Monday July 12th: Long day spent at school, studying hard! Imagine that! Margo (my host mom) had another student come into our house. Sara from Saudi Arabia. She wasn't studying here, just on holiday with her family and they decided to stay with locals. She was really sweet. It was funny because during the previous weekend we had a German woman come stay with us. So at this point I had a Spanish sister Encarna (14), a German sister/auntie Anna (mid 50s), and now Sara my Saudi Arabian sister (22). That evening I took Sara out with my friend Cassie and her Irish host brother Darragh. We went down to Killieny Beach and then walked home. We walked right past Bono's house and took many photos! Sadly all we could see was the gate. Bummer.
Tuesday July 13th: Class all day again! But a fun evening! We went out to Dublin to the Tivoly Theater to see the Irish play "The Matchmaker" It was wonderful! A two person (man and woman) show where those two play all of the characters. It's about an elderly Irish gentleman (kind of a scoundrel) who plays matchmaker for all the neighboring towns. It follows the romantic antics of about 10 characters. Very funny and lovely to see in Ireland. Rich with accents. After the play we headed out as a group to a pub. We went to a pub called The Quays (said the Keys) in Temple Bar. There was a wonderful band playing! Two young men who played guitar, bagpipe type pipes though a bit different, flute, and sang. They played Irish music, but also American with a rich Irish twist!! Wonderful! After everyone else left, the intern/mentor for our group Kristin (24) and I stayed out late to watch the band. Afterwards the two boys from the band chatted with us and we went out to another pub with them. They were very nice, both named Daniel. One was Scottish and one Irish. They told me I looked very Scottish which was fitting since my roots sand in Bonnie Scotland! Then we got Indian food with them at about 3am! Oh the joys of city life in Dublin! Everything is open so late! Even on a Tuesday! Then Kristin and I caught a cab home, just in time to see the sun begin to rise over the Irish Sea! A long night indeed but so worth it! One of the best nights of my time here in Ireland. Amazing music, great company, and delicious food!
Wednesday July 14th: Quite sleepy all day because of our late night out! Never the less made it into Dublin around 9 am! Our group went to the Irish Film Institute where we had a private showing of "The Commitments" This is a classic Irish film from the 90s. It's about a ramshackle band coming together to form a wonderful group. Their struggles and laughs. Great music and characters. I'd definitely recommend it! Then we had some lunch at a great pub with really beautiful seating on the roof area. Then we walked around Grafton Street to do some shopping. Grafton is the main tourist/shopping street in Dublin. It's all closed off from cars and there are amazing street performers and artists always. We went in some great shops. I got a really cute flowered blue dress. I love it! That afternoon we went to the Irish Parliament. It was very interesting and full of history and politics. Obviously. The most eventful occurrence was at the end when one of the Irish senators accidently hit me in the head with a roundabout swinging door. It hurt but I was fine! He told me kindly to take any complaints to the house! I laughed but my head did hurt quite bad! That night we all went home, got some rest and did some homework!
Thursday July 15th: Day of class. I did a presentation for my Irish Literature class about the story "Niall of the Nine Hostages" a classic Irish myth. Thursday night was wonderful! We got all dressed up and went down to Bray. Bray is a seaside town a little bit south of Dun Laoghaire. There are a lot of nice pubs, bars, and clubs right on the seafront. Prices are much cheaper than in Dublin. It was pouring rain so we took a taxi to Bray. There was a Kings of Leon tribute band called Knights of Leon. They were playing right outside on the seafront and all the bars had outdoor seating open with heat lamps and umbrellas so everyone could comfortably watch the band out of the rain. It was a great night with a bunch of the students and some Irish kids too. We went to a really fun club called Eclectic and danced the night away!
