Study Abroad, Day 2

Today we got up at 7am, got ready, & then ate breakfast in the hostel. It was pretty good actually. We got yoghurt, a croissant, cereal, & orange juice. After eating breakfast, we realized that we weren’t starting our foot tour of Belfast until 10am. So me, Ang, & some other students (Kat, Jess, Leah, & Daniel) headed to the capital building. There was a store nearby that exchanged money, & that was what Kat needed to do. Afterward we headed back to the hostel, met our group, & hit the town.

We walked over 5 miles around the town stopping at murals, important buildings, a cemetery, etc. It was very interesting. One thing that was unexpected was how tense it was throughout the area we were in. People were staring at us, honking, etc. A few times when we stopped & our guide told us about a mural, a local would come over & listen to what was said. We were later told that those people came over in order to find out who we were & what we were doing there. Pretty creepy. One of the places we visited was Shankill Road, which is the road where over 40 people were tortured to death in the 70s. That was a pretty ominous street.

Well my feet are killing me! Luckily tomorrow will be spent at the School of Ecumenics, so there won’t be a lot of walking. We will be in class all day. Should be interesting!