The start of my trip started with a few hiccups because my flight got cancelled as I was just leaving for the airport. I got a new flight booked for the next day and I was on my way to Northern Ireland! I was picked up at the Belfast Airport by Jessica McConnell who I stayed with for the first 5 nights along with her parents near Ballyclare. They are from a beef and sheep farm so throughout my stay with them I got the chance to help with some of their farm work. I got to help them move sheep between pastures, sort sheep and vaccinate. On my first day I drove around a bit of the countryside with Jessica, seeing Slemish Mountain which is the core of an extinct volcano, and that night we went to the Ballymena sheep market. On day 2, I took a bus into Belfast to meet up with Jessica’s sister Felicity. She goes to Queens University in the city so she is living there right now so she toured me around the city for the day. There was a 2-week Irish Festival in Belfast while I was there called the ‘Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann’ which featured Irish music, dance, street vendors and food. Because of this many of the streets were closed and it made it a nice experience seeing the city. We went to The St. George’s Market, St. Annes Square, Belfast Cathedral, City Hall, Queens University and the Ulster Museum. I also got a half pint of Guiness at the Duke of York Pub on “Umbrella Street” (an alley that has LED umbrellas hanging across between the buildings), before I caught a bus back to the McConnell Family farm. Day 3 and 4 I spent with the Davis family. One of the days Zara and I did a lap of Lough Neagh, the largest freshwater lake in Northern Ireland, to pick up 2 of the other Exchange delegates from their other hosts. We picked up Alvina from Sweden and Peppi from Finland. Throughout the lap around the lake, I hit 5 of the 6 counties in Northern Ireland, saw the Randallstown Viaduct and stopped at a farm with a milk vending machine. The next day we did goat yoga and rode horses at the Davis’ before Alvina, Peppi and I then went with Zara to the Titanic Museum for the afternoon. During my stay with the McConnells, I was picked up by Gareth Baird to go feed some of his cattle, tour his dairy farm, his milk processing and ice cream making facility on his farm, and we saw the Carrickfergus Castle. That afternoon I got to spend with a lady that used to farm near me here in Canada and her son used to work on our farm, but they moved back to Ireland. It was cool to get to see her again and she brought me to see some high pedigree dairy farms and in the evening we went to the Donaghadee Young Farmers Fundraiser BBQ. Saturday was my last day with the McConnell Family, so in the morning they made me a proper Irish Fry for breakfast, which is bacon, sausage, egg, beans, potato bread and soda bread. It is quite tasty! After breakfast I packed up and moved to my next host! Stay tuned to see what week 2 brings!
