a)     What is the most prominent cultural difference in your city abroad?  Explain.

Irish people are a lot different than your typical American. First of all, most people are insanely genuine and kind. They are so helpful and friendly, and they mean it. Shopping, eating out, going to the different administration offices at school is even nicer because of it. Nobody acts like you are killing them when they have to check you out or need to ask a question at the bank. They help you with a true smile and even go above and beyond their job, almost every time. Have you ever been to the bank or store and dealt with a person who was so nice and genuine that afterwards you thought “Wow. People can be so kind. The world is a good place”? Well that’s what a lot of people are like here. It is very refreshing and welcoming.

b)     Discuss your experience with the stages of culture shock throughout your time abroad.

I never really had a culture shock. Others from America told me they have, but I personally have not. I asked some of my friends from Spain and France if they did, but they said they really have not either. The western world is surprisingly very similar. Of course there are differences, but it’s nothing I would consider “shocking”. The biggest adjustment here is making sure you don’t question into where someone is from (what town, what school they went to, what type of sports they played in HS, etc.) if they live in Northern Ireland. That is considered personal information. You just kind of have to watch your Qs and Ps. The way girls dress here for a night out was pretty shocking actually jajaj. I mean, I don’t care, they can dress however their little heart’s desire so long as they feel good, but that does not mean it was not shocking. They wear fake eyelashes, stilettos, skin tight clothing with insane, mismatch patterns, and they must spend at least 2 hours on their hair and makeup. It is okay though with me because I don’t have to dress like that. I was worried I’d feel weird if I didn’t, but me and my international friends go out in dresses with cardigans and flats and we are fine. Those are just things that are shocking though with the culture. I can’t say I have had any experiences that could be classified into stages or even culture shock really. 

a)     Describe any safety tips you have discovered while abroad.

Basically you just need to follow the typical safety rules you have heard a million times: Always be aware of your surroundings, keep an eye on your purse/wallet, watch your drinks, know the local emergency number, never go out alone, stay out of the bad parts of town and so on. I would say Belfast is pretty safe in terms of your typical concerns for traveling. The issues here affect more people who are militant members. Although, you do risk getting caught in the crossfire, but even still, I would say it is a lot safer here than Pittsburgh. When traveling in big cities you have to watch your back a lot more. When we were in Paris we constantly kept an eye on our stuff. For example, we put our valuables in our inner coat pockets and watched them and our bags carefully. When standing in a crowd or on a subway, turn your backpack so that it is on the front of you and you can hold it to keep it covered. You also have to keep an eye out for not-so-obvious situations. Some little girls came up to us and asked us for donations for the blind and dumb association. They had paperwork to try and make it look official but it was a scam. They were pretending they were deaf and sick and were rubbing our arms, kissing their fingers and touching them to us to say thank you for the donation (even though we had not given them anything because we were suspicious) to make us feel bad. The next day we saw the same girls running around, singing and shouting to one another. It is sad that they are raised that way. I am sure they need money because they are immigrants and their parents probably can’t get jobs there because of it, but still. Maybe they meant no harm, but you need to be careful. Someone easily could have pick-pocketed us when they were touching us and such. This just goes back to being aware of your surroundings and using common sense.

b)     What are the best local traveler secrets that you have learned so far?  This should be a tip that you wouldn’t have known before arriving at your location

Hmmm. A local traveller secret…I really am not sure. Do the pubs with the best live music count? Hahah. I guess one could be that if you are traveling with 3 or more people, it is cheaper to get a taxi than take the bus, and fona-cab is the best company here especially if you are by Queens. Also, Guinness chocolate cake is delicious if made properly. Mmmm. Oh! And the best place to go on the weekends is St. George’s market in the city centre. There is usually live music, and sooo much yummy food and fun things to look at. It closes at 1 though so make sure it’s one of the first things on your agenda.  

What have been your favorite day trips or weekend getaway locations? Describe what you saw and experienced and explain why it was interesting. 

