was so wonderful to see Jill's beautiful face from across the train station- I'm not gonna lie, I dropped all of my bags and basically attacked her! The rest of the day we took it pretty easy, I walked her around Coleraine, which took about an hour to see the whole town (I love my wee Irish town).  Then I showed her my favorite places on campus (the alien looking windmill and the daffodil garden). After that we headed over to Portstewert to have dinner at the Anchorbar- pub food is so good! 

Saturday, the Chaplaincy took the internationals on a tour of the Glens of Anrtim (I snuck Jill onto the bus).  Although it was the most miserably rainy and cold day I've had so far here, it was beautiful!  Walking the trail through the forest felt like I had been transported back in time before all of industrialization touched nature's beauty (wow I sound like a tree hugger).  But, nevertheless, it was breathtaking.  We would be walking and then all the sudden look up and see like six waterfalls cascading down the Irish hillside.  It was also cool to see all of Ireland through Jill's eyes- it was like seeing everything for the first time, all over again.  After the glens, we got dropped off at this extremely random shopping mall for an hour- it was a little bit of a weird transition from hiking in the forest to shopping in designer stores.... strange. After our hour long shopping spree, the bus picked us back up and took as to this beautiful little stone church that I'm pretty sure I want to get married in.  It was just so peaceful resting on this hill overlooking the dormant Irish countryside.  Exhausted, we all (Jill, Molly, Courtney, Marcus, Malte, the other Marcus, Tricia, and I) went over to Lien and Pieter's flat and Lien made us this incredible dinner and then we watched The Matrix.  I love my friends. 

Sunday Jill and I adventured out on our own to see Dunluce castle and Gaint's Causeway.  It was a little bit of an experience letting me be the tour guide because, of course, I had no plan and no idea how to navigate my way through public transportation.  I prefer to just ask people and go with the flow :) Regardless of my horrible navigation skills, we ended up in Portrush and then walked for what seemed like forever to Dunluce castle.  Although the walking was a little rough after our hike the day before, it was totally worth it just for the view.  We also saw this AMAZING rainbow that literally looked like it came directly from the sea, it was incredible and my first Irish rainbow! After Dunluce we grabbed a taxi (our legs were pretty sore) to Giant's Causeway.  Showing Jill Dunluce and Giant's Causeway was so cool because since I had already been there, I- in a weird way- felt like I belonged, kind of like I didn't fit into the tourist category anymore.  Sadly, Jill had to head out that night- but we do get to reunite in London in two weeks with Bell so our parting wasn't too bad :)

Alright, well I think I'm done but let me just leave ya'll with this beautiful verse shared with me by a great friend: 

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love

- Galations 5:6

I'm thinking of all of ya'll on the other side of the sea and sending each of you my love.