Orientation Week

        I also feel at home with the seagulls. They’re everywhere, in the streets and perching on lamps and buildings. They’re confusing the students from inland cities, but they remind me of the ones that flock to the Williamsburg parking lots back home. I think Belfast has more in common with Tidewater cities than it does with Asheville.

There are also flocks of schoolchildren in uniforms.

          The strangest thing about the city streets, though, is the way people park. In the States, you would see people in a narrow street simply parking in the middle of it. But in Europe, they’re more... polite? Accommodating? They park halfway in the street, so as to keep it clear - and halfway on the sidewalk. When pedestrians walk around the city and there are cars driving down the street, they have to skirt tilted parked cars, like these:

        The First Day

On our first full day, we were introduced to life and school at Queen’s, and enrolled in classes. We’re encouraged to attend both the tutorials and lectures – as one Professor Niall Majury was so kind to inform us:

“Research suggests that students who do not attend lectures do badly.”

I am enrolled in three modules for 60 CATS points, which is equivalent to four courses for 16 credits. They are:

Module Title: Irish Studies 11: The Modern History, Politics, Sociology and Anthropology of Northern Ireland

Course Contents :This level 1 module will use a variety of historical, political, sociological and anthropological perspectives to look at key issues relating to Northern Ireland. The course will provide an overview of the history and politics of the state of Northern Ireland. It will use anthropological understandings of ethnicity and nationalism to examine how Unionism and Irish Nationalism developed. It will look in detail at the various political solutions which have been applied to ‘the Province’, with a particular focus on the Peace Process. It will examine the realities and legacies of the conflict since the signing of the 1998 Agreement. It will explore the development of cultural and political 'traditions' examining, in particular, change and continuity in Irish society.

Module Title: Politics, Law and Power: From Duties to Rights

Course Contents :This module is concerned with politics in different kinds of societies throughout the world. It asks what 'politics' itself is, how it is related to other aspects of social life and to what extent it can be separated from them. With particular reference to non-Western societies, it investigates how political relations are maintained and reproduced in the absence of Western-type institutions. In particular, it addresses questions of power and subordination, authority and the legitimating use of (invented) traditions, and resistance, especially in relation to gender and colonial or postcolonial conditions. International debates about human rights concludes this module.

Module Title: The Irish Revolution, 1917-1921

Course Contents :The module will explore revolutionary politics in Ireland between 1916 and 1921. Key themes will include the rise of Sinn Fein following the Easter Rising, the establishment of Dail Eireann, the Irish Volunteers' military campaign and the British government's response to these political and military challenges. The course will make use of a wide range of local and thematic studies to investigate controversial questions relating to the Irish revolution: what factors motivated republicans, how important was sectarianism in revolutionary violence, why did some areas of the country see little fighting and how important a factor was the north?

The School of History and Anthropology is one of the academic schools in University Square, a row of very thin and tall houses in a compact line, past the School of Music. It’s beside the film theatre, and the seven of us who had to register there climbed up several narrow flights of stairs to wait in the hall for the one professor who had as all. When I sat in one of the chairs, the arm popped off – it’d been balanced in place. We agreed that this was a good indication, if we hadn’t know already that this was the history building, where we were, because historians don’t mind when things are old and falling apart.

I finished my registration with everyone else in the Peter Froggatt Centre. The information we had to provide was fairly straightforward, apart from one question I had trouble with: whether or not we’d like our contact information provided to the appropriate QUB chaplaincy. I said, sure. Then I looked down the dropdown list...

...!?

At Wilson, our chaplain and chapel are, at least, nominally Presbyterian. There is one small Christian student group. Here, most everyone and everything is Christian - but split over and over into who knows how many sects. There were FOUR different options for “Presbyterian.” This isn't as surprising when you walk around the city - in the Protestant areas of the city, there's a Presbyterian church every other block. But it's still a very different arrangement than in the States (where the church every other block would be Baptist).

After that, the tour. I won’t write at length about Queen’s University and its buildings and statistics – that’s what the website will tell you. However, I can provide some website links and some of my so-far photos.

Queen's University Belfast: http://www.qub.ac.uk/

Warren Wilson College: http://www.warren-wilson.edu/external_index.php

Some pictures from around the city, mostly buildings (the gardens aren't too impressive this time of year):



7 College Gardens - my front door. My room is on the 1st floor (that is, the second) and faces the back.



 Some back views of Fitzroy Presbyterian Church. Like I said, there are churches like this one - big, beautiful stone buildings - every other block.


