N. Ireland 2012

It's been a while since I have done this but time flies when your having fun. Nigel informed us today that we are mid way through the program next week which is really scary and kind of sad. This weekend I went to Donegal for the weekend which is in the Republic of Ireland. It was about a two hour drive from Derry where we had to bus to. We got up at the crack of dawn and were in the 6:40 AM bus to get there on time. We went to a McDonald for breakfast which is not cheap over here and is very classy. We then hit the road on the beast, then I realized that I didn't have my passport which is needed if you get pulled over across the boarder. But luckily we did not get pulled over! We went to Donegal state park which is one of Nigel's favorite places to go. It was AMAZING see the mountains and open land. When we got to the park we toured a castle that was fully standing and refurbished. The castle was quite interesting but we couldn't take pictures of the inside. Hence the abundance of pictures of the outside. We then drove around the area for most of the day and looked at different mountains and sites. Nigel also wanted to play some Rugby on the Atlantic beach so we all tagged along even though it was rainy and cold. Needless to say though the game was a lot of fun and I am quite good at the game I must say. I was caked with sand though from falling so much, but so was everyone else. The game started being touch Rugby but then quickly turned to tackle. Nigel likes to explain the game to people by saying that I am cheetah fast so of course his team won because I was on it. I stayed Saturday night in Derry and hung out with the girls there. Sunday most of the group went to the Festival of Colours. This was like a Indian/African celebration to the start of Spring. There were many craft and food vendors there. Most of us participated in the free face painting. There were world champion dancers there which was pretty cool to see because they danced to some Bollywood songs which I actually knew. The powder party was the best part of the event because what you do is pay one pound for a bag of powder and then go in and throw it at people. It was a blast. The second best part of the day was when I went bull riding. No I was not very good but hey I tried. Well I will probably update this again after St. Patrick's Day which most of the group is planning on going to Dublin for!!!