belfast: northern ireland

Our group ventured to Belfast, the capital city of Northern Ireland this past weekend. It was the perfect combination of a really cool and fun trip. 

On Friday, we took a bus into Dublin, then hopped onto a second bus to Belfast (about a 6 hour trip total). We arrived and settled into our hostel in the afternoon, and decided to start touring right away. We took a tour called the Black Taxi Tour, where you see the city in an old fashioned taxi, while getting a history lesson from the driver along the way. We stopped at various places and got out to see some landmarks. I won't get into a full history lesson, but it was really an amazing and eye opening tour. Belfast is a city that has gone through a lot of turmoil and division since 1969 between the Catholic and Protestant communities. Bigger than the issue of religion, the conflict is really more about identity. Belfast has had a reputation for being an unsafe city because of all the bombings that took place. Our cab driver told us that although today it is a much safer city, there were still 2 bombs the week before we went. Before coming to Belfest, I knew some about the division but it was amazing to see how physically divided the city is. There is a 40 foot wall, ironically named the Peace Wall, that physically divides the Catholic and Protestant communities. The Catholic side heavily identifies with being Irish. There are Irish flags everywhere and all the street signs are written in Irish. Then you pass through a gate, and literally on the other side of the wall you enter into the Protestant community with British flags everywhere. On the sides of many buildings there are political murals, photos of past political leaders, and photos reminding the committees of the past bombings. The two communities (although feet away from each other) are completely segregated. They have two community centers literally 700 meters away. The children attend different schools until age 16. The Peace Wall was put up in effort to symbolize the two communities living in peace and coexisting. It was really eye opening to say the least. 

Black Taxi.

 Murals in the Catholic community.

 The Peace Wall.

 A mural in the Protestant community.

The Europa Hotel- the most bombed location in Belfast. It was bombed 34 times.

The next day we went into the city center, which is considered neutral territory. It's funny how different of a feel Belfast has from the rest of Ireland. It has a much more modern, European feel to it. We kept saying that it didn't feel like we were in Ireland anymore (which technically we weren't, because it's considered part of the UK). We started the day at St. George's Market, which was a huge, incredible indoor market that sold all sorts of food, jewelry, hand made items, etc. We spent hours there just exploring. It was one of the best, most overwhelming markets I've ever been to. We all ate way more than we should of but the food was to die for! Then we saw the City hall, many shopping areas, a beautiful cathedral, and an observatory that overlooked the city. The Titanic was built and shipped from Belfast, so we also saw the harbor where it was built and sent off from. At night, we went out to new pubs. One pub was named "Filthy McNastys" which obviously we just thought was hilarious. 

 

St. George's Market.

 Beautiful City Hall.

From here, we could see an amazing 360 view of Belfast.

St. Anne's Cathedral.

The last day we saw Queen's College, a Botanic Garden, and the Ulster museum. We fit a lot into a short time period! It was really such a fun trip. 

Queen's College.

Also, I promise I won't describe every hostel that I stay in, but the one we stayed in was incredible. I'm afraid my first hostel experience set the bar way too high for the rest of them I'll stay in. I'll include pictures because I can't even explain how cool it was. The staff was all young and really fun. We hung out with them a lot and they even went out with us and showed us around the first night. Definitely a great first trip!

Our hostel, Vagabon's. Definitely recommend if anyone goes to Belfast!

 The "chill" room at our hostel.

 Kitchen.

There was even a beer garden!

time to start traveling!

This weekend my plans have changed quite a bit. Originally, I was supposed to go on a trip with the NUI Galway surf club. I know it's kind of goofy that I wanted to join the surf club, but I wanted to try something totally new and I've been told they go on great trips. We were all looking forward to the trip to  Bundoran this weekend but sadly it got postponed to a date many of us already have booked to travel. 

We decided were all ready to start traveling and seeing places, so instead, were going to Belfast! Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland (also where the Titanic was made). A girl named Deena, from my group, and I are planning the details of the weekend. There are 15 of us going! We've been calling hostels all morning and booking bus tickets. I'm very excited to start traveling & to see Belfast. 

I also booked my plane ticket to London & Paris this week. I'll be visiting my best friend Chrissy next weekend, who is abroad in London. The following weekend (the weekend of Valentine's Day!) I'll be meeting Chrissy & Anya in Paris! And the weekend after that is a trip to Dublin, fully paid for by BC! Needless to say, I'm ecstatic :)

weekly highlights

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. Quite honestly, my week has consisted mainly of just going to class, so nothing too exciting to write home about. My friend Amy told me that she didn't care if my life is boring, that I need to update my blog anyways, so here I am :) 

This was the first real week of classes and I really enjoy most of them so far. A couple of my classes focus on Irish society and history. I'm also taking a class about castles throughout Europe. It's sort of boring but we get to take a class field trip to many different castles. Classes here are very different. There is no busy real or any real form of examination until the end of the course. Most of my courses have one big paper due at the end of the semester that my whole grade is based on- a little scary!

