Sooooo I know I said I would talk about my trip to the Titanic museum my next blog, buuuuuut the past two days have been crazy (I will mention the museum trip at the end)!

So two days ago was more fun instead of crazy. I went to classes like normal but then headed to Coleraine for the evening with Eve and Allison to do some thrift shopping and bought more than I should have. One thing I am excited that I bought was a crochet hook along with some yarn to learn how to crochet tomorrow! I have always wanted to try it but never had the urge to do it until now since Eve can teach some of us international friends. Other than shopping, I went out bowling with my volleyball team for some team bonding and had a blast! A lot of the girls came out and made some funny videos of us bowling. It is sad to think that I will have to leave this group of amazing girls and a few guys to head back home. However, I will forever remember them and all the fun we have had and that is to come!

The next day was a crazy one. Besides having Individual Differences class in the morning, I had to deal with the fire alarm going off when I got back… for 30 minutes. It all started with me trying to bake some chicken, which is not a good idea within itself. Everything was fine until I went to take out the chicken from the oven and a bunch of steam came out with it, and since our overhead fan does not work, it sets off the ringing I had to hear for a half hour. My roommate was also at our flat so she helped me as we ran around trying to turn the darn thing off. First we tried to wave a towel next to the alarm to shut it off like we do in the states but that did not work at all. From there we tried pressing buttons on the alarm and flicking switches around the flat hoping that we not click something wrong. Someone Facebook messaged me from our residence chat and told me to reset the alarm using a button in the hallway, but there were no buttons… Eventually I checked under the staircase were all the supplies are and checked in a cabinet, and low and behold, the breakers were attached to the wall inside the cabinet… Still, after finding this, it took awhile to turn off the alarm because of all the wires, buttons and switches there were. It made for an interesting evening and what surprised me the most, no one ever came to check on us… not once…

Later that evening was just my normal volleyball practice and nothing crazy had happened. We talked about a Mumford and Sons concert that is coming up in November nearby and tickets went on sale today but they sold out quick so I did not get any; another time. Other than that, nothing has really happened. Tomorrow a group of us are going out to the Mussenden Temple for a picnic and I am learning how to crochet but nothing else super exciting.  Talking about exciting though was how I thought I would feel for the Titanic Museum. It was neat but kind of dragged on since the first half of it was just talking about linen and other industry products coming alive. I really enjoyed seeing first hand at what the rooms looked like and a few other videos and simulations from building the Titanic and peoples stories. Other than that, I was disappointed to see that most of it was videos and people talking about the Titanic where I wanted to see more physical items from the ship wreck. The ending was my favorite because I got to see a video on what the ship looks like now and then set out to go outside where the ship was actually built. The area was HUGE! You never really realize how big the Titanic was until you walk the length of it.

Hopefully I will get to see more museums and experience other fun and crazy moments during my time abroad like I have the past week.

I know I have not been keeping up with this the best the past week but I will make sure to get people caught up. Besides classes, which have been pretty normal to the weeks before, I have explored some of the towns around me more, gone Halloween shopping, dyed my hair, took a trip to the Atrium, and a few other smaller activities.

I will start with all the exploring I have done with my new friend Eve over the past week. We have gone into Coleraine a few times for multiple trips and I have probably bought more items than I should have, but they all have purpose and good intentions. One trip was just for exploring along with checking out all the resale stores they have in town… which is a lot. I think we spent 3 hours in the area and did not make it to all of them. We did some more looking around on this last Friday when I dyed my hair bleach blonde. It was a crazy change from my light brown hair but I like it. It is cute and edgy all at the same time. Not much happened the rest of the day except for some Netflix and attempt to do homework. The real fun happened the next day.

Saturday, a group of international students headed out for the Atrium on a bus. The Atrium is an area of large hills off the north east coast of Northern Ireland and it is a sight. We took two trips down into the valley ways of the hills and with all the colored leaves and Autumn smell in the cool air, it was a perfect day well spent. The paths were well kept with sturdy wooden bridges to take us over the smooth flowing water down the rest of the valley. There were a bunch of waterfalls as well, all different shapes and sizes. My favorite was towards the end of the first tour down into the valley and it was almost crescent shaped framing the water below it. It was wide in size and probably 30 feet tall. Hopefully I will be able to make another trip out to the Atrium while I am here and I can take some more amazing photos. I uploaded a lot onto Facebook and I believe most of the good ones on Instagram if anyone wants to check it out.

