Jon Burke
Hello Everyone!
It is quite hard to believe, but we are just about at the midpoint of our time here in Northern Ireland. The last two days have come and gone quickly, with each having some unique experiences.
Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day, which is a national holiday here in Northern Ireland. The schools were closed, which meant that our team had the opportunity to be in more of a tourist role. We hopped in the school bus and drove to the capitol city of Belfast in order to celebrate the holiday with the natives. The big to-do is the St. Patty's day parade, which takes place in the center of town, right near the capital building. Some highlights of the parade were the bagpipers, Irish step dancers, and our fearless leader Chad yelling and cheering along with the parade while proudly waving his shamrock flag. In comparison to American parades I am used to, this parade was much more reasonable in terms of its length. It lasted about 20 minutes, and then the crowd dispersed and went elsewhere.
For our group, the end of the parade signified the opportunity for us to split up into smaller groups and explore more of the city. The group I went with included Tim, Amanda, Kaitlin, Johnathan and Olivia, and the majority of our time was spent eating at a wonderful chicken restaurant named Le Coop. We also poked our head into St. Ann's cathedral, and spent a good amount of time analyzing a mural we found that had portraits of some of Northern Ireland's most famous citizens. In case you didn't know, some of those would be C.S. Lewis, Van Morrison, Bono, and Liam Neeson. We then connected up with the rest of the groups and explored the city for another half hour, before loading up in the van and heading back.
After a short re-grouping session at Paul and Marina's, we once again piled into the bus and headed out to a local radio station, of all places. The radio station, 102.4 Shine FM, is a Christian affiliated station that found out about us through one of the teachers at the school who is also a DJ at the station. We were invited to come by in order to be interviewed on air about the purpose of our trip to Northern Ireland, and to find out more about our American culture. The students each took turns being interviewed in groups of two, while the rest of us listened live from the outer room. It was quite a thrilling experience for everyone, as we were able to tell the listeners the passion we have for service, along with being able to request a song to be played! Overall we had a great experience, and we once again were given a glimpse of Northern Ireland hospitality as the studio team provided dinner for us all. Marina picked us up from the station around 9pm, and everyone was dropped off at their respective host families after a long day.
Til next time,
Jon
Hello Everyone!
It is quite hard to believe, but we are just about at the midpoint of our time here in Northern Ireland. The last two days have come and gone quickly, with each having some unique experiences.
Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day, which is a national holiday here in Northern Ireland. The schools were closed, which meant that our team had the opportunity to be in more of a tourist role. We hopped in the school bus and drove to the capitol city of Belfast in order to celebrate the holiday with the natives. The big to-do is the St. Patty's day parade, which takes place in the center of town, right near the capital building. Some highlights of the parade were the bagpipers, Irish step dancers, and our fearless leader Chad yelling and cheering along with the parade while proudly waving his shamrock flag. In comparison to American parades I am used to, this parade was much more reasonable in terms of its length. It lasted about 20 minutes, and then the crowd dispersed and went elsewhere.
For our group, the end of the parade signified the opportunity for us to split up into smaller groups and explore more of the city. The group I went with included Tim, Amanda, Kaitlin, Johnathan and Olivia, and the majority of our time was spent eating at a wonderful chicken restaurant named Le Coop. We also poked our head into St. Ann's cathedral, and spent a good amount of time analyzing a mural we found that had portraits of some of Northern Ireland's most famous citizens. In case you didn't know, some of those would be C.S. Lewis, Van Morrison, Bono, and Liam Neeson. We then connected up with the rest of the groups and explored the city for another half hour, before loading up in the van and heading back.
After a short re-grouping session at Paul and Marina's, we once again piled into the bus and headed out to a local radio station, of all places. The radio station, 102.4 Shine FM, is a Christian affiliated station that found out about us through one of the teachers at the school who is also a DJ at the station. We were invited to come by in order to be interviewed on air about the purpose of our trip to Northern Ireland, and to find out more about our American culture. The students each took turns being interviewed in groups of two, while the rest of us listened live from the outer room. It was quite a thrilling experience for everyone, as we were able to tell the listeners the passion we have for service, along with being able to request a song to be played! Overall we had a great experience, and we once again were given a glimpse of Northern Ireland hospitality as the studio team provided dinner for us all. Marina picked us up from the station around 9pm, and everyone was dropped off at their respective host families after a long day.
Til next time,
Jon