Wednesday June 6th, our 5th day in Northern Ireland was my first placement day at Stormont. Getting to Stormont in itself was quite a challenge and an adventure. The whole journey begins by taking a bus ride from our home in the countryside to the town of Downpatrick. Then, we board a bus to Belfast. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half to get to Belfast, so it isn't the easiest commute but its really scenic and the bus drivers have all been so accommodating and wonderful in helping us to get to where we need to go.
Once we arrived at the Europa bus station in Belfast, our good friend Basil McCrea picked us up in his car. It took us awhile to find Basil so by the time we found him we were running a bit late. Basil was in a real rush to get to a committee meeting about an hour out of Belfast, so he decided to bring us along and he rang Stormont to say he would drop us off after lunch.
The committee meeting was at an aerospace manufacturing facility. We toured the facility, and I am not a "science person" so it was a little bit dry for me. Afterwards though, Basil and his committee spoke with the head people at the facility about how the government might better prepare Northern Ireland's young people for entering the industry, and it was really interesting to sit in on that part of the conversation.
After the meeting we had intended to return to Stormont, but instead Basil took us on a really wonderful tour of part of the country. We had some really peaceful moments watching the tide roll into the bays, looking at all the hills and marshes.
We then drove through the town of Portaferry and decided to stop for lunch at the Portaferry Hotel. The inside of the hotel was so warm and cozy and the food was amazing. I ordered the seafood chowder, which was the freshest chowder I had ever had in my life! It was full of big bites of salmon and other seafood. My housemate had the mussels and Basil had some fried shrimp. The chef also sent fried fish skins topped with chips to our table, which was really good! We even had to take pictures of the food since it was so delicious.
After lunch, we took the car ferry over to the other side. It was freezing cold and pouring rain but the views were still beautiful.
One of the best parts of the day was the tour of West Belfast that we took with Basil. He showed us the peace walls and the Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods, where the homes flew either Union Jacks or the tricolor flag depending upon their loyalty. We were able to take pictures of lots of the murals up on the walls that are still there today. Being there was a sobering but fascinating experience.
Towards the end of the day, the rest of our group joined us in Belfast. Basil got us VIP tickets to the Olympic torch celebration and concert in Belfast. We were able to actually see the torch during its final day in Northern Ireland which was such a unique experience. After the ceremony came the best part. We went into City Hall for a special reception. At the reception, we met the Lord Mayor of Belfast (he's only 28 - so young). We also saw a great band called Sontas at the reception. The band included bagpipes and was one of the highlights of the night. We also met Mary Peters, who won a gold metal for Northern Ireland in 1972. I never thought I would meet a gold metal Olympian!
We had a fantastic day and a extraordinary night.
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