Here's what happened since my last blog...
Last weekend it was St.-Paddy's weekend :-)
On sunday morning (16/04) we all had a lovely pancake breakfast at one of the other Erasmus houses to start our day. After the breakfast we all added some final touches to our 'costumes' (we all just wore something green): Irish flags were painted on our skins, some shamrocks were put on our cheeks, the green head decorations were put in place and we were ready to go!
At 12 O'clock the St.-Patrick's Parade started in the city centre, and we sure didn't want to miss that!
Although the parade itself was not that spectacular, a wee bit small, it was nice to be a part of it and to see the Paddy's atmosphere all around town.
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| St.-Patrick's Selfie ;-) |
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| The parade |
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| The parade |
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| The parade |
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| Ready to hit the town ;-) |
During the week, nothing much happened. I got sick and stayed in bed for a few days to sick it out...
On Saturday, when I was luckily all better again, I went to the St.-Georges market with Anisja. We had a nice cup of coffee, walked around for a wee bit, absorbed the atmosphere and enjoyed each others company.
Later that day, we went to visit the Crumlin Road Gaol. That's an old jail in Belfast, one that has been turned into a museum since it closed its doors in 1996.
Crumlin Road Gaol first opened its gates to prisoners in 1846 and for 150 years, it was a fully operational prison (for men, women and children from the age of 7!!).
The tour started in the Reception where prisoners were first brought when they arrived into the Gaol. It was here they were washed, photographed and processed.
In the prison, there are 4 wing: A-wing, B-wing, C-wing and D-wing. We had the chance to explore C-wing and have a look what life was like through the ages; which cells there were, who was on that wing, ...
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| The Round hall from which you can enter each wing. |
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| C-Wing |
We also got the chance to see the Condemned man's cell. This was the cell where the prisoners, who were about to be hanged, spend their last weeks. They only tell the prisoner one day before the hanging that tomorrow will be THE day.
A bit creepy: in the bathroom of that cell (this was the only cell with a bathroom connected to it, to avoid the prisoner having any contact to other prisoners. There was also one prison guard who lived with the prisoner in that cell for those last weeks). But so, the creepy part: in the bathroom, behind a movable wall: the hanging room!! So all this time, the prisoner was living RIGHT NEXT to his death!! When I heard this, I got goosebumps...
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| The noose With the original rope from the last hanging in 1961 |
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| The hatch that opens. The man was left hanging here 45-60 minutes, just to lake sure he really was dead... |
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| The coffin where the man was put in. |
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| A torture device used on men, women and children! |
For the other 5: in the beginning there was no 'hanging cell'. The hanging was a public affair that took place in front of the prison. All the people from Belfast came to this 'event', even when they didn't knew the man. It was like 'live cinema'. After the hanging, they all went to the pubs and went drinking. The day after they all felt bad because of the drinking, and we all know what that's called: a 'hang-over'... So, now you know where the term comes from :-)
During those 150 years, the Gaol has housed murderers, suffragettes, loyalists and republican prisoners. It has witnessed births, deaths and marriages and experienced executions, escapes, hunger-strikes and riots.
(Gaol is the old English word for JAIL. It is pronounced exactly the same way but spelt differently!)
To end the tour, we took a look at the Gravesite where the 17 executed bodies were buried. If hanging a man wasn't already horrible enough for the families, the bodies were buried on a site right outside the prison, without a headstone, where the families could never visit the grave...
(A few days before the hanging, the families can come and say their goodbyes. From that moment on, they will never see the man or his body again.)
It was a very interesting tour; it felt really weird to walk on the grounds where so many people have walked before. To know that they were often treated in horrible ways (also because at one point the Gaol held over 1500 prisoners, in a prison build for 500!), that even 12 men were hanged at the exact room we stood in, ...
On sunday, me and 4 other Erasmus students went to Bangor and Helens Bay.
We took the train (45') to Bangor and walked along the coastline to Helen's Bay.
The trip started with a nice coffee and a piece of cake at Caffè Nero.
The sun was out, we had our portion of caffeine and so we were good to go!!
One of the other Erasmus students had already done the walk some time ago. She told us that is was a very beautiful walk around 4-5 hours (with plenty of photo making pitstops of course)
And so we started the walk. As I said before: the sun was out, so we were VERY lucky, it was a beautiful day!
After about an hour and a half, we were near a visitor centre and cafe... We were all very confused, because this meant that Helens Bay wasn't that far any more... Sooooooo, call us heroes! We did a four-hour walk in about one and a half hour!!! :-p And it felt like we always walked for 5 minutes before taking 10 minute picture breaks... So we didn't speed at all :-p
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| mmmmmmm Vitamine D!!! |
We still don't know what happened, why the other girl (who was with us as well on sunday) thought it was 4 hours last time... We all have our theories about it :-p
Anyway, the walk was BEAUTIFUL! Walking next to the beach for almost 2 hours, seeing the waves go against the rocks, some pieces of untouched nature... We LOVED it!
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| Running away from the incoming waves :-D |
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| We love the little waves <3 |
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| Fun at the beach! |
When we reached the train station in Helens Bay, we had to wait for 20 minutes for the next train to Belfast. While waiting, we played a game: 'Who am I?'
The time flew by, the train was there in no time. Rapunzel and Christiane Walzer (one of the Erasmus students) were already guessed, but for Aladin, Mary Poppins and Jane (from tarzan) it was time to enter the train and go home...
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Today, monday the 24th of March, I joined P5 to the Grand Opera House!
They were working with and about Opera's since november, since then there have been 4 work shops. They went to see a real Opera, the discussed Macbeth and they made their own little opera.
Today was the last day of the project, "The OperaQuest Grand Finale".
All 3 classes (from 3 different schools) performed their own opera on the big stage in the Grand Opera house!!!
It was so much fun seeing them rehearse, work with real opera singer, and then finally: see all three mini opera's!
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| Live performance Opera singer |
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| Live performance Opera singer |
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| The Grand Opera |
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| P5 on the big stage |
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| P5 in the dressing room |
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| P5 rehearsing |
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| The Grand Opera |
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| Ceiling |
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| Mini Opera from one of the other schools |
That's all folks!
Next weekend my sisters, brother and mother are coming over for a few days!! I am soooo excited!
On my next blog, you'll be able to read all about their visit and our adventures!! :-D
Cheerio :-)
