We are now getting into the fifth week of our trip to Ireland and we have just returned from our longest trip which was to Northern Ireland. After a decently long drive from our little cottages in Spiddal we arrived in Belfast. On our full day in Belfast we did a walking tour around the city and learned how incredibly difficult the city’s past has been. Belfast is divided into two parts by a massive wall which divides Protestants and Catholics which was a put in place as a result of “The Troubles” which was an approximately 30 years long conflict between Protestant and Catholic paramilitary groups in the region. If there was one thing that was made very clear by our tour guides, who were actually members of both side of the conflict, it’s that the city is still trying to recover from all of the damage that was done during those thirty years.
On Saturday we spent most of our day outside. This included going to the Giant’s Causeway, The Dark Hedges, Gobbin’s Walk, and Carrick-a-Rede bridge. This was easily my favorite day of our trip to Northern Ireland as I will take any excuse to go outside and get away from actual classes for a day. The rest of our trip consisted of more museums and tours. By the time we started to head back to the cottages we are all very ready to be back at our little homes. I never thought that I would be as excited as I was to return to our “daily life,” but by the end of this long field trip I was very ready.
It’s honestly crazy to think about how fast our trip has been going as we are nearly at the halfway point for the trip. We really only have a couple of class trips left, but we will also be traveling on Spring Break to England and Scotland. I look forward to sharing what that part of our adventure is like!
Ramblin' Dan 