This weekend we've been hosting 15 (yes 15!) BC people who are studying in Cork, Ireland. It's been sort of crazy but really fun. It's interesting trying to fit 30 people (Galway group & Cork group) all in the same pub!

Here are some highlights of the week:

- Going out for one of my roommate's 21st birthday

- Booking my plane ticket to London to visit Chrissy in February!

- Finding a bar that played the Pat's game, even though we lost...

- Discovering that my university has a college bar (BC should really think of adding this)

- The pubs, as always

- Having visitors

- Joining my school's surf club! Yes, I know this is ridiculous but I'm doing it!

Here is a picture of my room...no, I didn't pick out the comforter :)

cafe lovin'

There are countless adorable cafes in Galway. Sarah and I decided to take our travel journals & a book and go out in search of the perfect cafe. We planned to go to one for lunch and another for dessert & coffee.  The first cafe, which is now my all time favorite, is called Food 4 Thought. Everything on the menu looked amazing and we both got really yummy sandwhiches. 

 Food 4 Thought.

 Sarah journaling :)

Then we found a place called Providence Market, that we went to for coffee & dessert. We split this bad boy, and it was heavenly.

the burren & cliffs of moher

Yesterday, we decided to take a tour of an area called "The Burren" and to the Cliffs of Moher. A girl in our group heard of this company that would take us to all these great places for a really good price, so we decided to go (they even picked us up at our door!). We saw that the forecast for the day had a decent chance of rain, so we just hoped for the best. It ended up being the nicest, sunniest day since I've arrived here in Ireland.

Let me tell you, the tour group was incredible. First we drove to The Burren region where we stopped for a guided walking tour up one of the mountains there. Burren means "great rock" and it is a region with many big, rocky mountains made up of limestone. All of the mountains in The Burren are privately owned, so we took a tour from a young man who owned two mountains and farmland passed down in his family. He lead us up the mountain stopping to explain the history of the region, which was really incredible. You could see the markings of Irish history all over the land. After the tour we went to our guide's house at the base of the land, and sat by a fireplace eating homemade apple pie. This happened to be the only time it rained all day, when we were warm & inside, lucky us!

 The view of the guide's land and part of the mountain.

View from the top.

We left our mark :)

Our next destination was the Cliffs of Moher. Our bus driver (main tour guide) told us so much about Irish history and landscape. He was really entertaining. The drive alone in between the sights was incredible. We weaved through small town after small town and past many pretty churches and castles. Our tour guide seemed to know everything about every single building we passed. Ireland really is as green as it looks in the pictures. We saw countless cows, horses, sheep, rabbits, and even alpacas! Because it is early spring here, we saw a lot of newborn animals as well. 

As we pulled into the Cliffs of Moher, our bus driver told us a morbid story about a man who died from falling off the cliffs. He warned us not to get too close to the edge because a gust of wind could be strong enough to knock you off. Man, he was not kidding. As we were walking up to the viewing point to see the cliffs, it was so windy it honestly could have knocked an adult over. I think it was the strongest wind I've ever been in. But the sight at the top was so worth it. These cliffs were one of the most incredible sights I've ever seen. It's actually impossible to really explain how magnificent they really are. We actually learned that scenes from the movie Inception and from one of the Harry Potter movies were filmed there (cool fact!). We took many, many pictures!

The beautiful Cliffs of Moher.

Part of our group :)

After our stop at the Cliffs, we drove about 5 minutes into the town of Doolan where we stopped for lunch at a local pub. I got seafood chowder and it was amazing :) After this we began our trip back home, taking a different route this time. Instead of driving through small towns, we drove along the western coast of Ireland. Words can't even explain how pretty this drive was.  The driver stopped at a couple look outs along the way for great photo ops. Finally, we stopped briefly at the Dunguaire Castle to take pictures. By the end of the day, we were all exhausted! The whole tour was about an eight hour affair, but so so worth it.  

Fairy tale- like castle!

Ireland's west coast.

Dunguaire Castle.

bye bye appendix

Today, Alex had his appendix removed. Thank goodness, everything went well and he is feeling okay now. Because his phone was dead and just a general lack of communication when you're in another country, I didn't know if or when he was getting surgery, just that it was highly likely. Then, I heard he was having surgery but didn't find out how it went till much later. Needless to say, it was a stressful day. I was finally able to get the number of his hospital room and call him that way (it probably cost me a fortune but is well worth it!). As happy as I am to be here in general, today I'm having one of those days where I really wish I was home. Not being there to take care of him is killing me. On a happy note, he has great friends and is in good hands.

A group of us had planned to go on a tour today and I decided it would be silly to stay home and worry all day, so I went. It ended up being an amazing trip which I'll blog about later. 

daily photos

Here are a couple pictures from lunch with our coordinator the other day. Today is a very very cold, dreary, rainy day in Ireland, so looking at these make me happy. I also purchased a new camera today. Although I am down 129 euros, all is good again.

"and I lost my heart to a galway girl"

Tonight at a pub, someone finally sang "Galway Girl." I can now die a happy person!

Ireland is little backwards. Apparently the big "going out" nights are Monday- Thursdays, especially Tuesdays. Then, on the weekends it's only American students that go out. I don't really get why the Irish do the things they do, but I love them all the same.

first day of school!

