I didn't get strung up by my rosary in Belfast, Mom.
Yeah, my mom said that would happen if I went to Queens University in Belfast instead of Greenwich or Goldsmiths. Not the case, simply put, as I'm here.
Amanda from Canada arrived on the 6th. We goofed off in London for a few days, which was fun. Then we went to Dublin. At this stage, it's pertinent to mention that my bank borked up and essentially ate $120. What happened was that I had a foreign check clear. Fine. I bought tickets the next day. Still fine. Suddenly, three days after I deposited the check, they decided to charge me $15 since it was a British check. This is a policy that was supposed in effect since January but never applied to me, nor was I ever notified of such a policy in the first place. So that's resulted in me being overdrawn and incurring a $33 fee. Which sucked.
They still owe me $40 or thereabouts, so I'm waiting on that to show up this week. Will be eating simply though, minus fish and chips for Amanda, since I will be leaving on the 29th.
Anyway, Dublin brought me into contact with a few nice girls -- really ace, especially considering they were just 18, 19. Katie and Kelly were from Montana and they were traveling around and backpacking for serious -- not the mock-serious Amanda and I were. I mean, Katie had been going since May 7 and had made it from Heidelberg to Ireland and she was just chill. Hopefully we might be able to check out other parts of Europe together, like Spain or something.
So went around Dublin and saw a LOT of churches, Catholic and Church of Ireland alike (CoI is essentially Anglican but in Ireland). We actually heard Evensong in St. Patrick's Cathedral with a full boys' choir, which was lovely. Amanda had seen the full wedding of a major at the chapel, but it was sort of long-winded. She enjoyed this one more, but had an allergy attack or something -- we speculated dead people dust, hence my "Amanda is allergic to dead people" comment in a previous post.
I went off by myself at one point to check out the Shrine of St. Valentine that's run by the Carmelites. I like the whole saint scheme the Catholic church has -- partially why I stick with it. Anyway, heard a rocket mass (20 minutes, go go Father Bernie) and said a prayer at the relics of St. Valentine and at Our Lady of Dublin -- Mary is my homegirl after all. It's really funny in Ireland, as it is a Catholic country as opposed to a Protestant one such as the UK or the US.
Case in point: If you say, "May the force be with you" in Ireland, they will answer, automatically, "And also with you." And if someone even mentions the Virgin Mary, instant crossing. Rather funny. And we do the "touching" thing -- relics in particular. Catholics will touch them, then either cross themselves or just put a hand to the heart. Protestants just inspect them and go "mmhmm, dead guy."
Anyway, Dublin was fun. Belfast was wet. I was thinking we might be evacced at one point, though I wasn't going to say that to Amanda XD. East Belfast was really messed up by the rains that eventually hit the Midlands in England. I enjoyed the city thoroughly. The attitude is quite different between the two cities. Dublin is very practical and pragmatic, no fuss. "Right. Look around, don't break anything, have a beer." Belfast is like, "HI!!! We won't blow you up, swear to God!! <3 you and welcome to the city- come back soon!! ^^" The best exhibition I saw was the Belfast City Hall. It had so much information and the like; it really made the city for me. I also went out to where the Titanic and its sister ships were built and sent out to England. And I did get to see Queens and the Botanic gardens, which were both lovely.
Saturday was a journey from 6 am to 11:30 pm for me. That's like, what 17.5 hours? We got a taxi to the Belfast docks (15 minutes or so), took the ferry from there to Stranraer (2 hours), train to Glasgow (1 hour and change). Amanda and I parted ways at this point, since I couldn't afford the fare out to her hostel and stuff. She seems to have settled in nicely though. I waited around and met an angel in the form of a 72-year-old named Marion from Gloustershire. Very random, very interesting, and very odd how she literally disappeared. I am a skeptic, but sometimes it's more fun to ignore the facts and let the magic of it all stand. Any rate, made it back to London after 6 hours on the train and 1 hour on the tube, spent most of that time stuffing myself. I was exhausted when I got in, but I do have a new picture or two of me as well as a few others coming in.
