Belfast Trip Day 1

So on Thursday morning our IFSA Butler group met up outside of University Hall to get on our bus to Belfast in Northern Ireland. I don’t remember the exact length of the bus ride but I would estimate that it was about 5 hours from Cork to Belfast with a stop about halfway. The bus was not to full and I was able to get 2 seats to myself on the bus, which was nice to have for such a long ride. Our group also shared the bus with the group of IFSA Butler students who are studying in Cork. They were the ones who got the bad end of the deal with the bus because they got picked up early in the morning in Limerick, had to drive down to Cork to pick us up at 11:15am, then drive North again to Belfast. We were not exactly on the way if you
look at a map. There was nothing really eventful on the bus I basically listened to music, looked out the window at fields, and occasionally tried to nap although it was futile because I am almost incapable of falling asleep on a bus. We arrived in Belfast around 5:30pm and our IFSA group directors informed us that dinner would be at 7:30pm in the hotel. We stayed at a Jury’s Inn in Belfast.

After going up to my room and unpacking some friends and I went to the hotel bar to have a drink before dinner and watch some television. I had a pint of Guinness, which cost me 4lbs. I chose this because I was starving after the long ride and I figured it might fill me up a little bit so I could make it to dinner. In my eyes the price was kind of steep because British Pounds are worth more than Euros and in Cork I can get a Guinness at a pub for about 3.30 give or take a few cents. Once I finished the Guinness there was still a lot of time before dinner so I decided to have one more pint. I saw a beer named Boddinger’s that I had not seen in any pubs in Cork so I gambled and got that hoping I wouldn’t regret my decision. Luckily the beer tasted fine and it even had a slightly sweet after taste, which was a nice change. While at the bar the news was on and it was all about the events occurring in Egypt right now. For the last month Egypt has been going through some crazy times and that night people were talking about the situation and whether or not the leader of Egypt would step down or not. Later in the weekend he did step down and the coverage changed to how happy everyone in Egypt was and the parties that were going on there. 

Once we all finished out drinks it was getting close to dinnertime so we decided to head over to the restaurant on the other side of the lobby where dinner was being held. Dinner was buffet style and they had an ok selection of items. A disappointing part of the meal for me was that our drinks were not included in the meal, which would have been fine if they had informed us of this but by the time I had found out I had ordered 2 sprites and ended up forking over 4 lbs when I would have just drank water had I known. A highlight of the dinner was dessert; one of the items available was a Bailey’s Cheesecake, which was very good.

After dinner I was tired from the long trip and I also had to get up early for breakfast and my bus to the Giants Causeway was leaving at 9:15am, which means it was going to be an early morning for me. I basically relaxed for the rest of the night and went to bed early.