After spending a week in Milan, Italy and Athens, Greece the week before, I was granted the opportunity to go to Northern Ireland with my study abroad program.
Before I even came to Ireland, I didn't know much about it. I'm ashamed to say that I only knew of the stereotypes of Ireland: the drinking, the nightlife, literature, friendly people all around, and the Potato Famine. Little did I know, Ireland is so much more than the stereotypes that Americans think of when they hear about this wonderful country.
I currently take a history class called Northern Irish Troubles: 1969-1999. I tend to stray away from history courses, but that's not the point. The point is that I learned so much information about Northern Ireland in the past eight weeks that I had never known of before. For example, ever heard of The Troubles? What about the IRA? The Maze Hunger Strike? All of these things make up the long history enriched in Northern Ireland, and I do not regret taking that course one bit.
On our first day of the three-day trip to Northern Ireland, we visited Tollymore Forest Park and Castle Ward (a.k.a. the place where Game of Thrones: Winterfell was filmed). I thought nature and I weren't compatible, but the views of the small creeks and forests were more than breathtakingly beautiful.
On our second day, we visited the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge (if you don't like heights, I would strongly suggest you don't walk across a rickety bridge holding you one-hundred feet above rocks and water), the Dunluce Castle, and Giant's Causeway.
Out of all three of those locations, Giant's Causeway was my favorite. Legend has it, an Irish giant built a bridge made of rocks, and a Scottish giant (because you can literally see Scotland from Northern Ireland) destroyed the bridge. I included a link of the legend because there are just too many names in that legend for me to remember!
Finally, on our last day, we toured Belfast on a bus. There, we visited the Peace Wall, Protestant and Catholic communities, and several murals made during The Troubles. We also visited the Hillsborough Castle and Gardens, where the Queen of England and several other important political figures stay and hold meetings.
Truly, I felt like royalty, walking where the Queen walked and sitting where the royal family sat.
I even uploaded a YouTube video of several photos and short video clips. Hopefully you'll be able to get a feel for the excitement I felt while visiting a country drenched in historical and cultural importance.