Day 4 - Sunday

Our Sunday correspondent was Katie Marini:

We slept in today for the first time. It was great to catch up on a little sleep, I think we’re all still on Ohio time. We went to 11:45 mass at St. Brigid’s, a Catholic “chapel” (only Protestants are allowed to call their houses of worship “churches” in Belfast!) just down the street from Queen’s. Interestingly, the mass in Ireland is slightly different from masses in the States. The Irish kneel a lot longer than we do—and they talk a lot faster too! Our first immersion experience in Belfast was greatly fulfilling and a great way to start the morning. We also had over an hour to work on our homework, which was a huge help for everyone.

Our immersion experience for the day continued in the afternoon with a shopping trip to the Belfast city center. We spent about three hours shopping. The guys actually bought more than the girls (I know hard to believe)! But it wasn’t easy getting there. Allison and I stayed home for a little bit after the group left to finish up some of our homework (see mom. =] I DO have a work ethic), so it was up to us to get to the mall on our own. We had to call a cab, and somehow manage to find the group in a seven-story mall - Victoria Square. Ironically though, after giving the cab driver ten pounds when the bill was only £4,90 we walked in and ran right into Mrs. Varnish and Ms. Duarte. We toured the mall a little bit and returned home to a wonderful pesto chicken dinner prepared by Mr. Bizga, and then we read a short play by Yeats called Catherine of Houlihan. We got to bed early tonight, so we should be well rested for our visit to the Stormont Parliment tomorrow!