Northern Ireland Report After speaking to my first hosts mum, she was wondering what airport I was flying to because there s 2 airports, Belfast City & Belfast International. I never knew there was 2 airports. I flew with Flybe, so they all flew into Belfast City airport. It was a help before I left because she emailed me a photo of her so I knew what she looked like as James wasn t going to be there as he was shearing for the day down in Ireland. I arrived at the airport and went to the Arrivals to meet up with James s mum and his brother Will, but there wasn t anyone that looked like her, so I looked around and saw this young guy on his own and asked him, and it was Will and he said his mum was away at the toilet. Sandra, James s mum and Will showed me round the Titanic and all about the history of it as it was built in Belfast which I didn t know. They took me to Victoria Square Shopping Centre which was really nice as it was on 3 or 4 floors with really nice shops and you could go to the very top where you could have a look all over Belfast. I also saw various other buildings and causeways and a monastery site. I went back to James s Granny & Grandpa s house as that was where I was going to be staying as James stays with them on the farm and his mum, dad and brothers stay in the village of Comber. James wasn t going to be back till late so I ended up going to my bed before he got home. In the morning, I helped James clear up the electric fencing and posts from a couple of fields where he grazes his sheep in over the winter. In the afternoon, Jane Kirkpatrick arrived to go to Belfast International Airport with James and I to pick up Natalie, the English exchangee that Jane is hosting and Robin, the Australian exchangee that James is also hosting. Later in the afternoon, once we got from the airport, Robin, James and I helped his neighbour with his sheep to move them to another field and jag them for scab. At night, Jane took Robin, Natalie and I round the peninsula where we saw some of the local towns and villages and one of the villages was Portaferry and there is a ferry that goes from there to another neighbouring peninsula so it is quicker for commuters instead of going round the long way. We went to a pub for a drink and met up with the Welsh exchangee Lisa and her host Lou-Ellen and her friends. I went to Mount Stewart with Jane, Natalie, Lou-Ellen, Lisa & Robin. It is a Victorian House with nice gardens and a coffee shop where you can have a look around and get a tour of the house. We then went to Bangor, which I thought there was only one in the UK which is in Wales but there is another one in Northern Ireland. This is a nice town with a marina and it had some really nice boats. We had a look round the marina and had a shot on the swan pendalos. It was great fun. Some people were finding it hard to steer them...natalie &
Robin!! Once we got back to James s house, I went away with him to help clear branches from the Manse in Moneyrea. James shifted them in to the yard next to the village hall. It was quite an eventful night when we got back as one of James s ewes had a prolapse so we had to catch it and put a harness on it and it was dark and it was raining. The Balmoral Show started today and it was on for 3 days. It is the biggest agricultural show in Northern Ireland. James was shearing at the show and he had to be at the show early so we had a tour of Dublin with Jane. We met up with the other Welsh exchangee, Wayne and the other English exchangee, Emma. We had a look round the City Hall and Victoria Square shopping centre again and we then went on an open top bus tour round Belfast. It was really interesting as we got to see Stormont House, the Parliament building and also the wall which separated the Christians and the Catholics. We went to Balmoral Show in the afternoon. We jumped on the train and got off just outside the show. I couldn t believe how close the show was to Belfast. It was a nice wee show. It is similar to the Highland Show with the indoor part with the shops. Other stuff happening at the show was sheep shearing and a horse show. All the young farmers events happen at night. There was girls football, tug of war and what I liked the most was the Farm Challenge where contestants had to move bales of silage with a tractor and bale lifter on the back and go through an obstacle course as a relay of 2 people. Also girls are not allowed to do tug of war. Left: outside Balmoral Show Right: Tug of War at Balmoral Show
I had a tour round MASH Direct twice as James s grandpa s nephew Neil showed us round as Robin was wanting to see it as she was moving to a different host after and my next host worked at MASH Direct. They grow vegetables potatoes, parsnips, turnips and carrots and package them up and sell them to retailers. It was good to see the process from start to finish where they washed and prepared the vegetables to the packaging. After the first visit to MASH Direct, Neil also took us to Trevor Gabbie s business which they are plant raisers, where they grown modules of vegetables and sell them. Trevor knew Stewarts of Tayside which are a big vegetable producer in Perthshire. On the Saturday of the first week, Robin, myself, Chris Hamilton, Lou-Ellen, Lisa and Natalie went up to the North for the weekend. We met up with Wayne, the other Welsh exchangee up there and