mo' procrastination

ONLY ONE MORE EXAM UNTIL I AM FREE (until grad school)

I keep meaning to write about Belfast, and it keeps getting away from me, so here are just a few quick impressions it left on me:

- SO COLD. Well, that's the Republic too right now. I did not think it could/would get much colder until it DID and now going outside is the most miserable thing imaginable, which is why I spent most of my time holed up in my little room in the apt, drinking mass quantities of tea and cider (which my sweet beau brought me all the way from ye olde U.S.). Oh yeah, Belfast. Well I bought an awesome hat at the Christmas market there that basically doesn't leave my head ever. Which is good because I also need a haircut something fierce. But that's another story.

- ANOTHER terrifying experience. I would really like to go somewhere that doesn't involve me risking my life in some kind of really high-elevation adventure. In this case, it was the Carrick-a-Rede bridge, a rope bridge suspended high over the OCEAN. And once you crossed it there was no way to get back from the little island thing but to cross it again. NOT. HAPPY.

- The Giant's Causeway is one of the coolest naturally occurring phenomenons ever. Definitely a highlight.

- It is unreal to me the separation that still exists there. Only 3% of the population actually lives in undivided neighborhoods. Everywhere else the Protestants and the Catholics live separated. In Belfast there are these huge walls, really high that they call the Berlin Walls of Belfast because they close off the neighborhoods to one another. There are these gates that close automatically at 10 p.m. and no one can get through after that time. All in all, it was very eye-opening that stuff like that still happens in a place like the U.K.

- I like pounds, as in the money. The coins are really cool and they feel good in your hand. Euro paper money is still way prettier though.

Some other thoughts: Brian is here (yay!!) and it seems like he is going to end up doing in a week and a half almost all the stuff I've done in a semester. We did a weekend trip to Cork and the Blarney Stone/Galway and the Cliffs of Moher, and we did the Guinness tour, Jameson tour, and literary pub crawl. He is in Belfast now visiting our favorite Northern Irelander, Jack of course. Once I (FINALLY) finish my Irish Lit exam we are off to England and Scotland.

WHICH MEANS I ONLY HAVE THREE MORE DAYS IN IRELAND. Where has it gone?

I am considering starting a blog about my life in general when I get back to the states. But I'll probably be really bad about keeping it up.