Carrick-a-Rede and The Giant's Causeway

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to do a bit of adventuring and sightseeing over the weekend.  I went up to the North Coast of Northern Ireland to two places.  The first place I went was Carrick-a-Rede.  I have done a lot of traveling, but this is one of the prettiest places I have ever been!  Take a look!

Carrick-a-Rede

Carrick-a-Rede

In addition to all of the amazing views in this area, Carrick-a-Rede is famous for having a rope bridge that people are allowed to go across.  Apparently, about ten years ago, the bridge was nothing more than a plank of wood and two "handles" of rope.  I've talked to some people who have crossed the rope bridge back then, and they said it swung a lot and was not for the faint of heart!  It doesn't sound all that safe to me!  Luckily, because so many people were coming to the area and crossing the rope bridge, it was updated and is now much safer to walk across.  I have to admit, I was still a little scared, but I did cross it twice!  

Me in the middle of the rope bridge at Carrick-a-Rede

Me with the rope bridge at Carrick-a-Rede in the background

From Carrick-a-Rede I went to a place about 15 minutes away called The Giant's Causeway.  This place is also on the coast, and it is really interesting because the rocks there don't look like normal rocks.  They all have very similar shapes, and look like they are pieces of a honeycomb.  Scientists think that the rocks are formed like this because of an ancient volcano, but there is also a legend that the people in Ireland tell:

According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet. When Fionn sees the Scottish giant Benandonner, and realizes he is much bigger, he runs back to Ireland to hide. Fionn's wife, Oonagh, disguises Fionn as a baby and tucks him in a cradle. When Benandonner reaches Ireland and sees the size of the 'baby', he reckons that its father, Fionn, must be a giant among giants. He flees back to Scotland in fright, destroying the causeway behind him so that Fionn could not follow. Across the sea, there are identical basalt columns (a part of the same ancient lava flow) at Fingal's Cave on the Scottish isle of Staffa, and it is possible that the story was influenced by this.

(This excerpt was taken and edited from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant's_Causeway) 

Here are some pictures of some of the rocks at The Giant's Causeway.

The Giant's Causeway

The Giant's Causeway

Going to Carrick-a-Rede and The Giant's Causeway was one of the best days of my trip so far!  If you ever make it to Norther Ireland, these are two places that you must visit!  I hope I can go back again someday!

Stay tuned for my next posts where I will be talking about some of the things I have experienced in Gilnahirk Primary School!

Volcanoes

The first "subject" I started teaching is called The World Around Us.  This is a combination of Geography, History, and Science and Technology.  This is completely different from the US, where all of those areas are taught as separate subjects!  Let me tell you, it was a bit confusing at first!!

For my first lessons I taught the students about volcanoes.  There was so much that I didn't know about volcanoes that I had to learn!  I had to learn about the different types of volcanoes and the different types of eruptions.  I also learned about where volcanoes are in the world, how they form, and about some of the most active ones.  One of my students asked me if I was a scientist, and after learning all of this information about volcanoes, I almost feel like one!

I think I have mentioned that over here, the students don't go to specials, but rather the teacher teaches all of them.  This means that the classroom teacher teaches music, art, P.E., and library!  It is a lot of work for the teacher, but one thing I really like about it is that all of the lessons, even the specials, can relate to each other!  In the class I am in, while I was teaching the students about volcanoes, they were creating pictures of them for art and writing poems about them for literacy!  I think it's really nice to have everything connected like that!

We decorated the door to our classroom

The pictures of and poems about volcanoes that my students made!

My favorite lesson was when we went outside and made a volcano erupt!  We also exploded a Coke bottle with some Mentos, and made the top pop off a little container and have it fly into the air with some water and dissolving Vitamin C tablets!  It was so much fun!  I will try to get some of the pictures that the students took on the school iPads.  I think they also have some pretty funny video of it!  

I am now teaching the class about earthquakes, and we had an earthquake drill the other day!  I'll try to get some pictures of that as well!

Stay tuned!

Half-Term Travels

Sorry it has been so long since I posted!! I was traveling and then things at school really picked up!

So, about two weeks ago, the students had half-term break, which meant that they were on vacation and didn't have school.  Luckily, I didn't have any classes either, so I was able to go on a couple of adventures!

The first place I visited was Brussels, Belgium.  It was so pretty!  The apartments were so cute, and the other buildings were magnificent.  The area that I liked the most was called the Grand Palace.  It is a little square in the center of the city surrounded by large buildings, but not like buildings that I'm used to.  These buildings were built hundreds of years ago, and have so many tiny details on them that I could have spent all day in the square just looking at them!  Below are some pictures I took of the buildings in the Grand Palace.

 This is a picture of the King's House.  The King doesn't actually live here, but he used to!

This is the top of the King's House

This is a guild house, which means that it used to be the headquarters for a specific profession.  

I also took a day trip to the city of Bruges, also in Belgium.  Bruges is one of the quaintest cities I've ever been in.  The streets are small and made up of cobblestone, and some of the side streets are so small, two people can barely walk through at the same time!  The only bad thing about Bruges is that it was freezing and very windy the day I went, so I spent most of my time shivering.  I think I would have enjoyed it much more if it had been a little warmer (and trust me, I NEVER say that, so it must have been really cold!).  I've included my favorite picture from Bruges below.

Bruges, Belgium

I enjoyed Belgium and all of the beautiful buildings, streets, and areas.  However, I have to say that my favorite part of being in Belgium was the waffles.  I had the BEST waffle I have ever had in my life!!  I think I would go back just for a waffle!

Best waffle with whipped cream I've ever had!  

After spending a few days in Belgium, I then traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland.  Edinburgh is my most favorite place in the entire world!!  I was so happy to go back and to meet up with friends I had made when I lived there for a year!  

I took a train from Brussels to London.  Once I was in London I had to switch trains to take a different one to Edinburgh.  The train station I was in in London happened to be Kings Cross Station, which is were Harry Potter catches the Hogwarts Express from Platform 9¾.  Of course I couldn't resist taking a picture!

Me at Platform 9¾ in Kings Cross Station, London

The second train took about four and a half hours to get from London to Edinburgh.  Once in Edinburgh I got to see all of my friends that I hadn't seen for a few years!  I also got to explore all of the sights again with some of my friends from my program.  One of my favorite places in Edinburgh is the castle.  It is big and on the top of a huge hill and looks over all of Edinburgh.  Some of the best views of Edinburgh come from the castle.  Here is a picture I took of the castle from below!

Edinburgh Castle on a very sunny day!

I went back to Belfast at the end of the week, and I really miss Edinburgh!! However, it is nice to no longer be living out of a suitcase!  

After all of the traveling and exploring I have been exhausted, which is why it took me so long to get this post up.  Now that I have gotten back into the routine of school, I will put up another post in the next few days about the first few lesson I taught in my P6 class!

Stay tuned!!