Now to recap the last 3 days...
DAY 1.
At the airport in NW Arkansas packed and ready to go!
Final goodbyes to my parents before heading to security and my gate.
Off to Atlanta to meet up with the rest of the group!!
After landing in Atlanta, we were reunited! Missed these 2 a lot over the summer! Can't wait to spend the semester with them and the rest of the group here in Ireland!
(^in the Atlanta airport with Allison and Brian^)
About to concur our 8 hour flight to Dublin! Here's to no sleep, movies, and airplane food!
These 3 wonderful girls are also my roomies for the semester (:
(^on the plane with Allison, Melissa, and Chelsea^)
Plane Dinner. I don't think there is a way to word a caption to make it seem any better than it was. Moral of the story: eat a bigger meal before long flights.
DAY 2.
It was actually day 2, but it sure felt like day 1 still... LONG day and the 6 hour time change was messing with me... it's still weird to think that I am about to go to bed and y'all at home just ate dinner. It will take some getting used to that's for sure!
After hours in the air we finally got a peek of Ireland! This was my first view of my home for the next 3 months. At this point, I was absolutely exhausted. Sleeping and airplanes defiantly aren't a match made in heaven. I think I fell asleep for maybe 5 minutes and that's probably even pushing it, but I was in Ireland so my exhaustion wasn't an issue at this point. Luckily all 25 of us had our luggage make it to Dublin as well. From here, we got on a bus and traveled about 2 hours to Belfast. In Belfast, we were picked up and transported to our home for the next 3 months, Lakeside Manor.
After unpacking and getting organized in our room (I'll post pictures soon) at the manor we headed to Scrabo Castle. Here we could see a great view of the city we will be living in this semester. It was so windy! And no... we still hadn't slept at this point. 30 hours and going strong (or maybe it was just adrenaline)!!
After arriving back at the manner we ate Irish fish and chips for dinner, showered and headed to bed around 9 our time. I'm pretty sure I have never fallen asleep faster... I slept like a rock.
DAY 3.
Day 3 began with waking up rested, having a team meeting, and eating lunch. It was so exciting to wake up here and get ready to spend our first 24 hours here!! We are all definatly still in as Billy (one of our leaders) called it the "honeymoon phase" and it is so apparent. Constantly today I found my saying, thinking, or hearing others talk about how cool and different everything is. I am thoroughly amazed and have enjoyed every second so far.
After lunch, several of us went on a bike ride. It was SO weird to ride on the "wrong side of the road," but was so fun to get to explore some of Belfast and the neighborhood surrounding the manor!
(^Melissa and I with our bikes^)
(^Brandon, Allison, and Brian before our bike ride^)
We went to dinner at Billy's favorite pizza place in Ireland. It was called Pizza Express, but don't let the name fool you. When he told us the name of the restaurant we all kinda looked at him doubtfully, but it was quite good!
After dinner we walked around downtown Belfast for a bit and saw the City Hall (above) which had a statue of Queen Victoria in front of it. The building was extremely impressive. So many details that it was hard to feel like you completely grasped the building to it's fullest.
We also saw the Titanic memorial. This is actually the 100th anniversity of it sinking so there is quite a bit of things around town that have to do with the Titanic in some way.
We spent the rest of the night at the manor playing Smash Mario Brothers and Risk, eating ice-cream, and drinking tea.
Well, I think y'all are caught up of what went on the past 3 days! It is still so hard for me to actually believe that I am finally here! I already feel that God has great plans for our group here in Ireland! I can't wait to experience more of this wonderful city and tell you guys all about it!
~ Sarah (:
