This blog documents journals of one of the participants in Public Achievement's International Youth Camp in Northern Ireland.
21:00
In a little while our Arab Cultural Night will start so I don’t have that much time to write; but I have to tell you about today… it’s been quite an interesting day!
For a start, we got up very early this morning to go for a swim – it was Ross, Nathan, Petra, Jannika, Erik, Zandy, Fabi, Dafna, Cathe, Mais, and me! The early-to-rise people
most of us had gotten wet suits yesterday night, because the ocean water is just freezing cold! I have no idea how Petra and Jannika jumped in with their regular swim suits… I mean seriously, I had a wet suit on and my feet felt like they would fall off from the cold water. But once you start moving, it gets better (eventually!!) and it becomes fun! That was a refreshing morning exercise and a nice way to start the day.
Today was the start of three days of trips; we’ve been divided into groups, and we’re going to Belfast, Giants’ Causeway and Carrick-a-reede, besides a day at Corrymeela and Ballycastle. I got to go to the Giants’ Causeway trip today, and it was quite nice... the formation of the rocks there is fascinating, and the entire scenery is amazing! My favourite part of it all was when we were at Carrick-a-reede, we were all heading to the rope bridge to stand in line and cross it, and I was behind the group with Mais, who looked at the hilltop right next to us and said “I really want to go up there!” Now it looked like a very difficult steep hike, so I just dismissed the idea… Mais went for it while I sat pondering whether or not to catch up with everyone on the bridge, but then in a split second I made up my mind to hike up the hill!
It was AMAZING!! Lots of little bugs and flies, very slippery path… but absolutely wonderful when you get there! We could see the group down on the bridge looking so tiny, and we started waving and yelling for them to see us
then we just sat singing and taking pictures, it was soooo peaceful! I loved the sight of the sheep next to us, and was about to jump over the fence to take a closer look, but the sound of a barking dog kept me in check!
On the bus each one of us was given a question that we were supposed to ask the person next to us, to start a conversation and learn more about each other’s cultures – I think this was intended for the bus going to Belfast but we got it instead (someone must’ve been too sleepy to focus what they were doing!)
Ok I really have to go now, so I’ll just mention a few points before I forget…
-I’m really enjoying the vegetarian food for Lunch and dinner
-Here at Corrymeela it is customary to ask for volunteers to help with the dishes after lunch and dinner, and I’m actually really enjoying it… I guess it’s a tiny way of helping and being part of this wonderful community!
-Most of the media group went to Belfast today, met up with Kamal (the person from BBC) and conducted interviews with young people in the streets about volunteering and youth work and how that could help make a difference! I really wanted to be there, but I felt it wouldn’t make sense for everyone from media to go on the same trip… the good thing is that Basak and Beyhan (from Turkey) decided to go again to Belfast on the Thursday trip and agreed to meet Kamal then, so I can be there and make up for today
Party time – talk to you later!