Until next time,
Jon
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Whoops. Too long again. Well I'm London Right Now
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
More from Saturday, and then Monday
[Disclaimer]
This post is from the blog that we have to submit entries to for the class I'm taking, so if it's unbearably boring, that's why. Basically I didn't want the 25 minutes of writing I did on it go to waste. So no hard feelings if you don't want to read it.
Saturday consisted of a trip to the Northern Coast. Our VISAGE group met up with Professor Troxel and her family at around 9:15am and we headed off for a local hostel where the bus tour would start from. After a short wait, we were on our way, with our very friendly tour guide driving and pointing out famous spots around Belfast as we drove out toward the coast. Our first stop was a castle that had been used up until the 1940s. We had a relatively short stop here, and after about ten minutes we were on our way up the coast again. Our second stop was a short break near a small pier, where most of the group got off the bus and grabbed some Maud’s ice cream (reportedly the best in Northern Ireland—which I can believe because it’s everywhere). We had a nice walk around the pier, before getting back onto the bus. As we continued up the coast, our tour guide told us about the history of Giant’s Causeway. According to scientists, there was a magma flow that created the unique looking rocks that jut up out of the ocean at different heights. However, if you ask the locals in the area, they’ll tell you that the giant, Finn MacCool built it in his attempt to get over to a giant from Scotland. The entire tale is here: http://www.caminodesantiago.me.uk/ie/the-giants-causeway-in-northern-ireland/. Regardless of how the causeway was built, it’s pretty stunning. Some have called it the “eighth wonder of the world,” but even more incredible than the formation of the rocks (in my opinion) were the magnificence of the cliffs behind, and the sheer beauty of the valley that we were in. Following our stay at Giant’s Causeway, we headed off for the next two (and last) stops on the tour—the oldest distillery in Northern Ireland, and carrick-a-rede rope bridge. The rope bridge spanned about 40m from some cliffs on the coast to large jut of rock that had grass on it. The bridge was about 30m up from the ocean, and until Northern Ireland’s National Trust took over it, had been used as a bridge for sheep farmers to cross when their flocks were grazing on the grass on the island. Some of the group walked across it and spent some time on the island, while the rest stayed on the other side relaxing in the spongy grass. Finally, as the bus pulled back into Belfast, at around seven, most everyone was exhausted from our full, yet fun day.
Monday morning saw our VISAGE group at the Belfast center for the non-profit organization, “Volunteer Now.” We started right off with a trip out of the city to the coast, were we got to the Silent Valley Mountain Park. We started off the day by collecting garbage on the beach that had washed onto the shore from the large fishing trade in that part of the ocean. Armed with garbage picker-uppers and plastic trash bags we got more than 20 bags of garbage worth of mess off of the beach, creating a better environment for the natural wildlife that roam the shores. Following a short lunch, we continued our work with the Park by helping cut down a plethora of pine trees that had taken over a hillside near the reservoir. The pine trees were not naturally occurring in the area, but had been planted many years back, and now needed to be cleared, to allow the naturally occurring plants to grow in their natural habitat. Our guide explained to us that Northern Ireland has the least amount of natural forest coverage in all of Europe, with only 6% of the land covered by trees, and their work at the Park was in part, trying to repopulate the area with indigenous trees.
This was interesting to me, because in the same way that the pine trees were initially planted (with good intention, one would assume) but then took over an area they were not meant for, lots of work with sustainability deals with righting past wrongs. It seems as though, when it comes to the environment, a lot of “quick fixes” are tried, which ultimately hurt an area or environment in the long term. This is what we physically experienced, as we cut down such “quick fixes” in the form of pine trees, to make room for the proper inhabitants of the area—whether it be naturally occurring ferns, or oak trees. Ultimately, while it may take a little bit longer in the short term to look forward a couple of years, it can save a great deal of time in the long term—whether that is planting trees, or designing products that run on renewable energy as opposed to crude oil.
This post is from the blog that we have to submit entries to for the class I'm taking, so if it's unbearably boring, that's why. Basically I didn't want the 25 minutes of writing I did on it go to waste. So no hard feelings if you don't want to read it.
