After catching up on our sleep, Mary and I decided to go into the downtown of Portstewart, which is right on the ocean. Walking is our main form of transportation here (which I’m hoping will get me in good shape). We walked the 1-2 miles in to Portstewart Promenade. On the way in, the first church we saw was the Episcopal Church. Ha how strange-I figured it’d be Catholic. Portstewart is so lovely. It looks like the perfect small town. There are several shops (a strangely high number of ice cream shops), restaurants, and such. There were many families, old couples holding hands, and children out enjoying the day. Surprisingly it hasn’t rained here yet. We are getting spoiled by all the sunny weather.
The shoreline is full of different rock formations that are beautiful, especially with the waves crashing on them. We went on top of this grassy cliff/ rock formation and saw the best view of Portstewart and the ocean. There were several people up there hanging about and having lunch.
We met this nice old man, and he told us that several people swim there each morning at nine o’clock. Wow. One of his friends was almost swept out to sea, but grabbed onto some seaweed and was saved. We ate lunch down by the water and enjoyed the view! I noticed there were several people driving motorcycles-I wonder if they are having some kind of convention?
After walking around we found a Catholic Church-the Star of the Sea. It was very pretty, but we didn’t go in because we thought they were having confession.
We walked back into town and are now resting. All this walking is tiring! All of the fields and livestock remind me of home haha. There are lots of sheep here. I remember reading somewhere that there are more sheep here than people!
Tomorrow we are going back into town early and walk down the Portstewart Strand, a long sandy beach we hear is amazing.
Until next time!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Getting to Northern Ireland (Sept 10-11, 2009)
We traveled 13+ hours (not counting the 5 hour drive from Sunflower).We arrived in Northern Ireland by way of New Orleans-Newark-Belfast.
After arriving at the Belfast Airport, Mary and I made our way to the information desk to figure out how to get to the University of Ulster campus in Coleraine. There we met a fellow student named Martin who was going to be a freshman at Ulster this year. We decided to all travel together. Martin is from South London (which he says sucks, I disagree-I love London!). Martin also has been helping run a pub for the past two years and smokes ciggies. How very interesting for Martin.
On the plane ride, we were sitting next to a man from Northern Ireland who lives in the States in Utah but has to go back every now and then for Visa purposes. He’s an engineer! He was very nice. Another guy we met on the plane to Newark was telling us he was going to his high school reunion. We asked how many years? 13 he replied. We all looked at each other questioningly knowing that that number sounded odd. Then he said our high school president is a bit of a stoner and just forgot so now we’re having a 13 year reunion. haha
After a riding a bus and two trains we made it to the Coleraine campus. The luggage was heavy! Luckily Martin and the transportation men were there to help. We used some muscles pulling all that luggage around though! We checked in with the accommodation office, got our keys, and waited for the taxi they called for us. The man who picked us up was soooo nice! He was telling us all about Portstewart and our close we were to the ocean. He even gave us a discount on the taxi fare.
Our apartment is so wonderful. It faces a courtyard with a garden, and our door is red! The view from our kitchen/den window is beautiful. It is rolling green hills with the River Bann flowing through. In the fields are cute black and white cows (we hope are for dairy purposes), and also a pretty white horse. Also, our rooms are great-mine is very spacious! We haven’t met our third roommate yet-she’s a nursing student.
After arriving at the Belfast Airport, Mary and I made our way to the information desk to figure out how to get to the University of Ulster campus in Coleraine. There we met a fellow student named Martin who was going to be a freshman at Ulster this year. We decided to all travel together. Martin is from South London (which he says sucks, I disagree-I love London!). Martin also has been helping run a pub for the past two years and smokes ciggies. How very interesting for Martin.
On the plane ride, we were sitting next to a man from Northern Ireland who lives in the States in Utah but has to go back every now and then for Visa purposes. He’s an engineer! He was very nice. Another guy we met on the plane to Newark was telling us he was going to his high school reunion. We asked how many years? 13 he replied. We all looked at each other questioningly knowing that that number sounded odd. Then he said our high school president is a bit of a stoner and just forgot so now we’re having a 13 year reunion. haha
After a riding a bus and two trains we made it to the Coleraine campus. The luggage was heavy! Luckily Martin and the transportation men were there to help. We used some muscles pulling all that luggage around though! We checked in with the accommodation office, got our keys, and waited for the taxi they called for us. The man who picked us up was soooo nice! He was telling us all about Portstewart and our close we were to the ocean. He even gave us a discount on the taxi fare.
Our apartment is so wonderful. It faces a courtyard with a garden, and our door is red! The view from our kitchen/den window is beautiful. It is rolling green hills with the River Bann flowing through. In the fields are cute black and white cows (we hope are for dairy purposes), and also a pretty white horse. Also, our rooms are great-mine is very spacious! We haven’t met our third roommate yet-she’s a nursing student.
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