Today was the first day of classes, sort of. In Ireland they have a trial week and a half where you can attend classes and decide if you want to take them. None of the Irish students take this week very seriously and don't show up, which I didn't really get because the teachers start teaching. I guess it's kind of like syllabus week that no one takes very seriously. The registration process here is VERY disorganized but we finally all figured it out. 

The classes I'll be taking this semester are:

Intro to Practical Ethics

The Development of the Castle in Medieval Europe

Women in Irish Society

Imagining Modern Ireland: An Intro to Irish Culture Studies

Environmental Justice

Social Issues and Policy Responses

It's going to be fun to take totally different classes than I do at BC. It will be a nice break from nursing craziness! Irish classes are very different than in the US. There is no real work throughout the semester and usually just one final paper or exam. A teacher in one of my classes started out today by saying, "Don't worry, you won't have to take any notes in this class. I'll provide them to you at the end of class."

I could get used to this... :)

camera death

Today, our BC coordinator (Margaret) took us out to a really nice lunch at the Radisson hotel. It's probably the nicest meal I'll have all semester since I'm on a budget! :) The restaurant had a beautiful view and was right on the water. Then, we came home and all tried to figure out our classes, which is no easy task. Luckily, I found two classes to fulfill the cores I have left at BC.

Tonight, four of us went out for a walk, with no real destination, to get out of the house. We ended up at the beach and walked around parts of the city we hadn't seen before. It's really so fun exploring a city you've never been to. Galway has really pretty waterways that flow through parts of the city that we followed. The smell of water here really makes me feel at home and reminds me of the Vineyard.

I won't be able to share pictures from today because sadly my camera broke today. My computer charger fried and died on me too. Needless to say, I didn't have the best technology day. Hopefully I'll find a new one soon!

daytime exploring

Today a friend and I decided to go out for the day to see some more parts of Galway. It's really nice to be able to walk to get anything you need. It's such a different city during the day, full of people and entertainers. Galway is on a bay, so there is beautiful areas to explore near the water and also a fun really downtown area with lots of shops, pubs, and restaurants. Here are some shots from the harbor area:

The downtown area:

For the people that know me well, you'll know why this makes me so happy. (Answer: it's the name of my favorite bookstore in the world on Martha's Vineyard!)

Really great street performers.

The view from the top floor of my apartment complex of the harbor.

visitors!

My best friend, Elyse, booked her ticket to come visit me in March yesterday!!! And, my other friend Chelsea is in the works for buying hers too! I'm beyond excited to have visitors and feel very loved that people are coming to see me!

happy place

So, I've found my new special hang out place. I'm almost hesitant to blog about it because it's such a gem of a place, but I will :)

There are fifteen people total in my program, and tonight four of us decided to go out and explore a new area of town. We had such a fun time getting to know each other in a smaller group. I was tempted to just stay in tonight, but with a little pushing from my roommate, I didn't and I'm so glad. We found this small, absolutely beautiful pub decorated with trinkets and decorations everywhere. There were only Irish locals there, which is rare with all the visiting students in Galway. The bartender was extremely friendly and happy to have us there. As a whole, I wasn't expecting the people of Ireland to be so welcoming but they are always more than happy to talk to you about your stay here. The bars and pubs here are all so fun, especially the ones with live music. There was a man who played the guitar and piano who played anything from Neil Young, to traditional Irish music, to more Jazz-y things. We joked that this pub would be the place we return to when any of us are having a bad day. It was just such a warm, relaxing pub and a perfect night.

contact info

If you want to send me mail:

Niland House, Apt. 501

Merchants Road

Galway City,

Co. Galway

 Ireland

And I got a cell phone today! I know it's expensive but if you want to call me, it doesn't cost me any money to receive calls.

(086) 394 7144

So to call me you would need to enter:

353 + 86 394 7144

safe & sound.

I'm finally in Galway! After many many hours of traveling via every mode of transportation, I'm here. It was long and stressful, but traveling is always long and stressful so what can you expect. 

When we arrived, we were all really jet lagged and exhausted so spent the day mainly napping and unpacking. I'm living with three other girls from BC. We live in a huge apartment. There are a few kinks getting worked out like a lack of hot water or working outlets, but were working on it :)

At night my new roommate (Sarah) & I decided that we wanted to go out and explore. We went to this adorable bar called The Front Room. The bars here are absolutely beautiful! All cherry wood, warm fireplaces, beautiful lighting, and stained glass. Then we met up with the rest of our group at a bar name Taaffes, where there was live music and dancing. It was so fun and made me feel at home here already. 

I also learned that Irish people love Boston, especially people from Galway. Everyone that I met and mentioned the Boston area to immediately went into how much they loved the city and which of their family members lived there. A few even compared the cities to be very similar. People here are so welcoming and genuinely happy to have visitors there. They all rave about how amazing Galway is. All in all, it was a great first day. 

 First meal in Ireland.

 Beautiful bar.

 Most of the group out on the first night.

Awesome live music.