Alright, along time has passed since i've been able to do a real update so let me see if i can get everyone up to speed on what i've been doing! After Galway we left to spend a night in Derry. Derry is a pretty quiet city as it was the sight of many important events of "The Troubles" in the 1980s. "The Troubles" is an ongoing conflict from the 1600s between the Protestants and the Catholics which originated when the persecuted Protestants from England came to Derry and fought against the incoming Catholic English army. Furthering this conflict is the division between the Irish who wish to stay a part of the U.K. and those who want to be a part of the republic of Ireland. Derry is in Northern Ireland which is a separate country from the Republic of Ireland (confusing, right?). The Republic of Ireland is not in the U.K.
Anyways, one of the cool things about Derry is it was originally a walled city and actually the walls are still standing. I took this pictures looking into the city from one of the walls.
I wish i could have written this earlier because now i can't remember the story. Anyways there was a really famous hymn composer whose name escapes me who was living around Derry. He went hunting and a bullet when straight through his hat. After that he was a changed man and started to attend this church twice a day. I just can't remember who it was! Also the woman who wrote Once in Royal David's City among other hymns lived here.
The people of Derry have not forgotten the Troubles of their recent past. They have used murals as well as graffiti to continue to remember what happened and what side of the conflict they support. This is a mural of a little girl who was killed while picking up a rubber bullet. Look at the butterfly in the corner. The artist's originally left it gray because they did not believe that peace had been reached. Over the years they have gradually filled it in as the peace seems to be lasting. 
This is a picture of the Bogside. You can't see it wonderfully but the Bogside is a place just outside the walls where Catholics and those who wished to be part of the Republic of Ireland were forced to live for many years. This is also the place where Bloody Sunday took place. That green patch is where the protesters where marching I believe before the English police opened fire, killing 13 people. We visited the Museum of Free Derry after taking the tour and it was very heart breaking. The man who debriefed us before we went in had a brother who was killed on Bloody Sunday. Unfortunately, this museum only provides the opinions of one side of the conflict, but either way it was very sad.
This pictures shows how high the tension still is in Derry. This nice old building (I think it was a church or government office) was covered in paintballs that people had thrown up over the walls from the Bogside. All of this paint is no older than 6 months.
We took a bus tour of Belfast which was actually very helpful and neat to get the feel of the entire town. We stopped at the university of Queens which had a beautiful greenhouse with very interesting plants.
For those of you who didn't know, the Titanic was actually built in Belfast. We got to stop and look around at the dry dock where the finishing touches were placed on the ship. A dry dock is a place where the ship can come in and then the water can be drained in and out in order to more easily work on the ship and put in furniture, etc. You can barely see the yellow cutouts in the bottom near the center of the dry dock which are to show the size of a man in comparison with the dry dock. Also the Titanic towered over that dry dock by about the size of a 7 story building.
Also C.S. Lewis was born in Belfast which I had forgotten. This is a statue that I had to take a picture of from the bus so it's a bit blurry, but it's a statue of him walking into a wardrobe. I thought it was a neat little thing.
On our way to the lovely city of Dublin we stopped at Newgrange. Newgrange is an ancient burial ground. Once again they claim it was first built in 4,000 BC. What's neat about this is the precision with which these people constructed this tomb or temple. The entrance is set to face the sun so that at the winter solstice when the sun rises it shines through the entrance all the way down the passage and lights up the small inner room or opening in within the tomb. Unfortunately you're not allowed to take photos or video of the inside of the tomb. Actually every year they have a lotter for 50 people to come to one of the tombs (there are 3 large ones in the area) and watch the sun come in on the winter solstice. They say that sometimes it's cloudy and the sun doesn't even come in on those days. Wouldn't that be a bummer? The first pic is a side view and the second is the view of the entrance.
When this was discovered the outside had fallen apart but the inner chamber has been left exactly as it was found. Also the gray stones to the sides of the entrance were added in the 20th century but I can't remember why. You can also see the neat little swirly patterns that were carved into the rocks there and which also lined the hallway of the tomb. Actually they don't know if it was a tomb or temple or what. They only found the remains of 5 people within it while other burial mounds in the area had like 20-40 something.
Now I am in Dublin staying at Trinity College. I don't have those pictures uploaded on my computer yet, but as soon as I do I will try to trek up to the computer lab for an update. I start class tomorrow (boo), but I can't complain! I've had like a solid week of vacation! I love you all so much! If you want me to talk about different stuff on my blog or anything please comment so I can meet your needs (?).
