Belfast and Before

There is a lot to tell. I haven't written in awhile because I didn't think there was really anything all that exciting to report. Then a lot happened at once and I didn't have time. Then it was rainy and I didn't feel like heading over to the library to wage war with the very patchy wireless. All of these factors combine to make what will likely be a very long post. I suggest you go grab yourself a cup of tea (or coffee if you must), maybe a snack. Change out of your work clothes and throw on some sweats...and enjoy (hopefully).

I'll start with today and go backwards I think. This was our last official day of class. We had our final day of preparation for our internships and a few closing remarks from Nigel and Derick (who pops in from time to time and is kind of like another informal leader of our group). Then we headed to Nigel's house for lunch. He called it Glenny House and we all kind of laughed. In the states we  might say the Glennys' house or the Glenny household, but not so much Glenny House. I don't often invite my friends over to Cassada House for a movie. Just one of those fun Irish phrases that are so charming. Nigel lives about 20 minutes away from the university. He and his wife and two kids are renting a house right now while they work on selling their old one. That process has been going on for quite some time now. The housing market is even worse here than it is in the states. No one can sell. All the same, the house they are in now is beautiful. You can see the ocean down a big hill from their front door and Nigel said that on a clear day they can see Scotland. Nigel's wife and children were there to greet us when we arrived. He has a little daughter who is two and a son who is only a few months old. They were adorable. It was so nice to see little kids! They made us a wonderful lunch. We had soup and all kinds of breads and sweets. Nigel's wife made us Irish soda bread and scones from scratch. The Irish quite like their carbs. There are always scones and bread to be found. We were also treated to tea and sweets as usual. It was a really pleasant afternoon and it was so much fun to meet Nigel's family and to see him interact with his children. He's a great dad. After lunch he drove us to this huge expanse of sandy beach and let us out to run around. It was raining and pretty cold, but it was beautiful. We will return there later in the semester when the weather is hopefully a little bit nicer.

Tonight is our last night in Coleraine for the time being. We leave to move to our internship cities bright and early tomorrow morning. I will officially be living in Belfast by this time tomorrow afternoon and I'm so excited. We visited Belfast for the first time yesterday and I loved being in a city. We didn't see a whole lot of it because we had a pretty specific agenda, but I think my flatmates (haha) and I will use the weekend to explore a little bit before starting our internships on Monday. Speaking of the internships, we were able to meet our internship supervisors for the first time yesterday. That was a much needed visit for many of us I think. We were all getting a bit nervous about the internships as they get closer and closer and many of us as of yesterday still had very few ideas about the nature of the work we will be doing. I know I mentioned before what my internship is, but I don't remember how much I said about it. I knew that I would possibly working with ex-paramilitaries and I thought that I would be working in an area of Belfast called the Shankill. Belfast is still very much a divided city and Shankill is one of the places that is still very separated. During lectures it was described as eerie and unsettling. Thus, I was getting increasingly more nervous about working there. My meeting with my supervisor, however, has put my mind at ease.

The woman I met with is a small, blonde, very stylish woman, not at all what I was expecting for a supervisor working with big ex-paramilitary men. She explained to me more about what I will be doing and informed me that I will no longer be working in the Shankill, but in a different Loyalist area in East Belfast. I will be working on a number of projects while I am with Northern Ireland Alternatives. One of them is a project that I spoke about a little bit before about bringing together ex-paramilitaries and helping them to find alternatives to the violent lifestyles they once led. This includes sharing their stories and in transforming their work in their own lives and in their communities. I will also be working with youth in Loyalist communities and in the schools and training them to become peer mediators for one another. Other projects will crop up along the way and I am fairly free to pick and choose what it is I want to work on based on where my interests lie. The atmosphere of the organization is very close and very open and I feel as though I will be able to learn a lot from everyone who is a part of it. She said that I should have no concerns about my safety. It is a very safe place to work and everyone is always looking out for one another. This calmed my fears considerably and I am really excited to learn more about the organization and to begin working on Monday. This sounds like an experience that will really play into the rest of my life.

After coffee with our internship advisors we jumped on the bus and headed to an area of Belfast known as Falls Road. This is primarily a Republican/Catholic area and we were led on a tour of the area by a previous member of the IRA. He showed us some of the murals (I hope to put up pictures of these when I have a better internet connection) and other various sites along the road. We stopped at a memorial garden commemorating those people of the Falls Road area that lost their lives during the conflict.  Our guide explained to us that this has become a very popular way of remembering the victims of the Troubles and of honoring the sacrifices that so many men and women made. We also visited one of the cemeteries in Belfast. It was an exclusively Catholic cemetery and it was enormous and full to capacity. There were three different monuments commemorating IRA men who had given their lives to the Troubles. We stopped at the Sinn Fein headquarters as well, though we didn't go inside. Sinn Fein is the largest Republican political party in the whole island of Ireland and is one of two major parties in Northern Ireland. About a block away from the Sinn Fein headquarters is a community organized Irish Republican museum. It is a collection of artifacts from various members of the IRA throughout the conflict. There are artifacts crafted by Republicans during internment and weapons typical of IRA gunmen. There are also posters and photographs and the military paraphernalia of the IRA. It was a very powerful display of the Republican cause and you could see the pride and the passion that Republicans still exhibit today. 

