Northern Ireland! (Derry and Belfast)

January 24, 2010 9:10 pm

I am SO sorry that this is going to be so long but I have to describe everything!! I wrote down journal entries during my trip to Northern Ireland so I will just copy those down!

January 21, 2010 9:39 a.m. Bus
Excitement for this weekend has been with me since arriving in Dublin. That excitement has only grown since being in the foundation courses, especially politics and history and hearing the stories behind the division of Ireland into Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

This morning started out slightly stressful. Our roomate Meghan M., just got shingles and wouldn't be able to walk on this trip. We all feel awful about it. As we left our apartment with our bags loaded down the walk seemed really long but no matter how much our shoulders hurt and no matter that it was still dark at 7:30 a.m., excitement kept us going. Kristen left her travel book at the convenience store we had stopped at half way there so she had to run back. I was worried that we would be late meeting the bus but we found a lot of our classmates who were just as confused as we were. The only directions we had been given was a google map sent to us and Elizabeth's words, "It's where we met the tour bu that first day, kind of." It still amazes me how unorganized Europeans are. Or at least it appears that way to this detail oriented American. We made it to our bus on time though despite vague directions. I am now currently on a bus heading towards Northern Ireland. It is raining and the things we are supposed to do are weather permitting stops, so hopefully the rain lightens, but it's Ireland so who knows?

Entering Northern Ireland
It isn't an instant difference. It is noticeable once you get into towns. It is very colonial!

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge
I can't even begin to describe the beauty of this amazing walk. The view is breathtaking with the winds sweeping the waves towards us, the earthy masses jutting out against the angry turrents of the ocean. The wind swaying the bridge was terrifying, yet thrilling. As I took each step onto the shaky little thing I was terrified. The winds were shaking it and the waves were roaring underneath me! It is supposed to close on windy days so if that was not a windy day I have NO idea what would count as one. We could barely stand the wind was pushing us so hard! On the rocky walk back I was literally blown down the pathway. I was making no effort whatsoever to move!

Giants Causeway
I literally just proved I can do anything! The wind was terrifying here!! Despite that it is beautiful, mysterious, and wonderful. It consists of rugged rocks rising into the air out over the ocean. These mysterious rocks were formed thousands of years ago from a volcanic eruption. We climbed on the rocks and the view was amazing! On the walk back the wind was awful. We could barely move and it was raining. With the wind hitting our faces with the rain it felt like cold slaps. It was very very much worth it though despite that!

Derry
We have arrived in Derry. All of us tired, hungry, Americans piled off the bus. Kristen and I were the first to get our room assignments. We were pleasantly surprised by our hotel, it's really nice! We opened the door to our room after some minor elevator problems. Our room is good sized. One full bed and one twin bed which Kristen and I rock paper scissored for. Kristen won...A couch and two chairs and a table are set up around a tv. The bathroom is very nice as well with hot water, hallelujah!!! I thought I was in heaven while I was showering! It was hard to force myself out of it! But I am glad I did, supper was amazing! I was expecting a cold sandwich and chips. We walked into the hotel's retaurant to find 3 course menu selection on glass plates next to a roll and wineglasses. For an appetizer I got 3 huge grilled chicken strips on top of a tasty salad. For a main course i got salmon served atop mashed potatoes. We were also brought mashed turnips. I found myself actually enjoying them too! Strange I know...And then dessert! Chocolate cake! My world was then made complete. Wow..and not only was the food amazing but it was one of those places that makes the food pretty on the plate too. You don't get a lot of that in Iowa!

Tonight a lot of people are going out, but our friends are all hanging out and staying in. We have breakfast at 8, and a bus tour at 9. I love that I have friends who are perfectly ok with staying in some nights. I want to be fresh to take in all the information in the tour tomorrow...this town is so rich in history...I can't wait to hear more details and see where things took place!!

January 22, 2010 3:39 pm
Londonderry/Derry or Stroke City
The beauty of htis town is hard to describe. It holds 106,000 residents but it has that small town colonial feel! Our breakfast this morning was amazing...a buffet of Ireland's best breakfast foods!

After stuffing myself full I set out with my bus group on a walking tour of Derry. Our guide was a sweet older man, the type that you just want to hug. He spun some humor into Derry's dark and bloody but fascinating history. In two hours my attention was held the whole time while the view of Derry took my breath away. The hills rise up majestically in the distance while houses with their colonial red roofs dot them. The walls surrounding Derry are the originals and Derry is the only town in Ireland with the towering stone walls surrounding the whole thing. Tragic tales were told of the horrors of "the troubles" as Northern Irelanders say. While looking down into the bogside from the walls, or the lower part of Derry, many murals that Derry is famous for could be seen. One such mural was that of Annette. She was a 13 year old girl on her way to school who becae caught up in British crossfire and killed. Her father was so grief stricken that he went to the wall day after day, just sitting and talking to the mural erected in her memory. He recently died, but for over 20 years he went everyday to talk to her mural. The mural is titled Death of Innocence" and was made to show that the children always suffer during a conflict. Many more murals with tragedy leaking out of them were shown to us that I will explain under each picture. One mural was filled with hope and joy. It was designed by Protestant and Catholic children together! That hopeful attitude is what Derry shines with now.

