Fish Fingers and Custard

Hello all! So, it's been about another week in the beautiful country of Northern Ireland.

I've done some more adventuring, had a dash more school, and an unfortunate addition of being icky-coughy-stuffy sick. The sick part sucks, like a lot, but at least I had most of yesterday to just chill in my room, drink tea, and sleep. It was super lazy, but I think it did me good. During the day I also got to talk to my mommy, and that always makes me feel better. <3

Now, some of you might be wondering what the heck the title is about, and some of you might have an inkling, because it's a dish well known in a certain sci-fi fandom, and then others of you DO know because I already told you. Whatever. If you remember last week I said I made some exciting purchases? Well, some Doctor Who favorites such as Jammie Dodgers and fish fingers and custard were among them. And, like the true whovian that I am, I absolutely had to try them.

Fish fingers and custard everyone. I think I should get points added to my nerd card for this.

I'm not gonna lie- it was a little strange. Okay, a lot strange. But now that can be crossed of my bucket list and I can say that I for real tried the 11th Doctor's favorite food. And actually, custard is delicious; there is no doubt that I'm getting that again.

While we're talking about food, I'd like to mention a few of the fascinating candies I've tried this week- things that certainly are not in America. One was cookies and cream Kit Kat bars: they. are. delicious. Then there was a "honeycomb" candy bar, which was a filling that they call honeycomb, which I can't really describe, covered in chocolate. That one was interesting, and I'm not 100% sure what I think of it yet. Then there was the really strange and exciting one: a Turkish Delight chocolate bar! I was pretty excited when I found the Narnian-esque food, and so I bought one. It, like fish fingers and custard, was strange, but it was actually pretty good. :)

Narnia here we come! But, you know, better, since chocolate is involved.

Now, my adventures this week didn't just end with food, though that part was pretty spectacular. And for real, I'm loving all of the new and exciting yummies I'm getting to try, but I did do other things. For instance, last Thursday I went to a pub called the Anchor where they were having a band playing traditional music. We actually got there two and a half hours early, since we didn't know what time it was supposed to start. Embarrassingly, the bartender who had served my friend and I Guinness the second night we were in town was the one who found us and answered our questions; he remembered us from before, when he told us how obvious it was that we'd never ordered alcohol in a bar before and proceeded to tease us about it. But he was nice, and has an Irish accent, so I can forgive that.

Anyway, so we were two and a half hours early, so my three friends and I decided to walk around the town of Portstewart for a while. It was pretty fun actually! We found a pretty rad little playground that had the world and the moon projected onto the sand and onto a little gazebo, and a jungle gym like I've never seen before. We walked along the rocky shore, and looked out at the dark ocean, that was blissfully calm that night. It was really lovely, even if dark water always reminds me of Lord of the Rings- "Do not disturb the water," and then someone does and we all get eaten by a giant killer octopus.

But for real, it was really nice. There's this building- I thought it was an old abbey, but it might have just been a house- from the 1830s that was turned into a school, that has a path right along the cliffs that we started walking on. We stopped after a bit though, since we were fairly certain the drop was pretty far off the side, we didn't really know where we were going, and there were no lights. We plan on returning when we can see where we're headed. The we walked back into town,where we found the little convenience store where I found my Turkish delight candy. Finally, we headed back to the Anchor.

The music was fantastic. It just made me really really happy. There were some songs I knew and some I didn't- I sang along when I knew the words.

You can't really see this, but I was really excited about this one- It's not Gerard Butler, but was still pretty excellent anyway. 

Then there were a bunch of college-age kids who I think were waiting for the club upstairs to open and were hanging out there in the meantime. Now, some of these people were really really drunk, but that honestly just made them more fun to watch. Then there were these girls, who were super sloshed and wearing three inch heels that I would have broken my ankle in just standing, and they started river dancing! AND THEY WERE GOOD! I was highly impressed. The atmosphere in that room was just so happy and it warmed my heart.

Then on Saturday, we decided to go visit "The Dark Hedges." First we got to take our first train ride this semester, which was fun, and found ourselves in the charming little town of Ballymoney. A warm and welcoming woman at their town hall/ visitors center got us a cab, and we headed out to the beautiful place. Now, it's really only a line of trees, but it is SO GORGEOUS!

IT'S LIKE A FREAKING FAIRYTALE! No WONDER there are so many myths and legends here! 

Me :) 

This is from the other end. 

It's so beautiful. Like I said, it's as though you've just stepped into a fairy tale. <3 

After that, we returned to the town and wandered. Town hall had a museum, which was SO COOL OH MY GOSH! There was stuff there from B.C.!!!! There was a flipping yolk, like for cows, from 8/900 A.D. that was preserved in the bogs- IT IS A PIECE OF WOOD AND IT WAS PRESERVED FOR OVER A THOUSAND YEARS. You know, no big deal, whatever. O_o

Then there was the "Derrykeighan Stone," 50 A.D. Look at the swirlies! :) 

Needless to say I was nerding out big time. After that we went to a nearby graveyard, because, well, most of us are English majors and for some reason that just seems like a thing we do. Plus, it was really old and pretty. So yeah. There was actually this little enclosed wall that didn't seem to have anything but tree branches in it, but it looked kind of like the secret garden.

What mysteries dost thou hold? 

We also stopped for lunch and tea, which was delightful, as well as went to a bakery, where I got a really delicious caramel/white chocolate thing. Then we headed home.

Sunday, we went to Belfast for a Chinese New Year celebration. It was a fun little trip, though the actual celebration was not at all what was expected. There were a couple of interesting performances, though. One was a group of three sisters who mixed dancing and Taekwando, which was really cool. Belfast city hall is stunning, though. There are all sorts of statues and stained glass windows. Then we got to go to a market that was going on that day, and it was fascinating! It reminded me a little of Central market back home, but with a background of live Irish music and the people I talked to all having cooler voices. It was really wonderful, though, and I really want to go back.Then there was a shop that screamed "tourist," but we went in anyway, and were thoroughly amused by the plethora of Irish paraphernalia we found.

Anyway, it wasn't what we expected, but was a nice day. And then we started the school week and me being sick. Classes were really interesting, and I think I'm really going to enjoy them. Some of the girls and I even had a movie and pizza night, which was loads of fun.  The sick thing isn't so fun, but hopefully I'll be better soon. We're planning some fun trips for this weekend, so fingers are crossed. Anyway, that's really all for now. It's been a great week, and I'm looking forward to more excitement in the coming days.  Talk to you again soon!