We ate lunch at a local community club with two former IRA prisoners. Both men were imprisoned during the Troubles because of IRA activities and we were able to ask them questions and receive honest answers about their time in the Troubles, their time after the Troubles, and their views on the conflict then and now. This was a very unique opportunity because ex-paramilitaries are not often open to speaking about their experiences and the crimes that they have committed. This was an opportunity that most people living here will never experience. The whole encounter was very interesting and their stories were very moving. We were able to see the passion for their cause still alive in each of them. However, they have both made the commitment to relating their stories and striving for peace and understanding. One of the men was a member of the Blanket Strike that occurred in prisons during the early 1980s. The Republican prisoners refused to wear the prison uniforms because they were not criminals, but political prisoners. They wore nothing but blankets for over two years and because they would not put on a uniform they were not allowed to leave their cells for anything. There were no visitations, no showers, no toilets, no recreation, no shaving and yet they persisted. The Blanket Strike was followed by a series of Hunger Strikes in which prisoners lost their lives until the British finally met their demands of treatment.

Following lunch we made our way over to the Shankill for a completely different point of view. As I mentioned earlier the Shankill is a strong Loyalist community and it is separated from Republican communities in close proximity by a peace wall. There are a number of peace walls that still stand throughout Northern Ireland, but there are more in Belfast than in any other city. The peace walls are physical barriers separating sectarian communities from one another. They serve as a divide to dissuade violence and fear. The problem is, however, that they perpetuate the separation. Many people hope that they will come down in the coming years, but many are still afraid and cannot imagine life without the barriers in place. In the Shankill we were met by a former member of the Ulster Volunteer Force - a Loyalist paramilitary group. He too is an ex-prisoner sent to jail for murder and conspiracy for murder among other acts. This sounds extreme to people from the United States who are not used to war and conflict on the home front. We cannot imagine murderers and those attached to violence walking among us and serving in posts of power and influence. However, this is the reality of life in Northern Ireland. These were not murders for the sake of taking another life, but they were murders in the sense of war. This was a war for the people involved and the paramilitaries were soldiers defending their "nation" and protecting their families. This has been a difficult concept to wrap our heads around for many of us and one that I'm sure will continue to plague us with questions and contradictions.

Our guide brought us to three different areas of the Shankill: the lower Shankill, middle Shankill, and upper Shankill. The level of poverty increases the lower down the Shankill you venture. We began in the lower Shankill looking at the murals that are painted at the ends of row houses there. They depict all sorts of images from Unionist and British history and evoke icons of unionism and pride in the British background that Unionists share. While we were there we caught the attention of several schoolboys who took the opportunity to harass us a bit. One boy told us to be sure to "see that mural up there - that's me uncle." Whether the masked Ulster Freedom Fighter was his uncle or not was difficult to say. He very well could have been or the boy very well could have been looking to deceive us as many of the Irish are apt to do. (I don't know if I mentioned that. We were told in our first days here to keep alert because the Irish like to see how long they can string you along. You can have an entire conversation with an Irish man or woman and they will not have been serious about a bit of it.) Another of the boys decided to get some practice in for the driving range and began driving golf balls over our heads. We got back on the bus pretty quickly. Many of our group found the area to be eerie, but I understood where the kids were coming from. It must be annoying for people to be stopping in all the time to look at where you live and to analyze your background and lifestyle. 

The middle Shankill was quite different and we stopped at several other murals before heading to the upper Shankill. We got off the bus again to visit a memorial garden. This garden, though it held similar intent, was very different from the Republican garden on Falls Road. It was rather sparse but for a monument at the end of it paying honor to those Shankill men who served in the two World Wars. This is an area of immense pride for Unionists. Many, many men from the Ulster Volunteer Force fought with the British army during World War I in particular. The 36th Ulster division is at the forefront of Unionist heroic history. The men in the 36th Ulster division were present on July 1 at the Battle of the Somme and they charged the German lines when all others fell back. They were decimated in the open land by the German troops, yet they persisted on and managed to push the German line back nearly 3 miles with little help from other divisions. The Battle of the Somme was the biggest defeat in British combat history, yet the Unionists of Northern Ireland are hugely proud of the bravery of their own men and feel that the British should feel eternally grateful for this huge sacrifice. The highest honor given out in the British Army is the Victoria Cross. There were five Victoria Crosses given out for the Battle of the Somme and four of them were awarded to Ulster men. Our tour guide was more passionate and expressive at this point of the tour than at any other. It was easy to see that he was British, that he felt himself to be British, and that he saw the lives of these men as given in sacrifice for their identity and for their nation.

