Leaving the Republic: Northern Ireland

As I briefly mentioned in the earlier post, last weekend included a trip to Northern Ireland with the other American students. We had just finished taking two weeks of "foundations courses," which taught us about Irish history, culture and politics/economics, and this field trip really brought to life many of the concepts/events we just learned. Here's a brief itinerary of what we did!

1.) Got on the bus and drove to Belfast in Northern Ireland. Two hours later we arrived and a lovely tour guide who has lived in the city for over fifty years led us through the city and we observed Catholic and Protestant communities. There are murals all over the city depicting civil rights issues and history of the conflicts that have occurred in Northern Ireland. In addition, we saw the "peace walls" that separate the communities from each other. It's hard to believe that there is still so much prejudice and racism in so a modern society.

2.) Saw where the Titanic was built, as well as all of the other ships in the White Star Line. The ship was created in a giant hole in the ground that could be filled with water so the Titanic could be floated out to sea. There was a smaller boat that was covered in tarps that I believe helped recover some of the victims. The details and materials were the same as used on Titanic, and the boat should hopefully be restored and preserved soon! Next year, 2012, is the 100th anniversary of the maiden (and unfortunately last) voyage of Titanic, and there's a beautiful new museum being built to commemorate it. The Belfast community is proud of the famous ship, despite her ill-fated life, and say "Titanic was fine when it left Belfast!" (it officially sailed from Southhampton, England!)

3.) Checked into our hotel, then a group of us explored a bit and found a wonderful restaurant that served the best fish and chips I've ever tasted. The crust on the fish was light and flaky and we put vinegar on our "chips." I was full for hours, but obviously later when we saw a cupcake store we had to stop for dessert and I got a Nutella one...heaven!

4.) Danielle, Elise, Sarah and I explored downtown Belfast and went into the ornate town hall and took in the scenery close to our hotel. We went into a mall that has a viewing point where you can see the entire city and climbed up to the top! The sun was just setting as we arrived and the silhouettes of the spires, buildings and mountains were absolutely stunning as we took in the view.

5.) Following dinner in the hotel we went to the a local put that a man in the viewing tower recommended. There was an live band that plays there often which featured a fiddle, guitar and drums, I believe. They played traditional Irish music all night and we danced and dang along with the locals. It was exactly the pub experience I craved when coming here, and we 'had the craic' with all who were packed into the back room for music. My favorite songs they played were "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Galway Girl." I love the Van Morrison classic because my little sister Paula has brown eyes that make me think I'm looking into a warm cup of coffee, so that's our song! And Galway Girl was featured in PS I Love You, so of course I and any other twenty-something female love it. In the movie Hillary Swank meets her husband in Ireland when she's in college and hears him playing that song in a pub. I'm not exactly sure if that's going to happen to me, plus the band members were the age of most grandfathers so I'm not too keen on that idea either. Regardless, listening to that song and being surrounded with happy people in such a cozy, historic place made me feel so wonderfully happy I chose to come to this country. The happiness is contagious.