Upon Reflection: My Trip to Paradise and Back

As the semester winds down I have just finished my final paper for the Peace and Conflict in Northern Ireland course. After doing so I re-read all my journal entries (now blogs) from that week. Wow! I miss Ireland/Northern Ireland terribly! I wanted to cry. Ok, so I'm pregnant and that might be playing with my emotions also. :)

A few things I wanted to add/clarify to my notes and journal entries:

Londonderry/Derry is one city. It is in the County Londonderry but the city itself is called by both names. Catholics (Nationalists) call it Derry while British (Unionists) call it Londonderry. The city in its entirety is about 100,000 or twice the size of Manhattan, KS. It is crammed together so it doesn't actually seem to be larger, but it is. They also have public transportation...

Meeting John Hume: The first full day we were in Derry we enrolled in the University of Ulster, Magee Campus. Later that afternoon we had the pleasure of meeting John Hume, 1998 Nobel Peace Prize winner! Mr. Hume was very kind, soft spoken, and had a modest personality. I'll never forget that I had the chance to meet him. I also had a picture taken of me and him (see my Facebook photo albums). He told us about the hotel where the U.S. military was stationed during WWII and we were able to visit it (Beachhill) the next afternoon, on his recommendation. The last day in Derry Mr. Hume again came and spoke with us. He's such a delight! I sat right beside him (the only open seat in the room once I got there). I was a bit nervous sitting by him for some reason but I think more excited than anything. He's such a down-to-earth gentleman.

One place we visited on our second day in Derry was accidentally left off my previous blogs. This was one of my favorite places. It was a large circular place with stairs and walkways going around and up. It was all outdoors and the view from the top was amazing. The day was so windy that once I was blown very hard while on the top I felt that I was going to be blown off! I quickly grabbed the wall and then helped myself down to a lower level. I wish I could remember the name of this place. I have a picture of the name so that I could remember it however I don't have it with me (I think it started with an A!). This place was at least 4,000 years old and was used in ancient times as a place to worship the sun gods. It was somewhere on the way to Donegal, IE. While there I jumped off one of the low walls and hurt my right knee/calf area (see previous entry were I refer to this). It was fine, just sore for the time we were in Ireland. I had simply re-bruised an internal place I'd injured a month before.

Lastly, I know I haven't uploaded any more pictures. Sorry! I meant to. They're all on Facebook...all of them. I can't bring myself to load them onto my blog since they are already online and it takes soooo much time to upload even a few. So, please, if you'd like to see them visit me on Facebook.

I truly miss every moment that I spent abroad and hope that someday I able able to return with my family. I feel that I've learned so very much about a culture that I'd known almost nothing about previously. I learned a lot about myself and even more about conflict resolution. If you ever get the chance to do something so amazing please do so!