I don't know how much you know about the conflict in Northern Ireland. I know I've given little rundowns before and they are probably confusing and hardly helpful. However, the main divide is between Unionists who feel allegiance to Britain and wish to remain part of the United Kingdom and Republicans who wish to separate from Britain and to become united with the southern Republic of Ireland in one unified island. According to the terms of the peace agreement, the Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998, Northern Ireland will remain a part of the United Kingdom unless a majority of people in a referendum, deem that Northern Ireland should be united with the Republic. Should this occur the British have agreed that they will withdraw all claims. Unionists today fear that a growing Catholic population in Northern Ireland might make this majority consensus a reality someday. The Republicans believe that if Britain would just withdraw from Northern Ireland the Unionists would see the light and recognize that they are Irish. However, our tour guide yesterday said that whether they are forced to unite with the Republic or not he and his people will be British. They have always been British and they will never stop being British. We were able to see pretty clearly yesterday that though there is peace in Northern Ireland the arguments and the convictions that existed throughout the Troubles are still very much alive in the hearts of the Northern Irish today. They have not changed their identities, nor will they regardless of the politics that take place in the coming years. The problem is thus much more complex than simply achieving peace. There is much more work to be done and I'm not sure anyone even knows exactly what that work is.

After our time in the Shankill we started on the drive home to Coleraine and stopped for dinner at "For Cod and Ulster" for some delicious fish and chips. I love going to fish and chips places. It's probably really pathetic and American, but receiving my dinner wrapped up in brown paper makes me feel like I'm in an entirely different time. We came home and were exhausted once again. 

There wasn't a whole lot of excitement before our Wednesday field trip. We had lectures and long days on Monday and Tuesday this week. As Nigel keeps saying, they were frontloading us with all the information we needed to know to begin our own searching and questioning. The weekend was fairly low key as well, apart from Friday. Friday was Sarah's birthday and we threw her a big party. We started with a potluck dinner at the guys' flat. Each flat brought something to share. The guys made sloppy joes, our flat brought a chicken caesar salad, and the other flat brought garlic bread and chocolate cake. We all ate at a long, cleverly constructed table family-style. After dinner we made our way into Portstewart for a night of dancing and craic (the word they use here to indicate having a good time - pronounced crack) at the pub.

We are going to go out one last time as a big group tonight to hear some traditional Irish music. We'll be splitting up tomorrow and it's a little bit sad, but I think everyone is excited to get out there and do something new. We found out that we will all be living in the same flat in Belfast, all 8 of us, which will be quite the change. We've already started discussing dinners and desserts and everything that we want to do as a group when we get there. We have to pack up everything tonight and try and eat all the food that we can't bring with us. I suppose I should probably get started on that. I'll write again from Belfast!

(Hope your tea and snack was good.)

You are now entering Free Derry

We made our trip to Derry today bright and early this morning. We made it into the city by about 10:00 am and those of our group who will be working there had time to meet with their internship supervisors over coffee or tea. The rest of us grabbed a bite to eat while we waited. The city was not exactly what I was expecting, though I guess I wasn't really sure what to expect. It was very cosmopolitan, but had an old world charm at the same time. It was much hillier than I expected it to be. We got a pretty good workout just walking around the city. I'll add pictures of this excursion soon as well, but I'll need a good chunk of time to tackle the internet. (The internet is really patchy here and trying to upload anything takes about 15 tries. I lose patience pretty quickly.) I have a lot of information that I find very interesting to report in the next paragraphs. So...if you like history and culture read on.

Yesterday afternoon we watched two very moving films about the Bogside region of Derry. Derry is one of the last remaining walled cities in Europe. The walls went up about 400 years ago to protect Protestant settlers inside from foreign attack or attacks from the "natives" (meaning the Irish). The Protestants, though in the minority, held the power and many Catholics settled outside the walls in the Bogside neighborhood. This neighborhood is still Catholic to this day, though there are now Catholics within the walls of the city as well. The Bogside was the site of a great deal of violence throughout the period of the Troubles. We looked at two events in particular that are very well known. The first film that we watched was about the Battle of the Bogside in August of 1969. Rioting on the part of nationalist Catholics in the Bogside in response to celebrations of Protestants on an annual march resulted in a three-day battle between the Bogside residents and the Protestant police, the RUC. The people of the Bogside erected barriers to stop the RUC from entering their neighborhood. When we visited the Bogside today one of our tour guides remembered the fighting and the gas and the bombs. He recalls bringing supplies to a shed full of women making an assembly line of petrol bombs to be brought to the front lines. It was amazing to meet someone who grew up in constant fear of conflict and who was actually there in the fighting itself.

