As more time passes it gets harder and harder to remember everything but I think I left off with Wednesday night. We went to a UV party sponsored by the Student's Union (like Centre's Student Government Association) at a club called The Fly. We were told it would be similar to a glow in the dark/paint party, so some were worried that their clothes would be ruined but there were no problems whatsoever. We were given free glow sticks and highlighters to decorate ourselves with, so we may have went a bit overboard. It was an absolute blast though. And the pictures turned out fantastic! I didn't take many but some of the others did and they are priceless. One of my favorite nights out, by far.
Thursday quite a few of us had to sluggishly make it to class at 10am in the morning after a long night of dancing. I wasn't planning on taking this class, Anglo Irish Literature, since I'm not an English major nor particularly interested in literature but it counts as eight credits and I need them, so I'm taking it. It was a fairly interesting class though and it could be good for me to take something different than I'm use to. That afternoon Alex and I had a lunch at the British Council downtown for the Irish American Scholars. So, basically all the other international students are in the Erasmus program and technically Alex and I are in the Irish American Scholars program but it's easier for everybody if we're lumped in with the Erasmus kids. But occasionally Alex and I get opportunities to do something different because of our program such as the lunch on Thursday. We got to meet the other Irish American Scholars in and around Belfast (about 12 of us) and a few of the administrators of the program, including Mr. Reigelman again. They then took us for a free tour of the Titanic Museum, which was incredible. I had heard a lot of Irish people talk up the museum but I thought it was just because they were proud of that it had come from Belfast but the museum was absolutely incredible. I was amazed at the quality of detail and technology throughout the museum. They had holographic floors and interactive parts. It's hard to explain but it was truly a sight worth seeing. Something I would recommend anyone visiting in Belfast to see.Friday was a casual day and night because we made plans to go to around the coast of Northern Ireland early Saturday morning. That afternoon we walked to a nearby shopping centre to get some groceries for the house. Something that I love about Ireland (UK) is that you have to pay an extra fee at most stores if you need bags to put your groceries in. I love this because it almost forces people to bring their own bags and use recyclable bags so that you don't have to pay the extra fee. It's such an easy and simple thing that saves so much plastic and paper at the end of the day. It's something that I wish the US would incorporate into their stores because it would save an unimaginable amount of resources that go basically wasted everyday. Anyways, that evening we went to one of the others' flats and played a few card games and just relaxed.
Saturday the real adventure began. We got up around 7am to be at the train station at 9am. We thought the ticket would be 7 pounds but turns out that's just for Sunday, so it ended up being about 16 pounds. A little disappointing but we were able to get on and off any bus or train for the whole day, so it was worth it in the end. Honestly to see the sights I saw I would of paid much much more. Planning our route and bus/train connections was a lot harder than I was expecting. I feel like we spent almost an hour trying to figure out how we would get from one place to the next and see everything we wanted to see.
We started the day in Portballintrae, which is where Dunluce Castle was located. We got off at the bus stop and immediately came to the most beautiful beach I've ever seen. Surrounded by white houses fixed on top of rolling hills of green sitting right in front of the beach. We of course stopped to take many pictures then made our way to Dunluce Castle a few miles up the road. We took a tour of the castle and it was beautiful as well. Everything along the coast was just pure natural beauty. We then walked to Portrush quite a few miles from Portballintrae. We walked along the beach of this beautiful coastal city just enjoying the wonderful scenery and weather. We stopped for lunch at a cafe overlooking the beach and then made our way to the bus stop for Castlerock. This was another beautiful city with wonderful beaches. We took many more pictures and climbed on the rocks. By this time some people were getting tired but we all ended up deciding to stay and watch the sun go down from the Temple. So we did some more climbing up some hills and made it to the most gorgeous view of the day in my opinion. I stood on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea and watched the sun set over this ancient temple of the winds. Words nor pictures can accurately capture the absolute beauty I experienced from this view. Phenomenal.
Finally we got on the train for Belfast and rode the 2 hours back home. Exhausted, sore, and filled with images that will stay with me forever.
Tomorrow will be Monday and I will start another week at school. Hoping it will be filled with great experiencing and learning until the next magical adventure.
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