Post-Apocalyptic Ireland and Airbending

 I went on lots of adventures this weekend and I'm here to share them with you!

This past Friday was Culture Night in Derry, where basically the whole city has all sorts of activities going on all day. We hit up the Guild Hall Square after our dance class to check out the live music for a bit. The band that was playing was a local pop-punk band with a horde of teenage school girls fangirling over them. I remember those days. I remember when I was one of those teenage fangirls fawning over a band (Okay, I still am sometimes.) Eventually we decided to go exploring some more around the city, so we wandered around and looked into some shops. We found a comic book/music/movie store and I fangirled over the Doctor Who and Harry Potter merch. We also found the Across the Divide statue, a monument symbolizing reconciliation and hope for the future after the Bloody Sunday events. Later that evening we headed back to the Guild Hall to listen to a pretty cool folk band and head to the fashion show in the Craft Villiage (Diagon Alley) and watch some fire dancers..

Fangirling.

Across the Divide

Approximately 2:30 in the morning, Lydia and I Face Timed into the photo shoot jam session of Bluffton's favorite creature rock band, The Anabaptist Bestiary Project! So excited for the album to come out! We didn't get to bed until after 4:00 AM, but it was so worth it!

Bright and early Saturday morning (Okay, it was only 10:30, but when you don't get to bed until almost dawn, it's a little rough) we hopped on the bus to go to Donegal to the Inishowen Peninsula for the day. Mervyn, our program director is currently in the US doing some work for Bluffton and Earlham's NI program, so our bus driver Francis gave us the tour through the area. Our first stop on our foggy morning was to Grianán Ailigh, a circular stone structure built in the 6th century A.D. Archaeologists aren't exactly sure what it was used for, but personally I felt like it was a site for an ancient version of the Irish Hunger Games. It was totally awesome.

Our next site we ventured to was Fort Dunree, an abandoned British military base on the Inishowen Peninsula that originally was used to ward off invading French troops. There was a museum on the base, but since it cost money, we decided to just explore the actual base. I'm still not entirely sure if it was technically safe, but the buildings were all decrepit and eerie and ghostly. It was mildly terrifying - it felt like we were about to become victims in a slasher film, but it was beautiful.

The view off of the peninsula

The Ghost Town of Fort Dunree. Slasher Film.

Our final destination of the trip was through a village and to a beach called Doagh Strand where Francis showed us houses from the 1960's that still had straw roofs and a "Famine Wall." During the potato famine in mid 19th century Ireland, land owners would provide food for tenants only if they did work for them. Since there wasn't much actual work that was beneficial to the economy, the land owners would require the workers to complete pointless tasks like dig holes and fill them back up again or building stone walls on the hills. 

When were on the Doagh Strand beach, we tromped through the sand down to the ocean waters and took some pretty rad pictures, which you can see below.

Joe airbending us all away (Photo Credit: The totally awesome Sara Klenke)

Joe hulking us all away! (Photo: Sara Klenke)

The straw-roofed house that people even 50 years ago used to live in.

This weekend we're going to the Ulster American Folk Park!

I Always Wear My Kilt to the Cinema

It’s decided. Thursday afternoons will be my blogging time to keep me awake during Politics in Northern Ireland. Today’s blog post will be about nothing in particular, just some little high points of my week, but I’ve got some pretty nifty pictures to show you all, including a man in a kilt.

If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you’ve already seen my status about it. Sunday night I went to the theatre to see Insidious 2 with two of my friends on the trip, Joe and Chay. While I was waiting for them to get there, I was a man in line for a ticket wearing you guessed it – a kilt. For you naysayers chanting, “Pics or it didn’t happen!” I just want to say, “Oh. It happened.”

I always thought kilts were a Scottish thing, but whatevs. You rock that kilt, Broski.

After the movie was over it was pretty late and I didn’t want to walk back to my house by myself, so I called a cab for the first time in my life. Being the embarrassing ignorant American I am, I told the cab driver I was at the “Quhay-side Shopping Center” (spelled Quayside). After I made a fool of myself, the cab driver kindly corrected me and explained that it’s pronounced “Key-side.” Oops.

Also last Friday night we were wandering around the mall and ran into the Deputy Mayor of Derry, Gary Middleton. He was looking for shoes for a wedding he was going to be in. He tweeted back at some of us. Obviously we’re BFFFL’s.

Clearly we have a great friendship.

