Yes, I know I wrote a blog about Thanksgiving and have a picture that says Merry Christmas. But I promise the blog is really about Thanksgiving and our adventures in Belfast, including the Christmas Market.
As it does every year, Thanksgiving provided me with the opportunity to realize how fortunate and lucky I am. This year has been full of many new opportunities, friends, and experiences. It was the first Thanksgiving that I have ever been away from home. It was hard, but I am also incredibly thankful for the people here in Ireland for making it easier. On Thanksgiving, everyone in our Sport Changes Life program that could make it, traveled up to Belfast for the night. We took an early bus up from Limerick and joined some of the other Victory Scholars in Dublin for the rest of the trip up to Belfast. When we arrived in Belfast, we met up with the rest of the scholars and Sport Changes Life team. We received our SCL gear and took the time to catch up with all of the Victory Scholars. It was so nice to catch up with everyone and hear about their experiences. We went over some details for the Belfast Classic and then spent a couple hours at the Christmas Market in downtown Belfast. After that, we went to a restaurant to have a Thanksgiving dinner with our whole program. (We even had Turkey!) It was kind of weird being in a country that didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving, but SCL did an awesome job making us feel at home. My favorite part of the night was the video that SCL had put together of our family and friends wishing us a happy Thanksgiving. It was awesome to see my friends and family during their Thanksgiving at home. It was a really special moment for everyone. After the dinner, we got to enjoy a night out in Belfast with all of the Scholars before heading back to Limerick the next morning.
I am incredibly thankful to Sport Changes Life for the opportunity that they have given me this year. The Thanksgiving they provided us was amazing and really helped dull the homesickness during the holiday time. It was awesome to see everyone again and hear about all of their experiences. It was a great day and another memory to add to this amazing year! I am really looking forward to seeing all of the Victory Scholars again at the Belfast Classic!
