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[heatherinireland]

Our time in Ireland is coming to an end! We've done so many exciting activities in Dublin, including spraining my ankle! We’ve taken another walking tour of the city, seen the Book of Kells, the Botanical Gardens, The National Art Museum of Ireland, and the Photo Museum of Ireland, along with taking a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher. The walking tour of the city was informative. We saw Dublin Castle and learned more about the history of the city. In between the walking tour and visiting the book of kells experience, some of us went inside Whyte’s, an Irish Art & Collectables Auction, and we were able to look at some really neat Irish art. I thought it was interesting to see the price variation in the pieces. Some of them were valued at around $1,500 while others were upwards of $100,000. After wandering the city a bit we came back together to enter the Book of Kells Experience. I was really looking forward to this part of our trip, because I had learned about the Book of Kells in a medieval history class that I had taken a few semesters ago. The museum was really interesting, and I enjoyed the multiple 3D experience rooms. That felt really unique, and wasn’t something that I had seen in a museum like this before, although it did remind me a little bit of the Van Gogh Immersive Experience. After this, a group went to see Furiosa at the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield. I did not like the movie very much, but I did enjoy the theater quite a bit. The chairs were comfortable, and the walls had several movie characters illustrated on them. After our movie we went to dinner at O’sheas and then I sprained my ankle :( 

The following day I missed our planned activities, and I was a little bummed about it. However, on our free day and for the rest of our time in Ireland I still got to do incredible things, like visiting the Cliffs of Moher. Seeing these massive cliffs on such a gorgeous day is something that I hope to remember forever. Other stops on the bus tour included several small towns and castles. These were pretty similar to other places that we had visited during our time in Ireland.

Overall, I would say that my time in Ireland was life changing. Not only was it my first time out of the country, but I learned so much about not only Irish culture but also myself. I also have no doubt that I have made some life long friends on this trip that I just wouldn’t have met otherwise.

[heatherinireland]

Heading into Dublin, I was a little apprehensive. A lot of the people we met, including the students from North Carolina that were studying abroad, and our bus driver, had said that Dublin was not a place they enjoyed being. Driving into the city meant leaving behind the comforting, quiet hills of Donegal and once again entering a bustling, busy city. While we were in the city, we stayed at University College Dublin. This University is much bigger than Truman, and our tour of Campus showed just how different it can be. It has over 30,000 students, and two bars on campus. We also all have our own rooms with a shared common area, however we are split into three groups in two different buildings. I am excited to spend more time on campus and kind of see what it is like to be a student here. However, I do think that most of the people here right now are not Irish. This seems like a popular location for study abroad groups!

On our first full day in Dublin, we toured the customs house and did a walking mythology tour. The tour of the customs house taught us a lot about Dublin’s history, and gave us some cool insight into the architecture of the city. Many places feature the heads of different river gods, and now we will be able to recognize some of them! Outside of the Customs House, we stopped at statutes that commemorated people who were affected by the famine. During the famine many people left Ireland to try and find a better life elsewhere. Our mythology tour was very informative. My favorite tale that we learned about was the Salmon of Knowledge.

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Our time in Donegal felt like our busiest, and we did so much every day. We went to GTEIC, a digital hub for the community that allows people to work for all sorts of companies while still remaining close to home, and after touring the facilities we learned about the Irish language and how some of our names are Irish. Many place names in Irish have an underlying meaning that tells you more about the location, while the English version of the same name is kind of just a mispronunciation of the Irish, and as such doesn’t give you any insight into the location. We learned that the English word Dublin comes from an Irish phrase that means dark pool, along with some other cool facts. After our time at GTEIC, we went to Castle Glenveagh. I think that this is probably the castle that I had the most fun at. The walk up to the castle was pretty long, but it was incredibly beautiful and scenic. I really enjoyed the food we got at the top of the castle. I had probably the best sandwich ever crafted and some absolutely delicious carrot cake. After our long walk, it was severely needed. The castle had beautiful gardens for us to look at, but I was a little sad that I did not have time to go inside. 

Our final day in Donegal was spent on an island called Gola. The island was basically only populated by sheep, which we saw so many of! I really really loved the island, it was so beautiful. We were guided through the island, and we learned a lot about its history and the people who used to live there. It was interesting to me to learn that even though many of the houses on the island were in disrepair, they were not completely abandoned. Families still owned them, and took pride in owning them. Jim shared that his family still owned the house his grandfather grew up in, and that his brother lived in it now. People here take pride in their history, and in caring for their family members. 