The other major event that happened in the Bogside was Bloody Sunday, which tends to be much more familiar in international minds. We watched a film re-enactment of the disaster yesterday. It was very upsetting, and was made all the more real when we visited the actual site of the massacre today. 

We went down from the walls to the Bogside this morning and were led on a tour of the area. We learned a great deal about the history of the place and then we returned to walk on the walls once more. From the top of the walls you can look down upon the Bogside and you see murals on the sides of many of the housing complexes. Murals are a long-standing method of expression in Northern Ireland. They can be found throughout the country, but Belfast and Derry are best known for them. I'll explain a little bit more about them later. As we continued along the wall we came to a point overlooking a fenced in community. The fence is called a peace wall and it separates a Protestant community from the larger Catholic one. The Protestant community is called The Fountain District. It was strange to still see guards posted along the fence. They weren't heavily armed and didn't look very imposing, yet they were still there. Even though Northern Ireland has come to peaceful terms in the last decade the high degree of sectarianism still exists and the communities have yet to truly come together, especially in the working class areas.

After seeing this community we left the wall through one of the gates and headed down into the Bogside. We stopped at Free Derry corner - which you have probably seen before. It is a big white sign that reads "You are now entering Free Derry." This has become a rallying point for the Bogside area for any cause or protest that they might be taking part in. This was also the ending point of the peaceful civil rights march on Bloody Sunday. Interestingly, today the sign read "You are now entering Free Gaza." The sign had been covered with wallpaper to represent the latest protest agenda. There were also flags on the hill behind the sign spelling out the word "Gaza." We were told that demonstrations like this are not uncommon. From Free Derry corner we set out to look at the murals. There are many murals that have been painted by the Bogside Artists as part of the People's Gallery movement. Three artists who grew up in the Bogside worked together to create murals depicting the people's history. They paint murals with the financial and moral support of the people. Their hope is that peace might emerge out of their art. The murals depict scenes from the Battle of the Bogside, Bloody Sunday, and Civil Rights marches. They depict victims of violence and scenes from the hunger strike. There was also one representing unity and peace. They are beautiful murals and we were able to speak with one of the artists about what they all mean and what their hope is for the community. 

After lunch we returned to the Bogside again. We walked through the Free Derry Museum. This was created by the community and by the families of the victims of the Troubles to tell their story. The museum follows events in the Bogside from 1969 through 1972. They are continually working on expanding the museum and their educational aims. Though small right now, the museum was amazing. They had artifacts from every person killed on Bloody Sunday and we saw the banner that was carried in the march, the banner that covered two of the dead and is still stained by their blood. There was video footage taken by one of the victims who was an amateur photographer up until the moments before he was killed. It all came together to really recreate the sadness and the gravity of that day. However, there was one artifact that really affected me. After seeing it I felt physically sick. There was a letter written by one of the British soldiers who had killed one of the young boys. He wrote to the mother of the boy and said some horrible, horrible things that I will not repeat here. He was not sorry that the boy was killed, he ridiculed the boy's life, and he poked fun at the boy's death. It was the worst thing I could imagine receiving as a mother in grief.

Following our time in the museum we had the opportunity to speak with a man who had been present at the time of the Bloody Sunday massacre. His brother was shot dead across the street from where he had been hiding from the open fire of the British army. His name was John Kelly and his brother Michael was one of the 13 victims from that day. He showed us the square in which most of the killings took place and told us more personal stories about many of the victims. He then took us to a room in the community center so that he could tell us his story and we could ask him questions. He told us about his mother and how she lost five years of her life when she found out that her son was killed - there are 5 years of her life that she cannot remember. He told us about the difficulties for the families of the victims and their quest for justice. After the events took place it was determined by the British that the soldiers only opened fire after they were fired upon. Yet witnesses at the killings saw no weapons on any of the victims. There is currently a new tribunal taking place to examine the events in a more objective light. John talked openly about the soldier who killed his brother and 3 others and the anger that he still must sort through today. We left the Bogside in a pretty somber mood.

Overall the trip to Derry was very enlightening. I liked the city and the experiences we had were very touching and illuminating. I'll be happy to return for seminars further down the road. My only complaint is the weather. It's cold and rainy, but it's not a cold like it is at home. It isn't a biting cold. The air isn't cold, but it's wet. It brings this kind of bone-chilling cold. I was shaking most of the time we were outside and my fingers and toes went a little numb. There was actually a period of about 30 minutes that I couldn't feel one of the fingers on my left hand...at all. It wasn't the greatest. BUT I was glad to have such a wonderful raincoat (thanks Mom and Dad!) to keep me dry. I was actually complimented on it at lunch and a local women said that it was just the prettiest thing she had ever seen. All in all I'm very tired, but it was a great day. 

