Ulster is man
Ah yes, finally computer access that I don't have to pay for! I've only had time to check my email in the last few weeks as it costs $2 American every 15 minutes around here, even more in the coffee shops. Anyhow, I'm in my residence hall at Stramillis College now, the teaching extension of Queen's University in Belfast. We're staying in the southern part of the city, one of the wealthier areas near the college. This week has been our first week of real studies, the whole lecture type deal. Mostly this week has been history and blah blah blah, whereas last week we wandered the whole of Northern Ireland. Going everywhere from the Northern coast to spending a great deal of time in the poorer West Belfast, where most of the Troubles occurred. The Northern coast is straight out of a postcard with it's rocky coastlines and greenest of green country-side.
The UK is certainly different from the states, but nothing too difficult to acclimatize to. Everything in Belfast is fucking expensive, especially for a city not even the size of Seattle. Shopping is kinda ghetto here. Since most of their merchandise does come from England, there's a lot of stuff around that we haven't gotten yet, but it's still pretty shitty compared to what I saw in London. But shopping is the last thing on my mind when the exchange rate has been so terrible! Eating out cheap still costs about $7-10 bucks.
I've spent a lot of time wandering the poorer areas. I've met too many great people to even begin to describe. For example, our first night here I ended up hanging out with some kids who I met outside of this bar, the Empire. We ended up going to their friend's town house in the East of Belfast. The house was awesome, but the dudes kept wanting to talk about Seattle and grunge music. Vomit. One of the kids I was talking to out of no where shoved his tongue down my throat. Yuck. These boys are quite aggressive. Later we had to go to this scary ass after hours Republican bottle store that had a little peep hole in the door. I was only allowed in because I went with some dude Kevin who said he "knew people." Right outside of this place was a mural that listed a group of IRA men that had died near that very spot. People here are friendly in most areas, but in some of the poorer protestant areas I've heard a few racial comments about being "that Chinese girl." Generally, staying in the main city centre is the safest bet. Me and a kid from my group even went gay dancing at this place called Cube after we met Dezi and Richard, a really nice couple. The DJ dedicated American Pie to us. Uh yeah.
So yup, also lots of very dramatic stuff, meeting people whose family members were killed by police or killed by paramilitary groups. Even got a chance to chat with the last IRA leader released from prison under the Good Friday Accords.
Okay, all in all, having a swell time!
The UK is certainly different from the states, but nothing too difficult to acclimatize to. Everything in Belfast is fucking expensive, especially for a city not even the size of Seattle. Shopping is kinda ghetto here. Since most of their merchandise does come from England, there's a lot of stuff around that we haven't gotten yet, but it's still pretty shitty compared to what I saw in London. But shopping is the last thing on my mind when the exchange rate has been so terrible! Eating out cheap still costs about $7-10 bucks.
I've spent a lot of time wandering the poorer areas. I've met too many great people to even begin to describe. For example, our first night here I ended up hanging out with some kids who I met outside of this bar, the Empire. We ended up going to their friend's town house in the East of Belfast. The house was awesome, but the dudes kept wanting to talk about Seattle and grunge music. Vomit. One of the kids I was talking to out of no where shoved his tongue down my throat. Yuck. These boys are quite aggressive. Later we had to go to this scary ass after hours Republican bottle store that had a little peep hole in the door. I was only allowed in because I went with some dude Kevin who said he "knew people." Right outside of this place was a mural that listed a group of IRA men that had died near that very spot. People here are friendly in most areas, but in some of the poorer protestant areas I've heard a few racial comments about being "that Chinese girl." Generally, staying in the main city centre is the safest bet. Me and a kid from my group even went gay dancing at this place called Cube after we met Dezi and Richard, a really nice couple. The DJ dedicated American Pie to us. Uh yeah.
So yup, also lots of very dramatic stuff, meeting people whose family members were killed by police or killed by paramilitary groups. Even got a chance to chat with the last IRA leader released from prison under the Good Friday Accords.
Okay, all in all, having a swell time!