Home for Christmas

Last week was a very interesting week to say the least. I had three assessments Monday and Tuesday, but was then finished with school stuff (for now). On Thursday, a friend came down to hang out before I left. That night Shannen and I had planned what was meant to be a surprise for Kenzie, but she ended up knowing all about it. It was still a lot of fun though. On Friday Kenzie and I sat at the flat ALL day. I speant most of that day worrying about my flight getting possibly cancelled. Thankfully it didn't, and Shannen and Kenzie took me to the airport on Saturday Morning to fly home.

That was where the adventure started. We boarded the first plane in Belfast and we sat, and we sat, and we sat. We were waiting on the de-icer truck to come so that we could leave. Needless to say they forgot about us, and we ended up sitting at the gate for two hours. It was a seven hour flight. Thankfully, we were told our connections in Newark would either be waiting on us, or they would take care of getting us on the next flight. Once we finally took off, I was watching our speed, and all I have to say is that our pilot was determined to make up a lot of time. He was cutting check-points and running about 600 mph. Good grief!

Once I got to Newark, I had to literally run through customs and the terminal to get to my flight. We landed at about 3pm and were meant to start boarding at 3:40. AAAAA!!!! By the grace of God, I got to the gate before they started boarding. This flight was only about 1 1/12 hours, and by this point I was just ready to be home. When I landed in Atlanta, I realized that they had gated us in the farthest Terminal. If you have never been to the Atlanta airport, the terminals are set up in a long line, so I had to walk through 4 other terminals just to get to the arrivals area. Once I got through that and came up the escalator, I saw my parents patiently waiting on me.

On the way home, we stopped and ate dinner at The Cheesecake Factory (one of my favorite restaurants). Then we headed home, and I crashed. I didn't really have any jet lag, but I had been awake for 19 hours straight. So I have now been home for two days. It still doesn't feel real. I miss everybody in Belfast dearly, but I am glad to be home even if it is only for two weeks.

SNOW!!!

OK, so I know I probably sound like a child right now but it has already started snowing here. I am almost in disbelief due to the fact that it only snows about every five years back home. There is about an inch right now on the ground that I get to walk through to get to work. Oh joy! It looks like Kenzie might have a white Christmas.

We have assessments coming up as well, and due to my back I won't be participating in all of them. However, I am feeling much better than where I was a month ago. I am so ready to see how all of this works.

I am also excited because a guy in Kenzie's course is going to try to take us up to Coleraine in about a week! (schedule permitting) But we are both very excited to see the countryside.

Also, I fly home in two weeks for Christmas!!!!! I definitely wish that I could bring some of my new friends along with me, but you know how prices are. I can't wait to see everybody!

Thanksgiving Week!!!

So today is Thanksgiving, and as I sit in a Starbucks drinking a gingerbread latte I can't help but think of home. I am certainly excited and disappointed at the same time. Only disappointing because I have to work, but exciting because of a big Thanksgiving dinner with some of my favorite people on Saturday.

Classes are getting crazy because of assessments and such coming up. Hopefully I will be able to handle it. I have started going to the chiropractor twice a week and am slowly on the uphill climb of getting this issue fixed. Unfortunately, one of the choreography pieces I am meant to be in will be happening without me.

There are some other things that are in process of happening or have happened that are interesting. Some I won't talk about. :) I have to leave some secrets. But I will say this this, our final performance is going to be interesting...

The Christmas lights in the city have been put up and there is a market that I really want to walk through. Maybe some Christmas shopping in my future...

I know, I know

Ok so I stink at this. That has already been determined. It's just that there isn't a whole lot that goes on now that I am into a routine. Classes are going really well. First paper is due on the 2nd, and we are making production role pitches on the 3rd(AAA!!!!). The latter is absolutely something I am not that good at doing. Oh well. I will just have to try. Found out that I might have scoliosis and am waiting to get an x-ray done to tell me how to fix it. Working my butt off as usual and getting things done early(ie. I finished a paper that isn't due until January =)). Go Me!! Also, I found out that I got the job at the Hilton Hotel here. YAY!!!! It's not a lot, but it's an income. So that's about it right now. Working on some papers and such tomorrow. Gonna try to crank out a review and an essay on production roles(what I can do of it). I will try to be better at this I promise.
Loves!

A Good Week

So, Kenzie had her Michael Buble concert last weekend in Dublin!! She absolutely loved it. I was so excited for her!!! I spent my weekend getting a jump start on some assignments. I've had classes all week except Wednesday(Tutor was sick). I am still adoring my classes. I woke up yesterday with a bit of a back pain. It feels like a muscle is caught on something. :( But I'm sure it will be fine soon. I am icing it and heating it as best I can and taking lots of Ibuprofen. Gonna start writing some papers this weekend....woohoo? Oh well. Kenzie is headed to London tonight!!!! I so wish I could go with her but I can't. I'm sure she will have the most amazing time ever!!

Living The Life...Well Almost

So I know it has been awhile since I have blogged. I am a bad blogger....but I promise I will start blogging at least twice a week. So let me update you.

