We first heard of Belfast as a choice of university for Emily when at a school parents' evening, a teacher explained that there was this scheme for students who hadn't got one of their first choices, to look on a website which matched up universities which had places to spare with students looking for a particular course. Since Emily's first two choices had rejected her, she was interested in this. At the time she had an Irish boyfriend, so within a couple of weeks Queen's at Belfast was suddenly on the agenda.
To cut a long story short, she visited Belfast, liked Queen's very much, and Ryan changed the last year of his course to study at Queen's instead of Newcastle. Emily worked there all summer at Bush Mills hotel, owned by Ryan's Dad and they got a flat together, two minutes walk from the university.
So the time came to go across to Ireland with all her stuff - NO! Belfast! I was to learn pretty sharply that referring to Belfast as "Ireland" rather than Great Britain or the United Kingdom was a definite no-no. I'd come across what seemed to me to be this rather strange attitude in an internet friend of Michael's, but increasingly Emily seemed to be picking it up, and indeed was rather embarrassed at my remark to her landlord on the weather in Belfast ("it was raining when we left the UK"). Derek did the long drive to Cairnryan, then the ferry trip to Larne and another 30 miles drive to Belfast, while Emily, Ryan and I flew Easyjet to Belfast International Airport. I was all for taking a taxi to their flat, but they decided the Airport bus would do. Well - after waiting what seemed like ages, I paid £18 for a journey on a crowded, smelly bus, made even more crowded and smelly by the fact that someone had been sick all over the back seats, so the remaining passengers were squashed as far forward as possible. We got off at Europa Bus Station and walked round in circles for half an hour or more while Emily and Ryan tried to remember where they lived.
Eventually we found the flat and not long after that Derek rang to say he was lost in Belfast - surprise, surprise. Considering Emily hadn't known the postcode, Multimap could only be so accurate. Eventually he arrived and the business of unpacking began. I have to say Emily and Ryan have fallen on their feet with this flat, it is quite the nicest student accommodation I have ever seen, at a fantastic monthly rent, and one of the most helpful landlords I have ever met. It's totally new, equipped for either BT broadband or NTL cable, he has fitted it with a new fridge freezer, washer dryer and cooker with extractor fan. The flat has a security entrance, smoke alarms, double glazing and nicely decorated rooms.
After we'd unpacked what we could, we drove to Ballymoney where Ryna's Mum and sister live with their 3 dogs and two cats, one of which, Bugsy, I'd already seen a photo of! Having to make a detour round some riots connected with the Orange order and their annual march, reminded me of the rather unsettled past this city has suffered over recent years. I suppose if you live there you get used to it, but police firing live bullets, and bricks all over the road is rather disconcerting when you've just dumped your daughter there for 3 years.
After that, we headed for Bush Mills, where we were treated to wonderful hospitality and a superb meal at what is one of the best hotels in the area. We stayed with Ryan's father, and the next morning after a quick visit to the Giant's Causeway headed back; this time I accompanied Derek in the car to Larne and got the ferry back to England. The drive home was extremely long and boring, but we arrived back eventually. I'm probably going back there with some more computer hardware quite soon, once Emily and Ryan have NTL cable installed at the flat. I'm sure she'll enjoy her time at Queen's, studying History, and the experience will be altogether more interesting than 3 years at Leicester or Lancaster would have been.
20th September 2005
