A Day in Derry

I apologize that this post is WAY overdue! I had my first test in my Medical Cell Bio. class last Thursday and I had to put my blog on hold while I was busy studying away in the library.


Last Saturday we decided to take the train to Londonderry/Derry. This little town is steeped with history and is still experiencing some fall out from the "troubles." Even the name has stirred up some controversy. Apparently back in the day, if you called it Derry you were deemed a Catholic, Nationalist or Republican Supporter in the eyes of the R.U.C. or British Army who called it Londonderry. For the history buffs hiding out there in my fan base, Bloody Sunday took place here. This incidence, though seemingly small today, is still a huge source of pride (and in some cases bitterness) for the people residing here. Religion is still a very touchy subject here and most people we met simply avoided the whole issue all together by stating they were atheist. But all issues aside, I absolutely loved this town! The people were very friendly, as usual, and we had a fabulous time!

Here are some pictures of St. Colum's Cathedral. I manage to snap one shot of the entry way before the women who worked in the church informed me that photography was not allowed. Oops.




We stopped at the church while we were walking around ON the city's original walls! So cool!!




A "cannon shot" for my dad photographed in the style of our Gettysburg trip. :-)



As you can imagine, walking around on city walls allows for some pretty incredible views!





(A preview of Derry's famous murals!)


After we finished walking the walls, we asked one of the locals where the murals were.









I loved the contrast of the bold statements the murals made and the quaintness of the town. The sign in picture below reads "You are now entering FREE Derry." As opposed to Derry ruled by the British. If you look closely you can see Derry has been vandalized and has been painted over a few times.

This is a view of the city walls outside of the city. Terry McCafferty is an Irish Republican POW if you'd like to learn a little more about him click here. The controversy involving him is pretty confusing and I'm not sure if I understand it all. When we asked someone who he was, all she said was hew had been in prison.


I still can't believe this amazing little town is only a 50 minute train ride away. I am so glad we visited and can't wait to go back!!

*Stay tuned for my blog on our trip to Amsterdam! It was awesome!!

Giant's Causeway

I spent my last day as a teenager at the Giant's Causeway. It was also Valentine's Day! While some might hesitate taking a group of single people hiking along the Irish coast -- with huge cliffs every which way you turned -- on the year's most romantic day, we fared pretty well and didn't lose anyone. ;-) If you haven't heard of or seen pictures of this place, you should follow the link on my bog to the Giant's Causeway sight! (Right after you send me mental thoughts of thanks for being such a nice blogger. ;-) ) Most Irish locals refer to the Giant's Causeway as the 8th wonder of the world. It was also declared Ireland's first World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1986. Needless to say, these people LOVE their causeway.


There are a lot of local legends about how and why these formations formed, but the most popular involves two giants, Finn Mac Cool and Benandonner. The two giants had been talking smack about each other for a while but had never actually fought because whenever one would schedule a fight, the other would come up with some excuse to blow it off. Apparently they were giants of the "flaky" variety. Anyways, one day Finn decided to build a causeway from Ireland to Scotland so Ben would be able to walk across on dry land. Well on the day of the fight when Finn saw Ben coming he freaked out and ran to the hills, surprised by his opponents size and strength. Finn's wife (not wanting to be widowed and pillaged) came up with a plan. Like grease lightening she made a giant bassinet, told Finn to lay in it, then covered him up with a blanket. When Ben arrived, she politely invited him in for tea and asked him to be quiet so as not to disturb Finn's son sleeping in the bassinet. When Ben saw how big and strong the baby was, it was his turn to freak. He politely excused himself from tea time with Finn's wife and ran back across the sea to Scotland, tearing up the causeway as he went. He left in such a hurry that he his boot came off and it is still here today.

*Yes, this legend does differ a little from the legend posted on the official Causeway's site, but I heard this version in my student orientations and well, I just like it better.


Although the legend is very entertaining, there is also a scientific explanation for these funky formations. Most scientists believe that they were formed about 55 million years ago during the early Tertiary period when lava flowed from a nearby volcano onto the shore.

Abair cias!... (That's Gaelic for "say cheese!)





A closer shot of those super cool hexagonal rocks...


Kayli and me trying to "fill Ben's boot" that he hurriedly left behind.


Climbing on the causeway... One of our cheesier moments...don't you think we could give N'Sync a run for their money with this album cover art action?! ;-)

After our climbing fun, the Kent Staters kept reminding everyone just how good they were at spelling O-H-I-O with their arms (it's some weird mid-western thing) so, I had to show some Sun Devil love and put up the pitchfork. Go Devils!! :-)

I had such a fantastic time and I can't wait to go back with my good friend Lauren we she comes to visit!! We're going to have a blast Laurs!!

BONUS: A biology fun fact for my dad! The Causeway is also home to over 200 varieties of plant species and birds such as the Chough and the Peregrine Falcon.

Ooooooh! Yet another reason for you to come visit me! ;-)

All this Beauty

This past weekend all of the exchange students here at Ulster were invited on a walk along the beach with an organization called International Friends. Irish people are probably the friendliest, most welcoming people you could ever meet, and this organization's members are definitely no exception.

