Driving on the Left (Days 14 + 15)

Well... I have some bad news. It seems that my computer has decided to go kaput, at least for the time being. I've tried several times to shut it down and restart it and every time I try to open anything or click on anything it immediately freezes up. My roommate for the trip, Ally, is graciously going to let me use hers to finish my blogging endeavors. I'm hoping that I'll be able to take my Macbook Air in the the Apple store in Belfast to see if they can help me solve the problems I'm having with it. Poor Coral (yes, I named my computer).

Yesterday we departed from Corrymeela and it felt very freeing to leave a lot of the heavy things we talked about behind us. We stopped to visit some cliffs on the coast and we all crossed a rope bridge to get to our destination. The view was absolutely spectacular and everyone had fun running around across the green grass, peering down hundreds of feet to where the rocks met the pounding waves. After that we visited Giant's Causeway, which is full of rock that was naturally formed into hexagonal shapes. Millions of years ago there was a volcano in Ireland that overflowed with lava, and when the earth shifted the lava tilted and slid into these formations. It's extremely hard to comprehend and understand, but it was amazing walking across them and realizing that those geometric forms weren't made by humans.

Our last stop was at Dunluce Castle, where all 25 of us were given a map of the castle and let loose for almost an hour! It felt like we all turned into a bunch of elementary school kids on a playground - we were running through the castle laughing and making up stories and taking pictures along the way. When we got back onto the bus almost everyone fell fast asleep. But I stayed awake the whole bus ride and witnessed the sun coming out from behind the Irish clouds. As lame as this sounds, I was listening to "Circle of Life" from The Lion King on my iPod as I watched the country side go by and I felt completely at peace and utterly happy.

Today we took a very heavy and emotional tour through the town of Derry/London-Derry. I can't really go into the details right now since it might take pages to explain my thoughts and feelings but hopefully I can reflect on it in a blog post later. We've been writing a journal for our Theology class every day and maybe after the trip is over I'll be able to share some of those deeper thoughts.

Enjoy the pictures below, they are all from the destinations during the bus ride yesterday. I think I'm finally getting used to driving on the left side of the road, which makes me smile.

This is me jumping... by the edge of a cliff. I promise I'm further from the edge than it looks!

Palaces & Castles (Day 3)

Our group was up and out of the hotel by 9 this morning, actually probably a little latter since everyone was lagging a bit.  Today we toured a cemetery with a statue of Abraham Lincoln (the first statue of an American president in Europe and the only statue of an American president in Scotland - pretty cool! The statue can be seen out of focus in the first photo below). Then we walked up to the Firth of Fourth, where a whole view of the city could be seen.  After that we walked through the Palace of the Holyroodhouse, where the Queen of England still takes some of her summer holidays.  Elizabeth II has accepted the key to the house at least 20 years in a row now - it's part of a ceremony - and then she always hands it back, which is also part of the ceremony. 

We also toured the Edinburgh castle after lunch and a World War I memorial within it, which made me very sad since there were books full of the names of Scottish soldiers that had died.  Some of my peers spent more than an hour in that part of the castle alone since the memorial had so many details and things to look at. By the time we had finished touring all of those places it was 4 in the afternoon and some of us headed back to the hotel to rest for about an hour. Then we went to a coffee house to study and straight to dinner afterward. I enjoyed a glass of Rose that went straight to my head... sometimes it's a genuine pain not being able to act normal after drinking one glass of wine. However, the trip has been fun so far and tomorrow we have to be up and out by 8:30. Goodnight!

Dear Will, this picture is just for you as it is stained-glass of William Wallace fighting in battle!