Blogs from Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 21

Hi there people, After much pressure from Stace Coops we've hauled ourselves to the Internet cafe across the road and written a few blogs to keep you updated (it's only been 3 weeks Stace - gees!) We were going to put on our photos from our weekend in Belfast in Northern Ireland, but the stupid computer lab cdroms aren't working - again!!!!! So we'll continue our fight with the Irish computers and try to do that at some later date. Not much to say about Patty's weekend but a lot of beer was drank and a lot of crappy food was eaten. Apparently there was 650,000 people in the city watching the parade - talk about jammers (packed)! Good craic (crack) though. Startin' to pick up the local language. I think the photos speak for themselves. ... read more

Hey all. Sorry it's been so long since my last entry! Every time I thought about sitting down to update, something inevitably came up. And by "something", I don't necessarily mean the pubs. ;) Last week was midterms (albeit the least stressful midterms week of my life) so we didn't have any classes. The idea was that we were supposed to use the free time to write our essays and study - you know, as if we were in real school - but I'm sort of notorious for finishing my papers mere hours before their deadlines, so I wasn't too stressed. We also discovered that the local Irish channel RTE plays Scrubs, Friends, and Sex & The City in one big lineup of guilt-free procrastination, so that certainly didn't help either. However, I still managed to ... read more

I traveled up to Northern Ireland and Belfast with a group of friends this weekend. Belfast was an incredibly interesting city. We took a taxi tour of the city and the sights of the conflict. I never realized how the conflict in Northern Ireland was really about civil rights. The English had divided the city and Catholics had to pass through stop points and checks in order to enter their section. The English restricted their right to vote, jobs and housing. Many people went on hunger strikes to try and call on the government to bring about change. However, as the English government now admits they hired people to kill the Catholic leaders. There is still a wall dividing the two sections and the gate is closed every night but thankfully things have calmed and improved ... read more

So since I don't have classes on Mondays or Fridays, most of my weekends this semester will be spent traveling around the UK. My first trip with Carrie, Joy and Andrea was to Belfast this past weekend. Carrie and I left on Friday and had a very nauseating half hour plane ride. By 2pm we were checked into our hostel - Paddy's Palace - and were headed back into the city center. We didn't want to do any of the major sightseeing until Joy and Andrea arrived, so we wandered around for a while. We decided to try and find the shipyards where Titanic was built. We could see the massive cranes - Sampson and Goliath - but couldn't seem to find our way to the shipyards. So we walked along the River Lagan for a ... read more

Good morning!...after a good night's sleep (never mind the feeling of being in a train, the angst of Belfast's alcoholic, party-going, anti-social, pshychedellic and frustrated communities), we charged ourselves with breakfast from the youth hostel's very own Causeway Cafe. We had a taste of Mexicano bagel (bread with cheese, jalepeno peppers and tomato salsa dip), chicken and cheese sandwich, french toast and Irish coffee. But, the real filler was Rajee's Vegetarian Ulster Fry (toast bread with baked beans and eggs - dont miss the pic). Burp!... More in the next entry... ... read more