On the Road Again...

Well, I can't believe it, but I am getting on another plane tomorrow. I will have actually been on four planes by the time I get home! Crazy! I thought I was done flying for a while! Anyways, I am flying to Missouri to see Miss Angie for the weekend. She gets Monday off because of the holiday, & then her birthday is on Tuesday. I fly out on Thursday & fly back on Tuesday. We wanted to drive out, but my father wouldn't let us. Sigh. I really wanted to drive! I love road trips & it has been far too long since I have taken one. Oh well. At least I get to see Ang! I miss that girl!

I am excited to go, not only to see Ang, but also to go on a mini-adventure. I have been missing Ireland a lot & hopefully this will take my mind off that. I've also been rather lonely. Only because I got so used to being around a lot of people & now that I am not... Well, its pretty sad. I did start school this week, which has helped. Oh & I went to Greg's wedding over the weekend where I saw some of the Ireland group. That was fun. And the wedding was gorgeous. They did an amazing job. Well... That's about all for now. I'll keep you posted on my new journey!

Study Abroad, Day 25

So I lied... That was not my last post in Ireland, but this definitely will be. I am currently sitting in the Dublin Airport, waiting to board my flight & thought I would share some final thoughts. I am pretty excited to go home but will miss Ireland more than I can say. This has been such an amazing experience & I am so grateful that I was able to come here. The people I have met (whether locals, students, professors, etc) have all been so great. I appreciate each & every one of them & credit them for making this trip as fantastic as it was. I have learned so much here & will never forget this journey. Thank you to Professor Michael Minch & Professor Jeff Torlina for organizing this study abroad program & bringing us to Ireland. And, of course, thanks to my parents making this trip possible. You are the best! I'll see you in 17 hours! Hooray!

Study Abroad, Day 23 & 24

This is my last post from Ireland! It is amazing how fast this trip has gone! Well today & yesterday I toured Dublin with Kat, Greg, Pam, & Torben (the cameraman). We bought tickets for the double-decker bus tour & tried to see as much as we could. Yesterday we went to Dublinia, which is a Viking Museum, grabbed lunch at a cafe, & then spent most of the afternoon at St. Stephens Green (a park). Torben asked everyone to meet him there so that he could complete the interviews he needed for the project he is working on. So we waited for Torben to finish up & then we headed back to the hostel to grab some stuff before dinner. For dinner we went to a pub & I got tortellini's. It is the first pasta I have had in about 5 weeks & was pretty excellent. We headed back to the hostel, browsed the internet for a bit, & went to bed.

Today, we saw the Writer's Museum, the Book of Kells, the Long Room, the National Library, & the National Gallery. We ate lunch at a little cafe & had dinner at the Temple Bar. After dinner we headed back to the hostel so that we could get packed for tomorrow. Anyways, it was a pretty fun day & we were able to see a lot. I really liked Dublin this time around & am glad we were able to spend a few days here.

I am ready to go home, but I am also a little sad. I am going to miss this place! The beautiful countryside, the sheep, the nice people... It has been so amazing. I am also going to miss the people. I have made some great friends here & probably wont be seeing much of them once we return home. I imagine we'll all get busy & just wont have the time. Sad. Anyways... I'd like to thank a few people in particular...

Katina. You are an amazing person. I am so glad that we were able to get to know each other on this trip & have some late night conversations (even though we kept getting in trouble... sorry Ang). And by the way... You owe me some vegetarian food.

Gregorious. What would I have done without you on this trip? You are great & I am thrilled that we have a class together as soon as we get back. Thank you for being amazing & putting up with me. Good luck on Sunday!

Pam-Cake. Thanks for letting me call you Pam-Cake. I am glad we got to know each other! Thanks for hanging out with me & Ang, & for being so fun. Enjoy your continuing vacation!

Torben. It's too bad you were only with us for a week but... it was a pretty spectacular one. Thank you for the bus ride from Corrymeela to Dublin. I truly appreciate that... more than you might know. You have so much talent & I can't wait to see more of your work. (By the way, you should check him out... Here.)

Ang. Oh Ju Ju Bees. You are the best sister & friend anyone could ever have. I am so glad we went on this journey together & can't wait to see you again! Have so much fun in Kampsville! I love you!

Everyone else. Thanks for making the trip great! It was amazing to meet all of you & I hope to see you in the hallways one day!

Well... It's about time to go to bed. Our bus is picking us up at 7am, which is way too early. Next time I come on here... I'll be in Utah! Hooray!


I'm not sure why Greg wanted to try & climb this ladder... But he did. And he didn't make it.


Dear Greg. Thank you for putting on this mask & making my day better. Sincerely, Anna.

