Belfast and our last night

Hey everyone. Sorry for the lack of blogs the past few days. We were without internet in Belfast, so this blog will be for the past few days and also will be the last blog for the trip.

Friday morning we all got up quite early to head to Belfast, which is in Northern Ireland (or just North Ireland depending on where you’re from). We went to Stormont, which is the Parliament building in Belfast. We got a tour of the beautiful building, and some lectures from an educational lecturer and a member of the Sinn Fein party. We were supposed to get a lecture from the other party of Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party, or DUP, but due to a recent scandal involving some infidelity, the members of the house were instructed to speak to no one.
In Stormont, we got a very informational tour, and also got to sit in different rooms where they hold their meetings. We got a history of Northern Ireland and the different political parties, and learned that the hostility between their two main parties is about 100 times as aggressive as that between the Republicans and Democrats in the US. Wow. It’s probably a safe bet to assume that politics are never discussed over the dinner table…
Some of us were very excited to learn of some of visitors to these rooms included the band Snow Patrol and Hilary Clinton. After visiting the Parliament building, we checked into our hotel and finally got out of our dress clothes (which by this point are very used). We had dinner in the oldest tavern in Belfast. We got treated to some Irish music once again, which all of us enjoyed. Some of the tunes we all recognized were Galloway Girl (from the movie PS I Love You) and the song played in the movie Titanic by the Irish band in the third class when Jack takes Rose to a ‘real party’. Everyone was quite exhausted and we all had a night in.

Yesterday, we had a tour of the two different sides of the city by a Catholic and a Protestant ex-political prisoner. It was an emotional tour. To see 30 foot high walls separating different sides of the city was breathtaking. First we had the tour by the Unionist (DUP) ex-prisoner. The DUP party is loyal to Great Britain and supports remaining part of the United Kingdom. He showed us around the Protestant side of the city. It is covered in art on the sides of buildings and houses. Everywhere you look, you can see portraits of someone who was killed in the conflicts Northern Ireland has faced, or memorials, or political statements of wanting peace. He told us stories about how it was during the conflicts, and the tour was extremely eye opening. He even felt comfortable telling us that the reason he went to prison was for building bombs and how he’d seen his friends get shot to death.
Our next tour was with the Catholic ex-prisoner and part of the Sinn Fein party since he was 13 years old. The Sinn Fein party is loyal to the Republic of Ireland, and argues that Great Britain has no right to govern the northern 6 counties of Ireland just as they have no right to govern any states in the United States. (He compared the creation of Northern Ireland to the US war for independence asking us how we would have felt if, when Great Britain lost the war, they had maintained control of the eastern 6 states in the US). The Catholic side of the city was less artistically designed, but still had very serene memorials to victims of the conflict. The day was emotionally and mentally exhausting, and we were all left with deep and strong memories on the situation. The rest of the night was spent with a group meal with the Drake students and SUNY students, and then a little pub hopping. Even in the pubs, talking to residents of the city, they watched what they said, afraid to offend anyone of the opposite religion. The after dinner pub experiences and conversations really cemented in the feel and aura of the division and hostility of the city.
This morning, we headed out to Giant’s Causeway. It is an amazing sight of rock formations that are over 60 million years old. It was one of the most northern places on the island and walking along the coast was awe-inspiring. Pictures cannot portray the wonder we felt being there. It is hard to explain the beauty of this place. It is old Irish folklore that tells the tale of two giants who battle it out, and the battle is what formed this amazing place. It was the perfect way to end a trip like this.

Tonight, we shall spend our last night in Ireland back in Dublin, most likely packing and having a last round about the city. We leave bright and early tomorrow morning for the states—so early in fact that our hotel won’t be serving us breakfast. The Irish like to sleep in. See you all soon!

Dublin!

