Arcadia Ireland

Wow- what a weekend!

Last weekend myself and Jodi from the Arcadia Dublin centre headed off to Belfast with 50+ students to explore what the city and surrounding areas had to offer. With a rich and painful history, and beautiful buildings and scenery, the weekend really didn’t disappoint.

There was great hustle and bustle in the Arcadia Dublin centre from about 10.30am on Friday morning. Some students had made the trek up form Galway, Cork and Limerick so had an early morning and knew they had quite a bit more traveling ahead of them. Spirits were high though and as more and more people arrived the centre seemed smaller and smaller! Students from all over Ireland arrived and people saw friends that they hadn’t had a chance to meet since orientation. We piled out of the centre, walked the short distance to the bus (getting a few odd looks on the way I must add), and started our northward trek.

A comfortable journey with our driver Mick consisted of sleeping, sweets and snapping. Arcadia Abroad had given Jodi and me the use of their Snapchat for the weekend and we took full advantage- make sure to follow it @ArcadiaAbraod to keep up with what other students are up to all over the world. We arrived at The Titanic Experience in Belfast early that afternoon and got straight down to some exploring. The exhibition is incredible. It’s not a museum but an experience and it certainly lives up to its name. From start to end you are transported to another time and with loads of interactive areas to keep you occupied you really get a sense of what the ship was like. It seems even more surreal than when you watch the movie as you realise how real it was- it wasn’t just Jack and Kate on the ship after all! There was information about the passengers, the way the ship was made, the movies that have been made about it (there’s loads!) and a documentary about ongoing research at the ships wreck. The coolest part- there was even a ‘ride’ through the shipyard to make sure you really felt part of the whole experience.

After the Titanic, we quickly checked into our accommodation at The Wellington Park Hotel and everyone was impressed by how lovely the place and the staff were. We had a quick turnaround and after a trip to the local shop to pick up some snacks for the following day we sat down to a delicious hot meal. Dinner came and went and with it our contact from Queens University Belfast, Sophie. A few tips of nice bars to have a drink in and a reminder that this was a new city so to be careful sent everyone on their way.  The majority of us went to a popular student spot called ‘The Botanic’ that was right beside the hotel. A pint or two were enjoyed and then the majority went to bed- it was a long day and Saturday’s early start was looming.

We all tucked into a big, early Irish breakfast on Saturday before we hopped on a bus up to The Giants Causeway. History expert Dr. Therese Cullen joined us for the journey and kept us alert with some tit bits of information about the local historical sites. We arrived at The Giants Causeway and, I have to admit, I did not expect it to be as amazing as it was. Stunning was the only word we could think of. It had rained a little on our way up, but someone was happy to see the Arcadia students because as we left the centre the sky was bright blue and there was even a fully formed rainbow! We didn’t find a pot of gold, but we did manage to get some pictures that look like something from National Geographic. You know the ‘postcard’ version of Ireland? That’s literally what we saw. Our tour was really interesting, combining some history, geology, and the crowd’s favourite- myths.  Due to the beautiful day, the cliff walk back to the centre was open so after our tour and plenty of photo opportunities we headed up quite high and got a stunning view out over the bay. Back on the bus, we headed home, but not without a few stops first.

Therese was on the bus again with us and we detoured on the way home to see a few famous sites. While Therese gave us the background information, we looked out on the beautiful scenery of the northern coast and caught a glimpse at sights such as Dunluce Castle and the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. Some great pictures were taken at The Dark Hedges which was regularly used in Game of Thrones. We had a few hard-core GOT fans that were pretty excited about this stop. We headed back to Belfast with loads to chat about and an afternoon to explore. Some students got off in the middle of Belfast city to discover what it had to offer where others came closer to the hotel to enjoy a lazy afternoon or to visit the beautiful Botanic Gardens and Queens’ University campus. Another delicious dinner took place and again, some nightlife was enjoyed later on. Ulster had won a rugby match that day so town was buzzing and seemingly the bar Filthy McNasty’s really lived up to its name!!!

Dr. Bill Rolston got the ball rolling on Sunday morning and his talk on the Northern Irish murals really got us ready for the city tour that we were taking later. Bill was hilarious and his talk was great fun and really informative. We packed onto our trusty bus and headed off around the city. Therese was with us again and gave us loads of information about Belfast and The Troubles in the North. We managed to see lots of the murals that Bill had spoken about and they were even more impressive up close.  Each student then got to sign the Peace Wall which separates Nationalist and Unionist areas. We went back to The Wellington for one last meal and then made our way back to Dublin. We said our goodbyes on O’Connell Street and everyone headed back to their Universities.

A really enjoyable weekend was had by all and it seemed like everyone hit a nice balance between craic, tourism and coming home with a lot more knowledge of Northern Ireland.