Walk Away the Pounds

                My apologies in delay of keeping you updated.  It has been three weeks since I last posted and I have done so much since then including trips to Belfast, Derry, Giant’s Causeway, Glendalough, and a tour of Dublin.  The original post was only going to include Belfast but I decided I’ll just do one long entry instead. 

                Three weekends ago now I went to Belfast which is in Northern Ireland so a part of the UK.  I traveled with two girls from work, both from Germany, through a small English language school tour group.  We just went up for the day but got a tour of the city, which is the largest city in Northern Ireland, that included the history and present events that have transpired.  This includes the walls that divide the Protestant loyalists whom are loyal to Britain from the Catholic nationalists who are loyal to the Republic of Ireland.  The history was very sad as a lot of the disagreements and fights continue today and there is still a lot of unrest.  Though this part of the tour wasn’t very exciting it was good to learn more about this history to understand it better.  We also saw the dock where the Titanic was built and then had some down time to explore the city.  My friends and I plus a couple of the students from the language school found a couple of statues to see and ended our day in Belfast at Starbucks!  Overall, I am very glad I had the opportunity to go, to meet new people and get to know my friends better, to learn about history and tragedy that still affects the people I’m living around, and to explore a new country and different currency.

 This is one of the peace walls that was built to segregate the Protestants and Catholics

 The Titanic's dry dock

Hussam, Selina, myself, Christina, and Giovanni at a viewing tower overlooking the city

                On a regular day I spend my days working on sales calls, advertising and promotion of the charity event and of the new product launch, revising the company business plan, and recently I began learning more about SEO of the company and how I can help improve it.  SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization which is wording the text and titles of your webpage and linking your web address to different sites that make it more likely to be found in search engines like Google or Bing.  The people, like in any other environment, either make or break the experience and I can definitely say that my fellow colleagues have made this experience grand.  I have had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world and build friendships with many of them.

                Home in Terenure (Dublin 6) continues to be the place that I love to spend my evenings.  I still spend a lot of time with my host sister playing cards, watching movies, or recently coloring and drawing together which have made my evenings relaxing and full of laughter.  Last week I was able to go to Georgia’s final choir concert and was very impressed by the harmony and skill of the 4ht-6th grade girls.  The time I spend with my family is confirmation that I made the right choice in housing, and I know I will be sad to leave when the time comes.   

Georgia and I after a make-over!

                Two weekends ago now, I spent Saturday seeing many of the major attractions in Dublin.  I first visited the National Museum of History and Archaeology mostly because if my family were with me, we would have visited it, but I did learn a lot about ancient Ireland.  Once I finished there I made my way to Christ Church, a significant and large Catholic Church in Dublin, but stopped at an outdoor market and Dublin Castle on the way.  I arrived at Christ Church with the intention to absorb as much information as I could about the place so that I could share with my friends and family back home.  I took in carefully each room, the architecture, the statues and the significance of each.  My highlights of the church included a few minutes spent in prayer in a side room for the visitors of the church and the citizens of Dublin and viewing the crypt since I have never been to the basement of an old church before.

                After Christ Church, I made my way to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells the ancient monastic copies of the Gospels and the Old Library which holds thousands of books from the past hundreds of years.  The intricacy and detail of the pictures and text of the Book of Kells was truly unbelievable, breathtaking, and beautiful.  And then to soon after walk into a two story high room that smelled of old books with books lining the walls and a library only imagined in a fairy tale was almost too much to take in.  This was my favorite touristy place in Dublin and I would love to go again.  To end my long day of touring, I went to the World Champion Street Performance festival and watched a couple acts before exhaustion kicked in and I headed home.  The best part of this day was spending the day just me and God and being in awe of how he has spanned all generations.

 An "artsy" picture of Dublin Castle

 A side view of Christ Church

A glimpse at the interior of Christ Church

                On Sunday I went to church for the first time since I’ve been here.  I didn’t know what to expect but couldn’t contain my excitement to worship again in community.  The church is Shankill Bible Church and there was a congregation of about twenty.  Now the thing I love most about small churches is how welcoming and like a family they are and this church was no different.  I felt so welcomed and included and soaked in everything from the first hymn to last amen. God simply amazed me at His provision in giving me this weekend pointing back to Him and reminding me that He is why I am here and He does take care of all of my needs.  (I was also able to attend the church again this previous Sunday which was again a great blessing.)

                This last weekend I spent a lot of time with my family.  I went shopping with Georgia on Saturday and went to Glendalough with Georgia and my parents on Sunday.  Glendalough is a large park in the Wicklow mountains with ruins of a monastery on the grounds as well.  To reach it, we spent an hour driving through the mountainside and then hiked around the trails.  Needless to say but this was one of my favorite days, it was warm enough to wear a tshirt, the scenery was gorgeous, and the company was grand. I don’t know how else to describe it so I’ll let the pictures explain it to you.         

                This Monday, I traveled with two girls from the U of M and visited Giant’s Causeway and Derry which is also in Northern Ireland.  It was another long day of touring and driving but the sites, sounds, and sometimes good smells made it all worth it.  Once again the sites were breathtaking and I loved just looking out the window of the bus in awe of all of the green.  The first site we stopped at was called Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge.  Now the great thing about this is you would expect it to be a long, scary bridge but it wasn’t but it did lead to a cute little island and better view of Scotland just 12 miles across the Irish Sea.

 The "really long" rope bridge

Scotland is on the horizon

                Our next stop was the famous Giant’s Causeway which by legend was believed to be formed by giants.  The rocks were very easy to climb and obviously unique so it was a joy to be able to experience this great natural wonder for myself.

Myself, Lauren, and Rachael

                The last place we stopped was in the city of Derry.  This city is also rich in past and present history and has a similar story to Belfast.  We only stayed in the city for a brief tour and headed out.  But I again learned more about the tragedy that still affects the lives of the people living in the North, the conflict between the loyalists (unionists) and nationalists (republicans).  I’ve decided that I’ve done enough day tours and look forward to at least one more adventure outside of Dublin.  Thank you for your continued love and support!