Elle is no longer composing this blog, unfortunately. She went on to bigger and better things with other friends of hers that were backpacking across Europe. We’d like to thank her for getting this awesome blog started! Starting from the last blog as well as this blog, Jenny McGowan and Amanda Schienebeck will be narrating the adventures of the Drake students as they leave their mark on Ireland. 
Wednesday was a very political and educational day for us Drake students. We all put on our best clothes to attend a tour of Parliament in Dublin. The only problem was that we all had to wear our uncomfortable, nice dress clothes for a 2 hour bus ride to get to the Parliament building, only to find out that Parliament wasn’t in session and there was no need to look all fancy. Along our tour we were informed that there was a statue of Queen Victoria that had been located in the front of the building that was eventually sent to Australia ‘on permanent loan’. The irony with this situation is that the Queen, during her reign, had forced thousands of Irish to immigrate to Australia as convicts (usually convicted of minor, petty crimes) and in the end, Ireland sent her off to Australia as well. Karma? Jenny and I later discussed this with an Irish Senator we happened to meet along one of our many excursions.
Following lunch, we met up at the European Union Commissioner’s office in Dublin for a briefing on the Lisbon Treaty which only recently went into effect after passing through referendum in Ireland. We also listened to an interesting perspective on the Northern Ireland conflict. It has been extremely fascinating to listen to the Irish versions of the conflict because they are all so staunch in their opinions, yet trying to give politically correct and informatively unbiased speeches to us Americans. We will most certainly hear the other side of the story when our travels take us into Northern Ireland tomorrow in Belfast.
Today is Thursday and it was also a very busy day. Half the group went on a bus tour of Dublin while the other half walked around Dublin giving themselves a self-guided tour of the city. The bus group traveled to Phoenix Park which is the largest city park in Europe. The view was spectacular. We could see snow capped mountains in the background, while the only thing in front of us and between us and the mountains was miles of rolling green hills. There was a giant cross erected on the top of a hill in remembrance of Pope John Paul the 2nd having came to Dublin and given an outdoor mass to over one million people. (What makes this even more amazing is that the entire population of Dublin is 1.5 million while the entire population of Ireland is 5 million). We also traveled to the Dublin Castle, seeing remnants of a structure build in the 1100s. In addition, we were privileged with the experience of seeing the inside of St. Patrick’s church which, evidently, is the oldest church in Ireland. Pictures will never do these truly phenomenal experiences justice. All of us were in awe.
However, despite all of these amazing travel excursions, the group was generally most excited to take the self-guided tour of the Guinness factory. We learned that 50% of all liquids consumed in Ireland on any given day (including water, coffee, juice, soda) are Guinness. Wow. The tour was amazing. As we traveled up the mass of floors, we learned about how the mass company began, what goes into a Guinness beer, and we even got to test freshly brewed beer. On the top floor, we found ourselves standing on the highest building in Dublin with glass windows where walls normally stand. The view was spectacular. As we drank our fresh and flavorful Guinness, we watched the sunset in Ireland with snowcapped mountains on the outskirts of a breathtaking city view. I’m not sure that you can get an experience any more Irish than that.

Cork-Kilkenny

A lot has happened since the Model EU simulation closing ceremony. Sunday we drove to Cork in a snow storm that we have repeatedly heard Ireland hasn’t seen since WWII. We were supposed to go to Blarney Castle, but the conditions around the castle were too dangerous to walk around in (as we found out the next day climbing the stairs to the top!). We stopped at the mall near Blarney castle to shop, and we all put a significant dent in our spending money. The area was known for its wool making. That night due to the horrible weather, we were free. Most of us watched the American football playoff games in the hotel pub. After a long and stressful Packer loss, we called it a night.

Monday, the weather was much improved so we got to go back to Blarney castle. Winding staircases, breathtaking views made for spectacular photographs. The adrenaline from the height and slippery, slimy stone staircases made the experience all the more memorable (especially for those of us afraid of heights or who were claustrophobic). To kiss the stone at the tip-top of the old castle, we had to lay down over a hole and bend down backwards to kiss the stone behind us. Almost everyone had the courage to leave their mark on the stone, although we did hear that the locals like to relieve themselves on the stone knowing the tourists would kiss it anyways. Oh well. We were glad to find that they had a bottle of disinfectant at the top even though we didn’t see it being used…
After surviving Blarney castle, most of us scoured the city, taking scenic photographs and searching for a charming pub to have dinner in. Success was found, and we ate in an enchanting local restaurant and pub in the heart of the city. The best part of the meal was to find that the pub housed a portrait that, every so often, would move and look at us (Hogwarts style) and we spent a good 30 minutes staring at it, waiting for it to move again. Our patience was rewarded a while later, when the portrait whipped out his iPod and jammed out for a while. 
After that, we went back to the hotel to meet up with the rest of the group, and we all went to the strip of popular clothing and retail stores. To our dismay, however, the shops in Ireland close at 6 or 7pm so we definitely had to do some power shopping.
Tuesday, we got to sleep in a little, for which most of us were extremely grateful. We drove to Cove, which is a sea side city, and the second largest natural harbor in the world. It was exceptionally stormy, and the waves in the harbor were huge. Although this storm was a rainstorm and no longer snow so the bus driver could manage driving much better. We took refuge in an extremely chilly building, where we got to walk through an exhibit of the history of the harbor and some of the ships that were there once, including the Titanic and the Lucitania.