The corner building is the School of Music.




Just in case you forget you're in the UK.





A view of some houses... not the front car parked up on the curb.




Looking up at the right-hand archway at the Union Theological College of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland.



And, because this is Belfast, all this lovely Victorian stone-and-brick architecture is set with iron bars or topped with barbed wire...



The Flight, And My First Night in Belfast

          It took three separate flights to get from VA to NI. Norfolk to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to London, and London to Belfast. Including shuttle time, and the front end of Orientation Week at QUB, and I didn’t sleep for thirty hours.

I’m more coherent now. I hope.

          Norfolk-Philadelphia

Norfolk International was nice and calm. They have a new system where a traveller can scan their passport and have their own passes printed. Still, the most distinctive thing about the place is the mermaid-patterned carpet, in case you forget which city you’re in.

          I spent most of the flight - the first, short one - looking down out the window. We were flying by night over land, so I had a perfect view of the lights underneath us. Norfolk is brilliant: like someone threw down handfuls of bright gold glass beads and swirled them. It was darker after that. But there were lights like fluorescent nervous systems, and like structures of glowing Legos or the insides of alien electronics, and like minnows and eels.

          Philadelphia-London Heathrow

          The airport at Philadelphia is so large that you have to take a shuttle to get to different gates. Airports make me nervous. On the shuttle, I kept myself focused by describing, in knitting terms, the sweater of the woman standing next to me.*

          The transatlantic airplane was much bigger, of course, than the one from Norfolk. I was next to a businesswoman who watched the romantic comedy, drank white wine, and busily reviewed paperwork in the morning.

          I kind of hate romantic comedies, so I kept my cd player running through that one as we were flying over the Atlantic. It was some story about skinny, disgustingly rich people, a scruffy guy, a stylish woman, and a baby, and it looked awful. But after that, they put on a movie called “Nim’s Island,” which was fun – firstly, one of the characters is a writer whose mc follows her around and talks to her, and secondly, there is a scene where Nim flings lizards at unsuspecting tourists which, coming from a tourist town, I appreciated.

          But afterwards I couldn’t sleep.

          Have you ever flown into a sunrise? Most people throw the phrase “Oh my God” around like litter, but this is one of those times where it’s truly the only thing I could think. I don’t think I’ve ever been consciously aware that the Earth is round, but I saw the light roll in a way you wouldn’t see it do from the ground. It was glorious. The clouds separated into different layers, some wispy, some dark and flat, and some in huge fields, thick and yellow and flubby, exactly like badly-washed wool roving. Everything went pale violet and dark yellow, until we were flying through full daylight.

          Then the steward came by doling out pastries and caffiene. The businesswoman woke up and gulped down coffee, and I had tea with cream and sugar. I was extremely excited, because we were landing in London, at the Heathrow airport. I was grinning like an idiot and bouncing up and down, and I hope the airline employees appreciated someone so obviously happy to be there, because anyone else would’ve been embarrassed to be near me.

          I changed my money to British pounds in the airport: $100 made about £65. British money is prettier than USD. There’s such a variety of coins, in different metals, shapes, and sizes, and the banknotes are different colours. I bought a plug adapter, an egg-and-cress sandwich, and a Mars Bar. That was my exciting time in London! I met Maureen Vaughan, the other student from Wilson, in the airport right before her flight left. We were on our way, finally, to Belfast.

          Heathrow-Belfast City

The last flight was quick and mostly over water. Ireland is really odd from above – so much farmland, but, unlike the States, it’s spread over all these wobbly little hills. In Belfast, we were met at the airport by representatives from Queen’s and driven to Elms Village with our luggage.

          I don’t live in Elms Village, where most of the students live. That’s okay. It has internet access and is where all the student community activity takes place, but I’m lazy, so I chose to live in College Gardens. College Gardens is away from Elms, but right next to all the academic buildings, shops, etc.

          Apparently, it’s normal in Europe to get single rooms! It’s huge, too. The textured-glass window is strange – it takes up half the wall, but you can’t see through it. But other than that, it’s great.

