I left Lille at midnight to take a bus to London (warning: these travel plans sound dumb, but they were cheap I promise). Luckily my friend Carolina saw me as I walked on- she was also traveling by herself. We couldn't sit together, but we hung out on the ferry together. I finally found a proper border- I had to check out of France, then walk and check into the UK. Every car got stopped. Revolutionary. We had to get out on the ferry, which was cool but not cool for interrupting my sleep at 3am. After a week of probably 10 hours of sleep total, I basically pulled an all-nighter this day too, full of travel. But I lived. I'm glad I had Caro to keep my company. We finally made it to London at about 5:15am, and we checked out the buses (she was going to Newcastle) and waited for our buses. Mine came first and I went off to the airport. The airport was really nice, and I made it to the plane just fine even though I didn't have a ton of time. I sat next to some very friendly people going to Belfast for a race. I made it to the airport, and met Ciara and her brother's girlfriend (I'm not even gonna try to spell her name). We stopped at the grocery store to pick up some food, then went on to the house. I met her mom, Marie, there, along with her sister Courtney and her brother Brian. Ciara has seven brothers and one sister. She's the youngest, and most of them live out of the house, but they come over all the time. Her door is literally open for neighbors and family to come in, and they sure do. It was really fun to be in such a lively house. I met lots of people from just sitting at the kitchen table. We relaxed for a while- Marie had her 60th birthday party the night before and everyone was in recovery mode. I got washed up and we went to dinner with Ciara, Courtney, and Courtney's boyfriend James. We went and got steaks with soup, potatoes, veggies, and beer. Great meal for a day full of travel. Then we went home and went to a neighbor's house to hang out. It literally ended up turning up into a club, it was hilarious and very impressive haha. I went home and went to bed because I was pooped. I slept in very late and felt way better. We hung out for a while in the kitchen talking, then had Sunday dinner- roast with potatoes and a million veggies. It was so delicious!! Then we went bowling, where I stunk haha but it was really fun and we got milkshakes too :) then we walked around the Titanic Quarter- the district in which the Titanic was built. It was really really cool, and then we walked around the city a bit. Belfast is a really cool city and is investing a lot into its downtown area. We got a cab home because we were tired, but we stopped at the memorial garden for those who died during the troubles. We ended up seeing it the next day in the daylight, and it was really neat. We went home and watched a movie and fell asleep. The next day we hung out and then went to Crumin Gaol- a jail from the Victorian era (which was really terrible) and was just recently closed in 1996. Ciara's aunt and uncle were both interned there, which is something to be proud of because they made a difference during the troubles. We learned a lot about the jail, and it was really intense and disturbing what went on there. The Victorian era was not good for those in trouble. It was a really cool and different experience, and a really cool way to learn about the history of the town. Afterwards we had dinner, again, delicious. Then we got ready and went out with some friends. We went to a chill Irish bar and drank. The Irish can drink haha, we had a lot of fun. We came home and drank a bottle of wine and hung out, then crashed and slept in. We hung out the next day until I had to leave. It was sad to say goodbye, but I was so glad I had the opportunity to come- I thought I'd never see Ciara again after freshman year in high school, let alone get to meet her family and see her hometown. I had a great time with them and was really really glad I went to see them, they are very fun, extremely kind-hearted people and I was so happy to get to spend time with them :)