So I guess it’s been awhile. S’pose there’s not a whole lot to report.

Well….

This past weekend four of us from BCA took a trip with Butler (the university that our study abroad program went through) and about 140+ other study abroad students to Belfast, Derry and Giant’s Causeway. It was an insane seven hour trip. Augh. Not too much fun. Belfast, however, was pretty sensational.

Being in Northern Ireland after staying most of the semester in the Republic was pretty intense. EVERYTHING is different. The accent, culture, city life and especially recent history. The impact of the Troubles is still very evident in Belfast. Through the city stands a wall that divides the “Catholic side” from everything else. The gates of the wall still close at night. People still throw rocks and such over the wall and set cars on fire. So suffice it to say there’s still quite a lot of turmoil, though our black cab tour guides informed us there’s quite a lot of progress made. On our tour of the city we stopped at the Peace Wall, which bares the signatures, murals, quotes and such from people from all over the world. Most of us added our own signatures.

We took an hour bus trip to Derry, home of Bloody Sunday. There were quite a lot of murals from the Troubles there as well. One depicted a small girl who had been killed during these times alongside a butterfly — painted black and white originally, color has been slowly added to it as peace comes to Ireland.

Living for so long in a tiny village so far to the West of Ireland I never really thought about Catholic and Protestant tumult, as it isn’t evident in little Ballyvaughan. It was kind of a shock to see it still going on in the North.

The group of us also went to Dunluce Castle, a structure built right off of a cliff, facing the sea.

Our last stop was to Giant’s Causeway. That place is intense. My roommate commented that the four of us from the Burren were immediately drawn to the rocks on the sea. I guess we’ve been conditioned to have interest in stony landscapes.

My favorite part of Belfast was the Botanic Gardens. Absolutely beautiful. A friend of mine and I wandered around the Gardens for a while and ended up meeting an eccentric older gentleman with an impressive memory and interest in Quantum Physics. He could name the exact page and paragraph number of a dozen or so books about Science and could also list the names, birth dates (and birthplaces) of famous scientists, writers and poets from Ireland. It was pretty incredible; he talked with us (or more like at us) for about an hour.

BCA is taking another trip to Belfast is two weeks. I’m excited to go back (even if it means another seven hours there on the minibus.)

Orchard House is hosting Thanksgiving, as is traditional, but it means the ten of us have to clean the house spotless and cook turkeys and other dishes. Augh. It’ll be fun though.

The weekend after that is BCA prom. We’re all going to dress up for a night out.

The week after THAT is preparation for our final exhibition. Lots to do to prepare for that. Makes me so nervous.

I cannot believe I’ve only three and a half weeks until the end of the semester. It’s frightening, sad and exhilarating all at the same time.

Just want to conclude that I miss you all quite a lot. I hope things are going well for everyone, that it’s been a good fall and a good semester. I’m looking forward to spending Christmas with you all.

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