Week 5: Walls and Worries

This long weekend started with the 4th of July on Friday. We celebrated by eating at Domino’s, playing basketball, and having a night out on the town. Early Saturday morning, we headed north to the United Kingdom and Belfast. Our first stop was the Titanic museum, where we got to learn more about the fatal voyage and eat some much-needed lunch. We then headed to the taxis for our political tour. On this tour, we were taken around and learned about the conflict in Northern Ireland through murals and seeing the walls. I was shocked by this. I always knew that there were high tensions between Catholics and Protestants here, but I never knew to this extent and in this present day. The wall was shocking, and the fact that they lock their gates at 8 every day was mind-blowing to me. We then checked into our hotel in Belfast, which was a big step up from the hostel in Galway. I learned here that you had to put your hotel key card in the slot in your room to get power as well. We freshened up and headed to dinner then. After dinner, we headed back to relax, and I called my brother for a little bit before we headed back out at night to explore.

The next morning, we departed from Belfast and headed to the north coast of Ireland. Our first stop was the Carrick Rope Bridge. Here we got to experience the strong coastal winds, and we got to walk across a swinging rope bridge, which was a ton of fun. After a quick sausage roll, we headed to the Giant’s Causeway, where we got to hear a tour from a funny local and enjoy the beautiful views. Next up was lunch, where we enjoyed some wings and a nice steak before heading to the sheep farm, where we got to learn about how border collies herd sheep and see them in action, as well as hold a baby sheep. we then headed to Derry to spend the night. After relaxing in the hotel room for a bit, we headed out to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner to recover from the long day.

For the first time this trip, we got to sleep in the next morning till 10. We then headed out for a walk along the city walls, where we learned about the rich history of Derry, especially Bloody Sunday. We then went to lunch and had some free time before heading back to Dublin.