Regarding "Catch Up"

My father informed me of a very important piece of information I forgot to mention about my stolen coat incident: the key card to my room was not stolen. Plus, I got a new one as soon as I got home, so there will not be any creepy guys breaking into my room. Sorry I left that part out! :/

Catch Up

Alright. It's been a while so I'm going to work backwards.

Let's see, I just got back from my last class for today a few minutes ago and decided to get online to check emails/facebook/all that jazz. I logged on to facebook and started noticing a few things that were different. For example, a chat window with a long conversation was open with a guy here that I knew I didn't talk to last night. As I was reading more of it, I discovered what was going on. Sure enough, my new "status" declared it: I left my facebook account up on my friend Jennifer's computer, and she had spent nearly 2 hours sabatoging it. Hahaha! Oh my gosh, I have laughing so hard, I'm still a little teared up right now. Those of you with facebook should check out my profile. She changed my birthday, my relationship status, added several photos, and may have done more that I have yet to discover.

The photos are the funniest I think. There are about 10 new photos in my Ireland photo album that are all random animal pictures from the internet. Jen went even further than simply posting the photos by tagging people in them. (For example, there's one with three cute puppies, and she tagged herself, me, and our friend Ally, pretending like we are the puppies in the photo). Oh my goodness. It is so funny! She also tagged practically everyone I'm facebook friends with here in a few of them, mostly ones with ducks. Hahaha!! Good job, Jen! :D

Alright, so before that, I just had my two classes for the day. Nothing special there. Although, I did actually stay awake for the entire Accounting class today. No nodding off or head bobbing or anything! That's a first for this semester...

Yesterday, I slept in and then went over to Jen and Ally's to work on homework all day. I actually accomplished a few things, too! ;)

Saturday, Melissa and I went to a live concert in the Botanic Gardens on Queen's campus. We arrived rather late, though, so there was hardly any room, and I couldn't even see the people playing. What I heard was good, but we left after a couple songs. Then she and I walked around downtown, looking for shoes for me. I've discovered I need some good walking shoes. My boots aren't doing much for my arches, and I don't want to just wear my tennis shoes everyday because they wouldn't really match most of my clothes. No success so far on the new shoes, but I'm still looking. Oh, I met a dog downtown named Missy. So cute.

Saturday night, three of the Belgian guys planned and led us on a "pub tour" downtown. We went to 3 or 4 different pubs, I believe, each with a different atmosphere and style. It was fun, but very tiring, hence the sleeping in on Sunday.

Oh, here's a funny thing. So, apparently Jeniffer and I look a lot alike, and we're very similar personality-wise, among many other things, as well. Basically, people can very easily get the two of us confused. It happened a great deal at the beginning of the semester, but some people are still struggling with it. For example, Nicolas (from Belgium) always mixes our names up. He promised me that Saturday was the last time, though, and even made a bet on it. If he ever switches our names up again, he owes me a Guinness, and if not, I owe him one. I'll probably lose the bet, though, because we ended talking quite a bit that night, so I'm sure he remembers me better now. ( There you go, Nick. ;) )

Another guy, Benni (from Germany), has also mixed Jen and me up a few times. In fact, on Saturday we were setting him straight, and I asked him what MY name was, and he couldn't even remember!! Haha! Then later, he tried to apologize to me, but he prefaced it by calling me Jeniffer AGAIN! lol!! He tried to save himself by saying that names are so unimportant and "shallow" (which is a word I had to teach him, because he did not know it yet). He says it is so much more important to get to know the person behind the name, rather than the name itself. So, I asked him if he knew the person behind my name, then. Haha, he didn't have much to say. Hahaha! Jen and I find it so funny! I can see why it's so confusing for people, though, because we're both American, about the same height, usually together, same color hair, both relatively curly, I could keep going.

Friday, I was really tired, so after class I just slept... a lot... Actually, Jeniffer came over to drop off my coat from the night before (which I will get to shortly). She and I had a really good conversation. It was the first real, deep conversation I've really had since coming here. We both appreciated it so much! Then Friday night I went over to her place to watch a movie with her, Ally, and some new guy named Kai.