Hell, I need to throw a LOT of pictures onto photobucket, don't I? Agh. More later.
Amanda from Canada arrived on the 6th. We goofed off in London for a few days, which was fun. Then we went to Dublin. At this stage, it's pertinent to mention that my bank borked up and essentially ate $120. What happened was that I had a foreign check clear. Fine. I bought tickets the next day. Still fine. Suddenly, three days after I deposited the check, they decided to charge me $15 since it was a British check. This is a policy that was supposed in effect since January but never applied to me, nor was I ever notified of such a policy in the first place. So that's resulted in me being overdrawn and incurring a $33 fee. Which sucked.
They still owe me $40 or thereabouts, so I'm waiting on that to show up this week. Will be eating simply though, minus fish and chips for Amanda, since I will be leaving on the 29th.
Anyway, Dublin brought me into contact with a few nice girls -- really ace, especially considering they were just 18, 19. Katie and Kelly were from Montana and they were traveling around and backpacking for serious -- not the mock-serious Amanda and I were. I mean, Katie had been going since May 7 and had made it from Heidelberg to Ireland and she was just chill. Hopefully we might be able to check out other parts of Europe together, like Spain or something.
So went around Dublin and saw a LOT of churches, Catholic and Church of Ireland alike (CoI is essentially Anglican but in Ireland). We actually heard Evensong in St. Patrick's Cathedral with a full boys' choir, which was lovely. Amanda had seen the full wedding of a major at the chapel, but it was sort of long-winded. She enjoyed this one more, but had an allergy attack or something -- we speculated dead people dust, hence my "Amanda is allergic to dead people" comment in a previous post.
I went off by myself at one point to check out the Shrine of St. Valentine that's run by the Carmelites. I like the whole saint scheme the Catholic church has -- partially why I stick with it. Anyway, heard a rocket mass (20 minutes, go go Father Bernie) and said a prayer at the relics of St. Valentine and at Our Lady of Dublin -- Mary is my homegirl after all. It's really funny in Ireland, as it is a Catholic country as opposed to a Protestant one such as the UK or the US.
Case in point: If you say, "May the force be with you" in Ireland, they will answer, automatically, "And also with you." And if someone even mentions the Virgin Mary, instant crossing. Rather funny. And we do the "touching" thing -- relics in particular. Catholics will touch them, then either cross themselves or just put a hand to the heart. Protestants just inspect them and go "mmhmm, dead guy."
Anyway, Dublin was fun. Belfast was wet. I was thinking we might be evacced at one point, though I wasn't going to say that to Amanda XD. East Belfast was really messed up by the rains that eventually hit the Midlands in England. I enjoyed the city thoroughly. The attitude is quite different between the two cities. Dublin is very practical and pragmatic, no fuss. "Right. Look around, don't break anything, have a beer." Belfast is like, "HI!!! We won't blow you up, swear to God!! <3 you and welcome to the city- come back soon!! ^^" The best exhibition I saw was the Belfast City Hall. It had so much information and the like; it really made the city for me. I also went out to where the Titanic and its sister ships were built and sent out to England. And I did get to see Queens and the Botanic gardens, which were both lovely.
Saturday was a journey from 6 am to 11:30 pm for me. That's like, what 17.5 hours? We got a taxi to the Belfast docks (15 minutes or so), took the ferry from there to Stranraer (2 hours), train to Glasgow (1 hour and change). Amanda and I parted ways at this point, since I couldn't afford the fare out to her hostel and stuff. She seems to have settled in nicely though. I waited around and met an angel in the form of a 72-year-old named Marion from Gloustershire. Very random, very interesting, and very odd how she literally disappeared. I am a skeptic, but sometimes it's more fun to ignore the facts and let the magic of it all stand. Any rate, made it back to London after 6 hours on the train and 1 hour on the tube, spent most of that time stuffing myself. I was exhausted when I got in, but I do have a new picture or two of me as well as a few others coming in.
Hell, I need to throw a LOT of pictures onto photobucket, don't I? Agh. More later.