Staying at Inch Island

           Saturday morning we all got up bright and early to board a coach bus to Inch Island. We drove for about 10 hours stopping for lunch at Foxford Mills, and stopping to see W.B. Yeats grave which has a weird epitaph. It was like driving home to Texas from Alabama with all my stuff at my feet and with 22 other people. It wasn’t too bad because a lot of people slept for most of the time and I had pre-downloaded a movie at the hostel to watch on the way. The man, Tony, who is taking care of us in Inch Island drove all the way down to pick us up and then take us back. For reference on where we drove to, we were staying in Killarney near the Southwest side of Ireland and we drove all the way up the inside of Ireland to the Northern tip which is close to the border of Northern Ireland. So after an extremely long day of driving, Tony drove us up to this house that looks very small on the outside, which actually turns out to be a huge place on the inside that reminds me of the Clue mansion in the movie. The house here which we are just calling a guesthouse, is perfectly suited for students to stay here. There are massive desks in each room and in the hallways with rows and rows of bookcases filled with books on everything you could ever need (and some you don’t i.e. The 2004 top 10 everything book). If students were staying here for a couple of weeks I could see this place as a comfortable place to stop. We are staying 4 to a room here and we didn’t get placed in the ghost room (which I’m still not sure if he was joking when he spoke of this room or not).  After a quick dinner we were exhausted and went to bed without hassle.

W. B. Yeats grave (read the engraving, weird right?

One of the hallways of rooms at Inch House

The sitting room at Inch House

           Sunday was Easter Sunday so we had the day off to do whatever we wanted. I opted out of walking to the Catholic Church with some of the group because I wasn’t sure what I would get. Instead I spent the morning reflecting on the trip and enjoying that we had some free time. Shortly after the morning though my happy free time bubble was burst when we all realized how much work we had to do for this week and next. We had a history test scheduled for Wednesday, and we also have a sketch project going on that is due before we head to Italy in about a week. The rest of Sunday I spent trying to catch up to a good spot on my sketching project and then studying history of Industrial design.

             Monday morning we had 3 lectures planned about the “Troubles” in Ireland before breaking for lunch. The first speaker talking to us was the leader of the guesthouse, Tony, giving us a brief background of the problems. Basically the shortened version, the divide of Ireland came from the division of the Protestant and Catholic religions that have both been the official religion of Ireland and the cause of a lot of problems ever since through monarchs and the people. We had two more speakers from very different worlds who both talked about conflict resolution and what they learned from being nationalist or unionist about the affairs. Jon McCourt, the last man to talk to us in the morning was even part of the IRA and told us stories of how he protested and then became involved more deeply in the matters. After we finished having lectures, we had a quick bite to eat and then went into Derry. Derry or Londonderry depending on whether or not you are a nationalist or unionist is where a lot of stuff went down during the Troubles. We got showed around by our last lecturer Jon, who still lives in the Bogside of Derry and he showed us the city from St. Collum’s Cathedral to the city walls, to the murals reflecting on the Troubles. We had a bit of free time after his stories and tour to get better pictures of the murals (which there are a ton of) and get a bite to eat. Surprisingly enough, and I have tested this in many of the cities we have visited, the Mexican food I have had here is closer to what I actually consider good Mexican food than that of Auburn’s which is where I spend most of my time during the year. I thought I was going to be homesick for good Tex-Mex, but so far I haven’t been disappointed!

The sign for Derry in the Bogside 

St. Collum's Cathedral

John McCourt giving us a tour of his hometown

Mural in the Bogside

Another Mural in the Bogside

              Tuesday we had another tour planned, but this time for the area surrounding Inch Island and the island itself. Tony first drove us off the island to a nearby mountain/hill (at this point its hard to differentiate what distinguishes mountain from hill) where we got some beautiful views of Inch Island and also got to see the Grianan Aileach Ring Fort, where we took group photos (very unorganized and crazy-like annoying some fellow tourists) and basically just enjoying the views. Then we drove down a ways to see the Catholic church Tony goes to each week and that was interesting to see because the whole thing is circular in shape to match the ring fort. We also checked out a local museum that was based out of an old church (which probably would have been better suited for children) and had a tea and scone break before heading to a graveyard to see a friend of Florence Nightingale who was important to the Irish and cleanliness here. We toured around Anne Jones’ grave and around some even older graves with Greek lettering before heading back to the guesthouse. After that Tony made us a huge lunch of soup and sandwiches, and we studied for our test. 3 hours later (!!!) Tony made us burgers to eat, which I would have appreciated so much more if I was actually hungry! This man is spoiling us with his home cooking!

View of Inch Island from the hill (The house is on the right in that string of white houses!)

The Grianan Aileach Ring Fort

Completely circular church we visited ( sadly I don't know the name!)

The graveyard for Anne Jones

           Today, we had our Industrial Design history test at 2 pm so after lunch we sat in the kitchen working on the tests. The environment was weird to be taking a test, but we all definitely studied very well considering that everyone could have a study group here! We had the option after the test to go and do grave rubbings with charcoal and rice paper and pick up laundry, but seeing as I didn’t drop off laundry and I didn’t real like any of the headstones from yesterday enough to keep them, I didn’t go. I instead packed and got some well needed down time away from our huge crowd. Before dinner we had a special guest, Mollie, who played the harp, sang, and did the river dance for us. She even taught some people in the group the (very) slow way of doing the dance. She was so young too, 19 and had so many talents! I think we were all very impressed! Tony then set up a very nice dinner for us complete with candles, tablecloths, wine, and home-cooked Guinness stew. We all had a nice time and have been hanging out since packing, playing cards, and with me writing this blog!

              Tomorrow we have an early morning and a full day ready to see the sights of the Northern Ireland coast and seeing the sights like the Giant’s Causeway which I am super pumped for! You’ll hear from me soon!

Note: You know the drill, read this like it is Wednesday because I didn't have wifi to post this last night (or any night on Inch Island)! You'll hear about Belfast and Giant's Causeway soon enough!