On Wednesday (October 15th) we left for The North. Brian drove the tiny little bus into Coolnagrenia, and at 8 am we loaded up what Aaron calls the “red rocket” and took off.
We were headed to The North, also known as the “6 counties under enemy occupation” by those on the republican side of the long struggle. It was about a two and a half hour drive up through County Armagh to Belfast.\As we began to approach it, Brian told us about “the troubles”, which began after the treaty which divided Ireland in 1922 but really erupted in the 60s, 70s, and 80s (it really continued up until the early 2000s, actually.) So much violence took place up here between Irish Unionists and Republicans as well as the British army which was sent in to “stop” it.
And yet, the Belfast that we saw this week was a Belfast that’s working towards lasting peace. There are still giant murals painted on the walls of buildings, but most of them are not Republican or Unionist in nature like they used to be. The peace wall still stands dividing the Catholic and Protestant parts of the city, and many of the gates still close at eleven every night. The violence is almost completely gone, however, and there are memorial gardens all over commemorating those who lost their lives in the struggle.
Here we met a man named Noel who used to be a gunman for the Ulster Volunteer Force, a very militant group of Unionists. He spent 16 years in prison in the 80s. Now he works for an organization that is trying to bring peace between the once-fighting factions. The biggest proof of the change in his life was the good relationship between him and Brian, who also has a somewhat shadowy past in the conflict, but on the other side (we think he might have been in the IRA). He climbed onto the bus with us and told us all about his own experiences and the fighting in Belfast. We stopped every so often to look at and talk about the murals, and our final stop was in a memorial garden to Ulster men who died in the two world wars. Unbelievable heroism.
That night we arrived at our unbelievable hostel, which is called Downhill Hostel. Right past the ruins of the bishop’s mansion (right on the top of a cliff with its library right on the edge) you turn a corner and come to an old Victorian house at the very roots of the cliffs and on the edge of the beach. There is no way to describe this except with pictures! We had pizza together in the dining room and then had a dance party in the living room before playing three rounds of mafia. What better night could there be?
Thursday morning I went with Meg, Michaela, Emily, Luna, Izzy, and Olivia to see the ruins of the bishop’s mansion and his magnificent round library on the edge of the cliff. There was no one there to let us in to the library (weddings and concerts are still held there), so we climbed around the outside of the wall on a ledge to reach one of the big windows and see in. There is no better place to be at eight in the morning!
At ten fifteen we took off for the eighth wonder of the world, Giant’s Causeway. According to Brian, there are two explanations for the formation of these octagonal pillars of rock. There’s the Irish explanation – which his far more logical – and the scientific explanation. The scientific explanation is that volcanic activity formed this ridiculously awesome area. The Irish story goes more like this…
A long time ago, the Irish giant Finn McCool wanted to get across to Scotland to confront his enemy, the Scottish giant Benandoner. In order to do this, he built a causeway out of octagonal stones right across the channel to Scotland. When he got there, however, he found the Scottish giant to be much bigger and much more fearsome than he ever imagined. In a panic, Finn ran home to his wife Oonah, who has an idea. She dressed Finn up as a baby and puts him in the cradle. When Benandoner arrives, he sees the huge baby and decides if the baby is that big, he never wants to see the farther! And so the Scottish giant ran all the way home, pulling up the stones of Finn’s causeway behind him.
Anyway, that’s obviously the true account. I’ve never seen a place anything like this before. It’s straight out of my dreams. I’ve read about it a million times, but to see it, that’s something altogether different. No just to see it, but to experience it – to feel the spray of the saltwater on your skin and the wind in your face. Water is beautiful. The way it moves, the way it breathes – it’s a living thing. Being here shows you that like nothing else. This is nothing short of a real-life fairy tale. Emily and I had a conversation about how being here has taught us how to live…and therefore how to die. Once you’ve learned to squeeze everything you can out of every single moment of life, to truly live where you are, you’ve learned to live like you were made to.
After some breathtaking hiking, climbing, and marveling, we left the causeway and headed to the Carrack-A-Ree rope bridge. This famous bridge crossing from the cliffs of the mainland to a tiny island right offshore was originally used by salmon fishers who needed to get out to the island to fish. Since then it’s become something of a popular attraction and been strengthened and secured. That doesn’t mean, however, that when you’re in the middle – over a drop to the ocean below – and the wind is pulling on your clothes and the bridge is sort of swinging, that you don’t feel just a bit nervous. But even Ben…who is deathly afraid of heights…did it! The island on the other side was beyond beautiful, but when rain drips began to pelt our faces we had to head back along the long hike to the bus,
That night we returned home starving, and Brian stood out in the rain grilling hamburgers for us. No one else has a bus driver quite this awesome (or grouchy!) ya’ll! After dinner came three more rounds of mafia – may I just say that Livia was the mafia two out of the three times and I found her out both rounds! Two out of three is definitely the nail in the coffin.
Friday morning was a slow, lazy one. At noon we dragged our bags out to the bus and (sadly) left Downhill. Our first stop today was at Dunluce Castle. The ruins of this medieval palace on the edge of a cliff was the inspiration for C.S. Lewis’ Cair Paravel in Narnia.
Literally, we went to Narnia. The views out of the windows of this place were exactly what you would expect to see out the windows of Cair Paravel. In its time, the castle was magnificent – I know that because it still is. My favorite castle so far!
We paused for a short bit at our last stop of the day before home, the Dark Hedges. This is a magnificent path lined with the most fairy-tale-looking trees imaginable. I climbed one! Heidi, you would have LOVED today.
So, back home we go. The whole way, Michaela and I talked about the stories we’ve written. Then we had a great conversation with Aaron, Elisha, and Olivia about family memories. Tammi’s husband, Vance (the official head of the program), has been here since last Thursday, so he was with us on the north trip and also teaching classes beforehand. We’re so sad that he is returning to Taylor tomorrow morning – but I guess he has to teach the poor souls back in Indiana.
We had one last hurrah before he left, however. We got home very late (like 8:45) after traveling through a driving storm most of the way back. Brian could barely keep the bus on the road. After pulling our wet suitcases back to our rooms, we returned to the dining hall to find it all dark with candles on the tables, bottles of sparkling cider, and fancy table settings. You see, we were supposed to have dinner with the Ellis’, the family who run Coolnagrenia (they live in a sectioned-off part of the dormitory), but Lisa Elli was sick tonight. She felt bad about it, though, so she told her husband John’s assistant, Rachelle, what she wanted to make. Eleven-year-old Theo, his fifteen-year-old brother Joe, and Lisa’s nineteen-year-old cousin Graham (who is working here for two months) decorated the tables and set everything up. So we got home to find that Rachelle had made us sausage, chicken kabobs, and vegetables with real Irish chips (fries) from a place down the street. After that she had ice cream set out with all different toppings. What an amazing night!
Well, tune in next time for a continuation of the adventure…
Quotes of the Trip:
“Like I said, if you try to take a selfie out there, it could be your best one, but it could also be your last one.” – man who took our tickets at the rope bridge
Livia: (after getting rained on at the beach) “…I brought my Bible, and now it’s wet. Oh well, Jesus, I thought you needed a shower.”
Me: “Clearly He thought that you needed a shower.”
“Once you’ve learned how to live, you’ve learned how to die.” – Emily at Giant’s Causeway
