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I had only planned on staying in Belfast for two nights but ended up staying four, I loved it! The hostel I stayed at was like staying in a sketchy frat house. Luckily the people I was bunked up with were amazing so the fact that we had to run around the hostel to test all the showers for one that had hot water, or to find some toilet paper as there was none in any of the bathrooms didn't bother me as much as it could have haha.
 
The first day we went on a Black Taxi Tour which was fantastic. We had Walter as our driver and he has been doing the tours from the start since around 1995. At first his thick Northern Irish accent was difficult to understand over the speaker in the taxi but eventually we sorted it out. On the tour the drivers give you the history of Belfast and how Northern Ireland came to be and the continuing turmoil. They take you to places you may not normally go on your own to various murals, walls, buildings and memorials around the city. Our driver told us that things were not as bad as they use to be but the day I was leaving Belfast I read in the paper about about a bombing the night before in the East end of Belfast and another in Derry (Londonderry) another town that we had visited on our Giants Causeway tour, really makes you think. 
 
Around Belfast Victoria University's Botanical gardens are beautiful, as well as city hall, and victoria mall, an open air mall with a dome that you can climb to the top of and get a 360 view of Belfast city, its amazing! Another great thing about Belfast is the taxi drivers. Every time you get into a taxi you get a warm greeting and history lesson. It is amazing how proud their are of their city and know so much about its history...its almost a little embarrassing as I know so little about our history in comparison.
 
 
We went on a tour up to the Giants Causeway wich is a collection of cylinder shaped rock formed by lava a long time ago. Or there is the story of the shy Irish giant that built a rock bridge to get over to Scotland to meet a lady. He did and brought her back to Ireland with him but another fellow also interested in the same lady followed them over to Ireland to fight for his woman. So I guess the story goes that the lady and the giant scared the Scottish fellow so bad that he took off back to Scotland pulling up the rock bridge behind him and so now the causeway is all that remains.
 
I also spend a day on the hunt for a Chapel per request of my mom/a work college of her's as his great grandparents were married there. The information that I was given was Dunloy Chapel in Ballymoony County in Northern Ireland...right haha. So between catching buses, missing buses and taking a taxi I eventually made it there and had a good wander inside and out. It was more modern looking than I expected but a cute little church indeed. It is circular, has amazing acoustics and is surrounded by beautiful green country side dotted with small villages and farms. It was a good day of exploration. It was actually really fun to have a mission on a trip!