I decided to take a little trip over to Northern Ireland to visit my friend Lauren who I hadn't seen for 9 years! We were neighbours in res in my first year at U of A.

I arrived in Belfast Wednesday night and Lauren picked me up from the bus and brought me straight to her dance class. I wasn't sure what to expect but it turned out to be lots of fun. It's called Ceroc and is a combination of jive, swing and latin dancing. What I found the hardest was getting used to the Northern Irish accent! On top of the accent they speak pretty fast and use a lot of words I?ve never heard before.

On Friday we drove up to the north coast. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the views were incredible! We saw the Giant?s Causway (made by either the giant, Finn McCool, or lava hardening into columns), Dunluce Castle (built in the 1200s) and Bushmills Distillery (the oldest legal distillery in the world built in 1608).

On Saturday we went for a nice walk in our t-shirts (it was 13 degrees!) in Ballyclare. Later we went into Belfast and went on the ?Belfast Eye?, a big wheel with enclosed cars giving great views of the city. There was even a sound track that told us all about the different buildings. After, we went to a pub near Queen?s University to watch the Ireland vs France rugby game. It was good crack (one of the new words I learnt but I?m still not quite sure if I?m using it properly ? it seems to have many meanings). Later we went to the Five Corner?s Pub in Ballyclare and made lots of new friends.

Most of the food we had I was familiar with but there were a few new things. We went for breakfast and I got an Ulster Fry. It came with soda (fried wheat bread), fried potato bread, an egg, sausage and bacon. I was a little confused at first why we would get a soft drink for breakfast but Lauren explained to me what it was. The other new thing I tried was a deep-fried mars bar ? it?s actually better than it sounds. So maybe not the healthiest food but when in Rome?

So overall it was a great trip and I was really nice to catch up with Lauren after so long!