A Dwelling Place

Our morning correspondent is Chris Tweed:

“History remains live and active.”
~ Dr. Eamonn Hughes

As usual, we started off the day with breakfast from the university cafeteria; better known as The Tree House (I have a new addiction to potato farls). After a nice, brisk walk to the main campus at Queen’s University to start the morning off, we enjoyed two very interesting lectures by Dr. Eamonn Hughes. Dr. Hughes is a professor from the Department of English and an expert in Irish literature. It was really cool to see a typical classroom that students at the university would normally have class in. He first gave a basic introduction on the history of Irish Literature. One of the interesting things he said was that although Ireland is a relatively small country, its poets and authors has had a profound impact on the rest of the world. If you think about it, Ireland really is a small country compared to others, and yet its culture and art are vastly known throughout the world. Dr. Hughes then asked the question, “Why are people so interested in it if it is such a small country?” The answer to that question is in the question itself. Because the British Empire conquered and controlled all of Ireland for several hundred years, it seemed to be just another part of the British Empire. However, Ireland was one of the first places to decolonize and defy British rule. Because Great Britain was the strongest empire in the world at the time, this brought the spotlight to Ireland and its culture by making it an example for other countries to follow. Dr. Hughes then talked about what makes Irish Literature so unique and special. One reason for this is the collision between the British and Irish cultures. He told us that they struck sparks off each other, making the people even more independent in their thinking and culturally diverse. I think that this opened our eyes to just what makes Irish literature and culture so unique and special, and how much history affects the present.

I really enjoyed Dr. Hughes second lecture on Northern Ireland’s literature. Because we are staying in Belfast, it seemed to make the city more alive by bringing a deeper understanding about its people and past. One main point he stressed was that Northern Ireland is one place that is experienced and lived in different ways depending on one’s political, religious, and cultural groups. To me, this really provides a good perspective as to why there are such separations between Catholics and Protestants here. In Northern Ireland, Belfast in particular, there is certainly still segregation based on faith even though the Troubles are over. Dr. Hughes also stated that the main question in Northern Irish poetry is “Where and what is home if people are always under pressure to move?” Irish people for the past several centuries have been an emigrant people. In addition, there have been several waves of internal migration from rural to urban areas in recent Irish history, as well as the forced relocation's during the Troubles. Sense of place is very important to Irish writers, and they use this throughout their works. The part of his lecture that I found most interesting was when he explained some of the poems we heard by several of the authors last night. Seeing them being recited live was awesome, but getting a full explanation of what they meant by getting the poets background really brought them to life. Dr. Hughes had an interesting explanation of the word “dwell.” Not only is it to think or contemplate something, but to live as well. This theme occurs throughout Northern Irish Literature as the Irish people were constantly on the move and wanted to find a place to call home.

Overall, I really enjoyed Dr. Hughes’ lectures. After studying some Irish works in our previous classes, it is really interesting to see the places that were being written about. He gave us a clearer picture not only of Irish authors and poets, but the Irish people as well. I think that now we have a better appreciation for the city of Belfast as well as its people.

Our afternoon correspondent is Eileen Elliott:

"I get by with a little help from my friends."

- John Lennon

After lunch our group went to the Ulster Museum. The name of the museum can tell you a lot about the collection it contains. Ulster refers to one of the four historical provinces of Ireland: Leinster, Munster, Connacht, and Ulster. Northern Ireland was created out of six of the nine counties of Ulster; the counties with solid Protestant majorities to ensure a solidly unionist state.

The Ulster Museum is located next to the Queen’s University campus and contains many exhibits that tell the history of Ireland with a focus and emphasis on Ulster. There are a wide range of the exhibits, but we focused on the political historical section of the museum. We entered the history portion of the museum where we saw many photographs depicting the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Many of the photos showed the violence of the Troubles and took you through a chronological format. The picture that affected me the most was that of a young man who died on Bloody Sunday. Surrounding the young man was all of his family and friends. Considering the population of Northern Ireland it is easy to see how the Troubles affected everybody.

After we went through the history exhibit we could have free time until 5:30 pm. Since the rule is to travel in at least groups of three, a larger group of us decided to go to Victoria Square. We felt a little awkward roaming around because we felt, rightfully so, like tourists. Once we arrived, the girls and boys separated and parted ways. We decided not to shop today and quickly left Victoria Square. We walked a few blocks to city hall where they have erected a huge video screen that has been displaying events ranging from the Glastonbury music festival to Wimbledon. We joined in with locals to view Wimbledon which was playing today on the screen. The day was beautiful, and we enjoyed just relaxing outside. We returned “home,” most of us taking naps before preparing for our delicious dinner at a five star restaurant at night.

At night we all dressed up very nice for a three course meal at Menu, a restaurant at the FitzWilliam Hotel in the city center. All of us rode for our first time in Belfast taxis. We were really interested to be in a car that drives on the left side of the road with a driver who drives from the left, the opposite of us in the States. After a short drive through Belfast we arrived at the hotel. Gathering in the lobby, we waited for everyone to arrive so we could go upstairs for our scrumptious dinner. Our mouths were watering just imagining how great the food was going to taste! We had our own banquet room and an extremely long table for sixteen people. Last night, we had to choose one selection for each of the courses of starters, entree, and dessert. For my dinner I had salad, beef brisket, and strawberry shortcake. Everyone loved sitting around enjoying each other’s company and our friendships grew more than we could have imagined on the first day. This made me reflect on a Beatles song about getting through with friends by your side. We are all far away from home but knowing we have each other makes the distance easier to bear. Once we finished our dinner, Mr. Bizga surprised Stephen Sigmier and me with a birthday cake since my 17th birthday was June 28, and Stephen’s 18th birthday will be on July 2. Stephen and I were both surprised but were too full to eat the cake, and therefore had to pack it up and bring it back home.

Once we returned back to the dorm we changed and got ready for our reflection. Every night we have a group reflection and prayer session. We begin with a group examen of the day. This is similar to the one at school in a more extended fashion. The examen is a method of prayerful reflection on the events of the day in order to become aware of God’s presence. Our group began with the song “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye. It was interesting to listen to the lyrics stating that only peace can overcome the troubles of the world. Listening to the song showed how simple words could depict a much larger problem. We continued by reflecting how we got here today and why we chose to be part of this experience. Our gathering was told by Ms. Madden to reflect on what we hoped we would learn about ourselves and life in Ireland. Reflecting on this showed many of us a lot about ourselves. We are beginning to view the world differently. Once we were done with the reflection most of us went straight to bed to get rest for the next day.

Goodnight family and friends all over the world!