To Derry!

Hello all!

I'm just sitting in our classroom waiting for everyone to get back from lunch. I make my own lunch everyday because I prefer to be economical and save my money for travel and other such things, but almost everyone else buys their lunch everyday. That will get very expensive very fast. Actually pretty much anything here will get very expensive very fast. We had a long day of class yesterday and we have another one today. We don't get done until about 6 tonight, but it's not too bad. The material is always interesting. Tomorrow morning we will head to Derry for the day. We'll see some of the murals and wall art there. That is something that is very big throughout Northern Ireland. Many of the paramilitary and other groups used murals to convey messages of solidarity or defiance throughout the Troubles and even into today. We had a lecture all about it yesterday and I was very surprised to see just how much American history is put up on the walls to help illustrate both sides of the conflict. The confederate flag is pictured on some murals to illustrate the plight of the nationalists who want their right to home rule and the ability to separate from Britain just as the Confederacy desired the right to separate from the Union. Those pictures incited some interesting discussion in the room. Some people were quite heated on the subject. Another interesting little tidbit is about some of our former presidents. 17 of them have Scotch-Irish heritage. This is painted on the murals to entice Americans to back Unionist desire for continued unity with Britain. It seems a kind of backward argument to me, but apparently it works. I suppose I'll see more of how that can come together as time goes on.

Another topic we have focused on in the last couple of days is that of identity, which is obviously a big deal in Irish society. We have discussed where our identity comes from and how identities in the United States are determined perhaps somewhat differently than they are here in Northern Ireland. It is very interesting that Americans tend not to identify as being an American. That is neither our heritage nor our nationality, at least according to us. We are Norwegian, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, or Swedish, but very rarely do we describe ourselves as being American. The rest of the world sees us that way however. We have also been talking about the way that our early lives and the circumstances into which we were born affect the course of the rest of our lives. We have more mobility of circumstance and change in opinion in the United States. Here however you are likely to support the causes and vote the opinions of your father, grandfather, your great grandfather, and so the divides persist. This is part of the problem here. There is very little change and everything continues the way it always has and likely will.

So enough of the ramblings of my mind - I'm kind of treating this like a journal in addition to being my blog and sometimes things strike me in class that I have to make a note of in my blog, if only to expand on it later in some academic form.

The last few nights have been pretty relaxed. With class all day we all find ourselves very exhausted at the end of it. Last night the girls in my flat made a stir fry and worked on our group homework assignment. We had to draw pictures. It was real tough. Some girls from the other flat came over and a group of us sat and talked for about 3 hours. We haven't done a whole lot of that up to this point because we've always been so busy. It was kind of nice to take some time out and really get to know who we are spending so much time with. We've decided to make it a kind of tradition among the girls who were there. 

Everybody seems to be getting sick around here so I am trying to avoid the plague. So far I think I am one of about two girls who have successfully avoided it. We will be starting class soon and I believe we're watching some videos for the afternoon session. I should probably get something to keep me awake. The day does get long.

The learning begins...

We had our first day of actual academic material on Friday. We started our day at 10:00AM with a speaker on a "brief" history of Irish history. We covered a great deal of history leading up to the events beginning with settlement of the island and ending just after World War II (which was actually very important to the place that Ireland is at today). We had a quick break for lunch before another 2 hour session. This time we had a speaker specializing in religion's role in the conflict. A self-proclaimed controversial speaker, he had some interesting things to say about religion in Northern Ireland society today, as well as in the history of the Troubles. It was all very interesting and it was good to actually start class, but it ended up being a very long day. It didn't help that more than half of our group was out late at the pub the night before - myself not included. Jordan and I went out for a quick pint, but walked home early like the good little St. Olaf students that we are.

The Irish literally go out every night, and it's not necessarily for one little social pint at the pub. I cannot imagine how much money they go through every week just to go out. Every night is a different place. The Student Union Bar is the place to be on Monday nights. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the Anchor. Wednesday and Saturday is Kelly's. Friday is Havana and Sunday includes a pint after church. Our taxi driver on the way to mass last week told us to cleanse our souls and then have a pint - that's the Irish way. 

Another thing that I forgot to mention yet is the existence of palm trees in Northern Ireland. That's right, palm trees. I don't know if they are popular in the Republic, but they are quite prevalent up here. It's a strange sight, especially when they're coated with snow as they were when we first arrived. Who knew that palm trees could grow this close to the Arctic Circle. By the way, the weather here has gotten so much better. I actually didn't have to wear a coat this weekend.

