Murdering Cross and Bevy Girls

Another day another article, today was a big day in the office for Down News. After our morning routine of chaos at the house and mocha's with Wifi at the St. Patrick's Centre, Jim picked us up and we headed straight to the office. We spent the morning working, after finishing up Jim's computer from what I had started on Monday, I got to work on my article for the Down News. My article was to be about myself, the Young Ambassador program and my experience with Down News; and in Northern Ireland. While I was working on my article Alexis completed some work for Jim and he completed some articles. Of course while we were working Jim routinely took the opportunity to review some aspect of what he was working on or show us a photo he had taken; I really felt immersed in the news room experience, while also gaining valuable insight into the local culture and history. Before heading to our afternoon appointment we had a "working lunch", Jim showed us the best wee sandwhich shop (Hanon's) in town. We also grabbed a coffee; which we stopped to enjoy with our sandwhichs by the river Quoile before heading to Dundrum for a word with the Chemist. This also gave me an opportunity to grab some medicine for the head cold I have managed to catch. Then it was off to the college where FM105 Down Community Radio is recorded. Jim was doing a recap of the council meeting that happened the night before, and then Colm gave Alexis and I the chance to have our radio debut! We had a fab time chatting with Colm and were of course given a wonderful cuppa before her and I excitedly...and nervously..sat down for our interview. Colm was great and the interview was just a nice chat about the program and our trip so far, it was an amazing opportunity and I'll never forget the first time I was on the radio was in CO. Down. We parted ways with Jim after the radio interview and Alexis and I stopped on the way "home" to do a bit of shopping.

Dr. Tim came by to collect us all for a drive to some significant sights along the St. Patrick's trail. Donning coats we headed out into the rain, to walk around Inch Abbey as Dr. Tim told us a bit about the history of the Abbey and layout of the ruins we could see. For those Game of Thrones fans this was a filming location for the series, and you can see why with the mist falling and breeze blowing in your ears it felt very ancient and powerful. The Church at Saul was our next stop, a small unassuming church but when you walk inside it is so very peaceful your entire body just relaxes and stops to breath. Reconstructed in 1932 to the specifications of the original plans there is only on stained glass window in the church, made by E.V. Holmes a female artist. This is very likely one of the more true to life depictions of St. Patrick, showing him in a more humble appearance without the more modern Bishops "hat" and accompanying accoutrements. After we left the church Dr. Tim was kind enough to drop me by the Patrician Youth Centre for their 7pm-10pm evening program, before taking the other Young Ambassadors back to the house.

Normally this later evening program is for the highschool students however due to one of their other programs being rained out they had younger students there as well. I spent quite a bit of time in the craft area with a group of girls decorating posters and chatting about school and their hobbies. I also got the opportunity to join in on a game of football with some of the kids..one of the lads was nice enough to say I didn't play to badly "for an American girl". Seeing how their program runs from the kids perspective was a really great way to experience the Patrician Youth Centre. On my way back to the house I stopped at the fish and chip shop to grab a chip butty and Mocha as I was pretty hungry after all the running around. Sadly I missed Love Island but everyone was keen to fill me in on what I had missed, and to be fair their acting out of the best bits was probably way funnier.

*Alexis and I also had the opportunity to go to O'Toole's today however I have decided to talk about that in a separate post, so if you'd like to read about that check out my next post.