Back to Ireland and the UK

Being in Ireland a second time has been a very different and enriching experience. I wasn't sure when I would get the opportunity to be back here, but I am glad it was now. While it wasn't that many years ago it feels particularly like a long time. So much has happened since 2010 and I am in a completely different place and mind set. To start I'm out of undergraduate and am in a master's program . Second, after living in Australia there are a lot of little things I realized I learned while being there and being abroad again has been extremely easy. In slight contradiction however this trip has had some serious challenges for me. The main one would be that I have never traveled with a group. Most of my adventures have been by myself or maybe with one friend for a time, usually Makenna. I never realized that detail so wholly has shaped my experiences. Being in a group so big is a huge challenge. You have so many other opinions, feelings, and needs to consider instead of just my own. And while I have gotten lonely at times in my travels, I was able to appreciate how important it is to have my own space and time to enjoy where I am alone. Don't get me wrong that my group is great and there are some benefits to having lots of people. I have just observed a lot about myself in this trip.

The trip itself has been awesome though. The academic line up was enlightening,informative, and unique. In Belfast we got some personal tours and very interesting academic lectures. That was a bit surreal being back where I had lived and looking at everything with such a different perspective. After two days in Belfast we headed to Derry, where last time I had only gone for an afternoon. This time around I absolutely fell in love with the city. It's charm and history were so personal and the city itself is beautiful. The events we had while in this city were amazing. We started off with just getting to enjoy the city and getting an afternoon to ourselves which was probably the only day we got to do that. Then the next day we started our full days beginning with attending the university of Ulster where we sat in lecture with the students of there peace and conflict studies. This was pretty cool because we broke up into groups to discuss issues around Northern Ireland and we got a chance to hear some local opinions. My group was actually pretty quiet so I didn't get as much out of it as some of my classmates but it was still cool. After that it was lunch but we had all agreed we wanted to spend part of our lunch hour doing a museum of the Apprentice Boys, who are a Protestant organization that actively remembers their past and still participates and runs huge parades every year that are a serious point of contention within the community. Everyone wanted to try and eat together again which I knew was a horrible idea if we were trying to get to this place within a half an hour, so I broke off and stopped a cafe by myself. I ended up getting a delicious tomato, basil, pesto panini and hardly had to wait in line. I got my sandwich and went and sat on a bench close to where we were meeting so I would be on time. Of course no one else was there. I hate my lunch and waited a good twenty minutes past when we had agreed to meet, and around 25 minutes the group started wondering up. I wanted to say I told you so so badly, but I just held my tongue and was happy I had chosen a different route for lunch.

The Apprentice Boys was kinda weird..they were essentially old men who were still celebrating an ancient war battle all dressed up and everything. It was interesting in the fact that if did give you a sense of how the protestants feel about the city of Derry but it was kinda boring and I was happy when it was over. Once we were done there we did a short tour of the walls around Derry. We had a great guide who told super interesting stories and was pretty animated. We got lucky with the weather and even some sun shined through that day. Unfortunately I was so exhausted by this point in the day. I literally felt like I was sleeping on my feet. And we weren't done yet. After the tour on the walls we walked down to the Bogside (the Catholic side of the city) where we got to see the Bloody Sunday Museum. I think this museum was one of the things we did that had the most impact on everyone. It was so personal and clear of the pain that had been inflicted on the community that we all really responded to it. In particular, at the end of the small exhibit there was a letter from the official head of the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) written to a family of one of those murdered on that day. The letter was so vulgar and profane. It called the man a traitor, low life, and a cunt. It told his family they deserved nothing and should know he was rotting in hell. That is just a simplistic summary but you can grasp the intensity and hatred that that letter encapsulated. It was powerful. After that we were free for the evening. I think this was the night that I stayed in. I went and ate dinner with everyone and then decided I needed a night to just relax. The previous night we had all gone out to this super awesome bar called Sandinos and it had been a blast. I knew the second night would just be a repeat and I was so exhausted I just needed some time to recuperate. The bar btw was a super republican bar, with some amazing art and messages on the wall. Support for Palestine was all over, and many other leaders around the world who support rebel movements. it was frikking cool. 

The next day was our last full day and it started off with a visit to the police services of Northern Ireland which was probably the first or second favorite or everyone. We met a police officer named Robin there and we got some intense stories. It was super cool to see the whole place, it had been designed and reinforced to sustain bombs and all sorts of attacks. We got to see their armored police vehicles and to make it real, they had not been allowed to take a non armored car out for patrol in two weeks. That is how real the danger still is. Add in he said he never takes the same route to and from work, never goes to the same grocery store. People still actively target police officers there and its such a crazy thought when you assume its a "post-conflict" zone. That was one of the best parts of the trip for me. Robin was extremely likable and he answered all sorts of questions. It also gave us an institutional lens on the conflict. I was super sad when we had to go, I wanted more time there. After that trip we went to this NGO called the Pat Finucane Center, which was actually kinda boring..there job was to help gain justice for victims who died in the conflict, but the speakers weren't very interesting and we were all ready for lunch. Ate lunch at this cafeteria place that was super cheap, 5 quid for the win. After that we had our last big thing that is probably the tie for the favorite. We got to meet the Bogside Artists. When I was in Derry before, we had tried to meet them but had gotten there too late in the afternoon. In addition, this time all three were there! The third was visiting from Australia where he has been living. How cool huh?  So the Bogside Artists are these three local guys who came up with this idea to paint these murals along the main road to represent the experience of normal people. No guns or paramilitaries like everywhere else..this was about the lived experiences of that community. We got a narration for each of the murals that made it so personal. The last half of the tour was done by the artist Tom. He was this short little hippy guy who was honest, simplistic and straightforward. He really shared his life with us.. One story he shared was of the mural with a small child as the center. The girl was a childhood friend of his, and had been his first kiss. She was murdered when she left class to grab some rocks for a class project for no reason. It was intense to hear and these guys were not scripted. it was real and extremely memorable for me. 

After the artists we were free again for the night. We all ate together one last time and then almost everyone decided that going to bed would be a good idea considering we had to be up at 4am to get on the bus to head to the airport. It was only 8:30 when we finished dinner which I knew was too early for me to go to sleep so my friend Drew and I decided to go on a nice walk to get some ice cream. I think this would also fit in my top five moments of the trip. We just walked around the whole city for about an hour, in a light sprinkle talking. Recapping the trip, our likes, dislikes, things we took away. It was just a perfect way to end the trip. It brought me back to what I used to do with Tivoli as a kid and it was super enjoyable. Add in that the city was beautiful all lit up at night. 

Unfortunately 4am did come however, and we call piled on the bus to sit for a three hour bus ride to Dublin. I couldn't sleep at all so that is actually where I got the inspiration to try and write this blog. We checked in, to wait another three hours and I will tell you sitting in airports really can get old. Luckily I was still strangely wide awake even though I hadn't slept at all on the bus. I did pass out once on the plane and felt like I had slept for hours when we finally landed. I was glad to get home and even more excited when I landed because I went and picked up my stuff from the city and got to move into my new place. By the end of the day Saturday I was exhausted by 8pm. It was a great trip though with plenty of ups and downs but it was so wonderful to get the chance to be abroad again even if just for that short time. Until my next adventure.