This Tuesday we finally got our placement details for our internships! I’ll be volunteering at a women’s center with my friend Sara in November! It’s a place where women and their children can seek solace from abuse. I’m not sure what exactly what we’ll be doing, but I am just so happy that I was placed where I was. When we signed up for options back in March, I felt God calling me to work with women, so I just put down the 3 women’s centers available in no particular order. I can’t wait!

Below are some pictures of the Peace Bridge in Derry that links the Catholic and Protestant sides of the city, as well as some photos of the peace center where Joe will be volunteering at for his internship. Also this Saturday we will be going to the Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal, so I’ll be talking about that and have more pictures for you all next week!

The Peace Bridge!

A mildly-terrifying sculpture at the peace center 

A gorgeous Derry sunset.

Just brofisting a wall. Nbd.

Cultural Differences

*Note: This was actually written this morning!

While I’m currently sitting in my 6 hour class on Northern Irish Politics, I thought I’d put my time to some good use and write another blog post!

Like I mentioned in my last post, now that we have fallen into the routine of classes, we haven’t been bound for adventures every other day. However, I’d like to dedicate this post to explain some differences between American and Northern Irish culture for you folks back home!

1. The first difference I’d like to point out is something that sticks out like a sore thumb while I’m writing in my British notepad on top of my American notebook: Their standard sheet size for paper is longer. For someone who likes to have things align perfectly, this drives me crazy to have ¼ of an inch of paper hanging out of my American folder.

2. Get the whole idea that ‘Merica has the strongest currency out of your head; The exchange rate between the British Pound Sterling and the American Dollar is roughly £1=$1.58. It’s even stronger than the Euro, which is approx. £1= €1.19

3. Even though English is the main language here (with Gaelic Revivalists), there is still a barrier when it comes to US terms vs. UK terms. Some examples:

            - Fries are “chips” and chips are “crisps.”

            - If you’re talking about your pants, say “jeans” or “trousers,” because “pants” here mean you’re talking about your undies!

4. Alcohol is really cheap – sometimes even cheaper than water. Also in restaurants, generally there aren’t free refills and they don’t serve tap water, it’s all bottled.

5. On the topic of drinks, everyone drinks tea. This is delightful in my case since I’m an addict, but most people are disgusted at the thought of iced tea. Also, the Irish do not know how to make good coffee. It’s all either instant or French pressed. I love tea, but one thing I’m looking forward to in December is to be able to sling back some of that good ol’ American coffee.

6. Swearing is acceptable. It’s used in casual conversation. People usually don’t get offended if you drop a few F-bombs here and there. It’s a thing.

7. Nutella is WAY cheaper over here. Seriously, America. Get on it.

8. I CAN’T ESCAPE MILEY CYRUS.

And that’s just a few of the more minor cultural differences I’ve experienced so far!

Snogging Parks

So I’m writing this blog post not because I went on some amazing adventure or experienced some history being made, but because I’m sitting in my room bored without the Internet (I know, I’m pathetic. Deal.) So I thought I’d put some productivity into this project and actually try to maintain my Northern Ireland Adventure Blog (If this goes well, I may even continue one for my fascinating daily life.). I’ll take some time explaining how the Walled City works in this post to give everyone a feel of how I’m living life here.

The day after we arrived in Derry and settled in with our host families, a group of us decided to explore the city to scope out the best pubs and shops and places to hang out. Taking advice from Bluffton’s Northern Ireland alum, we headed to Whetherspoons, a local pub for lunch.

It. Was. SO GOOD.
They have pretty good deals for food and drink! I ordered their fish and chips (I’m still getting used to calling fried ‘chips’) and a drink for £6.99, which comes out to about $10. I’m not even ashamed to admit that I went to Wetherspoons’ sister restaurant, The Ice Wharf, two more times this week. I highly recommend it for anyone visiting in the area! Even though we all love Wetherspoons, we agreed to check out the smaller local pubs and find some live music.

Speaking of live music, Derry is also this year’s City of Culture! There are all sorts of activities going on throughout the year. Unfortunately, we just missed their big music festival, but they are having a Culture Night soon throughout the city where we can experience food, dance, and music! *cue Flogging Molly, The Pogues, and The Dropkick Murphys*

Except not really ^-^”

 

Pigeons!