We have now had two full weeks of classes, and I LOVE it!!!! I especially love my contemporary class. It reminds me so much of Marcy's classes back home. All of my classes but two are held at the Crescent Arts Centre. It is an amazingly nice building, and I can't believe we are using their space. I have been sick this week, so I haven't been at my best. Those of you that know me will know how much that bothers me. Over here, they tend to give you all of your assignments for one term all at once. This can be a wee bit overwhelming, but I am coping. My to-do lists are many, and I am(like I always do) getting a head start on a lot of them. So basically this once again means that I will most likely have no life. Oh well. I did find out that the 2nd yr HNDs will be taking a Master Class, that is usually only open to professional dancers, with Russell Maliphant!

Kenzie & I have had fewer moments of getting lost now that we are getting used to the layout of the city. Except for today....when I mistakenly did not get off a bus when I should have. It then proceeded to change routes and numbers. Needless to say, I took a detour way up into northwest Belfast. I am not real sure I will want to go back. We have been finding lots of restaurants from back home, and SURPRISE, they aren't very different. We have found KFC, MCDONALD'S, BURGER KING, SUBWAY, TONY ROMA'S, and T.G.I. FRIDAY'S. The last two were the most impressive.

All of the Stranmillis students are here now, and I can honestly say that I miss the quiet. I liked when there were only five of us. Dinner has been pretty good(we had some amazing lasagna tonight). I have not been able to have breakfast due to scheduling but I will definitely try to this weekend. I am still trying to think of a way to get Kenzie to stay for the Spring. I think between me and all of the drama students we should be able to think of something.

Till next time!!!

The past few days have been extremely interesting to say the least. Kenzie and I had registration on Friday. We took our 8 bus from Stranmillis to the City Centre, and we proceeded to walk around for about 20 minutes looking for the 3 bus. We finally asked someone where the 3 busses were and he directed us to the right hand side(facing the building) of City Hall. We knew that the buses all went to City Hall, but we didn't quite know where they all stopped.

Once we arrived at the Tower St. building, we knew we were very early. I was introduced to one of my professors who showed me to Sandy's office. Sandy is the Course Co-Ordinator for my course. She then introduced me to another one of my professors(Laura). Laura showed me around the building and then took me back to what they call the cantine. At this point we had to wait until our registration time. Sandy brought me my form to fill out, which was kind of confusing. When it was time, we were called into the room to get our forms signed by the course tutor. Sandy proceeded to tell me that most of my classes will be held at the Crescent Arts Centre, which is near Queen's University. In other words, they will be held a good bit closer to where I am staying, and I will only take one bus to get there. I will only have to go to Tower St. two days a week in the afternoons. All in all it went very well.

On Saturday, we took a trip up to Belfast Castle. I will post a picture below. It was absolutely gorgeous. It took us almost an hour to reach the castle, mostly because we somehow managed to take the LONG way around. However, I will say that it was completely worth it. We were able to walk through part of the castle, the garden, and the cellar. We heard a lot about the history of the castle and who inhabited it. The flowers that were in the garden were gorgeous, and the view was to die for. We did find a shorter way down and returned to Stranmillis after almost 5 hours.

Today, we had our first day of orientation, and all I can say is wow. Parts of it were interesting and informative. Other parts were, as the Irish say, "a bit of craic". I am looking forward to the rest of the week and the beginning of classes.

Until next time kiddos....

Almost A Week

It's been almost a week since I have been in Belfast! I still am in disbelief. Kenzie arrived Wednesday, and it is so nice to have someone here from the states. There are now four of us in the hall; however, in two weeks we move into our permanent rooms. It's been nice to get out when I want. The bus system is a new thing for me. At home I drive everywhere I go, but here you walk(and I have two nasty blisters to prove it) or you ride the bus.

Tuesday I went to the International Office for BMC and handled last minute details with them. Wendy, who works the front desk in the halls office at Stran, let me in on the fact that there is a small pharmacy that is right outside of campus. This will be great knowledge to have if I need one or two things.

Ireland is just as gorgeous as everyone imagines it would be. Lots of pics to come! Kenzie and I have registration in the morning, and this will be our first attempt at transferring buses. We plan on doing some more food shopping once we get back. And I will attempt to open a bank account hopefully.

More to come!
Loves

Arrival

So, as most of you know I have officially arrived in Northern Ireland. My plane ride was not bad at all. I actually enjoyed it a good bit. The only bad thing was that I only slept an hour. Needless to say, I went to bed last night around 9:30 and woke up around 3:00pm. Tomorrow I will be forcing myself to get up at a decent time. Anyway, I was met by my taxi driver once I had been through the formalities at the airport. After that, we arrived at Stranmillis University College, which will be my home for the next year. I met two really amazing people(Sara and Paul) who took me to lunch(which I didn't eat a whole lot of due to airplane food). Sara then carted me all over the City Centre which was extremely busy yesterday. We went to many stores which I had never heard of, and she told me about other places I need to try to go while I am here.

Tuesday I get to go to the International Office at Belfast Met to let them know I arrived and to receive any other information I may need. Then on Friday, I go to officially enroll in my classes. I will meet all of the dance faculty that day, and I will get to ask any questions I might have. Then classes begin next Monday(the 6th).

The Journey Is About To Begin

So this post will be pretty short, but I wanted to go ahead and just let everyone know that I will be leaving for NI 10 days from tomorrow. I will be studying Dance at Belfast Metropolitan College and staying at Stranmillis University College. I will be flying out on August 27 and will be returning home for two weeks in December. I will then return to NI at the beginning of January and returning home sometime in June. Thank you so much for all of your support! My next post will go up after I arrive in Belfast!