The best made plans...

Well, we made it back from Ireland alright on Tuesday afternoon. We left half of our group at the train station in Dublin to catch their flight to Paris, and the rest of us got on the ferry and continued back to Bangor. Once we got home, we had to move everybody's stuff to their new dorms because we have officially moved to our homes for the semester! It's nice to be in a permanent house and to feel that I can unpack and relax a little. So after tons of moving and a wonderful dinner with Tecwyn and Richard, we had a few free hours to get ready for our trip to Paris. Molly, Lucy, Shireen and I were supposed to fly out of Liverpool on Wednesday afternoon and be in Paris until Saturday morning. Everything was going as planned. We were packed and we even left campus for the train station on time! So we took the train from Bangor to Chester and changed to another train for the remainder of the trip to Liverpool. From Lime Street in Liverpool, we caught a bus to the airport. The trouble started when we got to the airport. We went to check in and find our terminal when we found out that due to air strikes in France, all flights had been canceled. So we talked with the desk people for a bit and found that our only options were to get a hotel in Liverpool and leave the next day, hopefully. That was out of the question. Our Paris trip was a bit pricey, and to lose a day would just be silly. So we opted to just not go to Paris at all. Then we had to decide what to do, stay in Liverpool, or rush to catch a train back to Bangor. We decided to spend the night in Liverpool at the Hatter's Hostel. We stayed there in Manchester, and it was good, so we hopped the bus to the other side of town and got a room for the night. All in all, the drama with Paris and things getting messed up was a good thing. I loved Liverpool! We spent that first night hanging out in the hostel and recovering from all the stress of our day. The next day we saw museums, Albert Dock, and we drank the best milkshakes ever. That night we got dressed up all cute and headed out to see what night life in Liverpool is all about. We headed back to the hostel at about 2 am this morning and had a good night sleep until the fire alarm went off this morning. But after everything we caught the train back to Bangor, and it might be nice to have a few extra days before things really get going here. Freshers week starts so soon, and the schedule for it looks crazy! I'm so pumped though to see Bangor alive with students. So maybe Paris another time, or maybe just some more random adventures in places we never expected to find ourselves...