Saturday consisted of a trip to the Northern Coast. Our VISAGE group met up with Professor Troxel and her family at around 9:15am and we headed off for a local hostel where the bus tour would start from. After a short wait, we were on our way, with our very friendly tour guide driving and pointing out famous spots around Belfast as we drove out toward the coast. Our first stop was a castle that had been used up until the 1940s. We had a relatively short stop here, and after about ten minutes we were on our way up the coast again. Our second stop was a short break near a small pier, where most of the group got off the bus and grabbed some Maud’s ice cream (reportedly the best in Northern Ireland—which I can believe because it’s everywhere). We had a nice walk around the pier, before getting back onto the bus. As we continued up the coast, our tour guide told us about the history of Giant’s Causeway. According to scientists, there was a magma flow that created the unique looking rocks that jut up out of the ocean at different heights. However, if you ask the locals in the area, they’ll tell you that the giant, Finn MacCool built it in his attempt to get over to a giant from Scotland. The entire tale is here: http://www.caminodesantiago.me.uk/ie/the-giants-causeway-in-northern-ireland/. Regardless of how the causeway was built, it’s pretty stunning. Some have called it the “eighth wonder of the world,” but even more incredible than the formation of the rocks (in my opinion) were the magnificence of the cliffs behind, and the sheer beauty of the valley that we were in. Following our stay at Giant’s Causeway, we headed off for the next two (and last) stops on the tour—the oldest distillery in Northern Ireland, and carrick-a-rede rope bridge. The rope bridge spanned about 40m from some cliffs on the coast to large jut of rock that had grass on it. The bridge was about 30m up from the ocean, and until Northern Ireland’s National Trust took over it, had been used as a bridge for sheep farmers to cross when their flocks were grazing on the grass on the island. Some of the group walked across it and spent some time on the island, while the rest stayed on the other side relaxing in the spongy grass. Finally, as the bus pulled back into Belfast, at around seven, most everyone was exhausted from our full, yet fun day.
Monday morning saw our VISAGE group at the Belfast center for the non-profit organization, “Volunteer Now.” We started right off with a trip out of the city to the coast, were we got to the Silent Valley Mountain Park. We started off the day by collecting garbage on the beach that had washed onto the shore from the large fishing trade in that part of the ocean. Armed with garbage picker-uppers and plastic trash bags we got more than 20 bags of garbage worth of mess off of the beach, creating a better environment for the natural wildlife that roam the shores. Following a short lunch, we continued our work with the Park by helping cut down a plethora of pine trees that had taken over a hillside near the reservoir. The pine trees were not naturally occurring in the area, but had been planted many years back, and now needed to be cleared, to allow the naturally occurring plants to grow in their natural habitat. Our guide explained to us that Northern Ireland has the least amount of natural forest coverage in all of Europe, with only 6% of the land covered by trees, and their work at the Park was in part, trying to repopulate the area with indigenous trees.
This was interesting to me, because in the same way that the pine trees were initially planted (with good intention, one would assume) but then took over an area they were not meant for, lots of work with sustainability deals with righting past wrongs. It seems as though, when it comes to the environment, a lot of “quick fixes” are tried, which ultimately hurt an area or environment in the long term. This is what we physically experienced, as we cut down such “quick fixes” in the form of pine trees, to make room for the proper inhabitants of the area—whether it be naturally occurring ferns, or oak trees. Ultimately, while it may take a little bit longer in the short term to look forward a couple of years, it can save a great deal of time in the long term—whether that is planting trees, or designing products that run on renewable energy as opposed to crude oil.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Whoops. I guess it's been a while
I'm really sorry about the length of time between posts. I'd say that it won't happen again, but in all honesty, it probably will.
Anyway, Belfast is a great city. We've been doing more walking here, than I have in most of my life for the period of about a week I'd say. The dorms that we're staying in (Elms Village, I'll try to put in a picture below) are an 18 minute walk from the Student Union building where we go for breakfast on the weekdays, and were about 20 minutes from where we had class for the first two days, and about 15 from where we had class on Friday. We've also walked downtown (probably 30 minutes or so) a few times, so it's been a lot of exercise. That can never be a bad thing though. The first two days of class were a history of Northern Ireland. We were lectured to by a really cool professor here named Dominic, who basically went over the entire history of Northern Ireland, including the Troubles, and everything up to the present day. We talked mainly about the religious tension between the Catholics and the Protestants (which keeping straight who's who can be confusing). After we learned about the basics of the strife and conflict (I'm sure it can all be found on Wikipedia) we took a bus tour of the city's "peace walls" and murals. It was fascinating to see entirely Protestant neighborhoods and Catholic neighborhoods divided by these massive 30' walls. And sometimes those weren't/aren't high enough to keep things being thrown from one side to the other. A short story to demonstrate this point: at one point they were building a bridge over the highway, from a main Catholic part to a mainly Protestant part and they accidentally made the bridge too high, to the point where it was a spot of elevation that made it easier to throw bottles and whatnot over the "peace wall," which meant they had to move it. It's really incredible. While the major conflict hasn't been going on for about 10 years, it's still incredibly obvious the effects that it's had on the area. Even one of our taxi drivers, when we asked him if he watched Gaelic football, responded, "No, that's a Roman Catholic sport." Well I had no idea.
