Been finally getting my feet under me. Figured out how to get to town and find some places to eat and shop for essentials. Getting done with ‘freshers’ week, in which they acclimate the new students with orientations and different activities that are either fun or very clinical. This is a big party time, with our school pub (on campus no less) being a place of frivolity till past 2 am.

Decided since I had no school, I was going to see my godfather in Northern Ireland. He considers himself an Ulsterman, as this is the region he is from in Ireland. The North is still under UK control, but before this, the men of Ulster were the fiercest warriors and also had much of their heritage come from Scotland in the past and the more recent past as well. I am very fortunate he is a history buff, as he showed me around Belfast and some of the sights around it.

We went to Mount Stewart, where the Londonderry estate is. They were some of the richest and most well respected noble families in Ireland and had many titles back in England as well. Many paintings and other artifacts from the local area and from the Far East are there. It has a beautiful garden and a wide expanse. Also, for those of you who know about the Congress of Vienna, this estate houses all the chairs of the dignitaries who were heavily involved and has their respective coats of arms on each chair. Also went to see other locales, including where the Northern Irish government used to hold Parliament and just beautiful sights of Ulster. Can’t wait to go back!

Stormont, former home of Northern Irish Parliament, still has some functions for ministers

Some of the chairs at the Congress of Vienna, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

Queen’s University, where my godfather graduated from.