Wow, I'm really far behind...

I can't believe it's already February 25. That means I've already been here for more than a month. Time really does fly and I'm starting to panic just thinking about everything I still have left to do and see here. Looking at the date makes me realize something else - it's been sixteen days since my last blog post. So much has happened since then, but I guess the good thing about trying to remember everything since February 9 is that this post hopefully won't be too long, detailed or boring. So here it goes. This is everything I did prior to my trip to Austria this past weekend, which I will save for a separate post.

Tuesday, February 10: I only have three hours of class on Tuesdays - Managing Behavior from 1:15-4:15. The sun was actually shining that day, making three hours seem more like ten. I was itching to get outside and soke up every ounce of sunlight, because, as I've come to realize in Northern Ireland, you never know when you're going to see Mr. Sun again. After class I raced back to my room and laced up my tennis-shoes for a run down by the shore. The run was short lived, however, as it was a little colder than I had anticipated and my ears were so frozen I thought they might fall off. Still, the run felt good and I really do need to get back into my regular workout routine. Tuesday evening, Bethany, Amanda, Kari and I headed up to the chaplaincy in the main campus building to meet up with our Bible study small group. This was our first week of outreach, so we headed to New Mossley Presbyterian church to meet with a few leaders there to discuss how we could help their church. Our group of about twelve students is going to be going on prayer walks in the New Mossley community every other Tuesday evening with a group from the the church. I've never done anything like this before, but I'm really excited to see how God is going to work with us, in us and in the community. Hopefully He'll teach me a thing or two about the power of prayer as well. After a quick stop at McDonald's for some ice cream shakes and french fries, or chips as they call them here, it was back to campus.

Wednesday, February 11: If you haven't picked up from my previous posts, I'll just come right out and say that classes here are so much easier than at Grove City. Sometimes I worry it's going to be really hard to get back to work next fall. Having realized that, I emailed a professor and arranged it so I could sit in on a lecture, Modern Irish Society, without taking the class for credit (meaning I don't have to write a paper!). I'm so glad I did this! The class is very interesting and I'm learning so much about Irish culture and historical events that have shaped the way of life I see today. This first lecture I sat in on was all about the "Celtic Tiger," or the astounding boom in the Irish economy over the past couple decades. It really is astounding, but I won't bore you with facts and figures. After lecture, Kari, Amanda and I headed to another lecture put on by the school's chaplaincy called Why God? It's a series that addresses many of the tough questions both Christians and non-Christians have about God and the things we see happening in the world. I spent the rest of the afternoon in my apartment and then a bunch of us walked up Jordanstown Road to a church just past the train station for I-Cafe, which is an outreach specifically for international students put on by CU. Evelyn, our Polish roommate, decided to join us and she had a fabulous time. I think she looks forward to it all week! We got to know some of the other international students there, enjoyed a hearty meal of chili (although it was dismal in comparison to dad's chili), and played some intense Dutch Blitz and table tennis. All in all a fun night!

Thursday, February 12: I don't have class on Thursdays, which was a huge blessing on this particular Thursday. The sun decided to shine again and I wasn't going to miss it. I put on a few extra layers, grabbed my Bible, journal and Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World book and walked down to the shore park. I camped out on a bench there for a couple of hours just reading, thinking, praying and soaking up the sun, sights and sounds. It was such a beautiful day! I started to get a bit chilly from the wind coming off the lough, so I gathered my books and walked further down the shore to scope out Whiteabbey Village. I found the two pubs that my friends Elsie had recommended - The Bureau and The Lighthouse. I decided that we had to walk back to the Lighthouse later that night after CU, so that's exactly what we did. Amanda, Bethany, Kara and I went to The Lighthouse. What a lovely little pub?! It was like walking into someone's cozy dining room. The lights were dim, it was quiet enough that we could hear each other talking, and the bartender was very nice. Each of us had a couple drinks and we had a great time just talking and getting to know each other better. It was still pretty warm outside when we walked back, so we took a slight detour and walked close to the water. The path was pretty dark at times and I got a little bit scared when we came upon some people playing on the dark playground. I guess I've watched too many crime shows over the years!

Friday, February 13: I also don't have class on Fridays, so it was a lazy morning. In the afternoon, Kari, Baz, Bethany, Amanda and I took the train to Yorkgate to stock up on all the necessary ingredients for our upcoming American Dinner party. We were at the store for hours, partly because we had a lot to buy and partly because we had a lot of trouble finding some of the key ingredients, like hot chili beans, cornmeal, cool whip and Nutter Butter cookies. We never did find any of those things, but we settled for some substitutes. We ended up having so many bags that we decided to call a van-taxi to pick us up and drive us back to campus. Let's just say the driver was a very interesting character and he shared a lot of his political views with us. It was interesting to hear his perspective on the troubles that have colored so much of Irish history. We spent the rest of the night baking cookies and cornbread and making dirt dessert and peanut-butter ice cream dessert in preparation for the dinner party on Saturday. To end the day we started watching a film about the start of the troubles in Ireland, but I can't remember the title and I have yet to finish the movie.

