Where did the time go?!

Hey there

It's been a long time ago (again)...

I've been really busy, and I'll try to share everything that's happened since my last blog.

To start: in the weekend of the 29th of march, my mother, sisters and brother came to Belfast for a visit!

I had the feeling they were on their way back to Belgium before I knew it. But while they were here, we did some pretty nice things ;-)

On our first day, we took a tour of Belfast in a Black Taxi (you might remember that I told you about them in my first blog).

But this was not a regular Black Taxi, it was a guided tour through Belfast.

As you might know, Belfast has a pretty troubled history, it was only recent that there came peace to this city. The guide started the tour off with a short history lesson, which was very interesting since none of us really are history 'freaks' and almost everything he told us was new to us.

So after this short lesson (which was necessary to get to understand why Belfast is/was so troubled) we headed to the Shankhill area, a protestant area close to my flat.

We took a tour along some of the murals over there and Charlie (our guide) gave some explanations with every mural. 

After that, he took us to the peace wall. We each got to write a little message on the wall as well :-) The wall is full with little messages and statements from locals and other tourists. 

Then he took us to a catholic area, on the other side of wall. There we got to see a tribute to all the catholics who have died during the troubles in Belfast (small and big).

It was one of the most interesting guided historical tours I've ever done! I cant' believe that it took me so long to do this tour. But of course, I am also very happy that I could share this with my family...

The next day, on sunday, we paid a visit to the St.-Georges market. There, we started the day off with a nice breakfast. I had never been at the market on a sunday, some things are the same, but on sunday there are more antiques and house sales and stuff. It was nice to be there on a sunday! And as always: good live music!

The rest of the day we went shopping. Browsing through the shops, having a coffee in between; and by the time it was 5 O'Clock we were all exhausted!

On monday we explored the Titanic quarter, I am a wee bit ashamed to admit that I also had never been in that part of town before. But, there is a first time for everything, right? :-)

And at 2 O'Clock, it was already time for my brother and sisters to leave... So we said our goodbyes and they went off, back to Dublin, to fly home again.

The next day, on tuesday, me and my mom took the train to Bangor and did the walk again to Helens Bay. And guess what: it was still beautiful! The weather was nice, even the sun came out every now and then ;-)

In the evening we went out to dinner and before we knew it, it was wednesday morning and time for my mom to go home as well.

So here I was, back on my own in Belfast.

Didn't have much time to be sad though, I had my last days of teaching practice ahead.

Another thing that flew by. It felt like yesterday that I had my first day there, the first time I met my class. And before I knew it all the P3's were gathered in one room and they had made a big 'Goodbye Lisa' card for me and a 'Goodbye Valerie' card for Valérie! All the P3's had signed it! It was very touching, I will sure miss them.

Then on monday, the first one of my housemates had to leave! It really is so weird, we've been living together for 3 months, and now it's over. Soon another girl from my house will leave, and I'm next after her. I still can't believe it. For so long, going on Erasmus was like a dream for me, and now it's nearly done!

But, not done yet!

So on tuesday I went on another (most likely my very last) little trip. Me and Anisja took the bus to Donegal, a town in Ireland. We had booked a hostel in Malin Beg, about 50km from Donegal. But of course, only 2 busses a day and we weren't gonna waste our precious time by waiting for a bus. So, we decided to hitch hike, or thumb as they say here. We made a lovely sign (if I may say so myself) out of a cardboard box we found and started 'thumbing'. Very adventurous ;-)

Making of: the thumb signs

It took us about 15 minutes to get our first lift to the next town (halfway to our destination), Killybegs.

Another 5 minutes for the ride from Killybegs to Carrick; and within no time a ride from Carrick to Malin Beg. Thumbing here is really easy, the people are so friendly and many of them are keen on taking you.

Some time ago, thumbing was very popular in Ireland. On of the drivers told us that she used to thumb home every friday, all the way from Dublin!

Enough about the drive over there, more about the view and the feeling!

WAUW! Just WAUW! Peaceful, quiet, green, beautiful, rustic, .... And sheep and lambs, more then you can count! The closer we got to Maling Beg, the lesser houses there were, I mean, some of the little villages weren't even worth the name village. Just WAUW!

Thumbing to Killybegs :-)

Killybegs

Killybegs

Second Thumbing place: thumbing to Carrick.

On our first night we went to Silver Strand Beach. A beautiful beach just for us, so it seemed. We had to take around a hundred and sixty steps to get down to it, and there it was, an empty beach, just for us!

I bet it must be even nicer (if possible) during summer!

Silver Strand Beach 

Silver Strand Beach - Hundred something steps down

Silver Stand Beach

Silver Stand Beach

The next day, we thumbed our way back to Carrick to start our walk to the cliffs of Slieve League. It was about 7km up to the cliffs. And if I say UP, I mean UP! Lets say the walk was a wee bit more intens then we had anticipated. But once we got up there: WAUW! 

I know I'm repeating myself, but you would do too if you were there.

The only downside to it was that the weather that day wasn't that sunny, and there was still some fog over the top of the hill. Normally you can walk further up, and go across the top of the Slieve Liegue. But since it was partially covered in fog, we decided not to do this.

And so, after letting our eyes fest on the magnificent view, we started our walk back down.

Cliffs of Slieve League

Cliffs of Slieve League

Me and Anisja
Cliffs of Slieve League

Cliffs of Slieve League

One of the many, many sheep :-)

And I guess that's about it...

Now it's mostly working for school and preparing for my final teaching practice in Belgium... So that's good fun.

On saturday morning some of the other Erasmus students will come over to our house for a pancake breakfast. Later that day two others are leaving... So it will be kind of a goodbye breakfast for them.

Bur for now, that's it ;-)

See ya ;)

Bye Bye

Oh, one more thing. On sunday AND on monday I went to the park with Anisja to.... yes, to lay in THE SUN! So even here in Belfast, the sun does come out! Not only for those lucky bastards in Belgium ;-)