Yesterday was probably the next best day besides Monday night which included playing sports at the iCafe (program at a church for international students to do something every Monday night). Not much happened Monday night besides eating, playing UNO, and talking to friends. Yesterday was nice because we took a trip into Coleraine again to hit up a few stores while my bike tires (they spell it tyers here) were getting fixed because both tubes were popped. First, we had to go buy some yarn becaaaaause my friend Eve will be teaching me how to croshay. Which means we also had to go get some hooks from another shop in town. The rest of the time was spent in TK Maxx (not TJ Maxx but the same thing) and makeup shops looking for a few extra things for Halloween. Inspired by one of my professors, I am going to be Edna for Halloween and I can not wait. I already had the wig, glasses, outfit, and some shoes I purchased last week while shopping but I still needed some lipstick and tights. Eve needed more makeup for her Maleficent outfit she is going to wear so we were mainly looking for her.

That should be pretty much it with being caught up besides the Titanic trip Eve and I went on in Belfast, but I will save that story for next time. Stay posted and check out my pictures I have uploaded for some visuals! 🙂

Here is another list of differences that I have noticed while studying abroad in Northern Ireland.

1. The equivalence to our Yield sign, is a “give way” sign.
2. Bathrooms in Ireland are a lot more private than in the states. There is not a gap where people can see into the stall when passing by. There are also some bathrooms that are not gender specific so anyone can go in.
3. Renting movies is not a thing where I am studying; everyone uses apps like Netflix or buy movies from small shops in town that are like Game Stop where I am from.
4. Brands like cereals have different names. For example, Frosted Flakes are called Frosties.
5. The streets are not quite as lit as ones at home so it can be a little creepy walking at night if you are not on the main road.
6. This one is pretty convenient. Carts in stores have all of the wheels go in all directions instead of just the front ones like cars have them. This makes it so its easier to just glide left or right to get out of someones way instead of picking up the cart to move it.
7. Stoplight systems are a little different. The lights still go red to yellow and then green. Buuuuuuut, then they go back to yellow before green to let you know it is about time to go which I think is nice instead of just straight to green.
8. Instead of sold houses saying “Sold” they say “Sale agreed”. Renting signs are different as well.
9. Back roads really only create enough room for one car instead of two, which means when people happen to pass one another, they have to be in the ditch on both sides a little bit.
10. Doritos here are very different in taste from American Doritos. The red bag is Chilli Heatwave instead of Nacho Cheese. It tastes kind of like the purple bag we have at first and then has a tangy taste at the end; I love em.
11. Tea means dinner as well, but mostly for the older generation. This is similar to when grandparents say undergarments for underwear.
12. While talking about underwear, they call underwear pants and pants trousers. Jeans or called something else I believe but people will still say jeans. Planners are also called Diaries and do not get me started on what they call cookies vs biscuits vs scones… Haha

I am sure there are more that I am not thinking about when it comes to differences in culture between Ireland/Great Britain and the United States. I am having more and more fun though learning and exploring as I am here.

One thing is for sure, classes in Ireland are a lot different than what I am used to. Classes are once a week and include two hour lectures with seminars, practicals, or other extra study groups that a class might need. Some classes depending on the field, luckily not mine, change week to week whether it is the time or day a class occurs. I was going to take an environmental science module but since those courses change week to week, they overlapped at times with my two psychology modules. Therefore, I am taking all psychology courses now: Social Psychology, Individual Differences, and Intro to Psychology. I know, I have already taken Intro, but there was not another course for me to take that would work with my schedule and not completely take over my time abroad with coursework.

Any who, my week begins with Social on Monday in the evening, then Into on Wednesday in the morning, ending with Individual on Thursday in the morning. This leaves time for me to travel Thursday evening to Monday morning. This week was not really fun for traveling because I was sick for the second half of the week. So far, I really do not have any idea what I am doing when it comes to coursework. We use blackboard and it is my first time using it but it is easy to use. The thing I do not like is that everything is not very organized and the system is kind of lackadaisical, which is hard for me since everything is very go go go in America. I am not saying this part of the culture in Ireland is a bad thing, it is just very hard to get used to when I am used to more order. Especially for someone with anxiety, this part of being abroad is going to be the most challenging for me. So here is to the weeks to come, and hopefully there is some traveling involved.

