My favorite part about arriving in a new place is how excited everyone is to explore and experience the area that they are in. In the weeks leading up to leaving for the trip I, along with my classmates, had read many novels about the history of Northern Ireland. It is exciting to finally be able to experience the culture and learn more about the island overall. Despite being exhausted from our previous full day of travel, we decided to wake up bright and early to explore this morning. 

Firstly, we went to breakfast at a local cafe called Maggie Mays. There, plenty of traditional Irish and English breakfasts were on the menu to try. One of the more popular meals from this cafe was avocado toast with eggs, spinach, and mushrooms, which was very good. I have found that many Irish meals include some form of mushroom along with roasted tomatoes. I thought that was interesting since in the United States, many people do not enjoy eating tomatoes like that, and most of my friends don’t like mushrooms at all. I have also seen many people have beans for breakfast. I enjoy eating beans, but not how they make the beans here. Many people like their beans on toast, which is a popular meal at Maggie Mays, but I don’t think I could ever get that to eat. I don’t think it sounds good. 

For the remainder of the day, we walked around exploring the area where we were staying. The first thing I had to get used to here was crossing the street. I have to make sure I look both ways before crossing since the cars are coming from a different direction than what I am used to. Also, when you are walking by someone, many people tend to walk on the left side of the sidewalk, which I have to get used to doing.

The area where our dorms are is pretty. I’ve noticed there is more green here, especially for Queens University being in a city. In the United States, I feel like there are a lot fewer trees and plants in the city than here. We walked past the Botanical gardens and greenhouse which I am very excited to explore and take pictures of. 

I particularly like the architecture of all the houses here. I am a big fan of all of the brick buildings, especially how the school is built. I think the school looks beautiful, it really does look like something from Harry Potter. 

For dinner, we went to a small diner called Darcy’s Belfast. Inside was very small and there was cool art and nature as decoration. We all got amazing seafood chowder. I am looking forward to having more similar meals here such as fish and chips. I have heard that Ireland’s seafood is delicious. 

This day was the first night we went to the Belfast Book Festival which took place at the Crescent Arts Centre. The first event that we went to was Lucy Caldwell. I was expecting to be bored, however, I very much enjoyed listening to what she had to say. She spoke a lot about girl-hood, and femininity, which I resonated with. She also talked about living in Northern Ireland as a woman and how she found her identity. I was very interested in listening to her talk. She also spoke about her new short story collection Openings, which explores themes of motherhood, femininity, and love. I ended up buying the book and got it signed.  

The second event I attended was Jan Carson and Sophie White. Both authors write stories that are more on the horror side of fiction, writing short stories and novels. I read more horror, mystery, and dystopian novels, so I enjoyed listening to what they had to say about their books. I thought it was especially interesting how they add their own experiences growing up during the Troubles into their novels. I remember Jan Carson explaining how she struggled with being a Catholic in Northern Ireland when she was younger. Now, most of the themes in her novels have something to do with religion and the scary, horror aspect of it.  

I, along with the rest of my peers on this trip, are very excited to see what is in store for us this week at the book festival, and for the rest of the month. I am looking forward to learning more about the history of Ireland, and along with that, I expect to spend a lot more money on books this week.