Well, it has been quite awhile since I have posted anything about travel. Last year I was living/working in Washington DC, which technically doesn’t count as “abroad” for me (although I probably could have blogged about it anyway).
But now... now I am going abroad again for a FULL YEAR thanks to a Fulbright Award. I couldn’t be more happy. I will be studying for a MSc. of Technology Entrepreneurship at the great University College London (super central London).
I might talk about how I got this award and all of the preparation that has already happened in a future post, but for now I just wanted to post an update to let you awesome people know what is up.
In Northern Ireland, every person, every building, every rock had a story. So, after having spent one month there breathing in the history, I was prepared to miss the storybook atmosphere when I came home. And I do. However...
As I was walking through downtown Lincoln, Nebraska today, like I have hundreds of times before, I suddenly looked up and noticed a plaque on the outside wall of a building. Engraved on it was information about when the building was founded, by whom, and why. I smiled at the fun facts and kept walking en route to the new donut shop everyone was talking about. Then, I looked up again and realized that all of the buildings lining the road had mounted plaques with the same bits of history
That’s when I realized that my hometown has a story, too.
Cheesy, right?
Well that may be, but after noticing the plaques, you can bet that I spent an extra hour or so strolling through downtown in the wretched Nebraska heat, stopping to read each one that I passed, because my month in Northern Ireland has ignited my curiosity to look up, consider the history around me, and recognize its significance. I realized today that like Belfast, even though Lincoln looks like it has a short history, its story is longer and more varied than what appears on the surface. This newfound appreciation of history is not the only thing that I brought back with me. I have returned from Queen’s University Belfast with friends that I will never forget, stories that I cannot wait to share, and an obscene amount of knowledge about Irish history/culture that I will most definitely apply to my future.
It is nice to be back in the land of corn and football, but sure I do miss Elms Village, Lisburn Road, Tesco, Clements, Banoffee, Lanyon, Cafe Nerro, Banoffee, lecture halls, absolutely unpredictable weather, the Ulster Museum, soda bread, City Hall, double-decker buses, the Botanical Gardens, the Student Union, Cavehill, cobblestone roads, castles, banoffee.
I sure do miss home.
It was easy for me to find my home in Belfast among my Fulbright family and the QUB community. In fact, I definitely experienced much more culture shock upon my return to the US than I did upon my arrival in the UK. It was almost alarming to jump right back into reality like nothing had changed (I’ll leave out the part where I’ve been crying on and off). Because Nebraska may have not changed, but I certainly have.
I have emerged from Northern Ireland a little stronger, wiser, and braver. I have a heightened sense of wanderlust and feel incredibly humbled by how much of the world is left to explore and how much there is yet to learn about it.
Further, this has been the most humanizing experience of my life, and also one that has challenged and transformed notions of my own identity. My conceptualization of what that concept even means has deepened by studying it on national, personal, and emotional levels. I am positive that understanding how to reconcile identity crises on all three will provide valuable insight as I continue my path to becoming a psychologist. I cannot fathom how lucky I am to have experienced this. I mean - 4 whole weeks and I was not bored for a second PLUS I heard so much gender-neutral language in lectures that made my heart sing. In all seriousness, I fell in love with the UK, and I have every intention to visit Northern Ireland again in the future.
That being said I want to extend a huge thank you and all my love to Dominic Bryan, Matt O’Neill, Aline Muff, Stuart Irwin, and everyone at QUB. Thank you to my Fulbright family Jacob Nelson, Meredith Dickerson, Maggie Tucker, Julie Cravotto, and Rachel Schlegel, as well as all the friends I made through the summer school. (Don’t worry - I have already begun conjuring up extravagant plans to see you all again someday.)
Most of all, thank you to the US-UK Fulbright Commission for granting me this amazing opportunity in the first place. It is one I will never take for granted.
So until I find myself in the UK or Ireland again,
After attending hours of lectures, exploring all around Ireland and the UK, and meeting individuals from around the world, today was our final meeting, during which we reflected on our favorite parts of the summer school and discussed different ways that we can reconnect with QUB in the future. Dually noted.
(Photo credit goes out to the Irish Studies QUB Facebook page)
Today, after a few of us practically inhaled an entire pizza following our final reflection as a larger summer school, we made our way back to our dorms. Then, we suddenly realized that it would be our final walk up Malone Road, so we couldn’t help but take pictures of little things that we would miss, shown here. My nostalgia got the best of me today. But I am not emotional about it or anything.
From murals at sites where bombings took place during the Troubles, to prisons once full of human rights violations overtaken by museums, to peace walls that represent a history of violence and opposition, Belfast - and Northern Ireland in general - might be considered a hub for dark tourism.
But to what extent is it okay to indulge in emblems of a tragic past?
During our tour with Dom today, we visited memorials placed where people died during the Troubles. We saw Black Taxi Tour Guides handing pens to their attendants in order to sign the peace walls. We drove through working class neighborhoods and saw the beginnings of massive bonfires that would eventually be burned on the evening of July 11th (which will be examined in more detail in a later entry).
Afterward, I felt as though I got a visceral, behind-the-scenes look at what it is like to live in a divided society. Jacob mentioned that it helped him conceptualize how strange this divisiveness appears from an outsider with no stake in the conflict. I couldn’t agree more.
But the fact of the matter is: a significant percentage of families in Northern Ireland do have a stake in the conflict, which officially ended less than 20 years ago. I cannot help but wonder if the sites we saw today becoming tourist attractions inadvertently pours salt into the wound.
However, I also need to remember that we are in Belfast with the intention to learn about the history of the conflict and the complexity of peacebuilding. This is much more easily done by seeing it firsthand.
In that sense, there is a strong educational merit to what we saw today, despite the ambiguous ethics.
When we asked Dom what his opinion on the matter was, he seemed to agree that dark tourism motivated by a desire to learn is perfectly justifiable, mentioning that the same Black Taxi Tour Guides handing out pens to tourists were likely ex-paramilitary members (as many of them are).
These men have a strong desire to both acknowledge the darker parts of history and educate others about it to lessen the chance that they would one day reemerge.
Still, reconciling this moral dilemma - just as all other dilemmas we encounter in this life - is far, far from black and white.
By the way, QUB has been keeping a blog of the summer school as well! It features some very thoughtful posts from other international students about our field trips and experiences. Check it out!
