a)      Have you experienced any cultural miscommunication or “lost in translation” moments?  Tell us a funny story about adjusting to the local tongue.

I was checking a book of out the library one day, and I took a look at the receipt to see exactly when the book was due back. It said 11/11/14, but that day (the day I was checking it out) was November 10. The book was supposed to be a 30 night loan so I was really confused. I went up to a librarian to ask him about it. I could not understand a single word he was saying. He had the thickest Belfast accent ever. It was worse than a pikeys accent in the movie Snatch. I kept asking him to repeat himself but eventually I just gave up and pretended I could understand him. It was awful hahaha. It’s crazy to think that I cannot understand someone who is speaking the same language as me. Someone could have told me he wasn’t speaking English and I would have believed them. I wonder if he could understand me. I was with a friend from France at the time and after we walked away she said “Now you know how I feel every day” hahah. Later on I kicked myself because I realized I had the date confused. I forgot that they put the day of the month first instead of the month first. Ha!

b)      Explain a favorite new word or phrase you have learned.

I love the phrase “cheers”. It is so happy sounding ha. They use it for goodbye and thank you. I also like that they use the words lovely and mate. I don’t know why but it is so cool. 

a)     Describe your favorite museum or landmark in your city and explain why it’s your favorite place.

My favourite landmark in Belfast is probably the big fish by the river. It’s a big statue of a fish. What’s special about it is that almost every scale is represents some part of the history of Belfast. The scales have old images from newspaper, article clippings, city documents, and all sorts of cool things printed on to the scales. They’re pretty interesting to look at. Every time we go past it I stop and find something new. 

b)      Tell us about any class field trips or excursions you’ve experienced.

I haven’t gone on any class field trips. I wish I did because that would mean I was taking a super cool class. I think the only event coming remotely close to a class field trip would be the pub crawl during orientation week ha.  However, I did take a day trip to visit Mourne Mountains with some friends. It was absolutely beautiful and really fun. We had to battle the winds to climb up a hill (no seriously, if the wind hit you just right it would knock you over. It was so cool) but it was totally worth it. On the top we had a beautiful view. When looked back down the path, we could see a valley of trees and the ocean. When we looked ahead we could see mountains and fog. The grey sky and the greens and yellows of the grass on the mountains made for a beautiful scene. It was truly lovely.