When Leslie and I decided to spend two weeks vacationing in southern Africa we knew we wanted to split our time between Botswana and at least one other country. As college students, one of the deciding factors for us when we travel is cost and thus, when we figured out that we could fly to Johannesburg, South Africa for about $500 cheaper than pretty much any other country, our itinerary was decided for us.
The focus of this semester has been the Northern Ireland conflict which, if you didn’t know, was (correct tense is debatable) a period of strife between Nationalists and Unionists during the 20th century. There are many differences between the two groups, but the foremost difference during the conflict was in regard to Home Rule (to what extent should Ireland/Northern Ireland should be a sovereign nation or remain under the control of Britain).
One week ago today, I was in the car with the program leader on the way to Corrymeela (a Christian reconciliation center in northern Northern Ireland) after just landing in Belfast. It was a hell of a trip involving 2 cancelled flights, 1 last second $110 taxi ride from Laguardia to Newark, 5 days of boredom, and 1 giant snow storm called Hercules, but I finally made it!
Tomorrow morning I will be boarding a plane to Northern Ireland where I will be spending the entire semester through an Earlham study abroad program. As the semester progresses, I will be updating my blog with pictures, travel logs, pub reviews, and anecdotes.
After our first week in Quito, Leslie and I headed off to the beach. The city had been great and the party scene unlike anything I had seen in the United States, but it was time for a change in scenery.