Belfast/Giants Causeway/Antrim Coast & whatever else needs to be said

So I have a lot to tell since my last post and the info I need to provide seems somewhat daunting now in my mind. I'll start with the weekend twice ago. My room mates had gallivanted off to Italy for 11 days as we had our break last week. In doing so I was left home alone for the weekend with no plans until the upcoming Tuesday when my trip to Northern Ireland was to start. A weekend alone, more specifically a night out alone, can be interesting. Either you'll end up doing something you never imagined and have a fantastic night or you have an incredibly boring and disappointing one. Luckily of the many nights I've experimented with only one has been incredibly boring and disappointing while on a whole the others have led to great stories.

Thursday:
Thursday night I ventured out alone, not knowing what would happen or where I would end up. I was trying to get in touch with people but I lacked numbers at the time. I ended up walking to the Barge, where many young people frequent and is a big time meeting place for our program. I had a pint and no one came, the only word I had heard was that people would be in the Temple bar area (a very touristy over-priced nightlife section). Reluctantly I decided to hop a bus and check it out anyway. It can be great fun people watching in that area as you come across the strangest of sorts. I decided I was not going to come across anyone and would rather just sit down somewhere and listen to some music. The only place big enough to possibly have room was Fitzsimons so I decided to check it out (I had not ventured through it's 5 floors before). I found myself on the 5th floor which is half covered half open air which was really cool. Being a Thursday it wasn't packed so I was able to sit at the bar without much irritation. At this point in the night it would seem it would turn out to be a boring one, but it turns out the Barman was a riot. He was making fun of some american girls who were ordering and after he was done I said, "Hey americans aren't that bad" and he responded that america is the greatest place on earth. He even showed me his "Outlaw" tattoo on his back that he got because he loved Tupac. It was a great time as we talked politics, irish life and it's economy, cultures and life as a barman. I ended up getting home very late but had great conversation.

Friday:
I stayed in and watched some movies on the Friday night as I needed to catch up on sleep and what have you, I watched Man on Fire and really enjoyed it. I also was able to save some money by not going out so I didn't feel so bad. I was also experimenting all day making pizza's so by the time night rolled around I wasn't in the mood to leave.

Saturday:
Saturday night was very interesting. I eventually worked up the courage to take my violin out to a pub called Devitt's and sit in on a session. I got there around 10-10:30 and there wasn't many people there. The players were very welcoming and were fine with me sitting in the corner just trying to pick up on the tunes. I didn't play much because they played at a very fast pace and the songs were difficult, but I was able to come in on accompaniment to several original tunes that people had. Afterwards two of the musicians, Cormac and "Chipper" wanted to see if I would go out for a pint with them. I said fine of course and we ended up going into a very relaxed pool hall to meet several of their friends. They got to know me and when they heard I was learning Irish they responded, "Well good... you're going to need it where we are going next." They took me to the all Irish speaking pub in Dublin. It does not look like a pub on the outside as it's just a set of steps leading downwards to a closed unmarked door. You knock on the door to which you speak a little Irish and they let you in. We all signed a guest book at the front door and were on our way. They had obscure Irish beers, a couple musicians that we joined, and lots of Irish singing. It was very strange not understanding a word that anyone was saying. At one point, a lady came up to me and spewed off a sentence that I didn't understand at all, so I said, "I'm sorry I don't speak Irish." she smiled and said, "Love that's not Irish it's English. Is that the bathroom?"
The night was great and the only way I'll be able to pick up how to play session music is to keep going back and trying. I plan to this weekend.

Monday: On monday I went to Aine's 21st birthday party. We started down at KOH cocktail bar/lounge and I met a load of her friends. We had great talk and she would always introduce me as, "This is my american cousin, he's brilliant." Later in the evening we went to Bondi nightclub and we all danced like mad for her birthday. I think the only times I dance in Dublin is when she makes me go to a nightclub.

Tuesday: Tuesday I had to wake up early to go on our Peace and Conflict field study in Belfast. I had to take a taxi from my area to Connolly station because every bus that passed was full and I had to be on time. The taxi drivers here, by and large, will talk you up the whole way if you want them too (except for that one from Tanzania, not sure what his deal was). This one had a very interesting story that really defined the extent of the downfall of the Irish economy. He had lived in NYC for 15 years and worked as an Architect for a very large firm. When he returned to Ireland, there was no demand for new building projects, so he could make more money as a taxi driver than as an architect. How far it has fallen...

We took the train to Belfast, got off and made our way to the Taralodge B&B. My room mate was Wade Beardsley (for my own future reference). We had come dressed business casual because the first order of business was to meet with political representatives in Stormont. Our grumpy taxi seemed to drop us off at the wrong place because he drove up the mile long hill, turned around, and dropped us off at the bottom of it... making us walk a mile up hill for no reason wasn't very nice of him. We got through security and got the chance to sit in on a session that was in action. They were debating a public enquiry into extending Belfast's runway. We got the chance to meet with 7/8 represented parties (the eighth being a solo representative medical doctor). The eight parties included the PUP, DUP, UUP, SDLP, Sinn Fein, Green Party, and Alliance Party. Each came in for about 15 minutes at a time and I don't think they expected to be grilled by american study abroad students. Most seemed to come in expecting cream puff questions and seemed caught off guard when they were actually asked difficult ones. Here were some interesting ones:

Green Party: "The environment is the only thing that concerns me. It is the number one issue and all others, including the economy, take the back seat."

PUP: Q: Since you were formed out of the UVF, a loyalist militant group, do you feel you represent ALL working class or just the Unionist community? A: "We are still actually debating that within our party..."

DUP: Says what happened in the past doesn't matter anymore. Even says what Ian Paisley has done in recent times has been great so we shouldn't focus on his past.