First we walked along the beach for a little while...

It was super cold but absolutely beautiful. (As usual in really windy situations, my hair comes alive giving the allusion that my head is being attacked by a brown, curly-haired beast. Cute.)

What do you get when you walk along the beach, with eight giggly, excited girls??... A picture of eight giggly, excited girls holding hands!!

What you're not seeing in this picture is our friend Alan, who got suckered into taking this picture eight times with eight different cameras....girls. :-) At least he was a good sport about it.

In the not-so-epic battle of the exchange students v. the north Atlantic winds, we definitely did not fair well. So we took our stroll inland a bit and got to see some even more beautiful views.


This is the part where I felt like we had walked right into Tolkien's imagination.


I kept expecting to see a gorgeous woodland elf and a strapping ranger jump out from behind the marshes to save us from an eminent orc attack....no such luck. (That double-reference to Lord of the Rings is just for you mom!)



I wish my camera could have captured just how beautiful this scene really was! It was simply stunning.




This picture is by far my favorite because you can see the fields in the distance. It also captures a rarity here, a bright blue sky!


After our walk, we were all invited back to the church International Friends is a part of for some biscuits and hot chocolate. Here all the exchange students ate and drank their weight in homemade sugar goodies and yummy hot chocolate...well at least all of the American students did. I may have seen one of the Frenchies pop a biscuit or two. ;-)

Over all it was a beautiful Irish day!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!

One of the hardest things about studying abroad is being away from all the people I love back home. This feeling is even more pronounced on special occasions...like my dad's 49th birthday!! Today my dad turned 49, and I could tell from our phone date earlier today that he was very excited about this event. I wish I could be home to celebrate the big 4-9 with him and to remind him just how old he really is, but I'm pretty sure my cute younger brothers have that front covered while I'm away. Check out all of that gray hair!! ;-)

Happy Birthday Dad!!! And don't worry, I'll definitely be there next year when you turn 50!!! I love you!!!

Putting the "Study" in Studying Abroad

A central part of the orientations exchange students are required to attend before embarking on our adventures is quite simple: remember to study while you're studying abroad. Sounds obvious enough right? But the goal of most exchange students is to travel and see as much as possible, so in retrospect I am thankful for the reminder. Especially since my workload over here for only 3 classes will probably be equivalent to the workload of the 5 classes I'm used to taking each semester at ASU. I have noticed that over here that the majority of "lecturers" (if you refer to them as professors you get strange looks and people laugh at you) are HUGE fans of the all-students-need-to-read-a-LOT-before-each-lecture concept. At ASU professors know full well that when they assign outside readings, only about 7% of their students will actually make the effort to set up camp in the library and read. While I haven't received the official numbers yet on my "Do-you-read-everything-or-slack-off" poll, so far it looks like just about everyone over here reads at least half of the outside readings. And talking to the other American exchange kids the general consensus seems to be that over here students are responsible for a large percentage of learning. Kind of a "self-study" method, which is a little different than the way things are done back home at ASU.

We are in our second week of school here and I almost have my routine down. It was a little stressful getting registered for class and making sure the "time tables" don't over lap. So after some stressed out nights and a very slow registration process, my classes are Medical Cell Biology, Winning the Peace: European Literature and Film, and Mother Ireland: Representations of Women in Irish Literature. Each class consists of a lecture and a seminar. Seminars are made up of extra time for the lecturer to have workshops, hold discussions and student presentations. Here is what my class schedule looks like:

I am super excited though to only have class Tuesday-Thursday! Four day weekends will make it easier to explore and not miss class. ;-)

Another difference is the size of the campus here. At ASU's main campus in Tempe, it takes about 15 to 20 minutes to walk across campus, even further if you are lucky enough to have lake view parking in Lot 59. So while I was expecting that campus to be smaller, I was shocked when I learned that there were only two main building where classes are held. Here are some pics of the campus!

This is part of the central building where I have most of my classes...


Here is another view of the central building. The covered walk way is definitely nice when it is snowing and raining like it has been this week.


I'll try and take more pictures of campus while I'm here. I don't have too many so far because I'm really trying NOT to be the dorky girl with a camera walking around campus and taking pictures of everything...I'm fairly sure the students on exchange here from Hong Kong have that department covered. ;-)

BONUS: While I've been here I've been keeping a list of funny sayings and all of the just plain weird stuff they say over here via the stickies application on my macbook. Here is what I have so far...

• The Fire Department is known as the Fire Brigade
• A closet is referred to as a cupboard, as in "electrical cupboard"
• A "stone" is roughly the equivalent of fourteen pounds
• The word "Yous," as in "I hope yous had a good time."
• Referring to University as "Uni" (I spent a good 3 days on this one trying to figure out what my house mates were talking about)
• French fries are called "chips"
• Potato chips are called "crisps"
• The elevator is referred to as the "lift"
• Instead of saying thanks, most people just say "cheers"

Spellings over here are different too, which will make it super fun when I'm writing papers for class. For example...

• organization vs. organisation
• theater vs. theatre
• eukaryote vs. eucaryote

That's all I have so far but I'll keep them coming as I hear them!! :-)