Friday evening was spent in Londonderry, a small town to the west of Coleraine and Portstewart. It is the site of Bloody Sunday and heavily influenced the Troubles. The drive there took about an hour and was filled with tons of pictures of the countryside along with making more friendships with students on the bus. Once we arrived, all of the students were given a culture tour of the area. We learned all about Bloody Sunday and the events that happened between Protestants and Catholics at the time. There was a whole museum that just opened dedicated to the people that were murdered right outside during Bloody Sunday. The area eventually was named Free Derry. There was also information about how America and other countries were affected at the time. Most of the tour was surrounded by this topic along with walking around the city for sightseeing and seeing the wall that separated the Catholics (they lived in the Bogside) and the Protestants. The troubles and past events still effect people today.

After the tour, people started to split off into groups to do their own thing until we took the bus back at 9:30. Almost everyone went to grab something to eat because none of us had eaten since lunch and it was almost 8. My group headed out to find a bar and restaurant so we could have actual food and not bar food. It took a couple tries but we eventually found a nice place with live music and enjoyed some burgers. The rest of the night was filled with laughter and building closer relationships. So far, I am happy with how my study abroad experience is turning out. It has only been a couple weeks and I am already building close relationships with students from all over the world! I hope to continue this through the semester and have strong connections where I can one day revisit the same friends. 🙂 Here is to my long semester ahead of me!

The past few days have not been very exciting. Nothing has been going on besides checking out the area with some friends and chilling in my room while watching some movies. The most exciting day was probably the one I headed out to Coleraine to run some errands along with that night at Kelly’s bar.

First, Coleraine and bar. I needed some school supplies that I could not get at the small grocery store near me. An Irish friend of mine named Lauren went with me to Coleraine where she said I had a better chance getting what I needed. The bus ride there was a little longer than the normal ride but was not bad. Once we got there, we sorta aimlessly walked around in the rain trying to find places to shop buuuuuut we were hungry so we stopped by subway. It is very interesting to see the differences in chain restaurants like Subway. For example, there are no peppers or ranch, but they do have sweet corn and some meat called . They also have some hash browns that are pretty good with the chipotle southwest sauce.

After eating we headed out, still raining but not hard, trying to find a place for me to get a local phone contract. It did not take long since it was right around the corner in a walking mall area where cars could not drive. From there we went to the dollar shop to get some agendas, folders, a trash can for the apartment, and a few other things like playing cards and a wall calendar. It was actually very hard to find an agenda that worked because most of the planners (diaries as they call them) were for the 2019 year instead of 2018-2019 school year. The rest of the time in Coleraine went by pretty smoothly and nothing exciting happened till that night.

Boy was it a night. Part of freshers week is going to different bars throughout the week since all college students can drink in Ireland. Kelly’s, a well known bar to everyone in the area for years, is a dance club with different rooms and different music throughout the place. THE PLACE IS HUGE! And maybe that is just because I have not been to a dance club before, but this place was like no other place I have seen; I got lost walking around. I was in the main room with the DJ for half the night dancing with friends going back and forth between my international friends and Irish friends. At one point, we made a big circle for people to go to the middle to dance or just do something goofy. The second half, was not so much fun.

My friends I came with started to walk off saying they were getting drinks and not coming back. Two ended up going home since one girl was not feeling well but did not tell us till later. Another left with her sister but people kept forgetting and worrying about her all nigh. Another friend had a little too much to drink and ran off for about an hour with me and another girl tried to find her which turned into just me. Turns out, after wondering around looking for her and talking to random people who had come up to me in the meantime, my friend had past out on a couch. She was sloshed to say the least. She was tired and wanted to head home but the others wanted to stay till 2.

Another hour and a half… I did not want to pay for the taxi by myself so we waited it out. My friend laid on the couch while I watched over her giving her water when she needed it. She almost fell off a couple times but I caught her with my feet. It was not very exciting besides her trying to sing to the music but after awhile, she started to lean her head over the edge of the couch and spit a little bit. I am sure everyone knows what comes after that. I got a trash can soon enough and luckily left right after that event. We had to stand in the cold till a taxi came which was not very fun, but I helped her back into her apartment when we got back, and I went to bed in my apartment. To say the least, I am not going out again for awhile.

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!

Today while out and about, I noticed/learned a number of things about the Irish culture and environment.

