I Survived Belfast

Irish countryside :)

Old and modern together.

Some ruins.

Countryside

The white spots are SHEEP!

Aqueduct. Always think of the Romans.

Belfast and rain.

Rain, rain.. go away.

In the past, this was a school for people who could not afford a higher education.

An apartment complex now, but was severely bombed during The Troubles.

Sinn Fein- group that advocates a united Ireland.

Famous murals in Belfast. Some are pro Irish and others, pro English. These can be found throughout the city.

Murals

Mural

Pro Ireland mural.

Hard to see, but that is a mural.

Belfast housing.

Mural to a famous Irish supporter.

Barricade to separate the Protestants and Catholics.

Peace Wall built to separate the Protestants and Catholics.

Gate. This gate is closed when there are tensions between Protestants and Catholics.....

English supporter

English pride

Protestants/Pro English celebrating victory at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland. This battle took place in the 1600's....

England

Former jail.

Irish support!

Sir Orange was the individual who won the Battle of the Boyne.

Huge craines named Samson and Goliath.

Belfast hockey rink! They even have their own hockey team!

Area in which the Titanic was built.

The new Titanic museum. Imagine, instead of this building, think of the Titanic. This is where she would have been anchored.

Movie production studio

Last war ship of WWII

Titanic museum

Again, area in which the Titanic was built.

A statue of a boy and a girl hugging. This is to symbolize peace in Belfast.

Belfast Parliament

Leaving Parliament

Interesting road

Area in which C.S. Lewis was born and hung out.

Houses

Hard to see, but there is an English support miral. These tend to be more violent then the pro Irish ones.

The tour guide said that in Belfast on every corner is either a church or a pub.

Church

Apparently this is where air conditioning was invented!

Belfast

Another statue for peace.

Church

Royal college

The Europa Hotel. It was heavily bombed during The Troubles.

Opera House

Belfast

Main shopping street. At the end is City Hall.

Mall

City Hall

Belfast

People in City Hall Park watching a round of golf.

City Hall Park

Belfast

Countryside

I would consider myself to be a good daughter.

So, when my mother told me not to go to Belfast, of course I didn't dream of going. Just like I didn't go to Serbia :)

But work said that I HAD to go to Belfast, so I went. I was really excited, I am not going to lie. It was my first time outside of Dublin!

To say that the morning was stressful would be an understatement. No one told me what time to arrive at the center, so I tried to get there at 8:50 am because we had to leave at 9 am. But I ended up getting there at 9 am. I was so worried that they would leave without me! But in reality, it didn't matter because we didn't end up leaving until 9:45 am.

Not only was I frazzled from being late, I also didn't even know I was going to Belfast until I got to work. During the week there had been some tension in Belfast so the trip was going to be put on hold. If we didn't go to Belfast, we were going to Galway. My boss said that she would let us know beforehand, but obviously, I didn't get the memo. It wasn't until I walked over to the other activity leaders and they gave me a schedule saying that we were going to Belfast, that I knew where we were going for sure. I told them that I didn't know where we were going and they were all shocked. Of course I am the only one that didn't know what the heck was going on.

To make matters worse, we found out that we would all be in separate buses with our own groups! WHAT!? I had NO idea what to do! We had to pick up the tour guides; have a bus tour of the city; get dropped off and give the students free time.

This was all very overwhelming. I looked for a map of Belfast because with a map I could lead the group, but of course I had no map.

Ewa was also freaking out. The two people not from this country, Ewa and myself, were so stressed about going to Belfast. Geradline was very cool and collected. She said that there was no need to stress and in the end everything would work out. I wish I was as calm and collected as her. But lets face it, I am not a calm person.

As the activity leaders, we had to pick out our buses and then put our names in the window so the groups knew what bus to take. I took the last bus.

We then had to find our group leaders and introduce ourselves. I found mine. It was a woman who only had 26 students and they were all from Italy.

We couldn't leave right away because we had to find Paul because he needed to give us some last minutes details. Maybe more information about what to do? Nope. He just gave us the money to pay the guides and told us that he would text us with directions and other information.

Oh, Paul. I do miss talking to him in the office. He gave me some new music and I miss trying to convience him that Bear Grylls is the best. After most of the groups were in the buses, I was able to talk to Paul. I told him that it felt like I hadn't talk to him in forever. He agreed and said that on Friday and Saturday he was surprised not to see me and wondered where I was. I told him that I had those two days off.

We then talked about how much he drank the night before and how tired he was.

I told him that the money he gave me was very interesting. Since Belfast is part of the United Kingdom, they use the British Pound. Paul then made a comment about the Queen's fat face. I love English and Irish tension :)

Our group was the last to load into the bus because I didn't want to get other groups confused and have people mingle together.

I told the teacher it was time to gather the group. She then went into a mini speech and apparently told everyone that I was American. That didn't need to be said. She told me that she wanted her students to listen to my accent. I don't have an accent ;)

As the students were loading into the bus, the bus driver said he didn't speak Italian and asked if I did. I replied that I didn't. It would make too much sense for a leader of a group to speak the same language as the group. Far too easy.

