Belfast

 

 This is a post which Eva wrote for our academic blog about our trip to Belfast. This blog contains the adventures of Brad, Meghann, Elizabeth, and Eva. 

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This past weekend we were in Northern Ireland. We spent a few nights on the coast of Downhill, a beach in front of the house and a cliff behind. It was beautiful. Our last day was spent in Belfast. We first heard a lecture from Brian, our bus driver. He shared his personal views and thoughts regarding the Troubles. After that, he drove us around Belfast. Noel joined us on the bus to tell us the other side of the story. It was very interesting to hear from both sides of the conflict, and it was uneasy to physically be in Belfast and feel the weight of sorrow in the city.

We heard from Brian first- so I will share what we learned from him. As we entered the city, Brian pointed out the peace wall as we drove past. He kept mentioning the murals that we would see and how they change often. This proves how the conflict and unrest are still present in Belfast. People are still exercising their freedom of speech because they want to be heard. Despite the reconciliation of peace in 1998, the peace walls are still standing today, although they are more emblems of the war. These peace walls go on for 22 miles, and a good portion of them are covered in murals. Now, we saw a good portion of murals, and it would take up the whole blog to go through and explain each. I also think that seeing the walls in person is more meaningful than reading about them. However, I will share a few that stood out to me during the morning with Brian. One mural simply had the quote, “It is not those who can inflict the most but those who can endure the most that will conquer.” I was not able to catch who said that but I found it profound. Even for my personal life. Another mural had pastel colored houses on a white background. Underneath each house had a child’s name. This got me thinking about how the Troubles affected families. The conflict went on for years and some people only new life between the start and end of the conflict. Again, I was saddened by these thoughts when I looked at the murals. Another mural depicted what is happening in the present with youth employment, learning, conflict resolution, reconciliation, and education. It was really neat to see that in the midst of tension today, the city is working hard on creating a better future for their children. The murals held so many other stories that struck a chord in my heart, but hopefully, that feeling is something that can be experienced by others in person.

We made a few stops with Brian to a few memorials. What stirred feelings of sadness in my heart was the thought that each neighborhood has a handful of memorials dedicated to all the lives that were lost during the conflict from each section of the city. The first memorial had a phoenix rising out of the ashes. This image is powerful in that it tells of rebirth and sunlight. Perhaps the hope was to show that from the horror, peace would be brought forth and light would be shed upon the darkness of Belfast. Another memorial listed civilians who were killed- including six women by the crown forces and loyalist murder gangs.

After some time learning about the Troubles with Brian, a man of similar age came on the bus. His name was Noel, and he held a very different perspective of the Troubles. Noel has spent the last 13 years working on the communication between the two sides of the Troubles and developing tours for people to learn and further understand the issues. What led him to be so passionate about enhancing communication on either side of the wall was from his experience of being an ex-politically motivated prisoner. As we toured around Belfast with Noel, he pointed out how the houses were built by mill owners. These homes were built without any windows to protect against sudden bombs. The houses at the top of the street were Protestant-owned, and the houses at the bottom were Catholic-owned. Noel would tell us about the barricades that were created on either side. After years of conflict, bombings, and prisoners, there was a ceasefire in 1994. However, the tension did not settle then. A peace treaty was drawn up in 1998, but I can attest to the tension and sadness that still exists in Belfast today. When the peace treaty was created, the prisoners who served over 2/3 of their sentence were released. This included Noel and so he was released. From our time with Noel, I was overwhelmed by the unrest and hatred that seemed to exist. At one point, Noel showed us a field of yellow flowers and said how that once was a bonfire during the conflict. My heart ached, but the beauty of the flowers almost seemed to be redemptive of the peace that is slowly coming back to these people. A mural that we saw depicted children playing games in black and white. As we moved along the wall, the color was introduced, and the kids began to play games from this century. The cloth football became a rubber ball, and a game of stones became a kid with a music player. This mural was to educate viewers on the good outcomes of such hard times. One final story that I will share is when Noel took out the guitar and played a song about Billy. It turns out that Billy was a union volunteer fighter who saved his whole team by throwing his body on top of a bomb that went off early. The song was moving, and I was saddened to hear that he was not given a grave.

