Day two started off with a quick breakfast at the hotel and then a trip to the peace wall, both on the protestant side and the catholic side of the wall. I would say that the peace walls were what shocked me the most about Ireland, because given the name having peace in it, the walls to me are not peace, they are a symbol of how division is still prevalent in this country, which is stopping total peace. In conjunction with the walls, another hard thing to wrap my head around is how the government works here, or the lack of a functioning government in most cases. When hearing how the government is run in Northern Ireland I honestly left confused because they find it normal that for 3 years or so at a time they did not have a functioning government, but in the U.S. if that would happen for a day or two the country would be in major disrepair. Therefore, I feel that the culture about change with the peace walls and the fact that government is run differently mainly confused me.
However, there was one thing that surprised and intrigued me more than confused me, and that was the protestant and catholic divide. When talking to the youth workers, I got to understand the catholic and protestant divide more than when reading the books because you got it on a personal level so I really was surprised how common it is to dislike and fear someone just because they belong to a specific type of church. Furthermore, I found it intriguing how there were different views on the troubles depending on what generation you are from. The older generations still have the divided mindset while the the younger generations are more for integration. I was also intrigued how much religion plays in getting anything done because in the U.S. there is a separation of church and state whereas in Northern Ireland that does not really exist because the catholics are primarily all one party and so are the protestants which is why the political system is very confusing and complicated. All in all while things were confusing and intriguing it was still a fun adventure nonetheless which brings me into what we did the rest of day two.
After the peace walls tour, we went to the parliamentary buildings, which, contrary to the name, are not multiple buildings or where there is a parliamentary government, but instead are the building where the Northern Ireland government is run when in session. After the guided tour of the parliamentary building, we had lunch at the youth center and discussed our thoughts on what we had seen so far, and heard stories of the youth workers’ childhood, which were different but still brought them to the same career. After lunch we headed back out to visit the Ulster Museum which had a wide variety of different exhibits from art to science to the history of the troubles. Once we left the museum we had dinner at a fish and chips shop and then spent the rest of the night having free time to explore Belfast. All in all I find that the Belfast portion was quite enjoyable and I am looking forward to the next part of the trip in Donegal.
