The view of Belfast from CaveHill!
Ireland was a fantastic trip and I’m so glad it was the
first port on my journey! To make it easier I’m going to organize my post into
day by day.
Day 1: The ship anchored in Galway at about 530am, and since
my room is right of the engines it shook my roommate and I awake, it sounded as
though a train was coming right through our window, from then on I laid in bed
so excited I couldn’t fall back asleep.
Since the dock is Galway is not big enough to fit our ship, we had to
take the lifeboats from the anchored ship over to the dock so it was going to
take a big longer than usual to disembark everyone, but I was determined to get
on the first boat off. I got up around 7am, ate breakfast, picked up my
passport and waited in the main union until we were finally allowed to
disembark around 830am. My uncle (or cousin, technically) Colin was waiting for me at a hotel
just a few minutes walk from the port so I walked over there (only getting lost
for about 5minutes) and found him. Then we drove up to Belfast (3 ½ hour
drive…which I slept for most of). When we got to the house Colin had to run
into work and everyone else was at a funeral except Mark (Colins son, so that
makes him my second cousin? Third cousin? I’m not sure..) so Mark and I went
for a lovely walk through the park around Stormont (Northern Ireland Parliament
Building). Mark has recovered miraculously from a terrible bicycle accident
just about 8 months ago so it was great to see him doing so well! Later that
afternoon everyone came home and we all caught up and then went to bed early. I
ended up sleeping soundly for 13 hours that night, it was great!
Day 2: The next
day (Saturday) Colin drove me up to ‘The Jungle’ outdoor adventure park. A
friend (Stephen) I met at summer camp this summer lives in Belfast and works at
‘The Jungle’ and set me up so I was able to spend his employee allowance and
basically do anything I wanted. Unfortunately we were on a bit of a
time-crunch, but I still got to go Zorbing! (The best way to describe Zorbing
is rolling down a hill in a giant hamster ball…its very ridiculous but very
very fun!) One kind of Zorbing is where you are harnessed inside the ball and
the other kind is where you are not harnessed in and they put about a foot of
water in the ball with you (It felt like I was in a washing machine!! Hahaha!).
That night I went to a local Belfast pub with Ricky (Colin’s other son) and his
fiancée Lucy and their friend. Then Colin and Judith picked me up later in the
night and brought me back to the house.
Day 3: Sunday Colin, Ricky, Lucy and I all hiked/walked up a
mountain called Cavehill. From the top we could see all of Belfast (and off
into the far distance we could see Scotland!) it was a beautiful hike, the
weather was perfect and sunny out. After we got home from the hike the whole
McKee family came over (Colin, Judith, Mark, Ricky, Lucy, Lisa [7 months
pregnant!!] Millsy, and Jane) for Lisa’s birthday. It was great to see everyone
again because last time (and the first time I came to Ireland) I came out with
my mom and sister for Lisa’s wedding. We had a delicious dinner and birthday
cake.
Day 4: Monday morning I caught the 9am bus from Belfast to
Dublin. Once in Dublin I wandered around and found the shuttle stop that took
me back to the ship in the Dublin Port. I dropped off my bag, changed into
clean clothes, and then caught the shuttle back into Dublin. I walked around
the city with 3 other students where we ate lunch in a little café and bought
some postcards and things. Then we got back on the ship nice and early because
we didn’t want to risk being late and getting into trouble. That night everyone
on the ship went to bed pretty early since we were all exhausted from our first
port experience. Lucky for me I got to stay with family, but after hearing the
stories of my friends on the ship, it sounded like most students ended up
spending a whole lot of money ‘tasting’ the Irish beers and liquors haha.
I had a great time! Next up I will write about my adventure through London and Southampton!
xoxo
Dayna
xoxo
Dayna
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