Study Abroad, Day 22

Well, we are in Dublin. This is the last leg of our journey, & I must say I am a little relieved. There are a select few that I am going to miss a ton, but other than that, I am ready to get some alone time... Anyways, we had a session at Corrymeela this morning, ate lunch, & then hit the road. The bus ride to Dublin was four or five hours. I actually ended up having a very interesting conversation with our new cameraman & lost track of time. I have a sneaking suspicion that he was ready to get off the bus! So we got to our hostel in Dublin, got our rooms, & then got back on the bus for a quick tour of the area by our hostel. Tony met us here & took us on the tour, which was very nice. We all grabbed dinner & now we are back at the hostel. Some people went back out but I am pretty beat. Also, I need to take a shower but I am having a hard time getting the motivation for that. Well I sure miss my Angie & hope things are going good for her. She should be back in the states by now, which is pretty insane. Tomorrow we should have a free day, but we will see how that goes. Night!


This is what I woke up to this morning. Aren't they so adorable? I am going to miss those little guys!

Study Abroad, Day 20 & 21

Angie is gone! Isn't that crazy? I think so... Anyways... On Friday we had our last day at INCORE. We had group presentations all day & then filled out an evaluation on the program. For our presentations we had to break into groups & pick a topic to speak about. I was with Ang, Greg, & Kat & we chose gerrymandering for our topic. It wasn't a big deal & we only presented in front of our group. I was still glad to be done with it though.... So that night we went to a hotel for dinner & also to get a certificate for completing the course. They were handed out by John Hume, which was amazing & the hotel was in a beautiful location.

After dinner, Frank came & picked us up to take us to Corrymeela. We left around 9:30pm & got here around midnight. The best part was that the bus couldn't make it all the way up the narrow road to Corrymeela, so we had to walk up in the dark. We got organized into rooms & then we all pretty much crashed. This morning, we got moving at 8:30am for breakfast (which was delicious porridge) & then I showered real quick before our sessions began. The sessions were run by a guy named Paul & were pretty interesting. No one was quite sure what this stop of our journey was going to be like, but we basically talk about what we have learned & do some little activities based around that.

John showed up around 4:30pm to pick Ang up, so we took a break & all said goodbye. It was hard to see her go & I will miss her very much. She is off to Kampsville, Illinois to work at an archeological dig for the rest of the summer. I won't see her again until mid-August. Sad! Anyways, she took off & we finished up our session before we ate dinner. We had another session after dinner & then I took off on a walk. It is so beautiful here. I wouldn't get anything done because I would just wander around all day. I took some pictures, had some good quality alone time... And now I am about to go to bed. I still am not quite over my cold so I need to get some sleep. I am tired of coughing! Mainly because I feel bad for everyone else. Anyways, that's about it...

Bye Ang! I love you! Be safe & have so much fun!







This is where we are staying. It is in an amazing location. I would definitely live here.


Isn't this little guy adorable? I tried to communicate with him but he just continued to chew on his grass.



I tried to make friends with these guys but they ended up running away from me. I even told them I was a vegetarian, but apparently that didn't help my cause.

Study Abroad, Day 17, 18, & 19

So it's been a while! Every night we get home I am too exhausted too blog... So I crash. Plus we have been working on our projects, which takes up a lot of time as well. Anyways, here is a list of the lectures we have had over the past three days:

Tuesday

CAIN (an amazing website that has a ton of documents & information regarding the Troubles)
Dr. Brendan Lynn

Peace Negotiations
Dr. Cathy Gormley-Heenan

Peacemaking in NI
Paul Arthur

NI Murals
Bill Rolston

Wednesday

Inter-communal Divisions & Community Relations
Grainne Kelly

Dealing with the Past in NI
Brandon Hamber

Young Father's Project
Youth Panel

Keynote Speech
Bob Collins

Thursday

Policing in a Transitional Society
Sam Donaldson, Tom Fraser, Amanda Leighton

From Prison to Peace: The Role of Ex-Combatants in the Peace Process
Ex-Prisoner Panel

Conflict-Related Commemoration: Challenges of Remember in a Society in Conflict
Dr. Kris Brown

So after the last lecture today, we all walked over to the Playhouse, a theater in Derry. We watched "Theatre of Witness", which was a production put on a few years ago. After watching the movie, we heard from three women that told us about their direct/indirect involvement in the Troubles. It was a very moving experience. Afterward we grabbed dinner & then headed back to Inch House. This is our last night here. Crazy! I can't believe how fast this is going! Tomorrow after INCORE we will get on the bus & drive straight to Corrymeela, our next destination. So we all have to get packed tonight & which is going to be a lot of work! I will be so sad to leave! Plus, Ang leaves on Saturday! Which is definitely sad!