Back to the weekend - we went out to Havana on Friday night. This was another pub/bar/nightclub combo and we all liked it better than Club Aura. And everyone went out this time! It's really cheesy, but we decided to pick a day for each person and "celebrate" them. Mostly this was so that everyone could pretend they had a birthday on the trip. Friday was Becca's day so everyone came out to celebrate.

On Saturday a bunch of us made the long trek into Portstewart again to go back to Morelli's for lunch. It was just as good as the first time. We shopped around a little bit along the ocean and then made the walk back. Jordan and I had planned to make dinner together for Valentine's Day and a couple of other people needed things so we stopped at a grocery store on the way back. Just before we got there a group of boys that were probably around 10-years-old yelled across the street and asked us if we were American. They found out that we were and promptly threw a raw egg at us. It didn't hit any of us, but it didn't make any of us very happy. We were all quite surprised because up to this point we haven't really encountered much anti-American feeling, especially in kids who probably have no reason to feel that way. It's strange to think that people that young can feel that way simply because it's what they've always been told. Of course, on the other hand, it could also have been because they were 10-year-old boys looking for something to do. They had an egg just sitting in their pocket waiting to be thrown at someone and we happened to be the most interesting someone to happen along. Either way it was definitely something new. 

Jordan and I made one of my favorite meals from home for Valentine's dinner and we were able to cook with real wine...that we bought ourselves! How exciting! After dinner some of the girls decided to go out, but the rest of us hung out and had a movie night. Going out all the time is exhausting both for your body and for your wallet. I know I needed a break.

Today was pretty laid back. I watched the Ireland v. Italy rugby match on TV with Jordan and Ben (Ireland killed Italy - as they always have according to the announcers) and then we watched Sunday Ski on the BBC. I'd love to watch a rugby match in the pub sometime because I've heard it's quite the experience. The next match is Ireland v. England, which is probably the match of greatest interest in Northern Ireland. We might have to spend the money on a taxi to go watch that one somewhere that isn't our kitchen. 

We start our first full week of classes tomorrow, with a field trip to Derry planned for Wednesday. We have quite the line up of speakers and topics so this week should be a busy one. We've been slowly settling into more and more of a routine. The girls in my flat planned out meals for the rest of our time here in Coleraine. The time is already going quickly. Even though we've only been here for a little over a week, we will already be leaving and moving on to our internships in a little less than two. We've already begun to plan ahead for spring break and the places that we all want to travel. I'm sure I'll be home before I know it, but until then I am missing you all and I love hearing from you. Love and God's blessings!

Feelings Free For All

We are back on campus again and it's actually good to be "home." We were able to get to our spiritual retreat in the mountains, despite Nigel's fears. However, the last leg of the road was quite an interesting one, seeing as how the rutted mud and snow can hardly be considered a road. Still, we made it to the beautiful retreat center, Knocklayd. The center is actually an old farmhouse (or two houses) that have been turned into a retreat center that groups can use. the house is set up in the mountains and is surrounded by rolling hills and fields with sheep and cows. It is gorgeous. Each year a different couple volunteers to host the house. This year the couple is from New Mexico and their names are Nancy and Jake. They were wonderful hosts and brilliant cooks. We had dessert with every meal and tea in between. That is one thing that is NOT AT ALL over-exaggerated here. They really do drink tea ALL THE TIME. We have tea with meals and several times in between meals, morning, night, anytime. It is always offered and always available at just about a moment's notice. And not only do they drink tea, but they don't ever drink it alone. The tea always comes with cookies (biscuits here) or scones or bars of some sort. It is quite the experience; some love it, others not so much. I think I'm more in the love it category, but it's a bit much for me.

Anyway, getting off of my tea tangent...Our first day at Knocklayd was all about getting to know each other and discussing our hopes and fears for the program and what we hoped the experience to be. We set up a group contract and spent most of the day bonding, interspersed with tea and cookies and wonderful meals from Nancy and Jake. That night we went down to tour the Corrymeela center. This is a center located right on the coast in Ballycastle that serves as sort of a mediation point for conflict. It is quite well-recognized internationally for it's efforts dealing with peace and reconciliation. We were led around by one of the center's founders. He told us many really touching stories and, of course, served us tea and sweets. It was a really neat experience and it will be the internship site for one of our group.

