(So this is going to be in English because I went to an English speaking country)
We were given a seven day break from school to take a break an enjoy Easter. I was pondering around about making a trip to Ibiza or maybe the Canary Islands, but then I though of the great idea of visiting a good friend in Northern Ireland who is doing a program similar to mine. After much planning and giggling and screaming, I headed off April 1st on my journey to Northern Ireland. Because I am a cheap college student, I had to take a somewhat crazy route to get there the cheapest way possible. I left 7 am that morning from Valencia and arrived in Madrid where I had to wait almost 8 hours in the airport before hopping on my next flight to Dublin. When I got to Dublin it was late enough that I wouldn't be able to take a bus to Derry, so I spent the night in a hostel and hopped on a bus for 4 hours the following day to see my long lost friend. This was my first trip really traveling alone and I have to say that everything when pretty smoothly and I didn't seem to freaked out by any of it. I have also learned the trick of packing as much stuff into a backpack as possible and still having it comply with the strict size regulations of RyanAir. I arrived at the bus station and was warmly greeted by Rachel. Though Spain has been great and I have met some really cool people, it was so wonderful to just see and hang out with an old friend. We spent the first day in Derry where we had an amazing lunch complete with chocolate fondue.
The Bog Side of the city of Derry
The next day we headed of for a little town called Balintoy that was about 2 hours northeast of Derry. Now I thought I was from a small town, but Balintoy brings a new meaning to the phrase "small town." It is a city located right on the northern coast and has a population of about 200. THere is no grocery store or gas station, but there are two restaurants and a small convenience store called the "Wee Shop". Since Rachel and I hadn't rented a car we had to rely on the public bus system, which proved to be rather difficult considering it was Easter weekend and many of the routes were not running, but we still managed to have an amazing time! The place was so beautiful it was hard not to. The countryside was filled with rolling green hills speckled with sheep and rocky cliffs that just suddenly dropped off into the ocean. It was a little drizzly most of the time, but if anything that added to the beauty of the place.
The small famous white church in Balintoy
A shot of the rocky coast.
Rachel and I taking a little jaunt shortly after we arrived in Balintoy.
The entire time in Balintoy was just so peaceful and relaxing. We spent most of our time wondering around the coastline and playing with sheep. We even attempted to hitchhike back from a nearby town one day (which the hostel lady recommended) and were horribly unsuccessful. So we spent about 4 miles walking along the coast and trespassing on numerous peoples property and jumping many fences and stone walls before we finally caught a taxi.
A field of sheep that we had a lot of fun playing with. And these sheep were no ordinary sheep, they knew how to talk! Every time that I would call out to them I would be greeted by a chorus of "BAAAAAAHHHHHH'S".
Another shot of the coastline, but this time from the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge.
Rachel, my friend who I went to visit.
My last night in Derry was one to be remembered. We were planning on spending the evening just being lazy and watching a movie, but when Rachel's host family called and invited us up to a town to the north called Donneygal to watch a jam session we took up the offer. The session was great and almost everyone in the pub was related to Rachel's host family-who happens to be insanely musically talented. Her host mom is in a group with two of her sisters called "The Henry Girls" and they do a lot of traditional Irish music. Her host dad is also in a couple of bands and plays the saxaphone. After thoroughly enjoying the evening, her host family was nice enough to let us stay in their aunt's beautiful Bed & Breakfast. And let me tell you this was no ordinary bed and breakfast, but this one was accompanied by two of the nicest ladies I have ever met and was absolutely gorgeous.
FAVORITE MOMENTS
1. Rachel and I attempting to hitchhike and being turned down by about 40 different cars.
2. Trespassing our way back to Balintoy for about 2 miles
3. Playing with sheep!
4. Hearing the word "wee" in place of "little"
5. The entire night in Donneygal.
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