I have spent these past few days with Ailise, a student from Queens who I become friends with when she studied abroad at Carlow last year, and explored the towns near her. We spent all day Thursday and most of Friday cruising around the coast and checking out the beaches. I must have said “This is so beautiful. I love it!” half a million times. The weather was incredible, which is something rare for Ireland. It made everything that much better – although Ireland is so beautiful that it looks great rain or shine, shine is still preferable though. The water was always so clean. In some areas it was a beautiful blue. That mixed with the bright blue sky and the Irish-green grass made for one heck of a sight! The sheep wandering everywhere made it even better, especially the baby ones J Ohhhh they were so adorable. We had to stop or slow down quite a few times because of sheep in the road. It was a really nice trip. Words and pictures cannot explain it. I am so glad I got to explore Ireland’s beauty before I left. 

That mass across the water is good ol' Scotland 

It is true, the sheep roam free in Ireland :)

Typical weekday

·         Take us through a typical weekday for you—from morning to evening

Every weekday is a bit different. For example, on Mondays I have 5 hours of classes, Wednesday I have none, and on Tuesday and Friday I only have one. Thursdays are the best days. I only have two hours. It’s nice because it forces me to wake up early but I am not rushed all day. If I sleep late it’s basically a given that I won’t do anything that day so I like days where I have class. I always get the most done on Thursdays and I love it. I wake up at 9 or a quarter to 9, shower real quick, throw on some clothes, and eat breakfast, and then head to class at about a quarter to 10. The class is in the main area of classes so it’s only about a 10 minute walk. I have class for just one hour, and then I go back home to charge my computer, do a little reading or take a quick nap (depending) and then I make lunch and head back to campus for another class. This time class is a 15 minute walk away. Again, I am in class for only an hour. Then I walk over the library and study from 2 until 5 or so. After that I go home, and do whatever. Maybe I study, maybe I sleep, or clean my room, whatever. Then around 8 or 9 my friends and I eat dinner. Tuesdays are good too actually. I like to wake up early to study, then I have my favourite tutorial at noon. After tutorial I go workout and then come back home, shower, eat, and study some more. 

Culture

a)     Explain the most exciting holiday, tradition, or custom that you have experienced.

I spent my winter break in Spain and was able to experience so many new traditions. It was so interesting. The best though was Catalan tradition of Caga Tio. It’s unbelievable. Caga means poop and tio means log (in Spanish tio means uncle). Every year, on the 8^th of December, a family sets out a log that looks like a cartoon character. They cover Caga Tio with a blanket and feed it. Then, on the 25^th of December the children gather around the log and sing while hitting it with a stick. They sing:

"Caga Tió avellanes I torró
Si no vols cagar
Et donanem un cop de pal."

Which translates to:

"Caga Tió hazelnuts and turron
If you don't want to poo
We will hit you with a stick"

Then they remove the blanket to find his poop, which is magically presents. The family I stayed with did this three times. All the grandchildren would leave the room while the parents put more presents under. It was fantastic. I want a log that poops out presents. All you have to do is feed it cookies and keep it warm? Sounds like a good deal!

b)     What live entertainment have you seen (shows, parades, music, sports, etc.)? Tell us about some interesting observations you made there.

One of the best things about studying aboard here in northern Ireland is the live music at the pubs. I love when we go to a pub and sit and listen to someone jam out on the fiddle, accordion and guitar. The best bands (that I have seen at least) are in the Republic. Whenever we go visit we make sure we find live music. At a pub in Galway it seemed like some folks just met there every week to play music. People came and went. When different people came they played slightly different types of music. It was awesome. They played traditional songs and cover songs. Their version of black bird by the Beatles was incredible. Watching rugby matches at the pubs is great craic too (Irish way of saying a really good time). Everyone is always singing and cheering like crazy. It’s a really fun environment. J  

                 Explain the best way you have found to meet the local people.

The best way to meet local people here is in class, particularly in tutorials. I really don’t know what else to say about this. It is pretty much just like back home. Some classes have people jump into conversations and are easy to start something with. Other classes have a lot of people who don’t speak at all. Needless to say, it’s easiest to meet/make friends in the classes where people speak. I guess you could say people here are a little more reserved and keep to themselves more than back home. However, people are also kinder. So sometimes it might be a little more difficult to get people to talk but it is nothing personal.

What is the most interesting thing you’ve purchased abroad?  How are you adjusting to using a different currency and keeping within a budget?