So, Thursday: I went to a play with Jen and Ally. It turned out to be quite horrible, at least in my opinion. (I should state that I am not artsy AT ALL, so it may have been a wonderful play by most people's standards. I just found it depressing and weird). It was free, though, so it's not a big deal. Then there was a get together in Mount Charles with all of us international students, like usual. We ended up going out, several of us to one particular pub and the rest elsewhere. I went with the group to this pub because it was supposed to be karaoke night and one guy said he was going to sing. It was fun while it lasted, but then when we were leaving, we were retreiving our coats, and mine was nowhere to be found. We looked all over, and asked the people who were sitting close by, who helped us look. No luck. I was sad because it was my favorite coat. Not only that, but my phone and key card were in the pockets. :(

We girls were going home in a taxi when one of us got a call from Benni: they found my coat! My phone wasn't in the pocket, but still! Apparently, they had just turned the corner of the street the pub was on and saw this green coat just laying there. I was so happy!! :D I was a little upset about the loss of my phone, but after some investigating, I found out that interstudy will get me another phone. I'm using an old one of Ally's at the moment. I just had to get a new sim card, but it turns out you can get a replacement sim card, rather than a new one altogether, so I got to keep my same phone number. Plus, it was free. All in all, I was very fortunate. :)

Wednesday, nothing much happened. Seriously.

Tuesday was when I went downtown with Melissa and Sydney and we walked along the river, the photos from which I've already posted. There was also a Vegas-style birthday party for this one girl that night, but it really wasn't that exciting. Melissa and I left after half an hour or so.

Now you are caught up. Sorry it's been a while. I hope you all are well. Love!

Fillers - Downtown Belfast and My Room

Thus begins our walk down the river - Sydney, Melissa, and I.




feet/inches clearance and metre clearance signs



map of Belfast something or other



it was a really cute sign, but it's hard to see. I can't figure out how to make my camera work when it starts getting dark...





And here are various downtown Belfast pictures.



Yes, that says Oxford Street. :)



This is hard to see, but it's the entrance to a courtroom.



So, this place looked way cooler from the outside than it was inside.



Apparently the Smithfield Market is raved about in the tourist booklets, but it was actually pretty sketch. They had some nice rugs, tho...



Yessireebob. That right thur is THE Bank of Ireland. hehe (They more than just this one)



This is where Melissa and I ate that first weekend. We took a picture for old times' sake.





It was a sea shell that they used as an ash tray! Perhaps it's a bit unsophisticated, but I thought it was great!






Here begin many views of Belfast from the Belfast Wheel - a huge ferris wheel downtown for tourists like us




Those yellow arms in the distance on the right have been there since the building of the Titanic, on which they helped.





Better view of Titanic history








A sign admonishing us not to jump out of the gondola. Thanks for that. I wasn't sure if we were supposed to or not. Geez








They really don't want you to try and escape.



Belfast Wheel



Melissa in our gondola on the Wheel





I thought it was funny.



The "gondolas" on the Belfast Wheel.



Titanic Memorial engraving




Belfast Wheel



Yes, the Titanic was built in Belfast, for those of you who didn't know. I didn't realize it until I arrived here. I remember learning about the Titanic, but at the time, Belfast meant nothing special to me.



Belfast Wheel. You can see all of the city from it.





I thought my brother would appreciate me taking a picture of the BBC building.







Here's a view of my room from the window.



And here's another. Fascinating, I know, but I'm throwing these up for those of you who may be curious what my room looks like.



Here is the view of my room from my door.


This one is by Ally. She had several of her paintings just sitting against her wall, and I was looking through them when I discovered this one. She was very happy to give it to me. I think a lot of times she just paints because she wants to, rather than out of a desire to have a particular painting in her possession. I was thrilled she gave this to me!



This is a lovely painting of tea by the lovely Sydney, who is obsessed with tea. :)



Here is a random drawing of lemurs that Jen had. I fell so much in love with it, she gave it to me! It's a little hard to see in the photo, but they are very cute!



Melissa painted this one and let me have it because she felt sorry for my dull, color-less room.



My sink. Ta da.



Here are my shelves, complete with all miscellaneous items. On the bottom shelf in the middle there is a hat that I bought here, and on the top shelf are the few photos that I brought with me.



Here's my nightstand/dresser with the oh-so-delicious canister of Nutella on it. There is also my IKEA lamp that I bought here and my huge Jane Austen collection. (I just recently finished Sense and Sensibility and have since moved on to Mansfield Park)



This is Jack Jack the bull dog. He is doing his own "study abroad" this semester by spending it with me. (He actually belongs to Ally, but she's letting him visit me)
Doesn't it look like he's guarding my bed? He's so cute! :)



Here is my bed, all nice and neat for the picture :)