Saturday, February 14: I really had no idea it was Valentine's Day. When you're single and all the people you're with are single it just really isn't a big deal, especially since we don't regularly come into contact with the various forms of media that creat such a hype about the day. My day was far from romantic. Instead I spent almost the entire day in the kitchen preparing for our friends from church to arrive. We had so much food! We had PB&J sandwiches and quesadillas for appetizers (and had planned to have pigs-in-a-blanket, but that was a fiasco to say the least). Then we had chili and cornbread (made with cornflour rather than cornmeal - not quite the same); we forgot to put the vegetables in until it was too late. For drinks, we had sweet tea, soda, water and milk. The Irish are famous for a delicious cup of hot tea, so our guests weren't quite sure what to think of cold, sweet tea. All of us Americans enjoyed it though! Then for dessert, Kari made dirt dessert and heart-shaped sugar cookies with pink frosting and I made peanut-butter ice cream dessert. Curiously, half our guests didn't really like the ice cream dessert, but that was perfectly fine by me because I got to eat more of it! The party was a huge success. Everyone had more than enough to eat, and our Irish guests found some of the items on the menu rather interesting, but at least they were all excited to give everything a try. They even came wearing red, white and blue - so patriotic. After dinner, we broke into teams for a short-lived game of Trivial Pursuit; it was short lived because it was the UK version of the game and us Americans didn't stand a chance. Once that game died down we decided to play Signals. We played for at least two hours straight. It's such a childish game, but when you're all children at heart it makes for a great time. I know I've said it before, but I'm so glad God brought Kari and I to this church our first Sunday in Northern Ireland and I'm forever grateful for our friends there.

Sunday, February 15: Sunday was a very relaxing and wonderfully sunny and warm day. Andrew, or Atki as he's more commonly known, along with our friend Ruth picked Bethany and I up for the morning church service. Between services, I just stayed in the apartment getting some reading done. Atki was back at 6:40 to take Kari and I to the evening service. Afterwards we went to Atki's house along with Ruth, Jayne, Leanna, Gavin, Emma and Preece for some snacks and bonding time. We ended up playing Two Truths and a Lie because Kari and I wanted to get to know them better. It was so much fun hearing all of their childhood stories. I felt like I was finally truly getting to know people here and it was so good to laugh with them! When we got back to campus, I went straight to bed and had probably the worst night of sleep ever and I was feeling pretty homesick, but at least I had a roof over my head, blankets and a bed to sleep on, and the comfort of knowing that I wasn't completely alone.

Monday, February 16: I had class all day - Management of Change and Services Marketing back to back. I was pretty tired after my horrible night of sleep, so I stayed in all night and I watched several episodes of The OC on YouTube and went to bed early rather than going to the Valentine's party at the student union with the rest of the girls.

Tuesday, February 17: I had class Tuesday afternoon and then Bible study that night. Our Bible study leader, Paul, couldn't make it, so another guy in our group, Stuart, led us in our study of the second part of Ephesians 1. Bethany decided to join our Bible study after joining us for outreach the week before, so she and I worked together to try and spark some good discussion. We have a great small group and it was fun to spend some more time getting to know them.

Wednesday, February 18: I sat in on my second Modern Irish Society class, the day's topic being the many political parties in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. I grabbed a quick bite to eat after class and then Bethany, Kari, Baz and I headed to the rugby pitch to watch a friend from small group, Johnny Stewart's rugby match. We saw about five different guys get injured, including one who took a nasty hit and five minutes later was wandering around the field dazed and confused - concussion. Bethany and I left the game early to catch a train to Belfast. She had lost her mobile at the student union on Monday and I finally decided to break down and buy one for myself. We wandered around Victoria Square and the shopping district for a while looking for the best deals, made our purchases and then decided to stop into Burger King for an ice cream sundae. We both enjoyed some sort of chocolate brownie fudge sundae before walking back to Belfast Central Station to return to school. As soon as I got back, I ran to the laundromat to throw my laundry in and get it done before heading to I-Cafe. It was cookie night at I-Cafe, so I ate way to many cookies, naturally, and then got my competitive juices flowing with several rounds of Dutch Blitz. I think with a few more nights of practice I'll be ready to take Shane on when I get back to Grove City. Bethany, Baz and I headed back to campus around 9 and then I dove into packing for Austria. Of course I got distracted, talking to my parents for a while and taking care of a few other things, and by the time I was ready for bed it was already 12:30 - I had to be up at 4 in order to leave for the airport at 4:45 to fly to Salzburg. Yikes!