Beating the Clock in a Paddywagon with a Bunch of Hussies

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Belfast! We were supposed to take the shuttle to the airport, but it never came so we ended up taking a taxi. It was only a Euro more (each) than we would have paid, and it was much quicker! We flew from Cork to Dublin 7:30pm Thursday night and then took a 2-2.5 hour bus from Dublin to Belfast. Once we got to Belfast, we had no idea where to walk to our hostel, if it was even safe to do so, so we jumped in this big taxi that looked like one of those old English ones but it was more modern. Anyways, Brianne mixed up the two hostels and we took a bit of a detour, but it all worked out. We had to stay in two different hostels because our second one was booked for the first night. The first night we stayed in Linen’s hostel. We assumed it would be dodgy (aka sketchy) because it was only 7 pounds a night per person. However, reception was really nice and the room wasn’t too bad. It was just a huge room with a lot of beds. Anyways, we tried to figure out our plans for Friday and then attempted to fall asleep (took us a little while for whatever reason).

Friday morning we got up before 8am (shocking, I know) because we had to call the Paddywagon tour to make sure they could pick us up for Friday’s day trip to Giant’s Causeway. Fortunately, they had room and we were told to “be early” so we rushed out of the hostel and grabbed some breakfast. The employees at the café were really nice, but they were taking TOO LONG! Brianne and I started having panic attacks that the “wagon” was going to leave without us, so we rushed to the bus stop. To our surprise (it shouldn’t surprise us anymore because this is the Irish way), the wagon was late and we had plenty of time to relax and eat breakfast! Our driver’s name was Gene, or Jean..I dunno how he spells it..and we were on our way to Giant’s Causeway (Fun facts: Paddywagon=a wagon driven by police in America back in the day when the Irish just emigrated because usually the drunks causing problems were Irish, hence PADDYwagon; also, the term hussie comes from Irish sheep farmers who call a sheep with multiple colors on it's rear a hussie since all of the different males' spray paint has gotten on her and she most definitely will be pregnant!). On the way we saw loads of sheep, cows, horses, and plenty of green grass. Before we got to the Causeway (it was about 2 hours away) we took some pictures at a beach where you could see Scotland in the distance, and saw the Carrick-a-rede bridge, as well as Sheep Island and Dunluce Castle. Michael Jackson actually wanted to buy Dunluce Castle, but his application was turned away. Hmm..does Neverland ring a bell? Anyways, we got to Giant’s Causeway and had about an hour to explore. It was probably one of the coolest things I’ve seen. I think it’s one of those ALMOST 7 wonders of the world. Basically, there are 40,000 columns of basalt rock that look like hexagons. They were formed over 60 million years ago from multiple volcanic eruptions (yes, I’m still talking about Ireland!). The columns kinda reminded me of the Jetty back home in good ol’ PPB. We could climb/walk on them and take pictures 2 feet away from the North Atlantic Ocean (we didn’t get too close though, cause I’m sure that water is cold!). It was pretty awesome so get in touch with my ocean-self again, although there was only one small patch of sand. But, hey, basalt rocks are cool, right? After the Causeway, we had to HIKE up this HUGE hill to get back to the wagon before it left without us. We ended up being one of the first groups back and the excessive sprinting up the steep hill was unnecessary—grand. We then headed to Derry which is a city enclosed by walls. You actually can walk on top of the walls and we didn’t realize we were until we saw a sign telling us that we were! Our driver is actually from Derry and he experienced “Bloody Sunday” (“an incident in Derry, Northern Ireland, on 30 January 1972 in which 27 civil rights protesters were shot by members of the 1st Battalion of the British Parachute Regiment during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in the Bogside area of the city. Thirteen people, seven of whom were teenagers, died immediately”-Wikipedia), which was probably one of the most devastating incidents that occurred during the “Troubles”. After Derry, we headed back to Belfast when, all of a sudden, one of the girls on the bus stood up and asked the driver to pull over because “someone is going to get sick”. I thought to myself “Yes, please, don’t let them do it on the bus!”. However, he was too late, the girl had ALREADY gotten sick all over her seat and the floor…AWESOME. Fortunately, Kristina had some perfume in her bag so we sprayed our scarves and inhaled Abercrombie and Fitch. We stopped at Centra/a gas station so that the driver could clean up (poor guy). In Centra, we decided to get some chocolate and saw these “Surprise” eggs that we always see everywhere and I decided to get one. Brianne has wanted a sheep toy out of one of those things since we got here and what do I get? A sheep. What does she get? Some little green doll. Sorry Brianne!

