Well, classes are in full swing and I’m really excited. I'm not quite in school mode since we're still doing a bit of traveling. I'm enjoying lectures, but not quite focused enough to really get into homework.
Here are the classes I’m taking, (I know you all are curious)
Political Philosophy
Irish Literature
Irish Art and Culture
Christian Life
Cross-cultural Communication (independent study)
We have been exploring towns nearby and Tuesday we made it to Belfast to walk around, do some exploring, and some shopping. A few girls on my team and I went to a restaurant called The Ground Floor Apartment. Our Server there was named Bart. Bart was a Polish guy; I would guess about 27 years old. He's been living in Belfast for 3 years now, studying to learn English. He started to share about the conflict in Northern Ireland when he discovered we were Americans. It was good to have a non-bias insiders view on the whole issue. He kept looking around like he was telling us a secret and when people would walk by he acted like he was taking our order. He said people don’t like it when we talk about the conflict. He was saying that he lives in a protestant neighborhood but since he’s polish people automatically assume he’s catholic. Even though he’s not. He said that he knew someone that got hit by a car on the Shankill Rd. (the main road of the protestants during the conflict) and broke his leg, and when people came by to help but then found out he was catholic they beat him up instead. He said this happened last week and as much as people claim there’s peace, there’s really not. He said it was much more of a "not-so-obvious" war. Bart broke my heart for the people of Ireland. It reminds me of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet because Bart said that if you ask a Catholic why they hate Protestants they would answer you, “Because I do.” And as cheesy as it is to compare Shakespeare to Irish History, the Capulet’s and Montague’s hated each other for generations and had no idea what the conflict was. Here, the conflict was based off national borders, but yet now it is so much deeper than that. The conflict is based off long-term hurts and wounds. It’s so sad to see a country that is missing so much the thing they need: They need to know the freedom of Forgiveness.
On Saturday we went to a Viking festival. It was hilarious. It reminded me of a renaissance festival, but of course with Vikings and a much smaller scale. There was one Viking names Andy who said he’s been doing this for 14 years for the love of it. The view from the park where the festival was held was absolutely beautiful! I think I spent more time looking at the view than at the “Viking fight.” After the Viking festival we came back and got cleaned up and went out for dinner to an Italian restaurant.
More places we’ve seen this week include: the Inch Abbey, a beautiful Abbey of ruins that we spent some time taking some pictures and such, Saul Church, St. Patrick’s memorial church the first Christian church in Ireland built around 432 AD. Tolleymore Forest a beautiful forest that we went hiking in for quite some time.
So, that’s a brief rundown and what’s going on right now. We’re headed to our houses on Monday and are continuing class daily along with fieldtrips to different sites occasionally. Hope all is going well at home and I’ll update more in a few days!
P.S. Here is a site you can check out some of my favorite pictures at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/andrasphotos/Ireland?pli=1#
Friday, September 26, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
The Bogside Artists and the Murlough House
Today we went to Derry (Or Londonderry- depending on whether you're a nationalist or a loyalists) and got to visit the Bogside. The bogside is where bloody Sunday happened in the 1970's so there is a lot of really rich history there.
We got to see about 10 huge murals that were painted on buildings by the bogside artists that really represented the whole war from a neutral point of view. One of the artists gave us about an hour tour explaining the symbolism behind each mural. It was really powerful to hear his story, since he lived through the turmoil.
After our time in the bogside, we went back to our N. coast cottages, and the next day we went to the beach. It was so beautiful. I have been to the Atlantic more times these past few months, than i ever had in my life. It's made me appreciate the Majesty of God. On Sunday we went to a vineyard church. It was just like an American vineyard church, except people had accents and they served tea rather than coffee, but it was good worship and just a relaxing Sunday, with subway following. It was just like I was at home :).
After church we drove up to Dundrum, the quaint little town I'll be residing in for the next few months. We couldn't get into our cottages until the end of Sept. so for now we're staying in the Murlough House. (pronounced Mer-logck) This is a house for missions groups that come through and we're about half a mile from the beach, about 3 miles from the cottages we'll be staying in (across a beautiful bay) . So you can image the beauty I'm surrounded in. I'm excited to get to know the locals of the town and just submerge myself in Irish culture.
that's all for now. I'll keep you posted...
Friday, September 12, 2008
Leaving Dublin...
Well, we left Dublin and headed up to our next stop, Enniskillen. On our way there we stopped at a place called Knowth, an old above ground burial. It was a short stop, but had a pretty view, and was our first view of Irish countryside, instead of a cityscape.
Once we made it to Enniskillen, we just walked around and got to see the town. It was much different from Dublin. It was our first stop in Northern Ireland, and the volume was quieter, the pace was slower, and the accent was heavier. It was a smaller town but it was cute. It reminded me of Siloam, kinda the Siloam of N. Ireland. :) We spent 3 days here, having the first of each of our classes. It was good to meet our professors and have some time to rest. It rained the whole time we were here, the rain was remnants of Hurricane Hannah, the same storm that hit the U.S.
