A lot has happened in the past week. As some of you may know, a few family members of mine flew over with me to Ireland to help me settle in. They stayed for a week, leaving Tuesday, and we had a week filled with sight seeing. We flew into Dublin and stayed in a cute cottage about 45 minutes north. The scenery was amazing and everything that I have dreamed of (Check my Instagram and you can see some of the pictures I have taken). Most of the time at the cottage was spent taking pictures or spending time in Dublin where we went to some souvenir shops, ate at the Merchants Bar and Restaurant, saw a few castles in the area, and visited some cathedrals. My favorite place while staying there was visiting the Bellingham Castle. They had it set up for a wedding later in the day and it was absolutely gorgeous. There was a nice pond nearby and a beautiful garden in the back with blue skys over us; we could not have asked for a better day.
We soon left the cottage on Friday morning and set out for Portstewart (kind of a suburb of Coleraine where I will be studying). We drove through Belfast on the way up, the capital of northern Ireland, but did not see much of it. The next day we moved all of my things into my accommodations, which is very nice by the way. It is almost like a condo with and upstairs and downstairs. Two bedrooms (one being mine) and the toilet (bathroom in Ireland) is downstairs while the third bedroom along with the kitchen and living room is upstairs. The view is beautiful from upstairs as you see some country side and a river. The family and I soon set off to enjoy the day exploring around the area. We first set off for the coast to see the beach and downtown Portstewart. We drove around for awhile just checking out the sights and cliffs, then stopping to check out Dunluce Castle. It was located between Giant’s Causeway and Portrush to control the land and sea routes of North Ulster. It is on the ledge of a cliff with a cave tunnel traveling underneath that was used for transport of goods.
After touring the castle, we wanted to see one of the most famous tree tunnels in the world, the Dark Hedges. The hedges are part of some scenes in the Game of Thrones series but more importantly to me, it is a beautiful sight. The trees are special because of the way their branches grow in different directions and intertwine. They were planted along a family’s road to their house to impress visitors. I would say photos of the trees are better because The next day my family left and it was my first time meeting more international students around campus besides the few where I live. I met a group of american students along with some students from France, Spain, Germany, etc. All of the international students are in their third or fourth year in school while all of my Irish friends are first years. I have hung out with both groups a lot and have learned a lot of differences between their culture and my own. I can’t wait to see what else is in store for me!
Taking on Ireland 