This is it!

The last few weeks in Limerick have been very nice. In between studying we also found time to relax once in a while and go out for a drink. However, nothing special to report though.

Belfast

For my last weekend in Ireland I decided to go to Belfast with Caitlyn. We left on a Friday and I came back on Monday afternoon, Caitlyn stayed in the north to visit family there. On Friday morning at about 6 o’clock Caitlyn and I walked to the gate when another guy came out of one of the apartments. Usually you wouldn’t see anybody out this early in the morn’ unless they just came back from an interesting night out. At the gate, two guys in T-shirts (while it was freezing) were waiting. They DID have a good night out and apparently waited for someone to open the gate since they didn’t live at City campus. We opened the gate for them and all three of them started talking to us. That, in itself, is nothing special. However, when the two – still half-drunk guys – turned down a street, the other guy (who does live at City campus) walked with us to the train station and sat down with us. He talked the whole time to us. When in Dublin, our ways split, Caitlyn said: that is very peculiar behaviour for an Irish guy :P Neither of us knew him, although I think I saw him in my Biological psychology class a couple of times.

In Dublin we had enough time to visit the Guinness factory. It’s nice to taste the black stuff early in the morn’ :P (only a little bit, I promise).

Arriving in Belfast our search for the hostel began (Global village). One of the international students highly recommended it and told us it was near the city centre. Unfortunately however, the hostel was not as close to the centre as we had hoped for. But with our perfect map-reading skills we were able to find it quite quickly. The hostel truly is very nice! The atmosphere is very relaxed and the girl who checked us in was very nice as well. She just watched TV with us ‘n everything. The first thing Caitlyn and I noticed however is how different the Belfast (northern Ireland) accent is from the Limerick accent. :P

Black –cab tour

On the Saturday Caitlyn and I, together with three other guys of the hostel booked a black-cab tour together. This is (literally) a black cab that takes you to the parts of Belfast where the trouble was most prevalent. Streets such as Bombay street and also the peace wall. It is amazing to see the 6- meter-high wall separating the protestant, Unionist Shankill road form the catholic, Loyalists Falls Road. It is spooky to see British flags in an Irish city and the murals in Belfast too, are very spooky and impressive. Our guide lives in Belfast and could tell us a lot about the political troubles in Belfast and the meaning of the murals. He also took us to the shipyard where the Titanic was built and showed us Samson and Goliath, the two largest cranes in Europe :P.

After our black-cab tour Caitlyn and I decided to do the girly-thing and went shopping. (Obviously stopping at interesting and impressive buildings such as the City hall and Queens University -!!! A very VERY cool university!! Walking around in the city I got the idea that the north of Ireland might be slightly more developed in means of road works and buildings. I found the roads better and buildings were very well maintained. But then again, I was in the capital which might be completely different from the countryside.
Paddy wagon tour

On the Sunday we went on a Paddy wagon tour. Our tour-guide Troy took us to the Carrick – a – Rede rope bridge, Giants Causeway and Derry. Each one of them being very interesting places to visit. I imagined Carrick – a – Rede rope bridge to be much longer then it really was however, but it was fun to cross nonetheless. Giant’s Causeway was very cool too! I have studied the stories of Finn MacCool at Irish and Welsh literature so I already knew the story of the Giant’s causeway and it was cool to visit this historical place and look over to Scotland where Finn MacCool went to search his future wife. In Derry we could take part in a tour with Rory who took us around the major ‘landmarks’ that played a role during or after the troubles. Again, it was very impressing to see several murals and to hear about the story of Sunday (bloody Sunday) 30th January 1972. There were also a couple of Dutch tourists. It really is funny in way how you are able to recognise them instantly. Whilst walking around in Derry, which has so much important history, the Dutch guy says to his wife: “Och schatje kijk dan!!! Die wolken!!! Prachtig!!!” :S… of all things you could see in Derry.. the clouds are most impressive to you?!?

Goodbye Luimneach

Then it was Monday again and I went back to rainy Limerick. The time for me to start packing and cleaning the apartment. The time to start studying for my last exam on Friday. The time to say goodbye to good friends I’ve met here and the time to get prepared to go back home again.

This is the last night I’ll spent in Limerick as a student studying at ‘Mary I’ and I have to say I feel a bit sad to leave. I’m really excited to go home as well, but I’ve really grown to like Limerick and especially its surroundings and the people I’ve met here. So therefore I’d like to say:

Oíche mhaith Luimneach
Tá mé I ngrá leat!