Northern Ireland

Hello everyone! I wanted to get this in before this weekend's trip to Scotland!

This weekend, our study abroad program had an optional field trip to Northern Ireland. We headed out early Friday morning and after about a 3 hour bus ride, we made it to Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. For those of you who don't know about the hostility between the North and the Republic of Ireland (everything else), I will briefly summarize. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and is considered a province of it. While Northern Ireland is largely self-governing, some areas of governance are still reserved to the United Kingdom. The major conflict in the North is between Protestants and Catholics living in close proximity and it has been going on for years; it continues to this day.

The first stop we made was to do the famous Black Cab Tour in which a cab takes us to many of the highly political areas that are involved with the on-going hostility between the Protestants and Catholics. This includes the famous murals depicting views on not only Irish political strife but on international ones as well. To be honest, right when we departed from the cab to walk around the murals, there was something different in the air; it was very unsettling. It's like you could feel the tension. Also, before this trip, I knew very little about the whole situation but I thought that some things had been resolved but it clearly wasn't the case. They still have this huge wall that divides the Protestant and Catholic sides of the area and it closes and locks every night to this day. Also, 95% percent of the schools are still segregated. It was WAY more intense than I thought.

Our cab driver told us that the guy in the middle is like the Mona Lisa; no matter where you stand, the gun follows you. 

This is the "Berlin Wall" (what they call it), separating the two different sides

They had to add the top portion of this last year

This is the International Wall, where murals depict global injustices

This artist was an ex-bomber for the IRA

After that cheerful note, we had lunch and made our way to where we were staying for the weekend. We were staying in this little, cute seaside village on the very top of Ireland called Portrush. I mean, we had an ocean view from our hotel room! It was amazing. The ocean is very different here and I think I like it better than the Pacific (sorry, Californians; I'm not representin').

On Saturday, we had a full day of places to visit. We first went to the Carrick-A-Rede Bridge; I was kinda half excited, half dreading this because it's super high up. It is about 100 feet above sharp rocks and the ocean. The bridge goes across to a small little island that salmon fishers used to use becasue it was the best place to catch the most salmon. So, I walked out onto that bridge and I was full of... something. I had too many emotions going on and I was trying to make sure I got a good picture so I could prove that I did it. It was all too much at one time but we made it safely across... then I realized that I had to go back. Dang. All in all, it was an amazing view and completely worth it.

First Glance

Path to get to the bridge

There it is!

Kinda far down

This is the picture I took, shaking, when I was on the bridge

My girl, Kate

Fellow DCUers

The grass was so lovely to lay on. It was spongey. 

From here, it looks so small!

Next we went to Bushmill's Distillery for a tour and tasting. Let's just say that I was completely not excited for the tasting at the end because I do not like whiskey. I chose to taste it for the experience. It was so gross so my guy friends drank the rest of mine. Too much for this girl to handle.

Lastly on Saturday, we went to Giant's Causeway. The Cliffs of Moher and Giant's Causeway are two of the staple natural beauties of Ireland and I had been anxiously anticipating this for months. I couldn't even comprehend them when I was there, let alone try to describe them to you now. It was truly astonishing.  These huge rock masses, looking almost like steps, were caused by ancient volcanic activity but, of course, there are myths and legends surrounding them. It was said that these were used for giants to travel and meet in-between Ireland and Scotland (because Scotland is only about 30 miles off the coast of Northern Ireland!). These rocks are also found in Scotland, hence the legend. We got to spend a considerable amount of time on them but not enough time to walk the trails up the mountains surrounding them. I would absolutely, without a doubt, come back to these some other time in my life; they are that worth it. The current was crazy so these HUGE waves were crashing against them, close to where we were standing! So wicked.

Trail to the Causeway 

Basically, once everyone got there, we all turned into little kids on this massive, amazing jungle gym

The Giant's Boot

Bye, Causeway. I'll see you again some day.

And, maybe stay here! :)

Sunday came and it was our departure date back to Dublin. But! We got to go to Dunluce Castle before we left and this was another spot I have been looking forward to. It is this almost ruin-like castle perched on the edge of the cliff and it is so picturesque, it's insane.

Passing by

Beauty

I <3 castles

So, overall, a thrilling and amazing weekend in Northern Ireland. Tomorrow, we are going to Scotland! I'm excited but feel kinda weird because I don't know a lot about Scotland like I did with Ireland before I came. I guess I will be a learner this weekend :)

xoxo,
Halle