Last night when we got back from INCORE, Tony had a big dinner planned for all of us. It was adorable! I have pictures, but I'll put them up later. Anyways, the lights were off, the candles were lit, & all the food was laid out. Adorable! Us vegetarians ate some mystery thing, but it was delicious! They have the best vegetarian options here! It blows my mind. I am going to see if I can get some of the amazing things I have eaten in the US. That would be most excellent! Anyways, that's about it for this evening. I am getting ready to go home, by the way. I am ready for my own space & to not live out of a suitcase anymore. That would be great. And to do my own laundry! I will miss the sheep though! And some of the people... Anyways... The end.

Study Abroad, Day 16

Well we are finished with our first day at INCORE. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, so that is good. I was pretty nervous that it would be intimidating & hard, but so far it's pretty good. We got to the University of Ulster, checked in, & sat in the cafeteria for a bit. When we checked in we got name tags & a binder full of information. Hooray for free stuff! We headed to orientation, where we learned more about how things were going to run & stuff. We then separated into our separate modules, & took a quick tour of the campus. So we are all in one group & have a separate schedule then everyone else. Except for the end of the day when all the groups go to the main hall & have a lecture.

Anyways, so our first lecture was by Professor Brandon Hamber, who is also our facilitator.... Basically he just tells us where to go & stays with us. He talked about peacemaking/building theory. It was nice to have a change of topic! We have been hearing mostly about Irish history, so this was good for different. We had lunch next, & we just ate in the cafeteria. Our next lecture was by Dr. Brendan Lynn (our other facilitator) & was about how the Northern Ireland conflict fits on the conflict cycle (a theory Professor Hamber spoke about). Our final lecture was back in the main hall with everyone else & was given by Professor Paul Arthur. The final lectures each day are going to revolve around the Northern Ireland conflict. So this lecture was about the Troubles starting in the 60s, until now.

Next we all had to go outside & get a group picture, & then it was dinner time. It was a buffet & was pretty good. Frank, our bus driver, picked us about at about 7:45, & now we are back at Inch House. So it was a good day all-in-all, & now we know what to expect for the rest of the week. The only mystery about the program now is the group presentations that are scheduled for Friday. We aren't sure exactly how that will work, so I'm a bit nervous about that. We should learn more about that tomorrow... I'll keep you posted!

Study Abroad, Day 15

Today we left for church at 10:30am. We went to St. Augustine's, which is an Anglican church. It was pretty interesting. We sang a lot of hymns! Everyone's favorite song was the childrens song. It was pretty funny. After church, we got back on the bus & headed to Donegal. It was a pretty long drive & the weather wasn't too great. So we got to town & most shops were closed since it was Sunday. We went to the Donegal Castle, ate some lunch, went into some stores, & then got back on the bus. We were supposed to head to the Donegal Cliffs, but it was decided that the weather was too bad to go. Apparently it is a very narrow road & it would have taken too long once you factored in the rain. We decided to spend some more time in Donegal & went in a few more shops.

We then headed back to Inch House, where we made dinner for our bus driver, Frank (who is amazing, by the way), Tony (who owns & runs Inch House), his wife, & Isabella who helps them (& us) out. I helped Ang, Daniel, & Jess make some cookies for desert, & then Greg & I set the table. Dinner took forever (we had Jambalaya), so we ate pretty late. Clean up also took forever, but we are finally finished. I am pretty tired! My teeth are really bothering me (stupid dentist...) & my throat is still pretty sore (stupid cold...). I am definitely ready to go to bed. Plus, tomorrow we have an early day. This week will be spent at INCORE, the International Conflict Research Institute. It was established in 1993 by the University of Ulster & the United Nations University. We are attending their Summer School, which is going to amazing. We are actually going to be the first undergraduate students to attend, which is very intimidating! Anyways, that is it for today!




This is Daniel, baking cookies.

Study Abroad, Day 13 & 14

I fly home in like 10 days. Crazy! It is going by so fast! Yesterday we listened to a speaker, ate lunch, & then headed into Derry. We went to a museum, wandered around, & ate some dinner. We then met John & he showed us some more murals around the area.

Today, we had a speaker & then we went sightseeing around the area we are staying at. We first went to a tower called the Grianán of Aileach. It was at the top of a hill & had an amazing view. After that we stopped at a round chapel (which I can't remember the name of...) & then the cemetery where Agnes Jones was buried. Next we went to the bridge in Buncrana (the same one we went to the concert at) & then a few other points of interest. We ended up at the beach, which was really nice. We saw a crab & a starfish (which needed rescuing...), & lots of shells. It was nice just to meander. After that we came to Inch House, ate some dinner, & then played poker. I have never played before but Diego was nice enough to teach me & guess what? I annihilated! I won the whole thing with my last hand (pictured below) & I was pretty excited! So hooray for Texas Hold 'em!