1.  “What the crack?” is equivalent to our “What’s up?” according to a lady at a gas station that told us something else we did not know…
2. Flake is a kind of well known chocolate candy bar that went into our ice cream. My family and I actually got our toppings for free because we did not know what Flake was.
3. Irish people DO NOT say “top of the morning to ya.” I do not know this from using it, just making that clear. My brother asked someone about stereotypical things people think of them for being Irish and this was said along with not having anything to do with leprechauns. Some people find some of the things insulting after awhile.
4. Hedges are everywhere. They surround everything and they are the border that separates your vision from anything beautiful beyond.
5. Something that is not everywhere is ranch. Some people have never heard of it and it is not sold in stores.
6. Dublin, is a crazy place to drive in. There are a lot of one ways, people on bikes riding everywhere or walking in front of you like they want you to run them over, and to top it off, everything is on the left which makes it hard for us right sided people. The roads are in pretty good condition though which I can not say about a lot of roads in Illinois, which is weird since it seems like all we have going on is road construction. (P.s. Sorry to the people of Ireland for my American family not knowing how to drive. Please stop honking at us. We will get it soon. Thank you)
7. Ice cream cones tastes like Corn Flakes and their Sherbet is colorful sugar they place on ice cream. It is actually pretty good. Speaking of food, the Fish n’ Chips here are super tasty and I do not know why people told me different.
8. To turn on anything in our BNB, there is some kind of switch or button for it. It took me forever to figure out how to work the shower just because I forgot to flip the switch outside the bathroom door for the shower.
9. The cost of things is a lot different here. Necessities seem to cost less than wants. For example, meat is fairly reasonable when it comes to price. Chips and cereal on the other hand or more snacky foods and cost more than they should. A really nice necessity that is cheaper is gas! 🙂
10. And finally, shows are a little strange, at least the ones that come through, and the commercial breaks are shorter. One show my brother and I found was called Tiny Planets and involved two families, one blue and one red, all of them making weird sounds and waving at each other a lot. The families did not talk, the narrator told the story. Then there were a bunch of off brand Teletubbies in the end dancing… Where our shows like this?

I wonder what else this journey has in store for me since this is only the beginning!

Sooooo today was a long day. The flight was fantastic with only a slight delay and smooth flying the whole way but I should have gotten more sleep instead of watch movies on my 7 hours flight over. After going through the typical after flight customs and baggage claim, my family and I also had to go through the process of renting a car, and even better, learning how to drive completely opposite from our own way. It is exactly what you would think, everything to the left instead to the right, but it is harder than I would think to get used to it. My American ways have me constantly wanting to hug the left line and wanting to be in the right lane for the fast lane instead of the left.

Besides the driving part, directions were hard enough to figure out where we were going. The GPS did not work and we had no signal so we drove around for a few hours in the same area trying to figure out where we were going. My grandmother and I could not stop laughing at how frustrated people were getting in a crammed car trying to find this country cottage that we are supposed to be staying in. Roads are very narrow here so my mother is freaking out as cars fly by and chickens are loose in the road. Luckily, everyone is super nice here so we got a lot of help on the way to our destination.

After arriving, some of us walked around and took pictures of the beautiful countryside, went grocery shopping, and slept. Overall, a beautiful day that was chill for the most part but dragged on in the beginning. The rest day was well needed for the days to come.

It did not hit me till last night that I was leaving for 4 months. I was lying next to my sleeping boyfriend (Nathan) thinking about how I was not going to be able to feel his touch for 4 long months all while he had me pulled close. A few tears fell, but I quickly fell asleep. This morning I laid in bed not wanting to get up to finish packing (yes, I procrastinated till the last second to finish packing) waiting for Nathan to come back from his internship. We ate a wonderful breakfast that he had made for me and then my grandmother arrived to pick me up; some other members of my family and her are spending a week with me in Ireland. I was still doing okay emotionally until my grandmother told me not to cry when I was hugging Nathan, and then the tears flooded out of my eyes. It was the worst good bye, scratch that, see you soon, that I have ever had to deal with, even if it is just 4 months. You get a little attached to someone when you have been staying with them for the past month.

As far as other “see you soon’s” go, the past week has been filled with a numerous amount of them. My college basketball team had a “meeting” upstairs after training one day and had a cake and card for me. I love them all to death and am going to miss playing with them this season. The best friend was a hard one too. We hugged like 4 times as I slowly started to inch for the door not wanting to leave but could not really miss my flight. And for the little sister, good luck kiddo with your first semester of college. I think I hugged you the longest and did not want to let go. I do not know what I am going to do when I move even farther away from you. Others included people where I worked, people in the cafe, some over text, and others just from passing by.

Anyway, my flight is about to take off so I leave this with saying I am truly going to miss everyone from back home! I will see you soon and keep in touch while I am away!