On top of the wall we saw several cannons, the most mighty was nicknamed Meg. On top of one stretch of the wall many Catholic men and women used to walk to church in their best clothes. That is where the term catwalk came from. I had to strike a pose of course.

We were shown the Bloody Sunday memorial statue that held the 13 names of the dead in it. Our tour guide's father's best friend's name was carved into the stone. Within an area smaller than a football field, in less than a half hour, 13 were dead and 13 more men and women were injured. That is where our tour ended, with our sweet old tour guide pointing to the corner where a father figure to him had been shot and killed while trying to help a fallen stranger.

British soldiers claim they were shot at first and the investigator from Britian claims the same. 13 innocent people died in 1972 and the investigation, which they had in 1998 is still going on. It was promised results would be given in 2002. They then promised 2004 and so on and so on. Now they are promising March of 2010. Unfortunately, that probably won't happen or if it does, a British man has already been hired to go over the statement and take out parts if he believes it may endanger someone's life. Therefore, the kind people of Derry may never know the truth behind Bloody Sunday. They may never be able to move on past it.

After returning to the hotel, Elizabeth took us to the Free Derry Museum. It was fascinating reading the history of the place. One thing imparticular caught my eyes. It was a letter sent to the parents of a man killed on Bloody Sunday from the soldier who shot him. It was awful. It talked about how he didn't regret killing their son and used awful words to describe him. It was heartbreaking. Both owners of the museum had had a brother killed on that awful day. One man showed us bullet holes in the side of the museum from Bloody Sunday, and pointed out places where we were standing where men had died. His brother had asked to go march in the Civil Rights March which took place that day. His mother wouldn't let him, but eventually his father talked her into letting him. She stood on the balcony watching her son. She waved farewell to him, not knowing that the soldier who would eventually shoot her son was standing right below her.

After we were shown those spots, Elizabeth informed us that the McCrossan tours had called and were being filmed for the first ever documentary of Northern Ireland to promote tourism. They wanted to use our group for it. I guess I just tend to be in the right places at the right times! We went back to the memorial and the tourguide (not ours, it was the other group's one) redid that part of the tour. They filmed our group a we walked by and I couldn't help but smile into the camera. I had to refrain from screaming Go Iowa!!.

After my two seconds of fame we were taken to the community center to watch a 45 minute documentary on Bloody Sunday. It was fascinating. It was told from both sides of the story and by a Canadian so there was no biases. It's heart breaking because the poor families of the victims just want the truth, but they are being denied it again and again.

We were given two hours of free time after that. The nine of us (Meghan, Kristen, Kevin, Kevin, Brian, Corinne, Kate, Maryl, and I) went to McDonalds. It hit the spot! After walking around all day it was well deserved. We ditched Kristen and went to get her some birthday cards while Corinne and Kate took her to get sneakers. I also bought some chocolate because for some reason over here I have a constant never ending urge for chocolate! We met up with the rest of them and they peer pressured us into buying ice cream from a homemade shop. I got one huge scoop of Cherry Mania and chocolate chunks in a waffle cone for 1.5 pound! So worth it! It was amazing!

We are now on the two hour bus ride to Belfast for more adventures! We get our supper paid for tonight and then we are going out. It will be fun to see Belfast's night scene tonight and tomorrow and then see it during the day. I am now getting ready to crack open the paper Kevin C. bought and read about Obama's decisions regarding the banks. It made front page here! It's amazing how in the know Europeans are on our affairs and how unaware many of us Americans are on our own affairs let alone other country's affairs!

January 24, 2010 10:51 a.m.
We are on the bus leaving Belfast, or we will be soon. Belfast reminds me of a cleaner version of Dublin. Full of history that was ruined by the rise of modern concerete buildings. I felt very small in Belfast. The bus tour we went on yesterday morning was all about the tour guide pointing out random things, mainly pubs, and talking about them. There is literally a wall dividing the Catholics and Protestants. It is insane how people use thie religion to define and divide themselves when really it is an issue of a matter of opionion. None of my pictures turned out too hot since we were on a bus, but that's ok. We got done with the tour around 10:45 and had free time until supper at 6. We all napped until 12 then set out to find lunch. We ended up in the Victoria shopping center eating at O'Brien's mainly because it's Maryl's last name and we couldn't decide. I just had ice cream because 1) I have the worst sweet tooth here! 2) I had just gorged myself on the fabulous breakfast buffet at our hotel. After lunch we climbed spirly stairs up several flights to the very glass covered top of the mall. The view was amazing! You could see the shipyard where the Titanic was built and all the other amazing views. After climbing down and shopping a bit, we went back to the htoel to get ready for going out for Kristen's 20th birthday!

We went to a pub/dance place called The Empire and it was really fun. It was a fun interesting night to say the least!

Overall, Northern Ireland was majestic and fantastic!