Friday July 16th: Big adventure to Belfast! 10 of us students (Shelley, Carolyn, Matt, Aaron, Shannon, Cassie, AJ, Matt, our intern Kristin, and myself) got up bright and early and jumped on a bus to head up to Belfast! Everyone was a bit nervous about us going up to Northern Ireland. There had been a car bombing and an attack on a train earlier in the week but our professors and host parents said we'd be ok if we stuck together and stayed in main tourist areas. I have to say before I go on that I am so glad we went! It was one of my favorite experiences of the trip! When we arrived in Belfast we headed first to our hostel. I have to admit, it was a bit sketchy. Luckily we were all in a room together and we all had a good laugh and just grinned and bared it. It makes for a wonderful memory even if i was a bit dirty and loud and strange. We went out shopping at a big beautiful mall in Belfast called Victoria Square (after Queen Victoria). I convinced the group to go to a Chinese Buffet which only cost 7 pounds and was quite delicious and fancy! I was so happy, I'd been craving Chinese food as any of you who know my food habits would not be surprised by! On a note, we had to convert our money into British Sterling Pounds for the weekend because as you may know, Northern Ireland is a separate country than the Republic of Ireland (where I'm living). And N. Ireland is still ruled by the British crown. More on that later on... After lunch we got in the Black Taxi tour taxis. Let me explain: The Black Taxi's are old school British type Taxi's with two rows of seats facing each other in the back. The Black Taxi's are all over Belfast but this particular type is a tour group. The Black Taxi's take groups to a Protestant area and a Catholic area. They show you areas of conflict and where much of the "troubles" (as they call them) went on between 1969- and the early 1990s. Mind you, some troubles are still going on. It's definitely still a divided place. Our group divided into two groups of five in the taxi's and our drivers followed each other. It was great because one of our drivers was Protestant and one was Catholic so we got to hear both sides. First we went to a Protestant neighborhood. By this I mean ONLY Protestants live in this area. No Catholics. Protestants are loyalists, loyal to the British Crown and want to remain under British rule. There are British flags (Union Jacks) everywhere. This area holds some of the most famous murals in Belfast. They include history of Ireland, protestant heroes, but also violent images like the Balaclava gunmen of the Protestant army.
We then headed out of the Protestant area and over to a Catholic area. On the way we stopped at the "Peace Wall" This wall, is one of many (over 40) in the city. It is about 40-50 feet tall with wire and fencing on the top. It is artfully graffti-ied and everyone who comes by writes a message on it. It was put up 20-30 years ago to place a barrier between two heavily feuding Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods. Even after most of the turmoil died down, they chose to leave the wall up, saying it was a landmark of Belfast. This may be true, but it also shows how truly divided Belfast still is. Our cab drivers told us that recently in a survey of kids our ago (18-25) 70% said they had never had a meaningful conversation with someone of the opposite religious background. That was so shocking to me. The wall was very interesting and I felt very thoughtful while there. Serious and a bit haunted. We all wrote a message on the wall, along side the likes of the Dalai Lama and Bill Clinton.
Next we went into a Catholic neighborhood right behind the Peace Wall. There are honestly cages on the backs of all the houses and all the windows are made of thick plastic, not glass. This is to protect from any bricks or worse being thrown over the wall. The Catholics are Nationalists and want Northern Ireland to be part of the Republic of Ireland as it's own country free from British rule. The IRA (Irish Republican Army) are on the Catholic side. Mind you there has been severe violence on both sides. It is certainly a mutual fight and retaliation cycle.
At the end of the tour we headed to another area of murals. The experience in the Black Taxi tours was amazing. I learned so much I can't believe it. It was haunting, shocking, and so interesting. Our drivers were wonderful. It was one of the best things I did on the trip. I really got to see how divided Northern Ireland still is. I felt empathy and understanding for both sides, Protestant and Catholic. But in the end I just wish for a peaceful future for Northern Ireland and Belfast. This is pretty far off, but I just hope that people will begin to realize that fighting is solving nothing, and living in the past is just wasting time.
I promise I will finish writing about the rest of my trip asap! I'm so sorry to be such a flaky blogger! I've just been so busy having adventures that I forget to write them down! I really must go pack for Scotland and England now! Leaving to backpack in 12 hours. Love to all. Thank you for reading! XOX-J
Travel, RECREATION
ReplyDeleteDO YOU WANNA GO FOR A TRIP WITH YOUR FAMILY? WE ARE PROVIDING GOOD PACKAGES WITH EXCITING PLACES. SO GO AHEAD AND CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR FREE AND ENJOY YOUR TRIP WITH YOUR FAMILY.
HAVE A NICE JOURNEY
THANQ