Another free day, kind of

Today was really laid back. We started off by going to church. We split off into groups of three and went to all different churches - my group went to Windsor Baptist, which is right down the road from our hostel. It was pretty good, but the pace of the service caught me by surprise...it was so slow! It was definitely no Eagle Brook. After that, we went back to the hostel and picked up some more people and went out to lunch. It was this really cute French-style cafe, only they had Irish food. Mixed messages, but it was still good.

After that, a couple of us went over to the Botanic Gardens and the conservatory there - pictures will be added later, it's way too late to do that now - I should probably be sleeping right now! The conservatory was so pretty, I can tell why Grandma liked that and Como so much.

Then we went back to the hostel where I helped make an apple pie for one of the professors' birthday (even though it's not until August...I'm still not sure why we did that). I rule at peeling and cutting apples with a dull knife, as it turns out. After that was done, a couple other people and I (Sarah, Trevor and Neil) got ice cream at Maud's (YES, they have an ice cream shop named Maud's here - woot!) and then headed over to Lavery's to watch the first half of a soccer game before we had to meet up with the rest of the class. We all discussed our different church experiences, expectations, etc. for a while, and then we split up again for the night. Me and the group that watched the soccer game went back to Lavery's to watch the Jets/Patriots game (I bet on the Jets...and won!). Now, we're all back at the hostel and pretty much everyone is asleep now, so I guess I should be too.

I'll write more tomorrow...apparently it's supposed to be a pretty intense day, I didn't hear why though. We shall see. It's also our last day in Belfast unless we come back here on our free days, so I'll probably cry...again. I swear, Ireland/Northern Ireland makes me emotional (at least, that's what I'm going to blame it on!). So, more later, including pictures from the conservatory :)

Love,
Amanda