This is the building where we have classes

Hogwarts! (Not really) =(

Another suggestion by alum was the department store Primark, which is kind of like if JC Penney and Forever 21 had a baby. The clothes are adorable and CHEAP. It kind of makes me wish that I had only brought along one outfit so I could buy a whole wardrobe to take home with me. Alas, I do not have that much room in my suitcase =( My only wish is that they will eventually open a store in the US!

A ginormous crochered...thing. Pretty!

The Peace Bridge!

Okay. Storytime. The other day while we were out walking around, we heard some what I assumed were some school boys shouting rude things at us and calling us some names that little kids should not know the meaning to. I was feeling pretty disgusted that kids were behaving this way (I’m showing my sheltered small town upbringing here) but we ignored them in the hopes they would go away. When I turned around to face the group of kids I was surprised to discover that they were not school boys, but school GIRLS. That’s right. There was a group of 10-12 year old girls harassing us.

Wut…?

So gangs of little girls rule the streets of Derry, who knew?

Also, Snogging Parks are a thing?

We wanted to find the Peace Bridge and Peace Flame in Derry and we found a park to cut through next to these monuments. There were a lot of teenagers out of school for the day and lo and behold, they were all making out and canoodling all over the place. Are these in the States too or am I just still sheltered?

So that’s it for now. Other than being harassed by little girls, nothing super exciting has happened yet. I’m still loving Derry and its culture and I’m looking for the opportunity to try new things!

The First Week!

So, I thought about making a blog, and then I told myself that if I did, I would never update it. Let's see how this goes.

For starters, I am currently on my cross-cultural experience in Northern Ireland for Bluffton University. There are 13 of us in this particular group (Bluffton has many different experiences that students can choose from). , and we are all staying in Derry (Or Londonderry, depending on your politics. We were advised to call it the former) with host families. For 2 months of our semester, we are taking classes that can count towards a Peace and Conflict Studies minor from The University of Ulster at Magee Campus. The last month of our experience we are placed in internships of our choosing (I am hoping to be placed in a local women's center to gain credit for my youth ministry major). During our stay in Derry, we are being hosted by local families who have hosted abroad students for many years. My roommate Lydia and I are living with a family who runs sort of a B&B for students. There are also Turkish students/teachers who are living in the same house with us who are placed at the language school here in Derry. Luckily, our house is right across the street from the college, so we don't have a far walk to class. In fact, the walk is shorter from the house to the class room than it is from Ropp to Centennial.

We have been in Northern Ireland for a week so far. When we first arrived in the country, we were met by our program director, Mervyn, and we were taken to Corrymeela for a week, which is a Christian Reconcilliation center in Ballycastle, to rest up and get over jet lag.

It also sits right on a cliff. 

And on a clear day, you can see the coast of Scotland!

Last week during our stay at Corrymeela, Mervyn took us to sight-see at local tourist areas and get signed up for classes at Magee. The first place we ventured to was Giant's Causeway, which is a beautiful geological structure on the coast of Northern Ireland. I was particularly interested in the mythology behind the Causeway - It was built by the Irish giant Finn McCool to challenge his Scottish rival Benandonner. You can read the story here.

The next day we drove to Derry to look around and meet the Deputy Mayor, Gary Middleton to tell us a bit how the political system worked in the city and later he mentioned us on Twitter and even followed some of us back! After our meeting, we took a tour of the city walls and the murals in the surrounding area.

Our last full day at Corrymeela, we made the trek across the famous Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, which is not nearly as terrifying as the Bluffton's swinging bridge. The actual bridge is suspended 70ish feet above jagged rocks and rushing sea water and it was TOTALLY AWESOME.

...which is also on a cliff.

It's not like Ohio. There are sheep and cows EVERYWHERE.

Our group on the rope bridge!

Crossing the rope bridge!

Which pretty much brings us up to now. We moved in with our host families on Saturday and we had the rest of the weekend to settle in and explore the city. I'm slowly but surely learning my way around Derry and I absolutely love it. The people are very friendly and helpful and are understanding when I try to sort out the foreign coins when buying things (Of course, they're probably thinking, 'Ugh. Americans.'). We've already scoped out some fantastic and decently priced pubs to eat at (Wetherspoons and the Ice Wharf are amazing) and yesterday we pretended we were home for a couple hours while we watched "We're The Millers" at the local theater.

Now that I've brought y'all up to speed, let's see if I can keep up with regular entries!

Especially since I know my mother will share every little keystroke and picture about my trip (Love you, Mom!).