After a slow October that left me feeling discouraged and unproductive, I’m writing this blog post as the happiest and most fulfilled I’ve felt in months. I spent quality time with friends both new and old and had some lovely new experiences that left me feeling proud to call Bournemouth home for this chapter of life. 

Toward the end of October I was feeling unmotivated and overall easily critical of Bournemouth. Life was beginning to lose its color, and I wasn’t feeling like myself. I needed a refresher, and a weekend trip to Belfast was just that for me. 

As soon as I met my dear friend Adam in the Belfast International Airport, I felt as though I had ascended into another plane of existence; I felt alive again. The drive into central Belfast felt both familiar and exciting; I had forgotten how much I love the Irish landscape—the harshness and wildness of it, the way everything is poetic, from the mist hovering above the hills to the rich green of the plains. It was as vibrant as I’ve seen a place in early November, each tree bursting with life and color. I was squealing with excitement, chatting and reminiscing with Adam as if there hadn’t been two and a half years of separation between us. 

My friend Adam and I outside my old flat

Stranmillis Road near Queen’s University, a very special place to me

Later Adam and I met up with my friend Eleri, who is pursuing her Lumos project in Belfast, and the three of us took a trip down memory lane, walking around Queen’s University and Elms Village where I lived in the spring of 2022. That day was probably my favorite day of the year, and maybe one of my favorite days ever. 

I felt an overwhelming sense of peace, like when you’re back in your hometown on Christmas Eve and your mom bakes you cookies and everything feels still for a moment. I felt at home, with the people who make me feel most myself. My favorite moment of the trip was when Eleri, Adam, and I were sitting around Adam’s dining room table, drinking tea (Adam remembered I take mine with milk and no sugar) and we were talking about what freaks we are. We shared laughs, wrote a song together (about cortados and oat milk), and I felt so known and understood after two months of feeling like a stranger everywhere I go.

Eleri, Adam and I goofing off in the Botanic Gardens

Every other time I’ve returned to a place that’s been so special to me—almost sacred—I’ve felt a sort of emptiness that comes with revisiting the same place in a different time. This trip couldn’t have been more different. I’d never experienced fall in Belfast, and it felt so fitting to see it in a way I hadn’t before: bursting with reds and oranges, overcast and thick with fog—just how I like it—so full of personality and quirk and pains of the past. I felt only gratitude and immense pride that I’ve been able to love a place over different periods of time and different versions of myself. 

The Lagan Meadows, perhaps my favorite spot on Earth

As the weekend came to a close, Eleri asked me, “How are you going to romanticize Bournemouth?” It was the right question to ask after such a weekend; this kind of happiness should not be reserved for a select few places—it should flow freely in the way that I approach every day. I think I needed to be reminded of how joyful I can feel so I’m less distant from it in the future. 

When I got back to Bournemouth, I had the most wonderful night playing my first ever full-band show, and nearly everyone I knew in Bournemouth attended. I felt so dang grateful that I was doing what I loved most in a city I’ve come to appreciate with people I can call my friends.

Next time, I promise I’ll actually talk about work and the reason I’m here! But I do believe my magical little weekend in Belfast gave me a new perspective and a new wave of energy to bring to my role in the charity as I move forward.

My band in Bournemouth

See!! Bournemouth can be beautiful!

Liz x