Our class on Friday was more getting into what we'll be talking about for the rest of the weeks we're here. We had a city planner (shout out, Dad) talk to us about urban planning in Belfast. An interesting thing about it is that here in Europe it's much more social/welfare focused, while the US is more legal/zoning focused. I won't bore (Jumbo) you with the details, but one cool thing we did learn was that all the land in the UK is property of the crown, so no one actually owns any land. They just have a lease for 999 years. Crazy!
After that on Friday morning, in the afternoon we went to the "cave hills" and climbed them. We only saw one cave, but the view was amazing from the top, and really gave you a sense of accomplishment (as well as being able to see Scotland). I've put pictures of that below as well.
Today we went for an all-day bus tour of the Northern Coast where we saw a few castles, some ridiculously amazing views, and Giant's Causeway (which some call the eighth wonder of the world--I'm not one of them). It was really cool, but the bus ride was pretty long, and by the time we got back everyone was pretty bushed.
I'll try to write more about that tomorrow, so until then, here are some pictures! They should be pretty self explanatory, but if they need explanation, just let me know in the comments.
Talk to you all in a wee bit,
Jon
Anyway, Belfast is a great city. We've been doing more walking here, than I have in most of my life for the period of about a week I'd say. The dorms that we're staying in (Elms Village, I'll try to put in a picture below) are an 18 minute walk from the Student Union building where we go for breakfast on the weekdays, and were about 20 minutes from where we had class for the first two days, and about 15 from where we had class on Friday. We've also walked downtown (probably 30 minutes or so) a few times, so it's been a lot of exercise. That can never be a bad thing though. The first two days of class were a history of Northern Ireland. We were lectured to by a really cool professor here named Dominic, who basically went over the entire history of Northern Ireland, including the Troubles, and everything up to the present day. We talked mainly about the religious tension between the Catholics and the Protestants (which keeping straight who's who can be confusing). After we learned about the basics of the strife and conflict (I'm sure it can all be found on Wikipedia) we took a bus tour of the city's "peace walls" and murals. It was fascinating to see entirely Protestant neighborhoods and Catholic neighborhoods divided by these massive 30' walls. And sometimes those weren't/aren't high enough to keep things being thrown from one side to the other. A short story to demonstrate this point: at one point they were building a bridge over the highway, from a main Catholic part to a mainly Protestant part and they accidentally made the bridge too high, to the point where it was a spot of elevation that made it easier to throw bottles and whatnot over the "peace wall," which meant they had to move it. It's really incredible. While the major conflict hasn't been going on for about 10 years, it's still incredibly obvious the effects that it's had on the area. Even one of our taxi drivers, when we asked him if he watched Gaelic football, responded, "No, that's a Roman Catholic sport." Well I had no idea.
Our class on Friday was more getting into what we'll be talking about for the rest of the weeks we're here. We had a city planner (shout out, Dad) talk to us about urban planning in Belfast. An interesting thing about it is that here in Europe it's much more social/welfare focused, while the US is more legal/zoning focused. I won't bore (Jumbo) you with the details, but one cool thing we did learn was that all the land in the UK is property of the crown, so no one actually owns any land. They just have a lease for 999 years. Crazy!
After that on Friday morning, in the afternoon we went to the "cave hills" and climbed them. We only saw one cave, but the view was amazing from the top, and really gave you a sense of accomplishment (as well as being able to see Scotland). I've put pictures of that below as well.
Today we went for an all-day bus tour of the Northern Coast where we saw a few castles, some ridiculously amazing views, and Giant's Causeway (which some call the eighth wonder of the world--I'm not one of them). It was really cool, but the bus ride was pretty long, and by the time we got back everyone was pretty bushed.
I'll try to write more about that tomorrow, so until then, here are some pictures! They should be pretty self explanatory, but if they need explanation, just let me know in the comments.