After climbing to the top of the highest point of Gola, it was time for us to leave. We headed back to the community center for an herbal remedies class. Margaret, our teacher, had learned everything from her mother, who learned from her mother, who learned from her mother. She gave us some sort of horrible bog water that tasted very bad, and she taught us about native plants and how they can be used for healing. Mary shared that when she first started teaching these classes she couldn’t speak much English, but that as time went on she was learning more and more. 

I really enjoyed spending time in this area, and I hope that I am able to visit again. I think I would really enjoy making watercolor illustrations of the landscapes here, especially on Gola. 

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My favorite part of our time here has been bonding with my peers. I have really enjoyed our time spent at Bunbeg Beach, and I had a great time with everyone in Derry. The beach has been a really cool place for  us to hang out, and I have enjoyed being able to see such gorgeous scenery while we are here. It feels like around every corner is something even more beautiful! Derry reminded me a lot of Belfast. We spent a lot of time looking at murals that depicted incidents from the troubles or commemorated those who had died. There were many similar murals in Belfast. However, I don’t think we saw a very balanced perspective. In Belfast, because we had more time, we were able to take multiple tours from people on both sides of the disagreement, but because we had only one day in Derry we took only one tour and saw only one perspective. Being in Derry made me want to watch Derry Girls a bit more than I did before! I think that in general in the future I will find myself consuming more Irish media. I have really enjoyed my time here and I know that I will miss it a lot when we leave. After our walking tour, I spent some time in the mall. I went into one called Waterstones and found a travel version of Rummikub! I had seen some people in Belfast playing a version of this game, and I was really happy to find something to do with my peers other than going to the beach. I can see us playing this game often for the next couple of days.

[heatherinireland]

Our first day in Donegal was really exciting! I was happy that I would be able to see a more rural side of Ireland, and get to experience what small town life looks like here. Upon our arrival we were greeted with tea and biscuit by Mary and Jim, two founding members of the center. After our tea we toured the center and took a bus tour of Donegal. It was really interesting to learn about the center and see all of the different ways that it supported the community. It provided both child care and health care, and it had a charity shop along with classrooms, a computer lab, and a music room with a recording studio. Our tour of Donegal took us through some windy roads on a bus that was probably way too big for them, but we were able to see such beautiful scenery. Our most beautiful stop by far was to an old church. This tour also confirmed the existence of our bed and breakfast, which I really enjoyed! I was really nervous that we wouldn’t have a real place to stay.

Throughout our time in Gweedore, Mary and Jim led us on many adventures, including to the beautiful island of Gola, the airport, the local radio station, and Glenveagh National Park. Mary and Jim seemed to know everyone that we met, and were deeply connected to their community. They knew the majority of our bus drivers by name, and greeted them like they were old friends. It was really interesting and kind of inspiring to see someone so willing to provide support for and be so connected to their community in so many ways. 

[heatherinireland]

We’ve left Belfast and arrived in Bunbeg (or Gweedore or Donegal?) I think everyone was a little bit worried about the existence of our bed and breakfast since we couldn’t find a trace of its existence on Google. Our initial tour of the town took us past it and we were all relieved to see that we would in fact have a building to sleep in. (Showering in it on the other hand is a completely different matter!)

Donegal is such an interesting place. I really enjoy being in this small town environment, it is much more similar to what I am used to. Mary, our guide, is one of the founding members of the local community center. Something really interesting to me is the different ways that the community center assists the community. Not only are they really encouraging tourism by connecting with colleges like Truman and doing study abroad programs, they also provide space for whatever the community needs, including different exercise classes, childcare, and health care. I don’t think that there is anything like this in my town, but I can definitely see how important it is to Gweedore. 

While we were in Gweedore we got kind of a different perspective on Ireland. The town is in the gaeltacht region, and many members of the community primarily speak Irish. We were told that most children in the area are taught exclusively in the Irish language until the second grade. I thought that this was really interesting because of what I know about the critical language acquisition period. People that we spoke to in both Dublin and Belfast shared that they studied the Irish language in school, but didn’t retain a lot and certainly weren’t fluent. Teaching a younger child a new language is much easier than trying to get them to learn a language when they’re older. Hearing about how they are trying to preserve their language reminded me a lot of my mother, and how she’s been trying to learn Cherokee for years. When she was growing up, speaking Cherokee was looked down upon, so she never learned. Now however, the Cherokee Nation is expanding their language immersion school, which goes from preschool to eighth grade, by remodeling an older school that they recently purchased. Something else interesting that I’ve noticed is the variation in the Irish accent. People in Belfast, Gweedore, and Dublin all speak differently. I think that the accent in Dublin is the least pronounced, and much more similar to an English accent, while in Belfast and Gweedore it was more obviously present. 

