Last week, we left early Thursday morning for Northern Ireland. Before the trip, we were told not to talk about politics outside of the field trip setting. We first went to Parliament and heard a member from each of the four political parties talk about their views. One of the women had been arrested during the political unrest and imprisoned for ten years. I found myself agreeing most with the Unionist speaker, but I knew it was only because he was a suave talker.
After that, we went on a tour of the murals in Belfast. The violent images are shocking to see so publicly. I couldn't imagine growing up around such turmoil. Even though the violence has ended, people still have very strong opinions and reactions to the events, because they are still so recent. There are still "peace walls" throughout the city that are closed every night, keeping the Catholic and Protestant communities separate.
That night, we stayed at the least-nice hostel I've been to so far. 18 girls in one room. You can imagine how I only got 4 hours of sleep. There was also a group of 52 students from England, they were all Australian, New Zealand, and South Africans, and it was interesting to meet them, but they partied too hard for us.
The next day, we headed to Giant's Causeway along the coast. A volcano erupted and the way the ash and lava cooled, allowed the stones to form vertically, resulting in hills that have stepping-stone like rocks all along them. The water comes right up and crashes over the rocks--the view was spectacular (stalk my facebook).
Afterwards, we went to Derry and embarked on a similar walking tour. Again, the images were disturbing.
I'm glad for the opportunity to go to Northern Ireland and talk to some people from the area. The shame is that we couldn't talk about politics at the pub to get a feel for how people really felt, but I broke the rules and brought it up to one man, but still, people are reluctant to say how they feel-- they change the subject or avoid the question.
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