Hmmm….I have not really purchased anything interesting. Probably my tickets to Spain were the most interesting haha ;). Adjusting to using a different currency is easy: you transfer the money from your bank account back home, close your eyes when you have to look at the difference between pounds and dollars, and then just use your bank account as normal. I am horrible at keeping track of how much money I spend. Although, I am good at keeping things really cheap and not spending too much, but it am bad at keeping perfect track of it. I made a budget for how much I can spend every month and I just take that amount out in the beginning and pay for everything with that cash. I try not to use my debit card. Of course, this is not going to work in the future when I have to manage a real, grown-up-person budget, but it works for now.

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. 

Mmmmmm

In Belfast they eat the same time as we do in the United States (breakfast before work/school, lunch around noon, and dinner around 6). However, since everyone I live with is from France, Spain and Italy I eat according to their meal time, which is the same for them all, because we like to cook together. It is more fun. We eat lunch around 2 or 3 (which actually kind of happens naturally anyways because of classes) and then have dinner around 9. I only went out to eat once and the portion sizes were actually the same as at home. I thought they would be a lot smaller. However, one time I got food from a little restaurant in a grocery store and got the chicken strips and chips (French Fries) meal deal. I saw chicken strips that were the same as the ones you get in Frannies and figured that was the chicken strips, but nope, they were four strips the size of my finger.  Hahah.  So maybe at some places the portion sizes are smaller. I never go out to eat though so I do not know. I myself eat a lot though so most portion sizes seem small to me personally, even in the United States. I can out eat a lot of people, especially my friends from Spain and France. So I really hope I do not go to a restaurant and find out that in fact the portion sizes are smaller here and I just got lucky at the pub I ate at. I'll be sad hahaha.  For the next 20 days I am staying with a family in Spain whom I found online. They wanted someone to help them learn English and watch the children. Since it is the Christmas holidays I will be trying a lot of new food from here. I am so excited! 

2 in 1 (oops)

Oops! I was so caught up in midterms that I missed two blog entries! 

Question 1, Transportation stuff: Since I live in a city it is really easy to get everywhere. I usually walk places. The furthest we travel on a regular basis is to the city centre and it is only a 30 minute-or-so walk. There are city buses, of course, but I love walking and I would rather spend my money on other things. Anywhere farther than that is typically a great deal farther so then we bus. The transportation here is awesome though, which is to be expected since it is Europe haha. Yesterday we went to Mourne Mountains. It is about an 1.5 hours away and there is basically nothing on the way there, but the city bus still takes you out there. It’s amazing. That isn’t even plausible in the USA (from what I have seen at least). The other day we went to Dublin and it only cost 20 pounds round trip, and that is without getting the discount for buying them ahead of time (we decided last minute that we wanted to go). I love it. Since the US dollar is worth nothing and since I want to travel while I am here, I am very glad that I can do so cheaply. I am also glad that I live in a city so I don’t have to use transportation to get to the stores and such. It’s healthy for the body and the budget ;)

Question 2, Support staff and professors: I haven’t really used the support staff here. I guess that means I am pretty fortunate. I have yet to have any problems I could not deal with myself. As for the question about who is my most interesting professor, it is really difficult to answer that. They are all really different. My economics teacher is pretty serious but when he wants to be funny he is hilarious. The stuff he says is just so great. I love the British sense of humour. My international relations teacher is really laid back. He is good for making jokes with about topics in class, and he is amazing at explaining things we don’t understand and forcing us to think critically. He is a great professor (they all are though). My most interesting/favourite though is my professor for my Welfare Theory class. It may have partly to do with the fact that she reminds me of Dr. Chung, one of my favourite professors at Carlow. She’s just really silly and curious. She is always sharing stories about studies she has done herself or read in order to help us understand what we are teaching in class. She also is always interested in hearing our views.  We always have such good conversations in that class…maybe that is another reason why I like her the most. We have group discussions in every class (unlike the other ones where we only speak in the tutorial) so we all are close. I am going to miss her. She is so funny and sweet. I don’t have her class this week but my friend and I are going to visit her tomorrow to say goodbye. Overall I am lucky because all of my professors are pretty interesting. They’re quite a lovely bunch J

