Although I wasn’t nearly as inexperienced or nervous my second time flying to Northern Ireland, 2014 still held a lot in the way of traveling and learning. The fall semester of 2013 in N. Ireland was a dream come true and it was only in the last moments of that semester–literally when I’d be leaving for the States in a week and a half–that I found out it was financially possible for me to return the following semester. Lesson learned there? Don’t doubt God’s faithfulness with finances. He is always going above and beyond for us, but I somehow see money as something outside of His control, and would (and continue) to worry about it when I really have no cause to do so. I’m thankful for His patience with me!
And, after having a wonderful Christmas break with my family, I looked forward to flying back to N. Ireland on the 24th of January. It was still just as hard to leave them (and perhaps a little harder, since I knew what it was like without them when I missed them–but easier because I knew where I was going and that I had my N. Irish family of friends to welcome me back), but so sweet to arrive back. It felt like arriving home. I discovered I had two homes–make that three–first, overall, encompassing everything, God. Second, wherever my family is. And third, at least for this past year, Northern Ireland. Since moving 9 times growing up, I have never had a sense of identity to a place or a connection to one but I always knew Ireland and the UK was it and that proved true. Going back and spending a semester at this home was magical, and God continued to teach me so much. Taught me more of loving people. Of working through less-than-ideal situations–one thing that travel quickly teaches you is to be flexible, in every aspect, in every circumstance, even when you’re completely lost and walked 3 miles because you missed a bus in the Welsh countryside 🙂
One of the events that stands out was an event that 3 of my friends and I from our Christian Union planned out a ministry event for the Magee campus. It was an acoustic night in our student union club and went so well, and it was so exciting to work with such a great team and plan what seemed to be like a good hit.
It was great for me–to get to know them better and develop fast friendships, to learn to work and communicate well, to share creative ideas, to work through stress and support and encourage others.
And then, after a relatively quiet February/March, 16 April marked the end of finals (and the deadline for 6 research papers I had to write in one semester–this was literally my ONLY coursework but it totaled more than 60 written pages. Whew.) and the next day, the start of my travels further from N. Ireland!
Woah, HELLO SCOTLAND! I was invited by a friend to go and help out with a church’s outreach mission there, so me and her and our other friend and a few others took a ferry from Belfast to the Scottish coast, then drove inland to Airdrie which was between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The first few days we did the mission, it was really interesting to be involved in such a cultural experience, immersed, if you will, since I was the only American I saw during my time there. Definitely get a feel for “life” there and not just “I’m here as a tourist.” I learned a lot through serving, but it was really relaxing once we took off for Edinburgh on a Monday and got a reformation tour of the city by one of the church members.
Edinburgh–I’ve written about this before. One of the best cities, one of my absolute favourites. So it was a huge highlight to spend a day there and it’s on my list to explore SO MUCH MORE of!!
We also got to experience some of the Highlands, stopping first at Loch Lomond (dream come true) and a tiny village called Luss which was very picturesque. The Highlands themselves? You can’t even call them picturesque and the pictures don’t even do them justice. It’s something which you can only really experience in person… it’ll take your breath away.
From there I went to Wales, fulfilling a longtime dream of going there (huge Howl’s Moving Castle fan here) and also seeing my best friend and penpal, Stacey, which was THE BEST part of the trip. We’d been penpals for more than 2 years before that, I think, and always wrote each other emails–first time seeing pictures and hearing each others voices was the day before I flew over there (we decided to FB friend/call each other at the last minute so we could make double sure we weren’t serial killers/stalkers, you know). I was so excited about this trip.. it was so independent and I booked a flight myself and when I got there, Stacey did an amazing job of planning a wonderful itinerary. Although I’ll probably never be satisfied and will have to return, I saw everything I wanted to and more. And meeting your kindred spirit in the flesh and realising you’re still best friends in person? Totally amazing.
After all this, returning to Ireland, me and my classmates plus a couple of friends went with our teacher to the Gaeltacht of Ireland, because we were apart of an Irish (it’s a Gaelic language) class. It was a cool experience staying with native Irish speakers, and especially going on this teeny. tiny. ferry to Tory Island, the smallest inhabited island off the coast of Donegal. That ferry ride on what was essentially a small fishing boat who’s overhead shelter we clung to was probably the most thrilling thing. Except, of course, being greeted by the King of Tory Island upon arrival (he was the spitting image of an old sea captain, tweed and hat and gold jewelry and white beard and all). We got a grand tour of the island and learned about the way of life for its 140 or so residents. Yay Irish language!
Next, me and my best friend decided to go to Dublin for a weekend since I hadn’t been yet. We saw all the tourist spots and explored more of the shops in the Temple Bar area of town, but my favourite part was going to Kildare Stud Farm which was a bus ride outside the city and where the finest Irish Thoroughbreds are born and bred. It didn’t really get any better than getting to pet those sweet foals.
Whew. I had a slight break of a few days and then MUM CAME TO VISIT!!!! I was ridiculously excited about this–she’s the one who instilled in me a passion for Ireland and travel in the first place. And this would be her first time back in 30 years, so we were sosososooso excited. We spent two weeks–the first one touring Northern Ireland and Donegal which she’d never seen and was probably our favourite part of the whole trip–and the second week we met up with my uncle from London and traveled down the west coast to Connemara, Galway, where she’d bicycled through on her first trip. The flights were crazy, and we also rented a car–my first time driving over there, but I drove the first day since she had too much jet lag and went surprisingly smoothly, I loved driving there and observing for so long helped (so did having to learn on a stick shift when I’d first learned to drive, it was only a matter of switching hands!). All in all it was quite an adventure. We even went horseback riding together, and that was wonderful because we’d never got to do it together before AND I got to fulfill my dream of riding a Connemara pony in Ireland, on a beach no less, at sunset, in one of the most beautiful places–aaaand we saw dolphins as we were riding along. No waaaay.
What a year of travel–blessed to go back to Northern Ireland, blessed to go beyond that. I am thrilled to have these memories, stories, and photos, and to have shared them with some of the most awesome people.
Pursuing the Road 