Northern Ireland

This weekend, for our final program excursion, we traveled a lengthy distance to Northern Ireland. For those not familiar with the Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland history, Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. Following the Partition in 1921, Northern and Southern Ireland split. Northern Ireland was mainly concentrated by unionists (those who wanted to remain as part of the United Kingdom under British rule and predominantly protestant). Southern Ireland, which became the Republic of Ireland in 1922 when it was freed from British rule, was concentrated by nationalists (those who wanted a state free from Britain and predominantly catholic). More recently, Northern Ireland is home to both nationalists and unionists, with a strong majority of unionists. This difference led to what is referred to as The Troubles, which lasted from roughly the 1960s to the 1990s. It was a period of intense violence that resulted in the deaths of over 3,000 people. The peace process has since ceased the violence but the divide between nationalists and unionists is still present and was more visible than I anticipated. The history outlined above is primarily what we have all been learning here. With that background, we were really able to understand what we were looking at across the sites we visited in Northern Ireland.

We started off the weekend with a stop at Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery. It is the largest, and one of the oldest megalithic tombs in Ireland, much older than Newgrange, which we visited earlier in the semester. Since it was a wet day out in the open grassland, our tour guide kept it fairly brief and to the point.

We took a quick stop in Sligo for lunch before continuing our long ride up North. That night we arrived at our hotel with enough time to eat and hit the hay. Who knew sitting on a bus for 6+ hours could make someone so tired. We were about 45 minutes outside Belfast so there wasn't much around for us to do anyway.

On Saturday we hit the road again bright and early, heading toward Belfast. We picked up our tour guide, an exuberant middle aged woman who offered us a historical timeline of the city as well as her own humorous remarks. Although I certainly didn't enjoy it as much as the Game of Thrones fans in the group since her knowledge of that and its filming in Belfast nearly surpassed that of her knowledge of the city, she was a great tour guide. Stops included Belfast Castle, Shankill, the Peace Wall, and Wall Murals. Our tour guide pointed out the gates that divide the nationalist areas from the unionist areas. All the gates are closed at night and on the weekends except for the main one. Nearly every street and building is lined with murals shouting political and religious statements. They scream with pain of the divide and troubles that this area once violently faced, and still faces to a minimal degree. We all had the chance to sign the Peace Wall, which was put up to divide the two groups as part of the peace process.

Separation gates

International wall of murals

Peace Wall

Left my mark on the Peace Wall

We had some time to explore Belfast and get some food before hopping back on the bus for another few hours to get to Derry, where we stayed the night. Our accommodation has gotten increasingly better for each excursion. This one was no exception. We had real people sized showers! A nice dinner was provided for us by the hotel. We finished the night off in the lounge listening to some sub-par music and pool with Thomas, our program director.

Sunday we headed into the city of Derry for a walking tour of the Derry City Wall. Derry is the only city in Ireland still completely walled in. The walls were built in the early 1600s as defense walls that are now used as a walkway around the inner city. Derry is also known as the location that The Troubles began with the Battle of the Bogside. Again here, we saw a lot of murals on the sides of buildings. However, rather than spitting out political proclamations, the majority of these are used as memorials for remembering those who lost their lives during the devastating times.

Bloody Sunday Memorial

Can you guess what we did after that? If you guessed a bus ride, you'd be right. 3 hours, a quick stop at Yeats' Grave in Co. Sligo, another 2 hours, and then we arrived back in Galway. Needless to say, I'm happy I won't be getting on that bus again partially because Ben doesn't seem to understand the you get half the seat and I get half the seat thing. Not to mention Danny's snapchats of me sleeping are less than flattering.

Northern Ireland was a very different kind of excursion than the rest. Rather than spending our weekend gazing at the luscious greenery of the country, we spent it taking a real look at the struggle and conflict that has consumed all of Ireland not just in the past, but to this day. I may not have had as much fun as on previous excursions, but my knowledge of and appreciation for the place I'm living and seeing has grown tremendously. Overall our program excursions to the Aran Islands, Dublin, Co. Cork, Co. Kerry, and Northern Ireland have been great experiences. I'm really glad we had the chance to see so much of Ireland. With that said, I'm excited for another weekend excursion outside of Ireland. Abby, Caroline, and I are headed to Prague this weekend!