"The Big Smoke"

We made it to Belfast! After packing everything back up and bidding a tearful goodbye to the North Coast, 8 of us are here in the city and moved into our flat at Stranmillis College. It's so cute!! I'll be sure to post pictures soon. We went grocery shopping when we arrived and each bought something to add to our "Belfiesta" dinner tonight (the name was my creation, obviously). Hence, tonight we feasted on burritos with rice, roasted peppers, and chicken for the non-vegetarians. Ohh my, it was probably one of the best dinners thus far. I feel like I say that a lot, but it was true.

Yesterday the group had a final Coleraine lunch at Nigel's house. We got to meet his wife and two small children, Lydia and Caleb. I'm fairly certain they are the cutest kids I've ever seen.


The whole group, plus Nigel, Lydia and Caleb

After lunch, we all ventured to a nearby beach and frolicked for a bit, despite the rain. It was our last afternoon all together, after all.


The girls :)


3/4 of the Men

It was quite a lovely afternoon. After the lunch/beach extravaganza, we all napped, packed, and then headed out for a night of "Traditional Irish Music" at none other than the anchor...




Ta ha. Anyway, I'm very tired and I think I'm going to call it an early night tonight. Goodnight!
-Karen

Belfast

Good morning!

It’s our last day of class up in Coleraine, and I think we’re all feeling pretty torn. The North Coast is extremely peaceful, serene, and beautiful, but after our field trips to our respective cities we’re all itching to explore them more. Yesterday we left bright and early for a day in Belfast, where 8 of us will live together for 7 weeks. I think we’re in love…

The city has everything we ever craved, and more. Chinese restaurants? Check. Quaint coffee shops? Check. Along with the perks, there’s bustling streets, gardens, a giant ferris wheel, historic buildings and sights, and a great public transit system. Yay :) I got to meet with my internship advisor and see my desk as well. Joanne (the advisor) was especially kind and seemed grateful for my help, and the two of us had coffee and biscuits and discussed the type of work I’ll be doing. So exciting.

Also on the agenda for the day was a tour of the Falls Road and the Shankill Road. Our tour guides were none other than ex-paramilitary men. Their excuse for having such a tame job today was they wanted the public to know the “real” stories from someone who lived it. We couldn’t have asked for anything more real/intense-the two IRA men had each been in jail for 15+ years and were only let out under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. One had a cell next to Bobby Sands and could remember the talks Bobby used to give at night…so incredible. The ex-UVF man had a life sentence in jail for numerous crimes (murder, attempted murder, robbery, you name it) and was also let free due to the Good Friday Agreement. All of these men seemed so perfectly normal, it was hard to imagine them doing the things they did. Anyway, the UVF man was extremely remorseful and was clear to give us his opinion that all paramilitaries today need to “wrap it up” because there is just no use. I suppose it’s easy to say once you’re let free and you’re side still has what it wants. Oh I shouldn’t say that. Oops.

Anyway, before I get too biased, I must say all three of these men were extremely nice and willing to answer any questions we had, despite the sensitivity. I’ll say that the Shankill was unlike no other place I’ve ever been-eerie, quiet, and dark. Even when we saw children on the road they seemed a bit off. Nigel even agreed it was an extremely “weird” and “creepy” area. Needless to say, I’m glad my internship is not on that side of town. Google the “Shankill Butchers” for a good bedtime story.

Ciao,
Karen

Lectures

Hiya.

The past two days have been extremely busy-it definitely hasn’t been an academic cakewalk around these parts! We sat in class from 9:00 in the morning until between 4-5:00 p.m. both Monday and Tuesday of this week and endured some of the most interesting (and probably longest) lectures I’ve ever experienced in a college classroom. Yesterday we met with Derick Wilson, who helped found Corrymeela Centre and we heard him speak about “Agents of Change.” We looked at contributions made by organizations around the country to aid in the peace process, as well as just what individuals are doing in general. We ended the days on a pretty sorrowful note when Nigel showed us a slideshow he put together. The background music was “Run” by Snow Patrol (a band from N. Ireland who I saw at First Ave a couple years back :)), and the pictures in it showed numerous events throughout the troubles relating to personal stories and death of loved ones. The most moving picture was probably a young boy helping carry his father’s coffin at his funeral. Honestly, I’m not really sure how many more days we can take about learning about this stuff as it’s all slowly taking a toll on our initially hopeful selves. There really doesn’t seem to be any practical answer about how to make anyone happy-but I suppose the same goes for life in general. It’s not about winning: it's about accepting, compromising, and overall respecting.

Today’s lecture was a bit lighter-we looked at the education system in Northern Ireland and discussed how it affects young people’s perception of their own society. Sadly, only 6% of schools in Northern Ireland are integrated-meaning they contain both Catholic and Protestant students. Most children are educated separately, have separate social lives, and have a friend circle containing a majority of their own identity. On the happier side-it seems through studies most children nowadays are very open to and interested in the idea of intermingling with others different from themselves, they just haven’t been given as many chances as they would like. Strange stuff. At the moment there isn’t a demand for any more integrated schools, hence why the number sits at 6%. Parents who grew up in the midst of the conflict feel more comfortable knowing their children are among people and families they trust.

NI/USA difference of the day: Most of the toilets here have “sense” flushers-so genius!!! You stick your hand in front of the sensor and it flushes. No touching bacterial infested knobs, no trying to kick your leg high enough to reach buttons. Shudder. Way to go, Northern Ireland.

So far the songs I have been listening to a lot here:

-Really anything Snow Patrol-“Run”, “Eyes Open” and “You Could be Happy”, primarily.

