It's April already???

Monday, March 30:
It was a pretty uneventful day. I went to class in the morning and then skipped my afternoon class to go shopping for a formal dress. After hitting five different stores, I finally found the one at H&M. To celebrate our success, Amanda, Kari and I went to Starbucks. I had my first Frappucino since arriving here. It was delicious! We didn’t get back to campus until around 7PM, but because we finally sprung our clocks ahead on Sunday, there was still daylight until 8PM! We had a little bit of a scare that night when we found out that a bunch of the roads in Belfast had been shut down due to car hijackings and bomb threats. There have been several incidents of violence since the two soldiers were shot by the Real IRA. Hopefully nothing worse will happen in the next month and a half.

Tuesday, March 31:
Tuesday was another beautiful day in Northern Ireland. Unfortunately, I had to go to class in the afternoon and it was cloudy by the time I got out. I had small group Bible study that night. It was a thoroughly good time with Jo, Nicky, Paul, Johnny, Rebecca and Kari. After Bible study, Kari and I went back to the apartment to work on our Italy itinerary!!!

Wednesday, April 1:
I spent most of the morning in the library, went to Modern Irish Society for a couple hours and then walked to Whiteabbey Village for lunch at Randolph’s with Bethany and Amanda. The rest of the afternoon was spent slowly getting ready for the CU Formal later that night. Bethany, Amanda, Kari and I all went. Nicky, Jo, Rachel and Frew were nice enough to give us a lift to the Dunadry Hotel where the formal was being held. Although we thought we were 45 minutes late, turns out we arrived just in time. All those who arrived on time had been standing around for 45 minutes waiting for dinner to be served. Dinner was delicious! Definitely worth the 30 pounds we paid for tickets. After dinner, the band set up and we danced the rest of the night away. I had so much fun with all of our CU friends!

Thursday, April 2:
It was the PERFECT SPRING DAY in Northern Ireland. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky!!! That is just simply amazing considering it’s Northern Ireland. I had planned to spend the day getting coursework done in the library. Instead, I went to the library in the morning, but quickly gave up and instead went with Stu and Kari into Belfast to go to the park. We met up with Sharon, Kathryn and Paul and Jen’s Café and then walked to Botanic Gardens. I could relive that afternoon every day and be perfectly content. Much to Stu’s excitement, we found an ice cream truck in the park (he basically screamed for joy at the sight of it, causing everyone standing in line to look in our direction). With sundaes in hand, we plopped ourselves down on the grass and soaked up the sun. We also strolled around the gardens and went in the tropical greenhouse. Then we walked back to Sharon’s apartment for dinner. After dinner, Kathryn drove us back to campus. I decided to skip CU and spend some time in the word on my own. And I talked excitedly to mom about her arrival on Monday!!!!!!! Around 10:30, Stu, Sharon and others came over to the apartment for a few hours to play card games and hang out. We will most definitely have another day like this before I leave, just as long as the sun shines again.

Today, Friday, April 3:
Can you believe it? The sun is shining yet again. I really hope this doesn’t mean that it’s going to be miserable next week when mom, dad and Laura are here. As soon as I finish this blog, I’ll be heading outside to do some reading. Later this afternoon I’m going to meet up with Kari, Amanda and Big-A in Belfast…possibly to return to Botanic Gardens! We’re also going to go out for dinner to celebrate Amanda’s upcoming birthday. Then I’ll be coming back to campus to get coursework done and pack for the first week of Easter break. Expect an update Easter weekend. Until then…