Holiday time!

After giving myself some time to mourn the exams, I headed off for my first stop for my 10-day break:

BELFAST

Jane and I at Queen's University of Belfast main building

YP, ever the perfect host, gave up her floor space for us, showed us around, cooked for us, and even better, cooked us prawns. ;>

She and Chris also made sure we had our "heart attack" for the holiday, Irish style (a traditional fry-up - they're attacking it now, but it's probably going to attack their blood vessels later.)


Our full day in Belfast was spent out of Belfast, driving through superb country and coast views to Carrickfergus castle,


Carrick-a-rede rope bridge,


and last but not least, the Giant's Causeway!

The last day was dedicated to the town city again, visiting their own leaning tower (Albert Tower) and ending with a treat of a lunch at the Crown Liquor Bar, complete with Bailey's and Irish (ie. whisky-shot) coffees.

My main two aims for going to Belfast were to see YP and see the Giant's causeway, and I accomplished both, though the trip without the former would have been dreary indeed! Thank you soo much YP and great catching up with you!

Next stop was Regent's Park St Mary's Hospital. What was supposed to be a picnic at the park took a surprising turn, turning us to Marylebone Church, into an ambulance (my first ride in one) and then to St Mary's A&E. My friend thankfully is fine now, but it just goes to show that medical students can't be kept from the hospital even during holidays. :P

Girlie outing day with R helped us brighten some people's days made gloomy by the clouds of impending exams. We sure had fun out in the wind. :)

More pics on Facebook.

We also watched Evita. The biggest disappointment was that the main lead (Elena Rogers) wasn't a very good Eva Peron, and her words were slurred and hard to hear at times, and too jarring and shout-y at others. I think I'm spoilt by the movie, where the lead was played by Madonna. Other than that, it was good, especially the first singing of "Another Suitcase in Another Hall". Not as good as Le Mis though!

I also had a day trip to Cambridge, where I had more exemplary hosting from HH - running commentary, good meals both bought and cooked, a punt on the river and a great show of courage when a tourist (not me) fell into the Cam. I was quite impressed with Cambridge town centre with its cobbled streets and myriad colleges and departments scattered haphazardly around. My favourites were St John's, Pembroke, and Queens, but all of the colleges were endearing in their own ways, even the nice quiet ones away from the town centre. Punting was fun too, except that I'm a lousy punter and had to leave the hard work to HH. I'm glad to say my sense of balance was much better than my punting skills, so I didn't fall in, which was good, because someone with first-hand experience said that the water was cold and icky. ;>

I rounded off my holiday with a relaxing shopping trip and a visit to Hillsongs Church today. :)

All in all, a refreshing holiday filled with fun, friends and love, thanks to my many friends who so kindly made space for me in their programmes. I think I'm ready to move into the next round of attachments (thankfully I start with GP attachment)!