Goodbye, Northern Ireland!

March 13, 2014 

Another incredible day in Northern Ireland! I cannot believe it was the last at Corrymeela; tomorrow we leave for Dublin.

As usual, the day started with breakfast and worship time, then we had our very last conflict/reconciliation session where we discussed our opinions on the Northern Ireland situation some more and then all had a chance to voice one thing we learned on the trip. I’ve learned a lot during my time in Northern Ireland; most of all, I leave Europe with an overwhelming respect for the people around me. So many of my daily conversations are superficial, but this week everyone on the trip really engaged with each other, and our conversations were meaningful and thoughtful. I am inspired by the way that each of my fellow students, professors, and the staff at Corrymeela came together to create an honest, safe, and truth-seeking community. It’s amazing; given the chance, people are capable of so much more than you may guess! 

Off the soap box.

After everyone went around the circle and shared, we had some tea and then loaded onto the bus that would take us to Dark Hedges, Giant’s Causeway, and the rope bridge. 

Dark Hedges is a small strip of road in the country lined by tall, bare trees. It’s definitely cool-looking but is mainly exciting because parts of Game of Thrones were filmed there. I don’t watch Games of Thrones but that didn’t stop me from taking a bunch of pictures under the archway of branches! 

As neat as Dark Hedges was, it didn’t even come close to comparing to Giant’s Causeway. Giant’s Causeway is a popular tourist attraction in Northern Ireland... And I can see why! It’s a geological phenomenon. Thousands of hexagonal columns squeeze together to line the side of a mountain and spread out into the sea. It is really difficult to believe that these weren’t man made; some of the columns are perfect hexagons! 

Legend has it that there were once giants in Ireland and Scotland, and these giants built the causeway so that it stretched between them. Long story short, the Scottish giant was much bigger than the Irish giant, but the Irish giant was more clever. His wife put him in a stroller and dressed him up as a baby. So when the Scottish giant came to fight the Irish one, he saw the giant and thought “If that’s the size of his baby, the Irish giant must be huge!” And he ran away in terror, smashing the causeway behind him. 

However, apparently the Causeway is really just a result of a volcanic eruption. 

(I choose to believe that God was just feeling a little mischievous when he created it, thinking “Oooh this one is going to puzzle a lot of people over the years!” He probably made Stone Henge on the same day.) 

Jokes aside, I really enjoyed climbing all over Giant’s Causeway, and I especially enjoyed hiking up a nearby mountain to get a view of it from high above. It really was awesome in the literal sense of the word. The mountains, ocean, and these wondrous columns all came together to make a spectacular sight! 

I wandered the Giant’s Causeway for some time, and then the group joined back together and the bus took us to the rope bridge. 

The rope bridge is an old, rickety, bridge between two mountainous islands. It was created for salmon fishing but, since the salmon population in the area has decreased, now it is mainly a tourist attraction. The view from the bridge is really gorgeous if you dare to look out! Even those who weren’t comfortable crossing the bridge enjoyed looking out at the sea and mountains around us. I crossed and found it wasn’t half as unstable as it looked! 

After wandering around the rope bridge for a while, we made our way back to Ballycastle for some dinner and pub night!

Oh you read that right. Lizzie Dockery had her first pub experience! I’ve never had much of an interest before, but when in Rome, right? I sat with four other girls, and we decided that, between the five of us, we’d share four different drinks. None of us were interested in really finishing a drink, but we all wanted to sample! It was like tapas Irish pub style. 

So of course we had to get a Guinness. We also sampled a dark Irish ale, some whisky and ginger ale, and something called a snake bite. When I told Jonny, our guide, that we were getting a snake bite he laughed at me and said “Snake bite?? Okay. But you should know, most people stop drinking that when they turn 16.” 

Of course it ended up being the only one I liked. 

That may be because it’s half apple cider, part black current juice, and part Guinness. So really there isn’t much alcohol in it at all. Ooh! And it’s bright pink. That may have something to do with it. 

Jonny’s mocking aside, it was a really fun night! One side of the pub was filled with white haired old people playing traditional Irish music on their accordions and flute and, on the other side, the young people share beers and chat. If it weren’t for the sixteen Americans in the middle, that scene would perfectly mirror the mental image I have of a stereotypical night in Ireland. So fun to get to be in the middle of this culture!