The next day's focus was more on the course itself and the objectives of both classroom instruction and seminars coupled with the internship experience.  The morning was easy enough as we learned about all the different internship organizations we will be working for. The difficulty came after lunch when it was time to actually choose our internship organizations. We were to choose our internships democratically as a group. Nigel had no part in how they were assigned. It was up to us to work it out so that everyone was satisfied, and so that we also have a balance between the amount of people stationed in Derry and those stationed in Belfast. In the past the process has taken as little as 15 minutes and as long as 3 hours. Luckily, we did not set a new record for the longest, though we were nowhere near the shortest time. It was a long, fairly uncomfortable process. However, after 2 hours we had all been sorted and people were fairly satisfied. I will be stationed in Belfast for the middle 7 weeks of the program working with an organization called Northern Ireland Alternatives. This organization mainly works in the Shankill Road area on reconciliation and mediation between community members. I will likely be working on a project that brings ex-paramilitaries together to work out differences and to record their stories, which is an important step in the peace process. I have been told that the work is very challenging from an emotional standpoint. I could be working with people who fought in the troubles. However, I feel that this internship is a perfect fit for me and I am up for the challenge and very excited. 7 other people will be stationed in Belfast as well, though at different internships. There will be 5 people stationed in Derry. Once we move into our internships we will gather together once a week in either Derry or Belfast to have futher seminars and field experiences with Nigel. 

To take the edge off, Nigel took us down to a pub in Ballycastle that night for a pint and some chips. It was nice to be able to relax as a group again. I bought the girl who also wanted my internship a pint because she was nice enough to give up her spot and move to a different internship. 

Early this morning we got up and had hot porridge before heading out on a day of sightseeing. Our first stop was at Giant's Causeway on the northern coast. I will be putting up pictures soon so you can see it because it is very difficult to explain. However, in the mean time, you should look it up on wikipedia if you're interested. It's really very bizarre. Essentially it is a series of coastline that is made up of old lava formations, if you believe in a scientific explanation. If you believe Irish legend it is the remains of a bridge built from Ireland to Scotland by the Irish giant Finn, so that he could duel the giant from Scotland. Either way, the coast is made up of hexagonal columns with very flat surfaces. I'll be sure to put up pictures very soon.

Following the Giant's Causeway was a stop for lunch (first fish and chips of the trip) and then a visit to Bushmill's Distillery. It is the oldest legal distillery still in operation on the island. We were able to see the actual distillation process and to sample some of the whiskey at the end. All Irish whiskey is distilled 3 times, as opposed to the 'lesser quality' Scottish whiskey that is only distilled twice, and bourbon, which is only distilled once. This is the bulk of what I took away from the tour. Also that the whiskey is made mainly from malted barley, yeast, and water. I sampled a 12 year old malt whiskey. I was surprised to actually like it, though it made me cough just a bit. It was REALLY strong.

We stopped at the remains of Dunluce castle after Bushmills and we were led on a tour of the ruins. The old castle, owned by an old Irish clan family, is situated on the top of a very high cliff overlooking the ocean. It is built pretty much out to the edge of the cliff, which proved to be not such a smart idea when half the outer wall crumbled into the sea in the early 1600s. If you know anything about my whole structural phobia, I'm sure you can guess by now that I was terrified. However, it was really a neat tour and not too scary. Pictures are coming, I promise. 

I forgot to mention about the evening mass we went to on Sunday. As it turns out it was not at the convent, as we were told, but at the church we had happened to walk into earlier in the weekend when we were walking around Portstewart. There was a lot of confusion with the cab driver, who knew nothing of an 8 pm mass in the convent. This confusion was only multiplied by the driver thinking we were looking for an 8 pm MAST. He kept asking us what an 8 pm mast was and we didn't correct him because we thought it might just have been his accent. WE weren't really sure how to explain except to say that it would be 20:00 here. Eventually we got it sorted out and arrived at the church. It was a nice service, though much more contemporary than I was expecting. The first three songs we sang were songs that we sing at Messiah all the time. (By the way Mum, Faj, Rachel, and Peter...even thousands of miles away we sang the Jurassic Park/Brady Bunch song and I almost started crying because there was no one next to me to laugh with.) The very interesting part came after the service when the priest invited us all in for tea and biscuits (there it is again!). We were under the impression that we would be joining the rest of the congregation in sort of a fellowship hour, so we were surprised when we reached the room to find it empty. We ended up drinking tea with the priest and one of the men in the congregation. They drove us back to campus afterward and saved us a cab ride. We are invited to come back anytime we want.

I should probably get back to the room now to finish the reading we have assigned because we actually have class tomorrow. It's really more introductory stuff and tours of the college, but we do have to report to a room at a certain time. I hope all is well at home!

(So this was long again...Sorry!)

A weekend to remember...

I am here in Northern Ireland, at the University of Ulster in Coleraine to be exact. We arrived on schedule, despite various delays centering around New Jersey. A lot has happened in the last few days...

