April 5, 2019
After a 2-hour train ride, we made it to Belfast. It was sort of impromptu trip with a few friends. We had talked about going but had not made anything concrete until a few days ago. Long journeys are relaxing to me for some reason especially when I am not the one navigating to the destination. Some people hate spending time traveling but sometimes the journey is more enjoyable than the destination.
It felt good to be back in Belfast though. The Airbnb was a little farther from the train station than we anticipated but it was a manageable walk to do in the day. The house itself was super cute, plus having an entire home yourself is always great. After living in university accommodation we were more excited at the possibility of sleeping on a comfy mattress and showering with no shower shoes. The most notable aspect of the Airbnb was its location.
The street art, the waving British flags, and churches around the neighborhood were indicative of Loyalist Protestants. In fact, on one of the building Loyalist Tiger on the front and some had pro-Brexit signs. The environment proved to be an interesting shift in the attitudes I’ve been exposed to in L’Derry.
After settling in and crying over how wonderful the Airbnb was, we set about finding some food. We were all ravenous and sushi was on the menu for the night. If anyone is in Belfast I would recommend trying out Sakura Japanese Ramen and Sushi.
I haven’t had sushi in
Jenny had been to Belfast and recommended that we try out the Duke of York. It was charming with a traditional Irish pub aesthetic and live music. The pub was also nestled inside this street that was lined with string lights.
I had an interesting interaction with one of the bouncers. Don’t worry I wasn’t making trouble just friendly banter. For some reason, I referred to Derry as Londonderry when he asked where we were coming in from probably thinking about the location of the Airbnb and what I was seeing there. However, his reaction was interesting. He repeated Londonderry with a confused look stating that London is over the water and de-legitimatized Londonderry while legitimizing Derry as the only true name of the city. Most people in L’Derry refer to it as Derry but on train stations and bus, announcements its referred to as “Derry-Londonderry”, an acknowledgment of both terms.
The interaction really highlights the importance of naming and the role of power relations and historical conflict in the name of places. Who has the power to define and why? What does a name mean beyond the surface?
These are some of the questions I have had since coming to Northern Ireland.
April 6, 2019
The weather this weekend has been the best we have gotten here in a while. We started the day with a visit to the Victoria Square Mall.
The mall is a multi-level semi-open air space with a viewing point at the top that is free. Now, I am afraid of heights and would not go towards the edge. Besides the general fear of heights, the views were very nice and I still enjoyed it. After a quick lunch, it was time for the Titanic Museum. Fun fact: Titanic was built in Belfast.
The walk there was nice and were able to see the Lagan River and the Salmon of Knowledge. The Titanic Museum has to be one of the most interactive museums I have been in so far while in Northern Ireland. I felt like I learned a l
The sister ship to Titanic, the RMS Olympic, also sits in front of the museum and is a part of the ticket if I remember correctly. Within the museum, there was even a ride kind of like what you would expect at a fair or carnival. Essentially, it is designed to take you through the different parts of the ship as though you were really moving through the actual ship during its construction. They really tried to capture the experience with changes in elevation, sounds, and when we were in the boiler room there were heaters that gave off heat to give an idea as to what the workers would have felt. All of this was done while narratives were being told from the workers themselves. I have to say that the curators really did a great job at trying to make the history tangible and real.
Dinner was a huge margarita pizza from Pizza Express and another interesting interaction about L’Derry with our taxi driver. Unlike the bouncer from last night, the taxi driver made a point of saying Londonderry and warning of the bias that can occur in Derry, essentially stating that there were more sides of the story. His attitude proved to be in complete opposite as the bouncer from yesterday and fit more with the Loyalist side of the debate. It is always interesting to see the nationalist versus loyalist aspect of Northern Ireland on a micro-level. It is one thing to read about the conflict and study in class, but another to see it unfold with you being a participant in the social climate.
April 7, 2019
Belfast has been great and extremely informative, but now it’s time to head home. I got back around 5 pm and did nothing for the rest of the evening really except manage to break the screen of my phone. But, that is a problem for tomorrow at this point.
