Oh, Tesco's

Things have gotten a lot better for me here. Thursday night, I went to a group called Christian Union (kind of like the Dive). It's just a time where Christian students gather to worship, listen to a speaker, and basically just enjoy community together. I ended up sitting behind two other American girls, one from Tennessee and one from Indiana. Later, some Irish girls came over and talked with us. They offered to show us around a bit the next day, so I was excited that I was finally going to be able to see some of the country.

The next morning, I met Sarah and Carrie (the American girls) for lunch, and then we walked into town. It takes about half an hour to walk, but it was extremely windy and we kept stopping to take pictures, so it took a little longer. We just wandered around Coleraine and window-shopped for a while, then we walked over to Tesco's (the grocery store) and got some groceries. As we left the store, we stood by the doorway, waiting for Rachel and Ashley (two of the Irish girls) to come pick us up. Some teenage boys came and stood a little ways away from us. Soon after, this little old bent-over lady walked by us and started muttering, loudly enough so that we could hear. She was saying, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven!" Here she turned around and stared at us all. "You all be good and go to HEAVEN!" Then she turned back around and walked away. We were all just speechless- we had no idea what to make of this. After a few seconds, we all just looked at each other and started laughing. I guess you have no idea what will happen at Tesco's.

Rachel and Ashley picked us up and took us to the beach. It was still very windy and it was starting to get dark, but it was still nice to walk along. It was Sarah's first time seeing the ocean (any ocean), so she loved it. We met some friends of Rachel and Ashley's, Becky and Guy. Afterwards, we went back to Rachel's apartment, meeting more of her friends- Ashely (another one), Richard, and Gary. She made us a big home-cooked dinner- salmon, bacon-wrapped chicken, roasted vegetables, stuffing, and cheesecake for dessert. By far the best meal that I've had since I left home. We just sat and talked for a while- it was really really nice. Later, everyone wanted to watch a movie. They were thinking about it, then Ashley said, "Oh! We have this movie that we've been meaning to watch for a while! Have you heard of Napoleon Dynamite?" I couldn't believe it, that I came all the way to Northern Ireland, and the first movie I see here is Napoleon Dynamite. Before the movie started, I warned everyone that the US is nothing like the movie. I think it's a good thing I did, too.

As I was talking to the Irish students, we began to discuss how things (especially foods) have different names here than in the US. For instance, "biscuits" here are cookies, and "scones" here are biscuits. One of the Irish boys (I don't remember his name!) mentioned how he had spent some time in Kansas recently, and that he got nervous when he was told that he was being served biscuits and gravy for breakfast- he was expecting cookies and gravy. He said that it was definitely a lot better than he was expecting.

Another cultural difference: Everything in the US costs more. Not just because of the exchange rate, either. Some of the girls yesterday were commenting about how expensive universities are in Europe. I asked how much it cost per year, and they said about 3,000 pounds. I almost laughed. They were absolutely shocked when Carrie, Sarah and I told them how much college can cost in the US (not including books and room and board). Apparently, there's a government cap on tuition here that might be liften within a year or two, which has many people nervous. There's also free healthcare for everyone under 18, and within a few years all prescription medications will be free for everyone. I found this interesting: people here want to have dyslexia. If you get tested by the government for dyslexia and are diagnosed, you get a certain amount of money each month, and you get a free laptop (you get to choose it). It's an odd concept to me.

Here are the pictures from our excursion:

we passed this house on our way into town- it's supposedly haunted


St. Patrick's church in Coleraine


Carrie and Sarah in front of St. Patrick's church



Even in Coleraine, there's a Starbucks...


the beach at Portstewart



Carrie and I on the beach


Sarah, Carrie, and I
it was Sarah's first time to a beach, so she was really excited!

Tomorrow, I'm going to go to church with Carrie, Rachel, Becky, and Guy. The church is called the Vineyard- I was excited to learn that they have those here! I have some friends who go to one back in Ohio.

Lots of love and hugs!
Erin