After the initial confusion and running about, I told myself I would wait to post about arriving to Belfast until it felt like Belfast. By that, I mean, when the weather felt like Belfast weather. I arrived on 10 September, and it is now 30 September. It has just now rained. 20 days of unseasonably dry and rather warm weather; it has varied considerably between wool-coat-and-scarf weather and short-sleeved weather.

As I said, I arrived on the 10th, and everything has been rather crazy from then on out. My mother and Aunt Deb in tow, we checked into our hotel and set off to explore Belfast. Unfortunately, the hotel was nowhere near the QUB campus, so much of that exploring isn't worth anything for me now.

However, we did go see Giant's Causeway, the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, Dunluce Castle, Carrickfergus Castle, the Bushmill's Distillery, the reservoir in the Mourne Mountains, and a bit of Dublin for the fun of it. I managed to get some good pictures of the fun.

I checked into my room at QUB on the 14th and actually moved into it on the 16th, when Mum and Deb left to go back to the States. It's small, and I don't really care for the people I've met who live in the hall. It'll do until December/January. At least I have my own bathroom.

I've also met my Fulbright mentor, who is absolutely fabulous. I have since learned that I was the only Fulbrighter who even knew we had mentors, let alone had spoken to and met mine. He took us out to dinner one night after a walk by the water. He also took us out to the Mourne Mountains, which is where some of those great pictures were taken.

I did the international orientation for QUB and officially enrolled in my program. Like I assumed, I am not taking any classes. I do have to participate in something called the Postgraduate Skills Training Programme, which has courses in honing skills such as networking, academic assertiveness, personal marketing, and even Powerpoint. There are also some interesting ones like "Doing it All: Academic Careers for Women (Being a Woman in a Male Environment)". We have to log 30 hours (10 of which have to be practical use) over the three year program. Not too bad at all.

I met two members of my cohort during international orientation. After returning from London (which gets its own entry, lest you think I've ignored my Fulbright orientation all together), we had a department meet and greet. I got to meet the rest of my cohort, as well as the staff/faculty, the MA cohort, and the research fellows.

My UK bank account is set up, and I have received all the information about it. However, I have come to the realization that there is no Citibank nor any of its affiliates here in Belfast, which makes actually banking rather difficult. I think I'm going to open another account with Ulster Bank since there is a branch just by campus. I don't know what to do with the Citibank account, though; I already told QUB they could take my tuition out of there. I might could get that changed, but I'll have to wait until I actually have another account and all the details before I could follow through with it.

I've ventured out in the town a bit, but not too much on my own. When I got back from London, I discovered that I have shingles. It makes me really tired, and so does the medicine I've been given. I'm trying not to let it get to me too much, but it is really depressing that I have to come down with something when I finally am here and settled.

On the upside, I'm pretty sure I'm buying a TV and the whole set-up for me to watch shows and movies and play my games. I also bought an adaptor for my Wii because the little blips in the video and audio were freaking me out a little. Besides the fact that I definitely need to tidy up the room a little (everyone gives me paperwork!), Belfast is starting to feel a bit like home.

Who am I kidding? That makes it exactly like home.