then went to the Giant s Causeway. It was really nice and busy with tourists. We stayed with Rosey Black, who was hosting the other English exchangee Emma in Ballycastle. We had a Chinese for tea and then went to Kelly s nightclub. The next day we went to the Rope Bridge. When going across, I had to stop a couple of times as it was quite windy and it was bouncing up and down easily. I then went off to my second host, which was Chris Gill, who lives in Lisburn. It was about half an hour from James s house. Chris stayed in Lisburn with his family in a really nice house. The week I was staying with Chris, he had exams on, so I was with other people a lot of the time. On the first morning, Chris took me to visit the Simpson s farm which is a dairy farm. The contractor s machinery was at the farm as they were at the silage and waiting for a good day. There was some big machinery. It was good to see some Claas machinery which they had a Jaguar 850 self propelled forage harvester and a Liner 4000 which is the biggest model you can get. At night we went to see a tomato farm with Chris Simpson and Robin. The farmer had big glass houses full of tomato plants and he has an irrigation system put into water the plants. He did sell to supermarkets but wasn t getting what he wanting so he just sells to local shops. I went to Dublin for the day with Lou-Ellen, Lisa & Hannah Burns. It was good to be able to go to Dublin for the day as it was only about an hour and a half to get there, but the only
problem was sterling changing to euros. We decided to park outside the centre and get a bus into the city centre. It took us a while to work out what bus to get but we jumped on the first bus that came and by luck it took us to the city centre. We were going to go on the open top bus tour but because of the Queen was in Dublin, it wasn t running because some of the streets were closed. We got a map and looked to see what we could go and visit, and decided to go and visit the Guinness Factory. This was the second time I had been to the Guinness Factory. The first time was when I came to Dublin on a study tour with the college. Once we got out of the factory, there were a couple of horse and carts and the people were charging for a ride. We thought we would travel in style so we decided to take a ride on the horse and cart. It only took us so far because of the Queen being in Dublin. We got off and walked the rest of the way and the main street was shut off so we stayed to see if we could see the Queen but nothing happened so we just carried on and after we had enough we went for the bus so we went to the bus station to find out where to get the bus and we got told it was further down another street and it was at a certain time so we had to get a move on to catch it. Once the bus came we asked if it went to the car park where we parked Lou-Ellen s car and it did so we got on. Once we were getting nearer to our stop, the driver said it didn t stop here but luckily he let us off. At night after we got back, Chris was still at the silage with Chris Simpson, so I went to Alex Sleator s house who is a friend of Chris and is a member of his young farmers club and spent the night there. Alex took me back to Chris s house at the end of the night. The next day Chris had an exam and he was going to be at the silage after it at Chris Simpson s farm, so I went with Chris Simpson s girlfriend, Victoria and Robin and spent the day with them. Firstly we went to Seaforde Gardens, Maze and Butterfly World. This was really good as we got to see tropical insects such as parrots, butterflies, stick insects etc. It was quite funny as there was one parrot that kept whistling at us. The gardens were really nice aswell. We went in to the maze but we got lost but Robin managed to find the exit so we followed her and managed to find the exit. After that we went to Newcastle (not in England). This was a touristry town and we went for a stroll along the beach. After that we went to the Silent Valley. It was a nice walk which took us up to the two dams. After the first dam, the second dam wasn t coming into sight for ages but after a while we got to it and it was great to see it. On the way back, it went much quicker. We went back to Victoria s house for tea and spent the night there until the two Chris s came to pick Robin and I up after finishing the silage.
The next day we went back to MASH Direct with Lou-Ellen, Lisa & Hannah as they were wanting to have a look round. After that Lou-Ellen, Lisa Hannah & I had a look round Lisburn while Chris went to his exam. At night Chris and I we went to a Tug of War Competition at Omagh Rugby Club where Chris was pulling in. Unfortunately Chris s team didn t do very well. The next day Chris, Chris s girlfriend Victoria, Chris Simpson and I went to a Vintage Rally. It was interesting to see as I hadn t been to one before. At night Chris s mum, dad, sister, Chris s girlfriend Victoria and I went out for tea and afterwards Chris, Victoria and I went to Ballywalter s BBQ. It s not what you would think a BBQ is. It is basically a barn dance where members from all over Northern Ireland come to it. It was a great night and a good end to a great exchange to Northern Ireland. I would thoroughly recommend going on an exchange to anyone. This is my second exchange I ve enjoyed both of them. You get to meet lots of people.