At the end of the day we were all exhausted, and personally, I was confused, sad and still had so many questions about the Troubles. To come to Ireland and not know much about the history, I have felt a huge sense of empathy for what happened here. I have seen how the history lectures lead up to what is happening today in Ireland and I appreciate that. Belfast was a really interesting day, filled with so much information. However, it was emotionally challenging as well. Other blog sites have held a lot of history that is fascinating and inspiring almost. Belfast held history that confused me and made me revisit the idea of God in all of this. How has God used the conflict in Northern Ireland to bring people together? Surely that is seen through the relationship between Brian and Noel, but where else has that happened? Still, so many questions to ask and more to learn.

Dunbrody Famine Ship and JFK Homestead

This is a post which Elizabeth and Meghann wrote for our academic blog about our trip to Wexford to see the Dunbrody Famine Ship and the JFK Homestead. This blog contains the adventures of Brad, Meghann, Elizabeth, and Eva.

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So many people during the "Great Hunger" sailed across the sea to the Americas and Canada that this globe has a burning flame within it to show how the Emigrants have created a "flame" around the world.

 In 1847 the potato crop failed entirely. This year was known as black '47. Blight struck the potato plants and when they were dug up from the ground the potatoes crumbled like black ash. For the Irish living in distant rural areas, this was a tragedy. For generations, all the people had ever eaten for all meals of the day was potatoes. They didn't even know about other types of food. Potatoes were all they could grow, so for the poor in the rural areas that was all they had to eat.

For those living in the towns, life tended to be slightly better, and they did not starve because other foods still grew which they could eat.

But as the famine continued for the next several years, the people grew emaciated. When the English decided to do something about it, they imported Native American grain. But it was too little too late, and the Irish didn't know what to do with the grain if they could get it. Soup kitchens were opened in the towns, but they did not help most of the people who needed it most. Those who desperately needed it lived out in the country and were too weak from starvation and disease to make the long, long journey into town for a little soup, which was just flavored water and not very nutritious.

A few centuries before the famine when the English came and pushed the indigenous Irish to the far corners of Ireland, being Catholic was outlawed. This continued through the time of the famine. If you were Catholic, you were not allowed to own land, so your entire family, grandparents through grandchildren and the generations beyond, had to live in a tiny house on small plots of land that was rented. It was common for Catholic families to have over ten children, but most of them never lived to see adulthood. But the Irish had been faithful Catholics for over a thousand years, and they were not going to change because of these difficulties. Rather, they clung to their faith that God would see them through these troubles. Food was offered to them as a bribe to forsake their Catholic faith, and most would not risk their or their children's eternal destination for a bowl of soup.

Since the people were still dying, the English government told the landlords to "give assistance" to their tenants. However, it was easier and cheaper for most of the landlords to get rid of the dying Irish and use the land for grazing livestock. Many got the cheapest ticket they could find and offered it to the Irish. It was a ticket for a ship sailing to the new world, and it was the only way for them to survive so many of them were forced to take it.

These ships were just glorified cargo ships. The living quarters for these Irish passengers were atrocious. The inside of the ship showed what the living quarters for the people traveling on the ships would have looked like.

First class beds

 One family would have to fit on one of these bunk beds. But there were often over ten people in one bed. They also had to store any of their belongings with them on the bed, so they kept their food, pots and anything else with them.

For food, each family was brought up onto the deck of the ship where they had to bake bread over a fire until it was rock hard because it needed to last them until the next time they had a chance to make more. To eat it, they took rainwater, dipped the bread in, to moisten it, crumbled it into a ball and fed it to themselves or their children while the sailors ate fresh fish or salted meat.

 This bed is a representation of the White family's living quarters. These are just two of the children. "Mrs. White" came to talk to us holding her newborn baby. (Women sometimes had to give birth in these dreadful conditions. Needless to say, they rarely survived.) She said that her husband was sick. (The ship was disease ridden with typhoid fever and various other diseases.) Three of her children had died over the winter. By being on the lower bunks, you were subject to the vomit and diarrhea from the sick people above you. The "mattresses" were only a pile of straw so that any liquid would drip down.

 This paper represents the names and number of people occupying the bunk.

 If you had no family, you had to sleep with complete strangers.

 Unfortunately, the conditions were so bad, and the voyage so long, many people died on these ships, which is why they became known as "Coffin" ships. But those who made it to the new world did very well. They worked hard, educated their children and made a much better life for themselves. John. F. Kennedy's ancestors came to America on the Dunbrody ship, and just a few generations later, he became the president.