Sinn Fein: Came in arm raised going, "Nua Erin" (I spelled nua wrong cause I don't know how to spell it, it means New Ireland) and saying his sole purpose in government is to reach a United Ireland.

We grilled these politicians and I was very proud of my questions (got some compliments!). I really don't feel the assembly, as is, works very well. In my opinion the leadership in Northern Ireland isn't doing enough or a good enough job.

Later in the evening we saw two monologue plays. The first an old man was talking to his pretend dog for an hour about his missteps in life and how he hates retirement. The second was about a young man who went all around the world and was basically mocking different societies along the way. Me and some of my friends ate dinner afterwards and we all had a great evening.

Wednesday: On Wednesday we went on walking tours of both the Falls road and Shankhill road. We started on the Falls road and were led by two former IRA activists who spent time in prison. Here are some interesting points from it. The former IRA man brought us to a school that overlooked a road that leads towards the wall. The school had bullet holes in the outside walls that he explained groups of IRA members (him included) would wait outside this school and fire on loyalists that would turn the corner of the road after burning a Catholic house or causing havoc. Some fired back which is why there are holes in the wall.

I also asked the second IRA member what a day in the life of an IRA member was like. He said when you joined, you expected a short term of duty. Usually within two years you were dead or in prison. He said every day you would wake up, call around to your group of about 15 people, and all day long search for opportunities to attack the British. You never slept in the same place bouncing from house to house an would only eat when you could.

I also asked the other IRA member if he thought the Loyalists had a cause. He had a tough time answering it, but eventually conceded, "I don't blame them for firing back. I can understand that if I fired on someone that they would fight back, I just don't agree with their cause." He also said that given the choice he would still do it all again. He had never been to Shankhill road and never would.

The next stop was Shankhill road where we met an Ex-UVF former prisoner nick named Plum. We got the chance to sit down and speak with him for about an hour and had a Shankhill road walk planned for afterwards. He came off as extremely biased even though he worked on the peace agreement. When asked questions like, do you think the catholics were treated like second class citizens, he responded persecuting america for treatment of african-americans and other society's as well. His answer was very unsettling, especially for someone to have worked on the "peace process". He didn't think Republicans even had a cause. I thanked him afterwards for sharing his perspective and mentioned how americans tend to only hear the Republican side, being mostly Irish-Catholics. To this he groaned... and I said, "... which I was raised in." and he gave me a piercing glare. It wasn't one of, past is past, but as a moment that he was actually passively aggressive.

We then took a walk of the Shankhill road with another former UVF activist. The most interesting part of that tour was near the end where he pointed towards a road. We asked him why he joined the UVF and he stated that at that road his father was rounding a corner after engaging in activities and was shot in the leg by IRA members positioned at a school, and because of so he joined the UVF... the guide for our Falls road tour was part of the group that had shot the dad of our Shankhill road tour guide, subsequently making him join in on the violence. The coincidence was extraordinary.

Thursday: Thursday morning we spoke with a representative of Healing through Remembering group that spoke of all the work they were doing to help heal the divide in the society. That was interesting and all but somewhat boring. We were later joined by the larger group that were coming for the "fun part" of our trip. They were taken on the black cab tour of belfast that took us to a couple more spots we hadn't reached before. The "peace wall" that we were taken to seemed like an oxymoron and most of the Peace and Conflict students took it a bit more seriously than those who didn't know anything about the conflict.

At night we took a bus up to Portrush on the Antrim coast. Our hotel room was awesome as it had one double bed and two twins (that I pushed together to form a double bed for myself). The view was really stunning as we noticed the next morning. Our breakfast was pretty great too (was was the B&B's from before). They don't really have bread like breakfasts with pancakes/french toast/waffles but the sausages are fantastic.

Friday: On friday we went to the Giants Causeway, Bushmills Distillery, and Dunluce Castle. The Giants Causeway was incredible with fantastic coastlines, ridges, and all the underwater magma cooled rocks that formed shapes like steps. I would recommend just looking at my pictures because I can't describe it appropriately. Bushmills and Dunluce were really interesting as well and we were lucky enough to not have rain our entire trip in the North which is really incredible. At night we ate at a local harbor place and the food was great.

Saturday: On the last day we went to the Carrik-a-reed rope bridge on the Antrim coast. The scenery was unbelievably gorgeous as you could see by my pictures. The rope bridge is used by fisherman for who knows what reason but it is pretty fun to go across. When all was said and done we made our long long way home and when I arrived back in Dublin it was madness. Luckily the bus strike was cancelled so I was able to get home on a day where people were going nuts about the Ireland vs. England six nations rugby match. Elizabeth Barr was in Dublin for the weekend so I HAD to meet up with her. I was able to shower and go back downtown to meet Liz and her friends at Messrs Maguire. It was PACKED and once in you really couldn't move. We got to watch the second half of a 14-13 victory by Ireland to keep them undefeated. For the evening we all ate at TGI Fridays (yeah I know...) and went to Fitzsimmons and Porterhouse. We met some interesting people singing some interesting songs and guys who were at some points clothed and others shirtless for no apparent reason, but ALL IN ALL it was a great night.

We hung out Sunday night as well and went to Cobblestone in the North west of Dublin. It is very much a traditional pub with music and I wanted to get Liz there before she left. It was a great time again and even though the week/weekend was hectic, having to fit my load of work in between all the activities, I got everything done and had a great time also.

Thanks for reading that novel and if I left anything out I'll be sure to put it in a future post. I ran into too many people that I actually forget all the look-alikes I've seen this week. I miss you all back home and can't wait to see my visitors over the next two months!

P.S. Surprise Surprise, all my room mates love MaMa Clay's cookies.