Castles and Coastlines

Hello loyal blog readers! It feels like months since I last posted but I guess it was really only last week... Since then, we've gone on a retreat, explored the North Coast, and started classes at the University. We took off bright and early Monday morning to the Knockyland branch of an organization called Corrymeela where we spent the next two days. We learned more about Northern Ireland, what we'll be doing here, spent a bunch of time outside looking at sheep and breathing the fresh air, and determined who would be going to which internship site. I'll be going to an environmental action organization in Belfast located on a peace line. I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing there but I'm really excited to see what they do and how their work is influenced by where they are located.

Last week we had a tourist day of fun and went to the Giant’s Causeway, which was formed by a volcano and basically looks like a huge jetty made entirely out of hexagonal rock pillars. It was beautiful and really great, again, to be right on the sea. After that we had some fish and chips (greasy, fatty, delicious) and went to the Bushmill’s Distillery- the oldest legal whiskey distillery in Ireland. We got a tour and had a sample and while it was cool to hear about and see the process, it wasn’t as exciting as I had imagined. After the distillery, we went to Dunluce Castle.

The castle is on a beautiful cliff overlooking the sea and was built hundreds of years ago. It hasn’t been in use since the 1600’s when the cliff fell into the ocean, taking the kitchen, dinner, and some servants down with it. We had a great tour guide who told us tons about the castle’s history and showed us what parts of the castle would have been used for what purposes. He also told us that one day when it was too windy for tours to see the castle, he and some of his co-workers built a fire in the fireplace and had a barbeque in this castle ruin! Some of us talked about how different that experience was from historical sites in the US. You would never go and just start cooking dinner in Paul Revere’s house or ring the Liberty Bell… it’s interesting to think about how history is just a part of the landscape here. It’s a completely integrated part of the landscape. Naturally, history is a part of the landscape across the US but I think we tend to mark or highlight certain parts of our history as “more historic” than others.

The rest of the week and into this week we have seminars all day at the University. While they are pretty long days (I don’t think I’ve been in a classroom this long since fifth grade practically), I definitely feel like I’m learning a lot- or at least getting a lot of facts about the history of Northern Ireland and the relationships between the different groups here.

One highlight of this weekend was watching the Ireland-France 6 Nations rugby game at one of the bars in Portrush. The tournament has been going on since we got here and I’ve really enjoyed watching the games on TV. I thought rugby would be a lot more like football, but its so much more enjoyable to watch because it doesn’t keep starting and stopping. The players are so fast and there seems to be more teamwork than most other sports I’ve seen. Not to mention the rugby players- on both sides- are not torturous to look at. Ireland lost but I had fun nonetheless and look forward to catching some more matches while we’re here and hopefully going to one myself.

The rest of this week will be more seminars and a visit to Derry/Londonderry where 5 of our group will be interning. I’m excited to be in a city and see some of the places we’ve been talking about and hear more from people outside the classroom. Derry is also pretty famous for its political murals- I’m pretty jazzed. Before we go to Belfast in a few weeks some of the group and I are thinking about going to Galway in the Republic for a few days. It’s supposed to be a really great city, full of young people and live music. Anyone have any good Galway suggestions?

This post is getting pretty long but a little food update: There is a chain grocery/convenience store called Spar where we probably go at least once a day to buy food-which goes quickly given the miniature nature of our fridge...So, digestives: still delicious, still confusingly named. Fish and chips: greasy, delicious, heart disease. On the crisp (re: potato chips) front: salt and vinegar Tayto or HunkyDory chips are most delicious. I’ve tried cheese and onion, bacon, and prawn cocktail. So far I’m just enjoying everything smothered in vinegar. I also had some homemade Irish stew at a café in Coleraine- so hearty!