legenDERRY

So most of us students here are on the "college budget," but see taking that budget to Europe makes you approximately 1.44 times as poor. We American students will hunt for the best bargain in town... 2 euro baguette sandwiches at Londis, 3 for 1.50 buenos bars (HEAVEN in a chocolate bar... I am officially an addict), free glass of wine between 5-7 the whole month of january at a new wine bar down the street (I've already gone twice...I hope they didn't notice), "free" packets of salt, sugar, pepper, brown sugar, vinegar etc, 1 euro shoes (black wedges that I bought yesterday that made me feel slightly less guilty about the amount of money I spent last weekend), and of course if a roll of toilet paper happens to fall into someones purse in a public restroom... they most likely will just bring it back to their apartment accidentally...

the contents of my purse:

Naturally, you could guess how excited our group was to go on an "all-expenses paid" trip to Northern Ireland (Derry and Belfast) this past weekend. We weren't just a little excited... we were THRILLED, jumping around acting like this was spring break (Bri and I even packed bathing suits in case the hotels had pools... they didn't). We left on Thursday morning- we dragged ourselves and our luggage across town to the bus (and by that I mean Bri and I got a taxi and everyone else walked across town... if there was ever a time for a taxi that was it. We were packed heavily for this 4 day fiasco). Fell asleep on the bus in an awkward, uncomfortable position which reminded me of field hockey and lacrosse trips in high school, and woke up in Northern Ireland.

ignore my delirious bus friends:

First stop: LUNCH. Everyone was so hungry that all the bread and fruit was gone from tables in a split second and there were a few small fights over a pear and a banana... no big deal though. Everyone was cranky from the bus and pissed that we got portions the size of peanuts, but we pressed on. Keep in mind I had NO idea what the itinerary was for the weekend because it was sent out a few days before and a few people never got it (obviously me), so I was literally just getting on and off the bus as I was told and everything was a great big surprise for me! I finally found out that we were in Derry for the 1st night then Belfast for the 2nd and 3rd. Second stop: Carrick-a-Rede (meaning "rock in the road" in Scottish Gaelic and "road" meaning the route for Atlantic salmon). The rope bridge that we were soon to cross was strung for over 350 years by fishermen and used as the best place to catch these salmon. As you can see it was no piece of cake...

crossing the bridge was harder for some:

and VERY VERY windy:

3rd stop: Giants Causeway. Even more windy than the bridge. After another long journey down to the water, we're there. Standing on about 40,000 different rocks that are the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. To be quite honest, I did not have to stay an hour and a half there and look at the rocks while getting wind burnt and nearly slipping to my death 5 times... but it was nice!! :)

4th Stop: HOTEL. Thankkkkk goodness. warmth. food. drink. the best 3 course meal ever paid for me: soup, grilled salmon, chocolate raspberry dessert. I love Derry. After dinner we chatted it up with the hotel bartender, Gareth (garth not gareth obviously) and went to a local pub called Mason's with him to listen to a band and enjoy our "vacation." We quickly found out that Gareth is a nationalist and that we were at a nationalist bar. There are very distinct differences between the cultures of a nationalist and a unionist (nationalists want political independence from UK and unionists want to continue to be under the Queen's rule). Nationalists are typically Catholic and Unionists usually Protestant. We stayed out until closing and magically made it to breakfast at 8am (well some of us), just in time to stuff our faces and purses to get us through to the next free meal, dinner. That morning we went on a tour of Derry (not just any tour, Martin's AWARD WINNING tour) and heard a lot about the Bloody Sunday tragedy (1972 civilian shooting by British forces in Derry). We saw the "Protestant communities" and "Catholic communities," and they are clearly separated. It makes me grateful to live in a place where the topics of religion and politics are not as tense and defining. We visited the museum, saw a documentary about Bloody Sunday and no big deal, we were featured on a BBC Northern Ireland special with our tour guide (I will for sure post it/brag about it on my blog when it is released).

Martin McCrossan's award winning city (and oh so witty) tours:

We got lunch (I ate my stolen breakfast for lunch) and were off to Belfast, the country's capital!