Since I last blogged, quite a bit has happened.
First was Limerick. A group of us went and stayed with one of our Irish friends. I don’t have a ton to report from there. It was mostly a low key weekend. We did a little bit of sightseeing, a little bit of going out, but mostly we just hung around and relaxed, which was a pretty nice change of pace from Dublin City.
We also took our midterms since I last wrote. It’s kind of easy to forget that I am actually here for school and do take classes. Midterms startled me because I realized how much I’ve learned about Ireland since getting here. I know so much more about the history, politics, economy, society, and literature of the country, and I’ve only been here two months.
Today, I got back from a weekend trip to Belfast. It was a pretty incredible experience all around. If you don’t know, Belfast is on the island of Ireland, but it isn’t part of the Republic of Ireland. In fact, six counties of Ireland form Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, along with England, Scotland, and Wales. Friday night, after we got to Belfast, we attended a lecture about the murals of the city. I had no idea that they were such a huge part of the culture of Belfast, but after the lecture and a tour of the city today, it’s very clear how important they are. The murals are usually meant to make political statements and mostly painted by the Republicans and Unionists, two groups that want a united Ireland and to remain part of the UK, respectively. Paramilitary branches of the two groups have often taken arms against each other, with groups like the IRA and UVF accounting for much of the violence and terrorism during the Troubles. We looked at the evolution of murals over the past hundred years, and it was really interesting to see the subject matter of the two different groups’ murals and how it changed during conflict and ceasefires. We took a coach tour of the city today and saw murals from both sides, of which I have pictures that I’ll post later.
Yesterday, we went to the Giant’s Causeway, which was on my list of things to see in Ireland. It was breathtaking. The Causeway is basically a collection of basalt columns, steeped in the legend of a giant named Finn McCool who is said to reside on the Antrim Coast. I took a lot of photos, but they don’t nearly do the formation justice. If it isn’t on your bucket list, it definitely should be.
Tomorrow, I leave for Rome, where we’ll be for six nights. But more on that later.
The Southern Belle of Dublin City 