[heatherinireland]

Two of the museums that we’ve visited in Belfast are the Titanic Museum and the Crumlin Road Gaol. The Titanic Museum had several floors and a ride that took you through the life of a man who worked in the shipyard. I was able to learn about the creation of the Titanic, the passengers on board, how it sank, and how it was discovered. Crumlin Road Gaol was a guided experience that took us through one of the wings of the jail, including the area where the prisoners on death row were hanged and the tunnel that connects the prison to the old courthouse. These two experiences were incredibly informative, but had many differences.

Because we took a guided tour of the jail, we were not able to spend very much time looking through the different exhibits. However, we were able to kind of get a more personalized, unique experience. There were a couple times where we went into areas of the jail that I do not think the public can normally access. This gave us a deeper understanding of how the jail worked and what occurred there. I think being able to get up close and personal with the tank, helicopter, and armored van helped us understand the different aspects of life at the jail. I found the section of the tour that took us through the end of a prisoner on death row’s life to be the most impactful. This section was accompanied by video and other mechanical elements, such as the door and bookcase that open on cue. I think that the very end of that section was muddied by our tour guide attempting to speak over the very loud video that was playing, but it was still a very sobering reminder of the deaths that had occured in the very place we were standing. 

Our time at the Titanic Museum was not guided. Since we were all mostly able to move at our own pace, we were able to take as much time as we wanted to look at and absorb the information about the boat, its sinking, and its eventual discovery. I enjoyed this a lot more than the guided experience because I was able to read everything I wanted, and I didn't have to linger over things that I didn't want to or already knew. One of my favorite sections of the museum was the ride through the shipyard. This element was incredibly unique; I've not seen a ride like this in any other museum.

[heatherinireland]

The Troubles in Northern Ireland

Our first day in Ireland started when our plane touched down in Dublin at around 4:30 in the morning! We had to wait on the plane until closer to 5:00 for customs to open. From there, we boarded a bus and began our journey to Belfast. It is a beautiful city, and there’s so much to learn about it. Something pretty important is its location. When walking down Shankill Road, I made a comment to Clara about being in Ireland. A younger school boy walking near me turned and corrected me, saying “You’re not in Ireland, you’re in Northern Ireland!” His accent was thick and his sentiment was clear; this distinction is important to people who live here.

One of the first things we did in the city was take a Black Taxi Tour. Our two drivers, being from different religious backgrounds, were able to provide us different views on the opposing forces involved in the troubles. The two men used incredibly different language to describe the fighting groups. One saw the I.R.A. as protectors and kind of a police force, while the other saw them as drug-dealers and some sort of mafia. They also showed us both sides of the peace wall. Both of them believed that the peace wall, and its gates that close every night, was still needed; however they both shared a desire for a future without them. The necessity of these gates shocked me. On the protestant side, houses were far from the wall, while on the catholic side the houses were right up against it. In fact, some of them had cages over their back gardens to prevent attacks from things like molotov cocktails. These two sides of the wall painted a very clear picture of what life was like for these two groups of people.

On Thursday, we were able to get a different perspective of the Troubles. We spoke with William from the ACT Initiative about his time in the Ulster Volunteer Force, and he gave a more political history of the Troubles, along with a deeper look at his own personal experiences during the time period. He shared that he was in prison from the ages of 17 to 30 because of his involvement with the UVF. During that he missed out on a lot of opportunities, like going to university. Now, however, he is able to help young people in situations similar to his. He obviously very deeply cared about his community and the people in it. The room that I found the most interesting was the recreation of the cell he was in. The room reminded me quite a bit of the site-specific installation art I learned about in my Contemporary Art class. Everything in it was authentic to the time period, down to the letters on the shelf and the notice his mother received of when his trial would be. Everything, except for a poster from the 2021 Long Kesh Reunion—which is signed by his fellow former inmates.