We boarded the plane at the MSP airport only to find that there were three seats in every row, two on one side and one on the other. It was definitely the smallest plane I have ever seen. I was almost unable to stand up in the aisle, and that's saying something. Also, there was very limited space to stow carry-on luggage, so I had to hold some of mine in my lap for the majority of the flight. Then, when we finally started taxiing to the runway, the pilot came on over the intercom and reported that, due to the amount of traffic at Newark, we would be unable to take off for about another hour and 20 minutes. That meant sitting in the plane, cramped and uncomfortable, and not even in the air. Luckily, we were actually able to take off after only about 40 minutes of waiting. Thus, we arrived at Newark only slightly behind schedule and we had no trouble grabbing something to eat and making our connection to Belfast. We all made it, with only two very close calls coming in from other flights. The flight over the Atlantic was smooth and comfortable. Customs went fairly smoothly and all our luggage arrived safely.

After meeting Nigel, the program director, at the airport we headed to the grocery store to buy food needed for the weekend. We were utterly lost. Without knowing what the cooking conditions were like, most of us settled for cereal, PB and J, and any other mostly processed meals we could find.

A note about the food so far. The peanut butter is WAY different. It's almost grainy and doesn't really have a peanut taste. It's more like a simple paste you put on your bread for a texture and flavor reminiscent of peanuts. Needless to say, it's not my favorite. Also, oddly enough, though the Frosted Flakes (called Frosties here) are made by Kelloggs, they are not the same as back home. They have a different flavor, almost like honey, but they're still pretty good.

After grocery shopping we settled into our rooms, which are pretty nice. Each of the girls' rooms has its own private bathroom and we all share cooking and living room facilities. It's been great so far, though a little bit on the cold side. We cannot figure out how their radiators work. Or the showers. I stood in the shower for about ten minutes trying to turn and twist all sorts of things before I finally got the water running. I'm still not sure about the temperature. The TV here is spectacular. It's pretty much old American reruns, weather, news, or rugby. I love the rugby, and today we watched a quaint little soap opera that is apparently all the rage, called the East Enders. Enthralling, let me tell you.

After a few logistics things like stipend checks, registration, and tea and scones (DELICIOUS) with the faculty of UNESCO, we have pretty much had the rest of the weekend off to explore. Nigel told us to take advantage of this opportunity, as it should be a weekend to remember...and indeed it has been.

On Friday we walked into Coleraine to purchase cell phones and cash our checks at the bank. It is a pretty adorable little town, with a big central square that is free of traffic. I bought my cell phone, hairdryer, and some shoes before deciding I should not let myself go shopping anymore for awhile or I will run out of money fast. We ate lunch at a little cafe and I had Irish stew. When I ordered it I was surprised to see the woman pull out a plate to put it on. However, it was for good reason. It was quite thick, but it was pretty good. That was my first taste of "Irish" food I guess. That night we all took the train into a town on the coast called Portrush. We went to a pub right across from the harbor (which looked pretty, though it was difficult to tell in the dark). It was very nice and pretty quiet. We were by far the youngest ones there. I ordered my first Guiness. I figured I had to try it. I actually liked it. Contrary to what many think, they do serve their beer cold here and it was quite refreshing.

Saturday morning, or rather afternoon, a bunch of us decided to make the 4 mile or so walk up to the north coast in Portstewart. The walk through the countryside to get there was rather long and cold, but it was beautiful and green. I took many pictures, though they will never do it justice. The ocean was beautiful and the town was very picturesque, though COLD. That wind really makes a difference. Later that night we took at cab back to Portstewart and went to the Anchor Pub, which is supposed to be one of THE spots in Portstewart. It was very crowded and we stood around in a clump like awkward Americans who had no idea what they were doing. Later in the evening we went upstairs to the night club. We had a great time. Catching a cab home was not the easiest thing in the world, but we all made it safe and sound.

Today we are going back to Portstewart to a gorgeous convent on a cliff overlooking the ocean for a service. We saw it yesterday on our walk and it was highly recommended at the pub last night (yes, I know, a pub is the perfect place to get religious direction). Tomorrow we are supposed to be heading into the mountains for a three day retreat. This is weather permitting. We have had a bit of snow here. And by a bit I mean some flurries, that rarely stick to the ground. Supposedly this is the worst weather they have had in years. It is nothing like back home. Regardless, a little bit of snow and they begin to worry. I guess the world pretty much stops. It's rather funny actually, and we have offered to drive the bus for Nigel just so we don't have to miss the retreat.

I'm so sorry for this INCREDIBLY long post. I will try not to let things get so longwinded again. If you stuck with it, thank you for listening to my ramblings, I'll work on reigning them in.

twas the night before takeoff

Bedtime is getting closer and closer and when I wake up it is time to go. It seems like I just filled out my application ages ago. I can't believe that I am actually leaving in less than 24 hours. I'm pretty sure I've got everything together. I have limited my packing space so that I'm not "the girl with the huge suitcase that she can't carry places by herself." I have one load of laundry left and then a night of relaxing with the family. There is little excitement to report yet, so for now I will say goodnight and I'll see you in another continent!