After a couple hours in Cove, we loaded back onto the bus, and drove to the city of Kilkenny. We visited the castle in Kilkenny for a few hours, which was very beautiful despite the rain storm. We had a delicious dinner with some of Professor Dowley’s relatives who live in the city. After dinner, her relatives led us on a short excursion to their favorite local pub. To our excitement we became the audience to a well-known small-town Irish band, The Kilkennys. We all danced the night away, doing Irish gigs and making friends with the local folk. The band was amazing and even played some Backstreet Boys for the Americans and of course some Johnny Cash as well. However, most of the songs they played were traditional Irish songs and we definitely felt like we were in Ireland. After purchasing their CD we called it a night because, for the first time, we had to wake up not on ‘Irish time’ which is usually after 9am.
Currently, we are en route to Dublin where we’ll be for the next couple days. Most of us are taking advantage of the 2 hour ride to catch up on some sleep. Waking up at 7am is harsh.

End of Simulation (already)

Yesterday I had wanted to write an entry about the first day, but had virtually no free time to access the internet. As I wrote in the previous entry, I was in the press corps. Most simulation participants work during the day, go to meetings, debate, etc. then enjoy themselves in the evenings with food and drink. This is when the press corps is just getting started. Articles must be written, layouts must be created, footage must be uploaded, edited and posted. So between the late nights and busy days, I couldn't keep a regular blog.

On the first day the delegations for different countries split to go to their respective meetings (like "HOGS" or "COREPOR" or "FINANCE"). The representatives for those roles then sit in meetings for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. After each meeting is a press meeting, where the heads of government and others debrief the press on what has happened.

The day-in-the-life-of story never happened. The student playing the prime minister of Spain was not very enthusiastic. Also, the editor and faculty advisor missed the bus and didn't make it to the University of Limerick until it was time for the first press meeting. We improvised and I went instead to the HOGS (heads of governments) meeting to hopefully devise an interesting story.

I had expected the meetings to produce the dullest videos possible because, frankly, I thought that the meetings themselves would be somewhat dull. I was wrong on both counts. That happened to be the meeting when members debated whether Turkey should ever be allowed to join the European Union (EU), and if it should, then under what conditions should it join. The topic is one of the more contentious issues facing the EU right now, with heated arguments on both sides.

The floor opened for debate. Voices were raised as the delegates passionately argued for either side. It was hard to tell whether they were arguing their personal opinions or still role-playing their head of government character, because role-playing doesn't usually produce such fire.

Ultimately I got some really good footage of this, despite not having a proper microphone or a tripod or a light. It should be on youtube soon. For the piece I interviewed several members afterward to see whether they noticed this blurring of personal and character. By chance many of them had been assigned roles which coincided with their personal beliefs.

The simulation was overall a very rewarding experience. I learned a lot more not only about the EU, but about specific country's positions on issues like Turkey and heard thorough pro/con arguments. I also met many, many Europeans. On the bus yesterday I sat next to a student from Wales. He said he had never participated in such an event where so many various nationalities of students are interacting in one place. It really is a unique experience.

Today I left Limerick. I happened to be on the elevator with a Bulgarian who I met at the opening ceremony. Earlier today I mentioned that I'm going to Dublin. She was hurrying to catch her own train but starting rummaging through all her bags. "Wait! I have an extra ticket!" After opening up countless pockets in countless little bags she produced the ticket. My enjoyable free train ride terminated in a city covered in thick slush.

The rest of the Drake students took a bus to Cork and will continue their travels from there. Some of those students will continue this blog for the remainder of their trip.