          Mooses

          The night we arrived, we – international students – were invited to a free welcome dinner at a local church. It was hosted by Friends International, and it was chilli, rice and ice cream. I sat with two native alumni, a Nigerian alumnus, and two other study abroad students – from Sweden. The conversation was confusing, but interesting. I told everyone all about Virginia, because I was tired and couldn’t stop talking. Finally though I asked Emily, the Swedish girl, about Sweden. She said it was cold, and IKEA came from there, and she couldn’t think of anything else to say. I asked her what kind of animals lived there.

          “Mooses,” she said, without hesitation.

          “Mooses?” we said.

          “Yes, mooses, and we have signs that say ‘Caution: Moose,’ and the Germans come and they stop their cars in the road, and take the signs.”

          “Why?”

          “I don’t know. Those Germans.”

          And that was that. I once heard this phenomenon referenced in a comic on deviantART. Apparently it happens frequently. I’ve now heard it confirmed in person by an actual Swede. Cool.

        I also learned that Belfast is cool and damp, but not normally snowy, so when it does get very cold and snow they’re ill-equipped to deal with it and the city stops working. This made me feel right at home.

         
        Here are a few airplane pictures:

    
* Off-white, worked flat in reverse stockinette and seamed, with k2p2 ribbed waistband, cuffs, and cowl neck, relaxed fit. Probably a cotton blend. And it actually looked good on her.

A Few Pictures From Home

This is Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC, where I go to school, for anyone who hasn't been there: the Big White Barn, the science building - Morse-Witherspoon - and a view of the mountains.

Soon, I'll post some pictures of Queen's - it'll be a big change.

Last Night At Home

It’s 6:38, Monday night. This time tomorrow I’ll be boarding the first of three airplanes on my way to Belfast. I’m not afraid of flying, not at all: but I’m terrified of airports. There are a lot of numbers on my e-ticket, and there are a lot of things you need to do to fly, and a plane with a number, at a time, which you somehow need to find in a huge, loud, uncomfortable building full of loud, uncomfortable people.

At least I’m packed. According to the all-knowing internet, I am allowed less than 50 lb. of checked baggage and 40 lb. carry-on. This is about the weight I’d have if I filled my backpack with my family’s cats, and put my dictionaries and baby sister in my suitcase. I’m fairly certain I’m under that.

My cousin took my sister, her boyfriend, and me out to lunch at La Tolteca, a Mexican restaurant that has been my favourite place to eat quesadillas for as long as I remember. This makes up for dinner, which we’re eating at home. For some reason we’re having my least favourite meal... Maybe to remind me how nice it will be to cook for myself for the next six months?

What’s the British equivalent of Top Ramen?

Do they have pancake houses? I realized recently that, through all the TV I’m seen, I’ve never seen anything like an ugly, obnoxiously brightly-coloured building called “Astronomical House of Pancakes and Waffles,” or “Colonial Pancake House and Pizzeria” or whatever* in the background. Is this an American thing, then? Is this a southern thing? In Williamsburg, there are whole streets lined with cheap hotels and pancake houses.

Anyway... I’ve got a knitting project ready to go for the plane ride. It's the "Tailored Scallops Cardigan," a free lace pattern from Interweave Press. I found it on Ravelry. Ravelry is an excellent website resource for knitting and crochet patterns, and I'd encourage anyone who does either to give it a look. I hope I sit next to someone small who I won’t smack with my needles. I don’t, however, have a book to read. I have three packed in my suitcase:

1.    The Hobbit

2.    The Bible

3.    Good Omens

And then I ran out of books I didn’t mind reading over and over again. Should I take one out, or bring another in my carry-on, one I haven’t read in a while that’s been shoved to the back of the bookshelf? This is good. This gives me something to worry about that’s not airports.

First Post

So, this is the first time I've attempted blogging. But it doesn't look too difficult. This will be my online journal, for my friends and family to read, for my time studying abroad at Queen's University in Belfast, NI. I'm really a student at Warren Wilson College, in Asheville, NC, a tiny, environment-minded college in the mountains. This... this will be an adventure.

The blog title is the name of an Enya keyboard piece. I couldn't think of one myself, and I couldn't find any Irish song titles that didn't sound emo (according to the cultural assessment tool that is my little sister), or weren't in Irish (and unpronounceable by the people who'll be reading this).

You can't go wrong with Enya. You might fall asleep. But college students are the most sleep-deprived segment of the population, so it's all right, we need it.