Study Abroad, Day 11 & 12

Yesterday was an interesting day... We had two lectures in the morning, one from Tony & one from Willie McCarter. We were supposed to have lectures later in the day, but they all ended up being canceled. I was not feeling well & so I took a nap. I slept for about an hour & then wandered around for a bit. I was pretty bored though, & ended up going back to bed. It has been forever since I took a nap! It probably wasn't a great idea because I felt blah the rest of the day, but what do you do? We didn't do much else that day.

Today, we spend the entire day in lectures here at Inch House. Dr. Terry Cradden spoke to us 9am about Northern Ireland politics. We had a short break, & then at 10:45am he talked to us about politics in the Republic of Ireland. We ate lunch & the listened to John McCarter speak about business in Northern Ireland. He mainly spoke about his family business, which currently makes Irish Whiskey. Then he gave us samples! Adorable! After his talk, we met with Seoirse O'Docartaigh, a local artist. He was very interesting to listen to plus he was an amazing artist. Me & Ang actually bought some of his prints at the end of his speech. We had dinner & then met with Nigel Gardiner. He is the deputy party leader of the Progressive Unionist Party. He was a very interesting guy, but pretty intimidating.

It was a long day. Since I napped yesterday I did not sleep well last night. Which, of course, means I was really tired today. Every time we had a break, I went outside & went for a short walk. It was a beautiful day! I walked to the road & listened to the sheep. They are pretty darn cute. Anyways, that's it for today! By the way, I showered a minute ago & must say that I sure miss my own shower. Add that to my list!

Study Abroad, Day 10

Last night I stayed awake until 1:30am with Greg watching some MMA fighting, so it was pretty hard for me to wake up this morning. I was tired! So we took the bus to Omagh, where a bomb was detonated on 15 August 1998 & 29 people were killed. We met with Michael Gallagher, the co-founder of the Omagh Support & Self Help Group. He actually lost a son in the bombing & now works to help others affected by the tragedy. He spoke about the day of the bombing & what has happened since.

After we talked with Michael Gallagher, we headed to Enniskillen. In that town, another bomb went off on 8 November 1987 & killed 11 people. There we went to the police station where we met with Inspector Roy Robinson. He took us on a tour of the station & then spoke about how things have progressed in the police force since the Troubles. He was a super nice guy & has seen a lot in his many years on the force.

So we are now back at Inch House. We ate dinner & then met with Michael & Jeff to have an overview of the last few days. We are getting an overload of information each day, so it is always helpful to get together with the group & go over it. That's about it for today... Oh, except... Happy birthday Cali! I miss you & hope you have an amazing day!

Study Abroad, Day 9

Today, we got up, got ready, & boarded the bus. By the way, last night a cameraman from UVU arrived. Joy! So he has been filming us all day. We actually all had to line up for the bus so he could film us all boarding it. Anyways, we headed to the cemetery in Derry & Tony gave us a bit of a tour of different monuments there. Then we headed to the Pat Finucane Centre, which is an organization that helps families that lost some during the Troubles find out what happened. We met with Paul O’Connor, who is the director of the centre. It was great of him to take time out of his day to speak with us.

We grabbed lunch at a café & then walked to the Guildhall, which is where we met with the mayor of Derry. It was very interesting to listen to him speak. Afterward, John Hume arrived to meet with us. It was such an honor to meet him! He has received all three major peace awards & has done many great things. He talked with us for a short period of time & then we had some free time. Me, Ang, & Kat walked around Derry, bought a few souvenirs, & then got hot chocolate at a little place called the Boston Tea Party. It was pretty delicious.

We got back on the bus at 5:30pm & headed back to Inch House. We ate dinner & then had a presentation by Felicity McCall. She used to be a journalist with BBC & wrote the script for a movie that was released recently. She was pretty adorable. That’s about it for today. Me & Ang sat in the kitchen with some of the other students on the internet for a bit & Michael Minch gave me like the best compliment ever! He said, “my life has been impoverished before I met you.” Adorable, right? He is pretty great! Anyways, time for bed!

Pictures: Study Abroad, Day 7 & 8

This here is Greg. He was pretty excited about his donut.





We attended mass in this church.



Greg & Ryan climbed up this hill... It was pretty entertaining to watch.




Here is me & Ang with Greg. He is our long lost brother. I'm not sure how we lost him exactly, but he's back now!





Yes, we did mock Greg for wearing this poncho.


It's the bridge! It was actually pretty creepy to walk across.