II: The craic begins to end

I have officially lived without internet since Monday, and I'm happy to say I did fine (minus slight shakes and a headache, of course). Luckily, our group arrived back in Coleraine last night from a week together in Dublin and now have universal communication once again. Hoorah!

This program has been amazing in giving us an in depth, accurate, and fair understanding of Northern Ireland, but I think everyone in the HECUA class would agree the trip to the Republic was vital to making it complete. The bottom line of the issue is even if N. Ireland's majority wanted a unified Ireland, it's really in the hands and decisions of the Republic. Let's just say it's common in Dublin to smile and claim you'd support a united Ireland, but when you get to discussing what that would actually mean, many aren't so sure anymore. The reality, actually, is barely anyone in the south has ever BEEN to Northern Ireland. When the topic of Belfast comes up, it's "Oh yeah, the Falls Road, yeah. You didn't go to the SHANKILL, did you?" Or, "Yeah I've heard of Derry. The Bogside, right?"
Yes, Falls Road, the Bogside...all very important places. Unfortunately that's really only half of them. AND the kicker is if you want a united Ireland, you have to take all of it, Shankill and Waterside included. And you have to make them feel welcome, give them all healthcare, and give up your weekly trip 2 miles North of the border for cheaper shopping.
The other interesting I personally noted down in good ol' Éire: It's interesting how much Republicans in Northern Ireland strive to be Irish and identify themselves with it. In my opinion, they're different. They're similar to people I met in Ireland, but Northern Ireland really just has it's own unique people with different ways of thinking, speaking, and relating to each other. It's the same with Unionists. They try to identify themselves so much as English or British, but they just simply aren't. Northern Ireland is such a great place and it makes me sad neither of these parties can recognize its greatness for what it is, rather than for what it isn't or what it "should" be.

On a more touristy perspective of Dublin: The city was large, bustling, and almost so Irish that it wasn't Irish anymore, you know? A lot of us felt like the use of the language and the traditional "pubs" and "foods" were used too much of a tourist-catering way and strayed away from the actuality of it. We had fun seeing Trinity College, the Guinness Storehouse, and Kilmainham Gaol, where they held and executed the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising. I found Kilmainham fairly amazing and it was definitely strange to see the leaders portrayed as heroes, whereas in the North the topic is controversial and it probably wouldn't be wise to run around calling them "heroes" or "freedom fighters" unless you had a wish to possibly put your health and well being in danger.
Our class also met with a few different political parties in the Republic, including Sinn Fein, Fianna Fael and Fine Gael. Let's just say a few of them had extremely interesting views.
On our last day in the Republic, our class visited Glencree Peace and Reconciliation Centre in the Wicklow Mountains. It was probably one of the most beautiful places we've seen thus far...

Team Belfast says a final farewell to Arboe Hall :(

I'm proud to say I finished, and actually enjoyed a Guinness for the first time in my life. I will also say it tastes a lot better here than it does in the North.