-“Zombie” by the Cranberries. Who knew before coming here it was about the troubles? Not I.

-“If I Ever Leave this World Alive” by Flogging Molly

-“Sweet and Low” and “Boston” by Augustana

-“Where Do I Stand” by As Tall as Lions

-Anything by Explosions in the Sky.

Besides the music playlist, everything else is going well here. We’re headed to Belfast tomorrow for the day where we will be meeting with members from the Republican and Loyalist parties. “Tough guys” as Nigel has warned us. We’re also headed to the Shankill Road to mingle with some ex-paramilitary men. Yeah? Yeah. Should be interesting. I think I’ll be wearing some sort of neutral color tomorrow.

Lastly, we found out our living arrangements for our Belfast adventure (we leave Friday morning!). The 8 of us interning in Belfast are sharing an 8 person flat on the Stranmills University Campus. We each will have our own bedroom and bathroom, but a shared kitchen/dining area. I think I may have to have a “dishes” discussion before we settle in, as some of the girls I’m living with at the moment haven’t quite grasped it. Ew. Anyway, I have high hopes for our 7 week adventure in the city, despite the recent rise in crime. Who ever thought about random bombs going off in the city you live in? Certainly none of us before. We’ll be fine, it just ain't Kansas anymore.



This was the sun setting out my window last night :)

Alright! I must depart. We’ll be in Belfast tomorrow until late, so I’m not sure I’ll get a chance to update tomorrow but perhaps Thursday I’ll have news and pictures.

Cheers, mate
Karen

Beginning of the Final Week

Today is the first day I did laundry! Hoorah. It was actually pretty expensive: 1.6 pounds to wash and 1 to dry. Oh well. I guess I can justify it...haha.

Walking to Portstewart on Saturday has become sort of a ritual, but yesterday it appeared Justin and I were the only ones interested. Despite our mere duo, we trekked the 50 minutes to the coast for the afternoon and enjoyed the town for a couple hours. The day included a necessary lunch at Morelli's (I have now gotten the roasted red pepper and brie panini three times), helping Justin shop for fleece, "topping up" our cell phones, and getting some much needed exercise. Overall, I'd say it was a successful afternoon.

Not much new news, but I will leave you with this:

Some of the girls at the Anchor

I can't believe this is our last week in Coleraine! I'll be sad to go, but I'm highly anticipating Belfast.

More later,
Karen

Friday Feelings

So I've kept a little tally of my mental stability level (ha, ha) on a sheet of paper just to see how it progresses throughout the weeks here in Norn' Iron. I've been making little check marks between 1-10, 10 being the highest. Today I think it's a 10...not really sure why.



The sun is shining, we had a really interesting lecture this morning on young men in Northern Ireland, it's Sarah P.'s birthday, and we're all making dinner together tonight. Basically, I'm just really happy today and my apartment is starting to feel like a home (a week before I move out of it, of course).

-Karen

Doire

We had our class field trip to the city of Derry/Londonderry yesterday, and I think it was one of my favorite experiences thus far. First off, a bit about the odd name of the place: The city was originally named Doire, which means "oak grove" in Irish, and then simplified to Derry. When the English settled, they found the city to have much potential and decided on renaming the walled city "Londonderry". To make a long story short, Irish nationalists tend to refer to it by its original Irish name whereas British unionists call it by the latter. As far as I've seen, no one around here has really made a big deal about whatever you choose to call it, but it's definitely good to know what you're saying and how you're probably being perceived.

Apart from the name, the experience in the city was amazing. I haven't mentioned this yet, but Nigel has a lot of different music in our giant van and we have come to realize he times it fairly strategically so that it perfectly supplements our mood. As our van wound through small towns with extremely troubled pasts on our way to Derry, a beautiful but sorrowful Irish-folk song about the troubles set the tone. I think it was pretty appropriate preparation for our day in the Walled City.

We began in the morning by winding through the downtown. It was a pretty standard city despite the numerous abandoned Protestant churches and the run-down Apprentice Boys base with paint bombs all over the front of it. Once we reached the wall, we were overlooking the Catholic side of the city known as the "bogside". I'm not sure if everyone is familiar with the Battle of the Bogside or Bloody Sunday, but the "bog" has definitely had its fair share of violent history in the past few decades and there's an eerie sort of feeling on the streets. During the day, we had the honor of getting two extremely moving tours. The first was from an ex-IRA member who showed us Derry's "peace wall", some historic places, and of course, the murals. The second tour was of the museum of free derry and sort of a tour of where exactly the events of Bloody Sunday commenced.

The murals were amazing. The pictures definitely don't do them enough justice:



Bernadette Devlin is slowly becoming our new idol...


Father Daly waving a white handkerchief on bloody sunday, right before he got shot

There's a lot more murals, but these were some of my favorites.


The "peace wall"

I can't believe some of the things they had in the Museum of Free Derry. After a few minutes of curating, the man showing us around let us know that his 17 year old brother, Michael Kelly, was one of the victims on Bloody Sunday. He was comfortable with answering any questions we had, and it was really incredible hearing the story from someone who was present during the entire thing, and especially someone who had to help lift his lifeless teenage brother into an ambulance at that.








These are pretty self-explanatory. Needless to say, we were all in a pretty somber mood when we left the Museum for the tour on the streets. When we walked outside, we were alerted to the fact two victims had died on the sidewalk in front of the building. This tour shook us all up a bit, but I think when our curator showed us the place that his brother was shot was when a few in the group started to lose it. Anyway, our day in Derry was a pretty significant one and being in such a historic place makes everything seem so much more real.

Alright it's dinner time, I must depart!
cheers, k.g.

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