I Have my Address!

With the countdown to Northern Ireland down to twelve days, my list of things-to-do seems to get longer and longer. I am in charge of plane tickets, so I have to call the airline and verify that Hannah and I do have seats and will be allowed to, you know, leave the country. My mom's friend Kay, who is a veteran of overseas traveling, called last night and recommended a "dry run"--where my mother and I go to the airport and figure out what terminal we're going through and just figuring out where to go so we know what we're doing. Kay is also going to stop by in the next few days to bring me plugs and something that is supposed to weigh my suitcase (apparently, your run-of-the-mill bathroom scales are not to be trusted. Throw them out, everybody!).

In fact, this entry could probably be spent thanking the various people who have given me gifts, advice, food, and moral support, but that’s going to have to wait, because I have exciting news!

I’m posting my address for Queen's University Belfast, which means I expect birthday cards. 

HOL04 G09
Queen's University Belfast 78 Malone Road
Belfast
Northern Ireland
BT9 5BW

Hannah is also staying in Holly Grove (what HOL is short for), but I’m not sure she would like it if I posted her room number online. Suffice to say, she IS nearby, so the Americans will be taking over Holly Grove shortly.

Holly Grove is a set of four houses in Elms Village, a primarily freshman students/international students residence located ten minutes from the main campus. We’re right across the road from the very lovely Ulster Museum and not too far from a farmer’s market, so for those of you who were worried, I will be eating regularly!

The houses are a bit older than some of the other buildings in Elms, but the internet assures me that they were recently updated and have more character than other Elms buildings. I will have internet, and there is a television in the building, although I will not be watching much of it. One of the odd things about Northern Ireland is that you need a television license to have and watch a TV—I’m not sure if a television license is proof that you’re smart enough not to be taken in by ads, or if you just have to pay the cable bill yourself and the license shows you’re keeping up with the bills. I don’t mind about the television, though.
 Every student gets a private bedroom (which means no snoring roommates!) down a hallway with ten or eleven other students. We all share a bathroom and a living room and a kitchen, and the design was made this way purposely, so we are forced to communicate and be friendly. When there are ten girls sharing a small space, it’s really, really hard not to be social.

But the oddest thing about Holly Grove is that no one of the male sex is allowed to set foot inside.

Yep, I’m going to live in a cloister. Sister Monica, the Felician sister who has been trying to recruit me into her order, will be so proud.

When Hannah and I filled out the application to live on-campus, we were given three choices for rooms, and we could only pick one of the choices. The choices were: Single Sex, No Alcohol, and Quiet Living. I was all for the No Alcohol dorms, because I am a teetotaler and come from a family that does not drink much. I am not and have never been comfortable with alcohol. But Hannah wanted to live in the Single Sex, and so that's what we signed up for.

Now we are going to live in a cloister.

But at least it’s a cloister that’s nearby a museum.

P.S.--I'm serious about the birthday cards.  I'm turning twenty November 22. I expect congratulations for having survived my turbulent teenage years.