Enniskillen was pretty uneventful, we were supposed to do some sightseeing but the rain changed our plans, but thats okay, we needed the down time. We left Enniskillen yesterday to head up to the North coast. The North Coast is beautiful! the people on our team that have been the Ireland before said that the North Coast is their favorite part. We got to visit Giant's Causeway. It's right on the ocean and has hexagon shaped stones that stick up in the air, i'm not even sure how to describe it, but we got to climb all over the rocks and I got to take a lot of pictures. After climbing for a bit, I just sat down and soaked in what I was seeing. It took my breath away, God is so majestic.
After Giant's Causeway, we went to Carrick-a-Rede. A long rope bridge that takes us across to an Island with a beautiful view. It's about one Kilometer walk from the car to the rope, and when we were almost there, it started to DOWN POUR. But, we were almost to the bridge, so we didn't turn back. We crossed the bridge, took a few pictures, and then walked 1K in the pouring down rain. (luckily we all had rain jackets but every part of us that wasn't covered in a rain jacket was soaking wet, but it was still pretty fun.)
Now we're in some cottages while we spend our time on the North Coast, just relaxing and enjoying the quiet and green of N. Ireland.
Once we made it to Enniskillen, we just walked around and got to see the town. It was much different from Dublin. It was our first stop in Northern Ireland, and the volume was quieter, the pace was slower, and the accent was heavier. It was a smaller town but it was cute. It reminded me of Siloam, kinda the Siloam of N. Ireland. :) We spent 3 days here, having the first of each of our classes. It was good to meet our professors and have some time to rest. It rained the whole time we were here, the rain was remnants of Hurricane Hannah, the same storm that hit the U.S.
Enniskillen was pretty uneventful, we were supposed to do some sightseeing but the rain changed our plans, but thats okay, we needed the down time. We left Enniskillen yesterday to head up to the North coast. The North Coast is beautiful! the people on our team that have been the Ireland before said that the North Coast is their favorite part. We got to visit Giant's Causeway. It's right on the ocean and has hexagon shaped stones that stick up in the air, i'm not even sure how to describe it, but we got to climb all over the rocks and I got to take a lot of pictures. After climbing for a bit, I just sat down and soaked in what I was seeing. It took my breath away, God is so majestic.
After Giant's Causeway, we went to Carrick-a-Rede. A long rope bridge that takes us across to an Island with a beautiful view. It's about one Kilometer walk from the car to the rope, and when we were almost there, it started to DOWN POUR. But, we were almost to the bridge, so we didn't turn back. We crossed the bridge, took a few pictures, and then walked 1K in the pouring down rain. (luckily we all had rain jackets but every part of us that wasn't covered in a rain jacket was soaking wet, but it was still pretty fun.)
Now we're in some cottages while we spend our time on the North Coast, just relaxing and enjoying the quiet and green of N. Ireland.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Welcome to Ireland...
Welcome to Ireland...Well friends, I've made it here with out too much difficulty. Our plane took off on time, only to turn around after an hour and land back in Atlanta for us to switch planes, because something happened... but I'm not totally sure what. After arriving a few hours late to Dublin, we met up with the rest of our team. We headed to our hostile and got settled in, then headed off for a walk and then dinner. We walked through the Temple Bar area, which is the Bar area of town but also has tons of shops and restaurants. But in Ireland, what's not the bar area right? Just kidding, that is quite a stereotype. They do drink beer like we drink coffee, but it's much more a social thing here.
We've got to have a lot of free time walking around and really soaking in Irish culture. We went to an old prison that held rebels from back in like the 1920s in the Michael Collins era. We saw the post office where one of the battles took place and watched the Michael Collins movie that night. So, a lot of history regarding why Ireland is the way it is today. The next day we went to the Chester Beatty Library in the Dublin castle. It had origin sketching from Rembrandt (the artist, not the toothpaste!) and also original excerpts from the bible. I got to see one of my favorite passages from Ephesians in its original Hebrew writing, done by Paul himself!! So incredible. Today we went to an Anglican church called Christ’s church in a HUGE cathedral and then went shopping the rest of the day. It's been a great, relaxing time adjusting to the culture. I'm exciting to continue. We leave Dublin tomorrow to head west for a few more days before heading in Dundrum.
I'll leave you with an old Celtic blessing...
May the blessing of light be on you—
Light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
And warm your heart
Till it glows like a great peat fire.
-ANDRA BETH
We've got to have a lot of free time walking around and really soaking in Irish culture. We went to an old prison that held rebels from back in like the 1920s in the Michael Collins era. We saw the post office where one of the battles took place and watched the Michael Collins movie that night. So, a lot of history regarding why Ireland is the way it is today. The next day we went to the Chester Beatty Library in the Dublin castle. It had origin sketching from Rembrandt (the artist, not the toothpaste!) and also original excerpts from the bible. I got to see one of my favorite passages from Ephesians in its original Hebrew writing, done by Paul himself!! So incredible. Today we went to an Anglican church called Christ’s church in a HUGE cathedral and then went shopping the rest of the day. It's been a great, relaxing time adjusting to the culture. I'm exciting to continue. We leave Dublin tomorrow to head west for a few more days before heading in Dundrum.
I'll leave you with an old Celtic blessing...
May the blessing of light be on you—
Light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
And warm your heart
Till it glows like a great peat fire.
-ANDRA BETH
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