Another day in Derry

Orientation week has been a great way to meet more students! Last night on the way to the market Lacey and I met one of the other students from Ghana. He invited us to his flat for dinner and taught us some Twi over fried eggs, soup, and grapes. I never thought I would be learning Twi phrases while in Northern Ireland :-) Today during orientation I met some other students and we ended up wandering through Derry together which was a blast! We made it to the walled city of Derry- the walls were built in 1613 and are still standing except for the gates which were widened in order to accommodate modern vehicles.
There is a walking path on top of the wall with amazing views of the city and some old cannons. 

There is also a craft village in the city where we found a tea house called "The Boston Tea Party"- we decided to stop in and try some of the local brew which was fun :-) While walking through the craft village a local stopped us and chatted for a bit- people here are so friendly! 

On our way back to campus we ended up in the Bogside area- a predominately Catholic area in Derry that Rick Steves refers to as "the tinderbox of the modern Troubles in Ireland." I still haven't been able to completely wrap my head around the Troubles, but it was evident that the Bogside area chooses to align itself with the Republic of Ireland rather than the North which is part of the United Kingdom. The sidewalks and lamp posts were painted green, white, and orange and we got to see some of the political murals scattered throughout the area which were way more powerful in person. I'm planning on going back to see the rest of the murals sometime this week.

It's funny to talk with some of the American students and hear their accents and lingo changing. Today someone told me I sounded Canadian which could be the influence of one of my flatmates :-) 

Well tonight I'm going out with some of the other international students to locate a good pub (and craic) which should definitely be an adventure...