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.