The drive up was so beautiful! There is no way pictures could ever truly capture the natural beauty of Ireland's landscape. Being that it was the weekend before our midterms, most of us were a little anxious about studying time, but considering we are studying all things Irish, exploring in Northern Ireland was the perfect destination to combine studying and fun! Upon arrival at the hotel, we had a presentation by an expert on Northern Ireland's ever changing murals. It was interesting to see how the murals transform during different political and social circumstances. The murals could depict any sort of message from violent to peaceful. They are not all focused on Northern Ireland issues either. I saw many about the Palestinian conflict and other global topics. After that we had dinner and thought about what we wanted to do for the evening. The biggest difference between Dublin and Belfast was just the sheer lack of people. It seemed like we were in a ghost town! The night life was pretty drab as well, but we eventually had found a place called The Basement that was playing some really awesome live music! Everyone was slagging me a bit because I decided to have a recovery weekend and stay sober hahah! We only stayed for a little bit though because we knew we had an early day the next morning. Bright and early we all piled into buses to take us up to the northern most point on the island to see the Giants Causeway. The drive was interesting because of the crazy weather changes. One moment it was bright and sunny, then dense fog, then rain, and back to sun again! So bizarre! It was also weird to see the Union Jack flying everywhere as opposed to the Irish Tricolor. Northern Ireland is a part of the UK so it's under British control, hence the flags. Before we actually got up to the Causeway we had to drive through Bushmills and see where all that tasty whiskey comes from. Once at the Causeway we got a short guided tour telling us about the Celtic mythology surrounding the site, including a bunch of stories about the giant himself, Finn McCool! The scenery was breathtaking (see Facebook) and it was a beautiful crystal clear day! From the top of the cliff you can look off to your right and see Scotland in the distance and to the left, Donegal, the most northern part of the Republic of Ireland. After exploring the Causeway and cliffs for a few hours, we hopped back on the bus to go to a small town called Portrush for lunch. We had the most amazing barbeque pulled pork. Probably one of the best meals I've had in Ireland. We headed back to Belfast after that. Instead of going to our scheduled dinner, a few of the lads and I decided it would be a much better use of our time to go to an ice hockey game! Who would have thought there was a team here?! Off we went to the Belfast Giants game. I refused to cheer for the Giants though, considering it was Black Sunday back at home. LETS GO EAGLES. They were playing the Dundee Stars, a team from Scotland, and boy did they destroy them! The final score was 7-1 and every time they scored this song played : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXl1Bvj_qoQ
It was so fun to learn the words and clap along. I think we fit in pretty well. I even broke my sobriety pledge and had ONE beer because....well come on it's hockey! There was even a fight. It was a great way to spend the evening.
On our last day in Belfast we were given a bus tour of all the murals we had learned about on Friday. They were so fascinating, the way each was so unique from the last. All of them are illegal by the way, just no one ever says anything about it. I also had the opportunity to sign the Peace Wall that divides the Catholic and Protestant halves of the city. I think one of the most interesting things about Belfast is that even though there is no more outward aggression for the most part, there are still obvious signs of divide. For example, the gates to get between the Catholic and Protestant areas of the city are still closed and locked every night at 9PM. The tour of the city continued by driving through the shipyard where the Titanic was built. Two giant cranes, Samson and Goliath, loom over the Belfast skyline. There is a museum there but we didn't have time to check it out due to our packed schedules. The shipyard used to employ over 40,000 people but now employs only about 400. It is a testament to the downfall of the industrial area. We also saw the building where the original plans for the Titanic were drawn up and Titanic studios, where one of my favorite shows, Game of Thrones, is filmed! Finally we headed home to Dublin and prepared for our midterms. I still haven't gotten the results back but I think I did pretty well.
From Dublin, With Love.
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