Talk to you all in a wee bit,
Jon
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
In and Settled
I got into the Belfast airport at 4:45pm last night/afternoon after an uneventful flight from Heathrow that I don't remember on the account that I passed out as soon as I got onto the plane. My flight from Chicago to Heathrow was good (The Green Hornet was a really funny movie), except I didn't sleep much, so by the time I was in Heathrow I was about to pass out. Anyway, I got a taxi through the lush countryside, with an awesome taxi driver who would say things like "oohh we've had a wee bit 'o shores today" (translation: we've had some rain showers today). I got to Queens University and thankfully they let me check into my room (which has it's own shower, AND towel service which I found out this morning when I was in said shower and a female voice was asking me through the door if I wanted to change them). The room is pretty spacious, and I spent last night getting my stuff packed away and strewn across the room. After that I decided to take a walk around the area, and into the city a bit more. I walked down to the Student Union building and saw the main building of Queens University (which was drop dead gorgeous, so naturally I had left my camera in the room). I spent most of my time walking down Malone street, glancing at kebab places (there were two about two blocks from each other) and finally settled on a "Spuds" restaurant where I got a cheeseburger to take back to the room. I passed out pretty early, but got up well rested and so far, having conquered jet lag.
Everyone else (except for Tony, we're not sure where he is) got in today at around 10am. I got my phone (# 07765324088) and I think we're going to Tesco to get groceries later today, and probably walk around the city a bit more. Our first day of classes start tomorrow, which I almost forgot about, but I guess are necessary.
So far, it looks like it's going to be a great time!
And I'll try to post pictures tonight,
Jon
Everyone else (except for Tony, we're not sure where he is) got in today at around 10am. I got my phone (# 07765324088) and I think we're going to Tesco to get groceries later today, and probably walk around the city a bit more. Our first day of classes start tomorrow, which I almost forgot about, but I guess are necessary.
So far, it looks like it's going to be a great time!
And I'll try to post pictures tonight,
Jon
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Excitement (sort of) in the Airport
Well my travels have just started. I'm in the Peoria Airport (which has been redesigned very nicely) using the wifi here. Firstly, my flight got delayed by two hours or so, which meant I was going to miss my connecting flight from Chicago to Newark. (Initially Alex Yurevich had agreed to let me stay at his house for the long layover I was going to have at Newark--thanks Alex) However, now that I was going to miss that Chicago-->Newark flight, after about 45 minutes, the lady at the United Counter in Peoria (thanks again, Samantha Howard!) booked me Peoria-->Chicago-->London (Heathrow)-->Belfast. So this way I'll be getting into Belfast about 14-15 hours earlier than I had planned! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the extra time...
Anyway, if all goes according to plan, I'll be getting into Belfast on the afternoon of the 30th, local time. That would be late morning for those of you in Central time. The time difference is 6 hours ahead of Central, for anyone contemplating giving me a call at night, hopefully you can figure out the time difference.
Lastly, I'm not sure if this will be the final resting place of my blog--apparently for part of the course we're going to be keeping a blog associated with WordPress so if I have to change the URL of that, I'll make sure to post a link on this one to that one. If not, I just wasted a paragraph.
Finally, thanks again to Grandpa and Grandma for keeping me these past two weeks, and feel free to forward the bill to my parents.
When I write next, I'll hopefully be settled into my new dorm room at Queens University!
Jon
Anyway, if all goes according to plan, I'll be getting into Belfast on the afternoon of the 30th, local time. That would be late morning for those of you in Central time. The time difference is 6 hours ahead of Central, for anyone contemplating giving me a call at night, hopefully you can figure out the time difference.
Lastly, I'm not sure if this will be the final resting place of my blog--apparently for part of the course we're going to be keeping a blog associated with WordPress so if I have to change the URL of that, I'll make sure to post a link on this one to that one. If not, I just wasted a paragraph.
Finally, thanks again to Grandpa and Grandma for keeping me these past two weeks, and feel free to forward the bill to my parents.
When I write next, I'll hopefully be settled into my new dorm room at Queens University!
Jon
Monday, May 9, 2011
A New Blog for Northern Ireland
I have decided to revisit my blog (you may notice that the layout has changed and there aren't any of the old posts up) for my trip to Northern Ireland in June with VISAGE-a Vanderbilt program.
The blog should mainly consist of photos of my time while I'm there and whatever else I decide to toss in.
Hope you all enjoy it,
Jon
The blog should mainly consist of photos of my time while I'm there and whatever else I decide to toss in.
Hope you all enjoy it,
Jon
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)