As week 5 comes to a close, I would say, hands-down the Northern Ireland Weekend Trip has taken the top spot for my favorite so far! But lets not get too far ahead of ourselves, and start with the recap before leaving bright and early on Saturday morning.
This past Wednesday was picture day at Financefair! As mentioned last week, the marketing team is working very hard to update the website, and with that comes new photos! I loved the picture I got and now I get to even take newcomer photos tomorrow with all the new American and Irish employees!
Sidebar, I have been meaning to say this for a couple weeks now, but I kept on forgetting to mention about the difference between bottle caps here in Ireland compared back to the states! This is to mostly reduce litter in the EU, and on the bright side, helps one not lose their bottle caps. At first, I kept ripping them off, thinking the bottle had an issue with it, but after some concerned looks from my coworkers, I had it figured out! In all honesty, I like it constantly attached rather than separate, definitely one less thing to lose!
On Thursday, Financefair had its All Hands meeting! These meetings tend to happen at the start of a new month to celebrate and go over the accomplishments and workings of the prior month! It is a gathering of both in-person and virtual workers to celebrate another month together as a family! After our meeting we had headed out to the Founder’s District (early) Fourth of July bbq, where they had a grill out and some drinks for all of the workers! There were games such as “Guess that American tune” where you could win 2 bottles of wine and some chocolate. As much as I tried… I was absolutely obliterated by the competition.
This past week, my intern coworkers and I started to hang out outside of the work environment, and I could not be more grateful for that! I was able to meet so many new people and make some great friends from different states in America!
But let’s get to the main part, Belfast and Derry! In my short time in Belfast, I had gained the best hospitality from the locals than I ever had so far in this trip! Starting out strong with my tour guide for the Black Taxi tour, it was a perfect mix of informative but also funny (actually leaning more towards the funny side). It was filled with many laughs and even ended with recommendations from him to the four of us in the car with him, such as where to eat and to visit The Dirty Onion and Thirsty Goat for a couple drinks. While out in Belfast, I was able to meet amazing locals who not only helped us with directions but also showed us around the city and some Belfast spots that locals found to be the best for a Saturday night.
In Derry, while I was able to see the mural of the Derry Girls… I was finally able to try Chinese food, and it did not disappoint! Their chow mein noodles tasted like the ones back home and the salt and chili chicken with curry was actually amazingly good. While I did not get my spice bag, I PROMISE I will get it this week!
As many beautiful sights filled the weekend at places such as the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge, Giant’s Causeway, and even Sheepdog at Glaneshane, where I was able to hold a baby sheep in my arms! I can’t wait to see what more Ireland has for me in the shop!
