Fight Like A Viking

Early Sunday morning a few from our group went to mass while the rest had a lie in, hoping to catch up on a little sleep after our busy week knowing the next was to be even busier. As those who went to mass arrived back and those who'd slept in were getting breakfast and preparing for Dr. Tim to pick us up. It was a quieter morning as everyone was still waking up, most of us getting ready with headphones in listening to music as food was eaten and quiet conversations took place. This didn't last long as Dr. Tim picked us up and quickly had us singing along to some tunes occasionally interrupting to impart information or a backstory on things we passed along the way to Belfast, as usually he was a wealth of information about the history and culture of the area.

We all began to wake up and by the time we reached St. George's market were ready to head inside and explore, after finding somewhere to park (not easy in a big people carrier) we headed to the market. Dr. Tim had to meet with a friend so he gave us some time to explore on our own, and after a walk around the market making purchases for friends and family at home. We of course picked up a few things for ourselves, Katherine (Milwaukee) decided to start a traveling coaster collection with one perfectly reminiscent of our trip, Alexis (Albany) found the perfect necklace for a Game of Thrones fan and I found a lovely little Claddagh ring with a deep blue stone for the heart! We decided to walk around outside and explore a little of Belfast near the market, delicious smoothies in hand we set out. Arriving back just in time for me to grab a quick latte and sausage roll to enjoy while we walked to the car with Dr. Tim.

St. George's market in Belfast, is one of the oldest attractions in built between 1890 and 1896. It boasts itself to be one of the best markets in Ireland and the UK, and there has been a market on this site since 1604; over 400 years! Sunday's are a mix of the Friday variety market and Saturday Food and Craft's, as you walk in you are immediately immersed in a variety of sounds and smells. Walking around you can find souvenirs aimed at tourists, local craft venders boasting everything from decorated wine bottles to Game of Thrones themed jewelry! There were goods and books for sale, hats and scarves hanging from booths; and at the very heart of the market food and drink venders selling tasty treats to enjoy while listening to live local artists.

On the ride from Belfast to the Magnus Vikings, who had invited us to come "train" for the day to learn how to be viking warriors; Dr. Tim didn't quite approve of our Disney selections and thought we needed music to help us get into the Viking spirit. Changing the music to tunes guaranteed to pump us all up we quickly began to sign along getting in the mood as we raced around winding country roads; we must have been a sight as our big people carrier(big 10 passenger van) rolled up to the home base of the Vikings "Eye of The Tiger" blasting we all tumbled out still singing. To be welcomed quickly by a group of people twists and beads adorning beards and despite the jeans and tshirts you knew these were the vikings. A mixture of viking enthusiasts and those who can trace their ancestry back this group of locals gets together to train and learn; they often can be found demonstrating and local events to teach others about viking culture. As we walked up we were greeted by a man who was quick to offer joke..what started as a sad story about his cat being hit by car had us all going from "oh no" to chuckles as he added "it was that hard to bury him as he kept jumping out". It was at that point we knew we were in for a great afternoon; as we started with some warm up games we quickly discovered some of us weren't quite up to Viking fitness! Before we knew it we had shields and spears in hand learning to form a "shield wall" to keep out advances such as arrows from the enemy.

It's a very intense experience heart racing as you crouch down hoping everyone else has their shield in place waiting for the "thunk" of an arrow. Adrenaline still pumping we moved on to fighting an opponent with a spear, we'd learned that in a battle you would "partner" up with another warrior to over power enemies but for the purposes of today we'd be fighting one on one. It was definitely not as easy as they made it look!

After helping to remove a tree that had fallen in the river behind their home, and unfortunate run in with some stinging nettle for me; we headed back to the house for tea. They had laid out a beautiful table for us, elder-flower sparkling water (we were told goes great with gin), tea, and a wonderful spread of scones, chocolate squares, fresh strawberries and of course fresh cream and jam to go with them. It was wonderfully delicious and very refreshing after our training, we also had the chance to practice our axe throwing;

I hit the target first try! Of course before we left we had to get dressed up and demonstrate our skills, wool pinned with traditional brooches, chain mail heavily falling from our helmets we picked up our shields and weapons before following our viking commands to form a shield wall.

The drive back to Downpatrick was filled with excitement as we talked about the afternoon and commented on the sore muscles sure to follow in the morning. The car ride quickly turned into karaoke as we each took turns choosing songs, Dr. Tim shaking his head as we all burst into a impassioned rendition of Mulan's "I'll Make A Man Out Of You" hyped up from our afternoon spent fighting like a viking. Instead of the Young Ambassador house we had Dr. Tim drop us off at the grocery store as we needed to get some "Fairy Liquid" (a popular brand of dish soap) to tackle the mountain of dishes we had from dinner and breakfast! Of course we also took the opportunity to stock up on other food and sweets to hopefully last us the week. Put six collage-age young people together in a house and the food goes quickly! It was a quick walk back to the house..with a side stop for Chinese for a few of us..and again Viking tales quickly took center stage as we put away groceries and began to eat.

Of course what Young Ambassador's night wouldn't be complete without an after dinner stop at Denvir's, laptops and notepads in hand we claimed a window table before getting to work. Chatting to each other as we wrote, trying to make sure we captured as much as possible of our experiences as we could. We began to discuss how the words and pictures shared in our blogs paled in comparison to our experiences, that we could try but we'd never quite be able to share this once in a lifetime experience we were all sharing.

As we began to put away our things and zipping our backpacks up we ran into friends we had made, and so the rest of the evening was spent in good company making the most of our time here in Downpatrick.