We finally got back on the wagon and headed back to Belfast where we checked in at Paddy’s Palace. We were originally supposed to be in two separate 12 and 8 person rooms. However, we got a free upgrade and got our own private 4-bed room! Aside from that, we got free internet and free towels. Hooray! After this great news, we headed to Tesco to save some money on our dinner, and began cooking. Of course all the kiddies staying in the hostel wanted to get wasted and go out, but we were too afraid from all of the awful stories we heard, so we just stayed in and met some cool people. We met a girl from South Africa/New Zealand (she was older than us, but really cool!) and we also met a few students our age from Australia who told us all of the insider info about where to go in Aussie land. After everyone left for the bars, we decided to shower since we figured the showers would be PACKED in the morning. Well, it was a dumb idea cause they were FREEZING COLD! Brianne screamed so loud that the receptionist on duty came upstairs to make sure she was okay. On top of that screaming incident, we were talking about old school Nickelodeon shows until 2:30am because Brianne and I couldn’t sleep, and we got a knock on the door asking if we could quiet down. Apparently the walls were paper thin and we talk really loud when we reminisce about our childhood 😊

We slept in a little on Saturday (aka 9am) and got our free breakfast. From there, we took a Black Taxi Tour of Belfast, which takes you to both Protestant and Catholic sides of the city where the various murals are. Our driver was originally from Holland, but moved to Belfast when he was 15 and “saw too much” of the troubles. We got to sign the 3.5 mile long peace wall (I quoted The Beatles, of course) which was pretty cool, and entertaining considering the only open space was all the way at the top. We had to do cheerleader-like lifts to reach and then our driver gave us a stool. Thanks, Hans! Although the tour was really moving, it pretty much scared us into not wanting to talk to anyone from Belfast or to do anything at night! After the tour, our driver dropped us off at the Botanic Gardens. Unfortunately, the rose garden was not in bloom, but the Palm House and the Tropical Ravine were really cool. They had so many exotic plants, and then your basics like daffodils, so it was fun to take pictures using all of my settings on my camera (Macro, color accent, etc). After the garden, we got a small lunch (I found Snyder’s Pretzels!) and headed back to the hostel. We played some card games and then Meg and I took naps (I was SO tired). We then headed over to Benedict’s on a recommendation from friends who were in Belfast before us. They have a “Beat the Clock” menu from 5:30-7:30pm where anything you order from that menu is the same price as the time you order it. I ended up paying 6 pounds for a huge slab of ribs that was originally 10.95! They also had amazing homemade dessert. I ordered the Vanilla Brulee that came with Coconut Ice Cream…my mouth is watering just thinking about it! It was definitely better than the ribs (considering my Aunt and Uncle make some meaaan ribs!) 😊

We tried to go to bed fairly early, considering we had to catch the bus at 6:30am, but it didn’t work out that well. This time, we got to the bus on time without having to hop any fences (like in London!) but I couldn’t sleep! The scenery was nice though and when I finally got cell phone service, I got a text from my mom that Cait is talking…yay! Then I really couldn’t sleep because I was so happy and excited lol. We finally made it to the airport and back to Cork and then I went back to bed 😊

So far this week, I had my Physics midterm today, which was awful, and so unorganized. The room was packed and there were no spaces in between students and students were texting each other like it was nothing! Apparently the midterm is only worth 4% of their grade, but I have no idea how much it is worth of mine (I’m assuming only 8% but who knows). I probably won’t get it back until the end of the semester, considering my roommate hasn’t received her midterm grades from November yet! Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday aka Pancake Tuesday aka the greatest Irish holiday ever! Basically, back in the day the Irish had to use up their milk and eggs before Lent to fast and what not so they made pancakes on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday—brilliant! Although Irish pancakes are more like crepes, my roommate squeezed fresh lemon juice on them with some sugar and they were sooo good! We bought some “American Style” mix that you shook in a bottle. It was pretty good but it certainly was not Bisquick. That’s all so far, we are planning on doing some day trips this weekend since Kristina’s parents are visiting. I also have to get my music paper done because it is due when Mark is visiting soooooo…yea that needs to get done! Miss you all! xoxoxo

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Comments

[stephanie]

pancakes
Between this, Meg's blog, and talking to Megan, I am soooo in the mood for pancakes!! LOL

[jmbean]

Pancakes!
We decided that we are going to make pancakes every Tuesday, for that reason haha. Except I'm not too sure if we'll be able to do that in Greece...hmmm..