A day filled with acronyms...

Today we awoke well rested and ready to go! Our first stop was the Northern Ireland Commission for Children and Young People, known to many as NICCY. We knew this place was geared to youth due to the bright colors, drawings on the wall and bean bag chairs in the lobby. We met with Laura a participation officer in the department. NICCY's main goal is to promote the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, also known as UNCRC. Laura posed a few questions to us regarding our knowledge of the UNCRC, she also gave us a few workshops to practice our recent learning of the rights. This really helped our group get a better feel for NICCY and the work that they do.

After NICCY we all broke into groups and experienced the city which was HOT and filled with marvelous sunshine. Some of us went on a Titanic tour, City Hall tour, shopping, and others just enjoyed the beaming beautiful scene that is daily life in lively Belfast. You know what they say time flies when you’re having fun, that wasn’t the case for us, our fun carried on well into the night as we headed out to Corpus Christi Youth Center for dinner and round two of freaky fast fun Wednesday!

At CCYC we got to talk with youth form all over Northern Ireland and England. We were a little nervous about just jumping in and talking to them, but once a conversation started the time just flew. We hung out, played football (soccer), pool, and danced. The youth were really great and easy to talk to once we found out we had similar interests. We talked about school, family, music, etc. Before we knew it our time was up and we had to go. Many of us wanted to stay longer and chat.