Northern Ireland?

Something I realize when I talk to other people about my study abroad experience is that a lot of people don’t know much at all about Northern Ireland. I can’t really blame them. I didn’t either before I was interested in going there for a semester.

Northern Ireland is a part of Ireland, the island, but it is a separate country from the southern part of the island, which is called the Republic of Ireland. The Republic of Ireland is its own independent country, while Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom. When I came into the country, I was entering through U.K, not Irish customs, which is why my study abroad program told people who weren't flying into Belfast (Northern Ireland's capital) that they should fly into London instead of Dublin (the Republic of Ireland's capital).

Peace Wall in Belfast

Identity is a very tricky issue in Northern Ireland. Are people in Northern Ireland British, or are they Irish? Are they simply Northern Irish? The choice of identification is usually indicative of political leanings. A Northern Irish person who considers themselves British might be a unionist, who is supportive of Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom, while a Northern Irish person who calls themselves Irish might be a nationalist, someone who wants Ireland to all be its own country. The contention between these different political factions, which often play out along religious lines (Protestants more often being unionists and Catholics more often being nationalists), has a violent history, in a time called the Troubles. This violence mostly ended after a Good Friday Agreement in 1998, but there are some smaller violent outburts to this day. Because of the gravity of such matters, and because it’s still a very divided country, foreigners need to treat the matter of identify delicately. While international students sometimes got careless when referring to local students with each other, it would be a big faux paus to call someone “British” or “Irish” who wouldn’t use that term for themselves.



Parliament building in Belfast

Towards the end of my semester in Northern Ireland, some violence did break out in the capital city, Belfast, after a vote about hanging the union flag outside of City Hall. The government voted to only fly the flag for certain days each year. Unionists protested this decision, and some of these protests turned violent. This was near Christmas-time, and I remember hearing that the violence was disruptive of a lot of Christmas shopping. In particular, it temporarily shut down the Belfast Christmas Market, which was right outside of City Hall. It was strange knowing that such uproar was happening just where I’d been shopping a week or two earlier.

It was really distressing to hear about this news, especially because I remembered how proud some of the tour guides in Belfast sounded about the progress the city had made. They had lived through the Troubles and times when Northern Ireland, Belfast especially, was only seen as a dangerous place. Now Belfast is one of the top tourist destinations in Europe. Despite all that progress, the divide in Northern Ireland is still very much present.

I remember reading the Facebook statuses of a student from my university, and she seemed very frustrated and wearied by the conflict in her country; still, she was not particularly surprised by the turn of events, and no one else seemed to be.



Belfast city hall decorated for Christmas

Though Northern Ireland is a separate from the Republic of Ireland, there are no signs marking the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, like we have here between states. I thought this was curious and asked my study abroad program director about it. He said that this was part of an agreement to keep the peace in Ireland. Additionally, people in Northern Ireland are allowed both Irish and U.K. passports.

As a student who was only there for a semester, one of the most notable differences between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is currency. Northern Ireland uses pounds, like the rest of the U.K., while the Republic of Ireland uses Euros. Something interesting about paper notes in Northern Ireland is that the different banks in Northern Ireland all print different notes, unlike here, where all $1 bills are the same no matter what ATM you use. Though they were still pounds, I had to change my notes to Bank of England pounds when I visited London because many places in London won’t take notes from Northern Irish banks. Northern Ireland, however, accepts Bank of England notes. When I went to Scotland, they also took my Northern Irish pounds. A trip to Dublin also meant I was required to change my currency, but that was to euros; I had to keep in mind a whole different conversion rate. Language is another difference. In Northern Ireland, mostly everything is in English. Once you cross into the Republic of Ireland, though, all the road signs are in English and Irish. In the majority of places, though, both in the Republic and Northern Ireland, people speak English.

Northern Ireland, overall, is a really fascinating country, and I’m glad I learned more about the situation there because of my time abroad. It may be a divided society still, to some extent, and it surely has had a tough recent history. Nevertheless, it is also home to some very welcoming, friendly people and an absolutely gorgeous place to visit. I would recommend it to all travelers, though they should probably go in with a little bit of awareness about the country.