Don't Skip Your Lunch and Never Refuse a Cup of Coffee

These are the words the editor of the Down Recorder told me on my first day. Wise advice, I think! That's the best thing about being here I think - learning different perspectives and ways of life.

I've been in Northern Ireland for about 5 days now and already I have published a hand full of stories, toured beautiful country side, seen BBC NI, wandered Belfast by myself and learned so much history.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been placed at the Down Recorder for a week during my stay. They are a weekly newspaper established in 1836 (I will post a picture of the third edition soon). The beauty about newsrooms is they are all almost universally the same - there is an energy that goes with putting out the news; providing people insight into their area. The media landscape is slightly different here - I don't know whether to call it calmer or just simpler or just, well, different, but it is an interesting perspective into how people cover the events of their world. I was fortunate enough to cover several stories, and even got a few bylines:

Yesterday, I also got to visit the courthouse and my, what a learning experience. Lawyers are called solicitors and barristers (depending on what you want to do). The courthouse is beautiful and several centuries old. Nothing like Law and Order: SVU, though!

Today I toured the BBC Northern Ireland. I met radio personality "Uncle" Hugo Duncan and got to see what NI's studios are all about.

Afterwards I wandered the streets of Belfast for about an hour or so. There is something interesting about walking around a city you don't know by yourself. It's a little scary, a lot exciting, and quite introspective.

I then went to the Down County Museum - if you are ever in County Down, I highly recommend checking this out. Beautiful artifacts, great history and knowledge, it was a highlight of the trip thus far.

Tomorrow and Friday I will be at the Down Recorder again and then we will travel about this weekend. Next week is the celebration of July 12th (Orangeman's Day as it is frequently referred to). It's a really big day for the North of Ireland and will be a very interesting one if I had to guess. I'm sure I'll have updates about that later.

Final thoughts:

Travel is exhausting; Northern Ireland is beautiful; I shouldn't have skipped lunch today; I know nothing about the world.

Love,

Ciara