Adventures Across the Pond!: The Legend of Finn McCool

I can not believe I have been in Belfast for three weeks now! I have been writing a lot of e-mails to people so I am going to try and touch upon the topics that keep coming up :)

Classes: I think my parents were starting to wonder whether I was actually going to be taking any classes this semester! Universities in the UK run on a schedule that is very different from back home so I just started my classes this past Tuesday - over a month after UVA started! I decided that I really needed a break from being pre-med so all three "modules" that I am taking are at Union Theological College. UTC is an absolutely amazing place! It is a small school and they are really big into fostering relationships student-student and student-lecturer so I feel like it is a little family and it is much easier to meet people that way. I was absolutely blown away last Tuesday when my first day of class included 3 breaks for tea, a worship service, and a free hot lunch. I only have 8 hours of class a week and although I have so much more independent study to do than at home, it is a nice feeling to able to structure my own day!

Living Situation: I live in university housing in a 10 person apartment. I have my own room with a bathroom and then share a kitchen and living room. The dorms are a lot nicer than at UVA though I am not used to living alone! I find myself longing for the insanity of the Quad almost everyday :) The two other Americans on my program are also on my hall but the other 7 kids are Irish first year students. The freshers are so much fun to hang out with and incredibly sweet! It is such an awesome and unique experience to be living with Irish students!

Friends: Believe it or not, I have actually made friends :) It was a bit of a catch-22 at first because the students my age already have their friend circles while the first years are scrambling to make friends for three years so why would they waste their time on someone who is only going to be here three months? I had an idylic idea that I would instantly have 150 best friends and feel so close to them which obviously wasn't realistic. I had to take a step back to remember that the best friendships take time (my closest UVA friendships weren't instantaneous!). Putting things into perspective made things a lot easier and as soon as I stopped fretting about it, things started to fall into place. I have met some really, really great people and have three awesome girls that I spend a lot of time with and who have been a huge blessing!

Church: I have found a really great church in Belfast that I am really excited about! It reminds me a lot of my church at UVA which is comforting :) There is an awesome 7 pm student service that is more contemporary and I have really liked in the past three Sundays.

Giants Causeway: Last weekend the international students were taken to the Giants Causeway which is probably the "must-see" site of the North. It is a beautiful coastline of 40,000 hexagonal rock stepping stones who's origin is a mystery! Legend has it that the Irish giant Finn McCool built the causeway to walk to Scotland to fight the Scottish giant Benandonner. It was absolutely beautiful scenery and was a really fun opportunity to get to hang out with the other international students.

A beautiful coastline shot!

At the Causeway with my incredible friend Cathy!

Gorgeous!

Family Visit: This weekend was our program organized family visit to Navan in County Meath, in the Republic of Ireland. The three Queen's students were all staying together with Collette and Ian Craig and their 7-year old daughter Emma (every other person you meet is named Emma!). I had an incredible weekend with their family! I loved sitting by the fire, drinking tea and chatting all day with Collette or playing jumprope for hours with Emma. It was so nice to be in a house, eating homecooked meals, in the presence of a family. Last night, under direct orders from Collette, Esther and I took each took a bubble bath, changed into our pjs and curled up in front of the fire with a glass of wine to watch a movie. What a relaxing weekend!