Just a bump in the road

After a whirlwind 5 day tour of the surrounding areas of Galway, the city of Derry, the Giants Causeway, and the carrick-a-rede rope bridge I am back in the Gleann.
We spent our first day in Galway going to the Joe Heaney Sean-nos singing and dancing festival. There were three sessions that we attended throughout the day, the first was a Sean-nos singing workshop which was interesting and very confusing at the same time. Because we were in the Connemara Gaeltacht the leaders were speaking very fast and fluent Irish...something I hadn't heard yet. In the afternoon the festival continued at a local pub where members of the community sang solo's, some in Irish and some in Bearla (English). It was a really great event and almost everyone had an amazing time listening to the singing. At night we got to listen to a concert which opened with a group of about 5 boys who played traditional Irish instruments amazingly well even though they were between the ages of 10-13. Listening to these boys play made me think back to my elementary school days of band concerts when I played the..clarinet. All I remember from my own concerts are squeks similiar to those of a dying duck. The rest of the concert consisted of community members playing instruments, singing, and dancing all in traditional Irish style.
Our last day in Galway was spent traveling throuout County Clare to see a dolmen, Brigid's Well and the Cliffs of Moher. The next morning we left for the City of Derry.
Derry which is located in County Derry in Northern Ireland was a very violent place during the troubles. During one of our last stops in the Republic I asked our bus driving if the border was very noticable and he said that during the troubles soldiers were always seen but now the only difference is they have better tar. I thoguht he was joking! Sure enough when he motioned to me that we were crossing over I looked ahead and the tar was even, darker and smoother. We went over a bump in the road as the tar changed and he said "That's it" and then we were in the North. I expected to be in a state of shock as we pulled in through the city of Derry because I had heard of the murals but right when we crossed into Northern Ireland the energy changed dramatically. Now I am not someone who claims to be in tune with anything but I looked around the bus and everyone was silently looking out the window too. About 20 minutes later when we arrived into the city everyone was tense, we passes the murals depicting the troubles, the death and pain that Irish Catholics experienced. We past the "You are now entering FREE DERRY" sign and when we got to our hostel no one hurriedly jumped off the bus, everyone silently piled out and looked around. Our hostel was in the Bogside, an area that was hit hard with violence between Catholics and soldiers. The first thing we did in Derry was take a walking tour with a guide from the Free Derry museum. He took us through the bogside, up to the walls where the soldiers used to stand and shoot at the Republicans (Catholics) and guard the Protestant neighborhoods. Standing on the wall I realized that what I had heard about the situation still being tense was most likely true, the area is still segregated. The Protestant neighborhood is fenced off from the Catholic Bogside and the unwelcoming barbed wire can't be helping the situation. After the tour I was in a somber state so I walked around the area with a few friends for a while to get a feel for the city. We ended up at a restaurant/bar called the Ice Wharf...we walked in and a guy sitting with some friends threw up everywhere...it kind of set the tone for the place. The Menu listed all the beef as 100% British Beef and our receipt listed the location as Londonderry. When we walked outside a fight was breaking out between two drunk idiots and later another fight started between two men yelling right-o at eachother. That night we went to a pub called Bound for Boston and caught a show for a while before walking through the dark streets of Derry to the hostel. We all agreed that it was a creepy place to walk through, but at least now it is safe to walk through ... at least for outsiders (as our guide put it). Yesterday was our last day in the North and we spent it going to the Giant't Causeway and the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge in Co. Antrim. It was really fun but I would of loved to spend more time in Derry seeing more the Protestant neighborhoods and talking to locals.
It was really weird to be in a different country using a different currency but still be in Ireland. It is sad that such a small country has to have two completely different systems but luckily things politically involving Britain are starting to improve. While we were in Derry powersharing started between Northern Ireland and England. Hopefully one day not too far away there will be a united Ireland and Britains control over the North will cease to exist. This is already starting in Scotland as well, last week the Scottish Nationalist Party won the election there and started a 5 year plan for independence! It is possible, and a lot of Irish are looking at Scotland to see if they are succesful.