Holiday in SCOTLAND!!!

So this past week has pretty much been AMAZING!!! Here's a quick little recap:

(Last) Monday: Had weekly seminar in Belfast, which meant finally taking the 8:30 bus to meet everyone by 10:15, amazing bagle sandwiches, everyone singing happy birthday to me, me blushing and my first Reese's peanut butter cups in 2 months!

(Last) Tuesday: Got a cake and card from my supervisor...so sweet of her! Oh and I worked on a display board of the residential

Wednesday: Betsy and Eldon came!! Yay!! So exciting, they made pasta and we just sat and talked...it was so nice to see them!

Thursday: All of us went (including Betsy and Eldon) went out to dinner to celebrate Lindsey's 21st. Ironically it was the first time we'd all gone out to dinner here in Derry...hmm the food was really good, but the service was ridiculously slow. Eldon and Betsy caught the 12:45am bus back to dublin and while it was sad to see them go, it was amazing to get to just sit and chat with them!! :)

Friday: Left on the 8:45am bus to Belfast, where Lindsey and I caught the ferry over to Scotland!! It was like a mini-cruise ship aka amazing!! 4 or so hours later we were in Edinburgh!! It was love at first sight!! I mean what's not to love about a gorgous city, with nice accents, good food, and oh yeah a castle! Friday night we went out to a nice Italian restaurant, wandered around the city, and stumbled upon a ghost tour! It was pretty good, except I discovered I'm not a fan of walking around cemetaries at night! Afterwards I enjoyed a nice pint of strongbow (a beer thats like apple juice, and actually tastes good) ok only like half of it but still.

Saturday: We toured Edinburgh castle, which was huge! We had to wait in line for an hour, but it was well worth it!! We also just kinda explored. Good times! We tried to find a nice bar, but ended up just going to the one we got the free drink from on Friday.

Sunday: I went to Easter mass at what I think was an anglican church...not too sure! It was the first church I knew had an 11am mass, and knew where it was! Afterwards Lindsey went off and had a harry potter day, and I went to a starbucks and read Bridget Jones Diary before we met up again for a free walking tour of edinburgh! After our tour we got burgers at a place that had a 2 for 1 deal with our walking tour company!

Monday: Travelled back to Derry, finished reading Bridget Jones' Diary, had more Starbucks, got sick:(

Tuesday: Cleaned my room, slept in and was just really lazy, hopefully I'll feel a little better because I really don't want to be sick, especially for my last two weeks in Derry!

I think that's all for now!

Love + Miss y'all!!!

Katie :)

Europe, 21st bday, and some things in between!

So I haven't blogged in 2 weeks, partially because it's been a crazy two weeks, and partially because I'm lazy (as most of you know!) and have been procrastinating this! But here we go with a recap of the 2 weeks(I really hope this doesn't get too long):

Spring Break: AMAZING!!! (Well that was easy...next question) While in Rome we (Drea and I) did the tourist thing, touring the colossium, old roman ruins, vatican museum, St. Peter's Basilica, trevi fountain,etc. Pretty sure we lived off pizza and gelato for the three days we were there! Other than the lack of a warm shower at the hostel, and having a hard time finding the hostel in the first place, it was a really fun trip, and I'm glad I got to go back there, because I think I appreciate all the history and beauty a little more than I did senior year. As for Barcelona...it was so pretty! Not only did I get to use my spanish to find a second H+M on the same block, and to order food, but apparently I pass as spanish because some guy was trying to get me to do a survey about my job! Go figure! In Barcelona we spent most of the time with Becca, Lindsey, Ian and Ben (and a little bit with Alyssa and Jordan who joined us for the last two days! :)) eating, going on a bike tour of Barcelona (awesome experience and I didn't hit anyone, which is always a bonus!) and we spent an afternoon at the beach! Other than the obnoxious american college students there we had a good time, and I definately know the appeal of drinking on the beach...it's very relaxing! Oh and for some reason Hecua people are rubbing off on me because I read a book and a half on this trip! The first one being "He's Just not that into you!" Guilty pleasure yes, but it was actually pretty funny and a good read. I also started reading Che's Bolivian diary. I've developed some curiosity about che, and just kinda want to learn more about him!

In-between stuff: I'm starting to get more involved with some of the youth groups which is really fun! We had a residential (aka retreat) this weekend (yes I worked all day on my bday but it was well worth it, and its not like I was waiting 'til my bday to have a drink here!) Overall it went pretty well, but by the end of it on Sunday everyone was exhausted! It was really cool to not only get to know some of the youths better, but also to see how they interacted with one another!

Bday-ness: We celebrated my birthday on Sunday since I was gone all weekend, and it was perfect! Lindsey and Becca made delicious appatizers and this vegetable spaghetti dish, and there was two cakes: Banana and chocolate, and the chocolate one was in the shape of a duck!! It was too cute! We were going to go out, but we were all ridiculously tired, so we stayed in and played phase 1o! Oh and Justin sang happy birthday to me over skype because he felt bad he wasn't here! Today when we got to the buscentre in Belfast everyone was there to meet us and said happy bday to me which was just really sweet of them! They also sang happy bday in seminar today which was actually really funny! Overall it was a really good bday with great people, who in the past two months have gone from strangers to good friends...aww I really do love our little HECUA family!!!

This week: Because of the easter holiday the youth clubs are closing this week so that means no night work! Eek! Thats especially exciting because Betsy and Eldon are coming tomorrow and it means I can spend more time with them! Oh and Friday Lindsey and I are off to Scotland for Easter weekend! Don't worry mom, we're going to church on Sunday!

Ok I think thats all for now...this was shorter than I thought it would be!

With Love from Northern Ireland,

Katie :)