For the past couple days, we have been learning about the great history of Northern Ireland. While on a black cab tour we visited dozens of murals painted in memory of those who were lost during the IRA battles. Many murals were painted in a way to show peace in the country, and recognizing those people who were involved in the hunger strikes. What truly amazed me is that these wars, and tragedies did not happen 500 years ago, but happened within the past twenty to thirty years. Our group was told once anybody in Northern Ireland hears our accent (meaning American), they automatically believe we are in favor of the IRA.
As for the flag, the green stands for the Irish Catholics, the orange for the Protestants, and the white in the middle symbolizing peace for the country. The amount of information I have learned over the past few days has astounded me. Not only does Northern Ireland have beautiful landscapes, castles, and friendly people but they are also very proud in the accomplishments they have achieved.
Now, let me talk about the cultural norms in Northern Ireland. First, drinking is looked at as a past time like football is in America. For the major days of drinking/parties on campus tend to be Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Most students will go home on the weekends, and do their studying then. The drinking age is 18, so it is extremely weird to see these young adults in the bar who don’t even look older than 16.
Second, their education system is completely different than ours in America. The biggest difference is that students who are sixteen years old will decide on their major and pursue specific courses from that point forward. After sixteen years old the students will be taking only classes that are geared towards their major, no generals. Over here in Northern Ireland they do not have homework. Their marks (grades) consist of only one essay, and the final exam. I believe this might be a challenge for me, considering I am used to doing homework every other day, and having deadlines. For as long as I can remember every college student in America has had to buy their books for classes. Which is not the case over here, students use the library to get their books.
Here are just a few slang words that are used frequently here:
Module - Class
Mark - Grade
Crack - Fun
Uni - College
Primary - High School
As for now I have my first day of Queen’s University orientation tomorrow, and I am quite excited. One issue I am worried about is that we must go to each different department on campus to select our modules for the semester. We have two weeks to try different modules, basically shop around until we find what we like.
Until next time!
