Good Morning!
It is now Sunday morning in Ireland and we are on our way to Northern Ireland to spend a night in Belfast. On the way we are stopping to see the shipyard where the Titanic was built, along with other historical sites.
Saturday we started the day with a hot breakfast at the hotel. I’ve decided bread is the best thing in Europe, but meat is not on my top 10 list. The texture is very different than what I’m used to or can tolerate. So a balanced diet is out of the question while studying abroad. After breakfast we had a carriage tour of Killarney National Park and it was fun even though it was misting most of the time. We got to climb around some castle ruins, I believe they said it was the first castle that the English ever occupied when they were controlling Ireland. We all feel like little kids when we visit old ruins that we can just climb around on, except now we’re bigger and stronger so we can be a little more daring. (Don’t worry, Mom, I instinctively take the parental role and tell everyone to be careful and pay attention to where they’re going.) After Killarney we started our journey back to Dublin. We stopped at another park/castle ruins area that was way more fun to adventure in, took a couple really good group pictures on top of the castle walls and such. We mostly had a lot of driving yesterday but my netbook battery lasted all day so I wasn’t completely bored. Once we got back to Dublin we checked back in to the Best Western (my favorite hotel, it is so neat!) and then headed to The Temple Bar area of town for a classic Irish dinner. It was a lot of food but it was all very delicious. We had time to hit up some souvenir shops after that and I found some pretty good stuff! Only a couple people left to buy for! We stopped back at the hotel to gather our group and then 8 of us left to hit the pubs since the Irish celebrate the weekend a lot like Americans do. In Belgium we’ve found that students go out Monday-Thursday nights and then they go home on Friday “so their mommies can take care of their hangover” (according a student map we found at a train station) and when they do go out, people tend to sit quietly or stand in their small circles, little to no music playing, and just talk while drinking warm beer. It’s a great atmosphere to just talk to random people and make new friends, but it’s not what we’re used to. In contrast, Irish people were roaming the streets drunk when we left for dinner at 6. So it was a change of scenes. The area we went to was completely packed, couldn’t even get into the Temple Bar like we wanted to. So we wandered until we found a place less packed and it turned out to be a great idea. Everyone is very friendly at the bars and we talked to some older ladies celebrating a birthday I think and they were so cute! While we were there we also go free entrance to a dance club just up the street so we decided to go there and check it out. It was awesome. They played all American music, some of it a bit older, but it was great for dancing. All in all a great night with the group, we’re learning to just try everything because we only get this chance.
The next 3 days will be spent in Northern Ireland and Scotland, both of which use the British Pound as their currency so it’s about to get expensive to live. Fortunately I have enough pounds left over from our trip to London so I shouldn’t have to hit up the exchange rate again. Plus we’re getting stipends for 2 meals per day and at the rate my food intake is decreasing, I can eat for very cheap. I will be more than happy to throw in frozen pizzas when I get home, I’m almost hungry thinking about it! It’s supposed to be a rainy, cold day today, so hopefully I have some good stories to share tomorrow!
Love,
Jenacious
|
|
|
V
And to save time… good evening!
It’s now Sunday night and we are checked in to our hotel in Belfast. Today it felt like we spent the entire day on the bus, stopping once or twice to see some castles and then driving more. Although we did see the Giant’s Causeway which was a really cool view of the coast on the ocean. When we arrived in Belfast we had a black taxi tour of the city so we rode in groups of 5 around town. We found out the reason why is because there’s so much crime and debate in the city that the taxi company had to get permission from the terrorist groups that control the city to be allowed access into both sides. There is 3 parts to Belfast, the Protestant side, the Catholic side, and the neutral zone. And there’s a giant wall in the middle to keep the people from just shooting at each other. I had no idea there was a place like this. I knew there was always religious wars in these countries but I didn’t realize that they were still that intense today. It was very sad to see that kind of division within a city. Apparently the battles are not only about religion, it is also a debate between remaining a part of northern Ireland or joining with Ireland to become a united country again. For those who don’t know (I didn’t until I got here) England is a part of Great Britain which actually contains England, Wales, and Scotland. These three countries are also part of the UK, which is actually the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Therefore all four of these countries are on the British Pound but are a part of the European Union. Northern Ireland consists of 6 counties that chose to remain with England while the rest of Ireland got the freedom they had fought for over hundreds of years. So, long story short, the Protestants and Catholics butt heads in Northern Ireland because their religious views are conflicting but also because some people want to join Ireland and some want to stay with Britain.
Anyway, while on this tour of Belfast we learned about the different views of each group and that the taxi drivers are all people who have lost family members to the battles between the groups. It was a very sobering experience and I was not expecting it at all. But it was a good experience and I’m glad we had a safe service to go through to learn about this way of life.
After that tour we went to a pub that our taxi driver had recommended to us and just hung out quietly since we have to be at breakfast at 5:15 tomorrow morning so we can make the long trip up to Scotland, part of which will be on a ferry boat again. Should be a fun day!
Love,
Jenacious
No comments:
Post a Comment