STUDY abroad

I did not buy any textbooks this semester. The library here is pretty extensive so a lot of the books are available for check out. Unfortunately, they are only two night loans but I would rather go back and forth to the library than spend money on books. With that being said, I did look up the prices of the books before and they are substantially cheaper than back home but I still decided not to buy them . Someone pointed out that if you consider the currency exchange rate they are probably the same price. Even so, I still think the books are less expensive here. The problem for me is really not the price though. There are so many books for each class. We are assigned A LOT of readings. Some classes don’t even have a main textbook, and the ones that do have 2 or 3 so it wasn’t worth it. Going to the library works well enough for me. Also, almost all of the readings for one class are online. The professor understands that it would be impossible for us to access all of the required reading so he scans a decent amount of them in and posts them online…it is not entirely legal but it is very covenant and nice of him haha. 

Class is set up a lot different here than Carlow. When I would say to my friends who go to Pitt “It is going to be so interesting to have big classes!” they would always respond with something along the lines of “Oh, so you can become just a number and get no help from your professors?”. That worried me. Fortunately that is not the case. Since my classes are second year (they only have 3 years here so it is imagine it like junior year) they are smaller than first year classes but they are still large compared to my classes at Carlow. A first-year class I took, for a week and then dropped, probably had a little over 150 students in the lecture. One of my classes has about 30 students in the lecture, and my other ones have about 80 in the lectures.  However, lecture also has a “tutorial”. The lectures meet twice a week, the tutorials meet once. The number of students in the tutorial is sustainably smaller with 10-15 students in each one. They are very comparable to Carlow classes. I am lucky because the same professor who lectures also teaches the tutorials. That is not the case for all classes. My first-year class tutorial, for example, was taught by a grad student. Anyways, the tutorials are personal and are a good opportunity to ask questions and brainstorm together. Before I came I was told that the tutorials were student led and the professor only facilitated some. If nobody had any questions or comments then you just sat there for the hour doing nothing. Thankfully, that is not exactly the case. I mean it sort of is but there is more to it. The professor asks questions and everyone answers together. It is a group discussion. We are constantly talking and working together. The professor guides it for the most part. Ir is similar to some of the communication classes I took at Carlow. The structure also ensures that we do not become “just a number”. The professor knows our names and engages with us. I enjoy the tutorials. Some classes are better than others but that is to be expected. The tutorials are completely necessary because otherwise I would be so lost. So much information is poured onto you during the lecture and there are so many readings. It is very beneficial to have a class where you can put it all together and make sense of it all. I should also mention that we only have three modules (that is what they call the lectures+tutorials). At first I was excited about that. Yes! More time to have fun! WRONG! Two lectures a week per class + 1 tutorial a week per class x3 = 9 classes a week. That is basically the same as my classes at Carlow. Also, the reading load is way heavier than Carlow. I can barely keep up with the required readings for each week, let alone the recommended readings –which aren’t truly “recommendations” for one of my classes…you have to choose wisely which ones to read or you will be lost during the tutorial (He has like 15 recommended readings for each class on top of 4 or 5 required so you do have to choose). I must admit that part of the reason it is difficult to keep up with the readings has to do with me kind of feeling like I am vacation haha. The grading methods are different as well. Back home the number and type of assignments varies from class to class. Here, all of the classes in my school grade based off of a mid-term essay and a final essay. The topics for the mid-term essay are given to you ahead of time and it is written at home. The final essays are written in class. You get the topics in the beginning of that class and have two hours to write an essay for two of the questions. I am terrified for it, especially since we have to study over Christmas break and I am traveling. I must say though that I do enjoy the way classes are taught here. I am glad I am still able to have small, personal classes even if they only meet once a week.

Next question, please!

a)      What phone device are you using while abroad?  Did you purchase one there or did you bring your own?  How much does it cost to use a mobile phone abroad?

