Long Day

Good afternoon! I'm on my lunch break in the middle of the class day. I said previously that most class days go from around 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but today is an unusually long day and we started early and won't be going home until 6 p.m. On the brighter side, the lectures we've been having are extremely interesting and we are hardly noticing the time at all. Yesterday we had a 3 hour long lecture on symbols (primarily murals) in Northern Ireland, this morning a woman spoke to us about women's role in the conflict as well as modern day NI, and this afternoon Nigel is lecturing us on the idea of "identity" and how our personal and group identity relates to how we view people. The women's role lecture was quite interesting-maternity leaves here are paid and last from 9 months to a year, abortions are illegal, and the average number of children for women is 2.5 (I think in the USA it's somewhere around 1.9, last I heard). As for the symbols lecture, the murals were all really interesting to analyze, and it was helpful to have an expert show us things we otherwise wouldn't have noticed/understood. They're good indicators of the current political status and opinion of the two religious groups, besides the fact they are usually amazing pieces of art. We're going on a field trip to Derry tomorrow and will get to see some of them first-hand. Of course I'll post pictures once I get them!

Here's an example:


All in all, I'm really enjoying the academic aspect of the trip. The days are long but we're already moving to our internships on the 27th and won't have class again until near the end of the semester. Time's going by fast! We've already seen the weather go from awful to just slightly-awful, we know our way around campus, and we've all made several Irish pals.

There was one pretty significant event from last weekend that I forgot to mention. A few of us walked to Portstewart on Saturday afternoon to grab lunch at our new favorite cafe, Morellis, and on the way home we came across a trio of young Northern Ireland lads on the street. They yelled "Are you American?" from the other side of the road, and we all casually just nodded and answered a unanimous "yes." Once we turned around and already began to forget about the encounter, I felt a painful smack on my left calf and a bunch of cheers from across the street. Sure enough, I looked down and saw a little golden yolk floating down the sidewalk. Yep, we got an egg thrown at us by children. How do you react by that? You can hardly challenge them to fight or threaten them (which I probably wouldn't do to anyone of any age). I'm just curious what you have been taught and how you form such passionate views by age 9. Kind of scary.

Northern Ireland/USA difference of the day: Everywhere the signs point to "toilet" rather than "bathroom" or "restroom". Nigel asked if we think the word "toilet" is an improper or embarrassing word and why we choose the latter, and none of us are really sure. Interesting.

Cheers :)
Karen