Finally, the group got on the bus and we were off to Belfast! The driver told me that he had a microphone that I could use if I wanted to talk to the students. Should I say something? I didn't have much time to think about it because the teacher gave a speech in Italian to the students. Whatever she said I bet was fine.

The ride was only 2 hours and it went smoothly most of the time. The only thing that went "wrong" was that the teacher was a bitch. The air conditioner was on for the whole ride and I really didn't notice because I was stressed, so my body heat was raised. The students complained to the teacher of being cold and she asked if the air conditioner could be turned off. I asked T.P., the bus driver, if we could get some heat on. He said that it wasn't his bus and he wasn't sure exactly how to do it. Once we had stopped, he would figure it out, but he couldn't figure it out while he was driving. This made sense.

I explained this to the Italian teacher 5 different times and she was not understanding it. Really? I am speaking plain and simple English. You are the teacher, you should be able to understand this. She just kept complaining. She then went into "if the students are sick tomorrow, that is going to be very bad". I really didn't care. The students were dressed for a summer day in Italy or California. You are in Ireland, did no one tell you that?

Other then that, the bus ride was uneventful. The students were quiet and I greatly appreciated that. I just looked out the window the whole time to see the Irish country side! It was beautiful!

I also did a lot of thinking on the drive about what I was doing in Ireland. Who goes to a foreign country and takes a job in which they have to take other foreign students around a place they are not from? It is totally the blind leading the blind. How do I get myself into these situations? At the museum, I did a lot of stuff that I certainly was not qualified to do and had no experience what so ever. Here is the same thing. I am suppose to know what I am doing and be a leader, but in reality, I know nothing.

I blame my parents. Why didn't they question this? But I guess if I gave it too much thought I would not have come to Ireland. Just like if I actually sat down and thought that I was moving to a country that I didn't speak the language, I probably wouldn't have gone to Hungary. The moral of the story: don't think things through.

On the drive I also talked with T.P. The guy was a class act. We talked about the tension in Belfast. I am really thankful that I have mastered the art of small talk and just don't dive into the major issues. Our conversation mostly focused on the fact that the majority of people are good, but the few bad ones ruin it for the rest. In the words of T.P, "most people just want a week's wages and a nice pint".

After 2 or so hours we were in Belfast. There were no borders between Ireland and Northern Ireland. I told Paul and T.P. that I had brought my passport and both said that I wouldn't need it. I didn't even know we were in Northern Ireland until T.P. said that we were well into U.K. territory.

We drove into town and found the tour guides and they took us to the restrooms.

After our brief break we took a bus tour of the whole city. The pictures tell what we saw. It was fascinating! The only bad thing was that it was raining outside, so we couldn't see everything very clearly. I loved learning about the history of the city!

Next, on the agenda after the tour, was free time. It said that we were suppose to meet in front of city hall. But of course our bus didn't go there. The guide told the bus driver to park on a side street reserved for bus parking. I kept telling the guide that we needed to get to city hall so I could show my group it because it was our meeting point after free time. The guide tried to explain how to get there, but with no map, I was completely lost. After a while the guide just decided to walk us over. Thank you!

She then said something to the effect of she didn't know that we had to go to city hall. Did she not hear a thing I said for the last 10 minutes?

Since we left so late in the morning, Paul said that we could give our groups an extra half hour of free time. I asked my teacher if she wanted this extra time. All she wanted was to go to the mall and get out. I don't think she and her group were enjoying their time. Who cares. I was having fun!

We got to city hall easy enough and the guide told me how to get to the mall and I took my group there and dropped them off. As we were walking to the mall, I turned around to make sure that everyone was with me, and I saw a horrible sight. One of the students had an English flag umbrella. For the love of God! My first thought was every swear word I could think of. Then I prayed that we were in a Protestant area. Then I thought, "eff! We are going to get shot". Did she not listen to the tour; did her teacher not tell her anything and has she been living under a rock her whole life? Of course, it is my group that would cause drama in a city.

I dropped off the rebels and told them to meet at city hall in an hour.

I somewhat felt bad for just leaving them because the teacher said she wanted to stay with me or otherwise she would get lost. Anyone who knows me, knows that I can't keep my emotions to myself, so the teacher knew that I thought this shouldn't happen. She knew that this was my first time in Belfast and that I wasn't from the country. What made her think that I knew what I was doing? Had she not seen how I was acting the whole day? I really wish I knew what I was doing!

When the group left me I had to decide what I wanted to do. I really wanted to walk around, but it was raining and that was going to be no fun. I tried texting Geradline to see where she was to see if we could meet up. Luckily I caught up with her. We then went to McDonalds to hang out with Sarah and get out of the rain.

Geradline and I had to exchange some money to get Pounds to buy something at McDonalds, but it turned out that they took card. Of course they did; they are an American institution. They better take card.

I met up with my group and we were off to go back to the college. I kept dosing off on the bus. I was so tired!

I had fun in Belfast and learned so much from the tour. I am glad that I had to go up by myself. It is just another experience that proves to myself that I can handle these chaotic situations. I really do need to give myself more credit.