The bell from the original ship.

JFK Memorial.

After visiting the authentic replica of what the famine ships would have looked like, we went to visit the JFK Homestead. John was not the only influential Kennedy, in fact, most of the family became a great influential power. To understand John’s ambition, we have to look at those who inspired it. The first Kennedy to start it all was John ‘Honey’ Kennedy, John’s grandfather. Honey was said to be one of the sweetest men anyone had met, thus his nickname "honey." He started a bank and took care of problems in city hall those before him had ignored. He wanted what was best for the people, doing whatever he could to help the people. His daughter described him as the greatest man she had ever known, wherever he was, there was magic in the air. His son would soon follow in his footsteps; he paved the way for the Kennedy’s to come and have an influence in Boston society.

Joe wanted to become a successful businessman, but he was an Irish Catholic who was separated from the old Boston families. Rather than deterring him, it made him try even harder to prove his worth and aspire to become equal with the higher up businessmen. By the age of twenty-five, he was the president of the bank his father had founded, the youngest in America. His wealth continued to grow, and later he became the chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission when the stock market crashed. In 1918 he became the American Ambassador to Britain where he met the Mayor’s daughter Rose and made her his wife. 

John F Kennedy was one of Joe and Rose’s nine kids. His grandfather and father had already paved the way for John, his family had become well known and was highly liked. John takes after his father. He had the same ambition and desire to change the world. John F. Kennedy never did anything small. It was go big or go home for him. He handled the Cuban Missile Crisis with ease, one of the most dangerous events in world history. He started the space program that would one day put a man on the moon just as he predicted. John was a wonderful President. We could go on and on about his achievements. It is a tragedy that his campaign came to such an abrupt end. Who knows what else he would have accomplished to help further better the world. 

John F Kennedy's family came over to America on the Dunbrody Famine ship, and his cousins still live on a dairy farm near New Ross Co. Wexford. When John F Kennedy found this out, he went to visit them, and the site as since become a tourist attraction.

The stables

The Cow House

What is left of the old house.

The inside of the stables has been arranged to look like the inside of the house where John F Kennedy would have visited his family. People cannot go into the real house, obviously, because his family still lives there.

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The car seat that JFK sat on when visiting.

a replica of the house

What the farm used to look like.

The gate that JFK came in.

The Aran Islands

This is our academic blog post on our day at the Aran Islands. This blog contains the adventures of Brad, Meghann, Elizabeth, and Eva.





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The Aran Islands are famous for many reasons, not least for the beautiful sweaters produced there which many of us came home with, but also for their beauty and the ruined fortress of Dun Aonghasa. Most of the group cycled around the largest of the Aran Islands, Inishmore, but Elizabeth and Lauren rode in a horse-drawn cart.
The day started out with the golden promise of bright sun rays, but it soon clouded and turned into a very wet day. Although we didn't know it for the first hour or so, we all would be drenched to the bone before the day's end.

It was sunny in the morning. Truly.

 We arrived at the Ferry, climbed out of the bus and promptly realized that with the sun steadily disappearing, the coastal wind (not a breeze. WIND) was freezing.

Our ferry.

 The land was getting farther away on the horizon.

 We finally did arrive at the Aran Islands and climbed into our horse drawn cart or bikes. We were already cold, and it hadn't even started raining.

The west of Ireland is mostly boggy or rocky terrain. Neither makes for good farm land, but since the Irish were forced to live there, they had to get all the rock out of the land they were trying to cultivate. This is mostly the reason for the thousands of stone walls throughout the west and on the Aran Islands. As they dragged the rocks out of the field so they could plant it, they built stone walls around the field.

We're not kidding. Stone walls are in abundance here.

 When we reached the other side of the island, we hiked up to an old bronze and iron age fort on the cliffs called Dun Aonghasa. Unfortunately, Lauren and Elizabeth started up the hill a few minutes before it started raining. As they climbed it started coming down in sheets of water and the wind gusts were so strong, they were nearly knocked off their feet. The rain stung their faces and ran down in rivers. Our jeans and coats were quickly soaked, but they decided to continue since it was pointless to turn back seeing how they were already soaked. When they got to the top, the rain was mostly stopped allowing them to briefly enjoy the area and get a view of the lovely cliffs which don't get the attention they deserve.