I originally purchased a cheap, 12 pound pre-paid phone when I arrived in Belfast. Bad idea. I dreaded having to use it. It was so difficult to text on. All it was good for was emergency situations and I didn’t have any numbers to call anyway other than 999 (the equivalent to 911). After I was living here for a few weeks and heard about some other options I dropped the phone and went for another plan. Now I use giffgaff (a phone company here). It is pretty cheap, there is one option that is only 5 something pounds a month. That plan doesn’t give you a lot of minutes and texts but I can call and text other giffgaff users for free so it doesn’t matter because almost all of my friends have giffgaff (for that exact reason). It isn’t a contract so that means I don’t have to stress about having money in my account at the end of the month, and every month I can switch what plan I want. Giffgaff is also a great way to go because I can use my iPhone from the U.S. I didn’t have to buy anything new and I am already used to how the phone works. Plus I carried it with me everywhere anyway. The original phone/plan I got would be the best option for someone studying abroad back home, but not here. It is amazing how many minutes, text, and data you can get for such little money. It really makes you realize how much we get ripped off in the U.S. 

b)      What technology is available at your location (computers, internet, printers etc)?

The school pays for us to have internet in our dorms. It is through a private company though which kind of sucks. I have a lot of issues with internet connection and the company has awful costumer service. Other than the internet and a TV in the living room, we don’t have any other technology in the house. Because of TV licenses you can’t watch TV in your room unless you pay for it yourself. As for computers and printers, you have to go to the library for those. The university does not give you print money like Carlow does. It costs 10p a page, and you can’t use the double-sided trick here. It is okay though because you really don’t have to print much. For most classes you only have two essays a semester and that is all you really have to print.

My housing situation...

During my time at Queen’s I am staying in university housing. It is different than some of the other university housing though. Some of them are all grouped together, like a little neighbourhood. This one is just one building by itself on a main street. I like it a lot better this way. In Elms Village, the main university housing, there are loud kids everywhere haha. My building looks like an apartment building from the outside, and it feels like an apartment compared to Elms Village, except that it isn’t an apartment building…ha.   It consists of three floors. On each floor there are about 16 bedrooms, 4 toilets, 4 showers, and one kitchen and living room, known as the common area. Each floor is divided up into 5 sections to keep noise level down and protect against fires. The building is a non-alcohol building, which I am in favor of. I see the houses that allow alcohol and they are always a disaster, especially on the weekends. I have my own room. I really enjoy having my own space. You would think I would be more messy since it is just me, but I actually keep it more clean. I think it is because it feels more like mine. I have shelves and a rack to hang my clothes on, a desk, a bed (obviously), and my own sink. The sink is by far my favorite part. It is so convenient! My building is mostly international students ( I think I mentioned this before…sorry). The first 2 floors are almost entirely international students. The third floor is a mixture of international and freshmen. The building has only one RA, and she also is the RA for another house down the street. So, that is quite different in comparison to Carlow and many other universities I visited back home that all have RAs on every floor. It is actually pretty nice because you don’t have to worry about getting in trouble. That is not to say we do bad things! Honestly. It just means that if we are all up late and decide to meet in the common area to cook together and/or watch a movie at two in the morning we can do so without worrying about being yelled at. We don’t get super loud because we know other people are sleeping, but you know that would not be allowed if there was a RA posted on the floor right next to the common area haha. It makes living here more fun and spontaneous.

I really enjoy the set up here. It makes meeting people very easy. Since most of us eat at similar times we are always cooking and sitting at the table at the same time, so we kind of have family meals in a sense. The kitchen can get chaotic at times, especially at dinner, but I love it. It makes cooking and living here so much more fun. It also is nice to have a living room. Every Sunday night we have “series night” (yeah, I know, very creative title) where a lot of us gather in the living room to watch Homeland. At first it was just 4 or 5 people from the floor who always hang out and our group of friends. Now it has grown and almost our whole floor joins us. It gets pretty crowded but we love it. The housing is one of the best parts of the experience here. I always think about how much I am going to miss it when I leave. 

The first week I was here I took some videos of my room and the floor...I tried to find them to post here but of course I deleted them off of my phone. I made them via instagram so even though they are online, I cannot save them. Here are the links to them on my facebook page but I am not sure if they will work since my page is private. Facebook is telling my they will though. They are nothing special. Obviously it can't all be captured in a 15 second video, but it helps to give an idea. So, give it a try if you are interested:

The flat: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=207312736111541&l=8780787983383391047

My room: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=207310422778439&l=7874323357736476352