Since it was so miserable when they reached the top, they didn't look over the cliff edge, but when the rest of the group reached Dun Aonghasa, we crawled out on our stomachs and peeked over the edge to see the waves crashing below.

Dun Aonghasa

Dun Aonghasa was seen as a great and powerful fort because of its location. Since it is built on the top of a hill along the edge of a cliff, it has a great defensive and offensive advantage. It is high enough that it would be impossible to attack with a surprise raid. Since it is built on a cliff rather than near the shore, it cannot be attacked from the sea either. The fort Dun Aonghasa was very large and oppressive, enemies would be intimidated by its grandness. The strength and size of the fort would inspire the people and show them the strength of their leader. 

The bronze and jewelry excavated at Dun Aonghasa suggest that the residents were of high class. Among the dig, they discovered that the population living inside the fort itself was only a small percentage. The lands would have been covered with fields and livestock. Because of the harsh landscape, the livestock were small, and there would have been only a small number of pigs. The fort thrived and was economically separated, for the most part, from the mainland, giving the Islands a remote and independent political power role.

Soaked and longing for a warm fireplace, we hiked back down and did some shopping before climbing back into our cart and bikes. Elizabeth and Lauren's driver's name was Martin, and his horse was named Hopper.

Hopper has one blue eye and one brown one.

 Martian also directed Elizabeth and Lauren to an old church. It was neat getting to travel with him because he gave them a lot of interesting insights on the Aran Island and showed them old buildings like these which most people would pass by.

 Even the trip back for the girls started out pretty well, but the weather didn't hold long. The rain steadily drenched them for most of the ride back. Although Martin gave them blankets and raincoats to help, the rain was relentless and eventually poured over into every unprotected crack and down their necks and backs. There was no shelter, so their only choice was to push on.

Every landscape is improved when viewed between the ears of a horse.

 They finally arrived -- drenched and freezing, but quite happy.

They said goodbye to Hopper and Martian, got some hot chocolate and huddled up in a Pub until our ferry arrived. They never really got warm, just slightly less chilled.

As Elizabeth and Lauren were getting warmed up, the rest of the group was still trapped in the soaking rain. After visiting  Dun Aonghasa, they traveled down the island to the Worm Hole.
 Here is Eva's account of the Worm Hole:

The Worm Hole is a natural rectangular pool located on the lower cliff, east of Dun Aonghasa. To reach the Worm Hole, we biked through town and meandered through a beaten road between houses. After dropping our bikes off at a gate, we walked for a good twenty minutes or so. We jumped across large rocks and skipped over pointed edges. Following the red arrows across the rock field, we finally reached the edge of the cliff. From there we had to be careful as we walked across the slick rock for ten more minutes. Finally, we came around a corner and saw the Worm Hole. It was larger than I imagined and the scene of waves crashing against the cliff and spilling into the Worm Hole was incredible. The weather was rainy and cold, but I have heard stories of people jumping in for a quick dip. The group walked around for a bit, taking pictures and taking in the beauty of waves crashing. I have never experienced waves in such a majestic way. If you are on the cliff and walk inward, away from the water, there is a bit of an overhang from the cliff above. As the rain came down, we crawled back in that cove and looked out to the Worm Hole and then the ocean as well.  Although the Worm Hole was incredible to see, we needed to get back to catch our ferry. We traveled back through the cliffs and rock field, hopped on our bikes and headed to the harbor. I am sure glad I chose to see the Worm Hole. I think it is greater than the title makes it sound.

Of course, as we were leaving the Island the sun came out.

 After the hour long ferry ride, we got into our coach and had another hour long ride back to Galway city. We learned that we were late for our reservation at Roberta's a fancy Italian restaurant, and we would be going directly there.
By the time we arrived in Galway, we were just starting to get warmer, but then we stepped out into that coastal wind again and walked a block to arrive at the restaurant, shivering again. It was a humorous sight. We were sitting at candlelit tables, soaking wet and looking like bedraggled street rats. Diana ordered us all hot tea, and we soon got a hot meal, and once we got back to the hostel, we were able to dry off and get warmed up.

This is a video Brad made documenting our entire trip to Galway.