EIL Intercultural Learning

‘... This trip has changed my life and has challenged me greatly. I have learned so much' (UCC Department of Government student after taking part in an EIL Field trip to Belfast)

When I think of Belfast these days I think of a modern vibrant city. One with a difficult past, certainly - but a place that is showing a new confidence - and becoming a city you want to visit to shop, to eat out and to soak up the unique culture of the place and its notoriously friendly people.
Shopping wasn't exactly top of the agenda for a me and a group from UCC that I accompanied to Belfast on the weekend of 7th - 10th March. Made up mostly of American university students, they were part of the UCC Department of Government Certificate class who go on an annual field trip to Belfast co-ordinated by EIL Ireland.

Primarily designed to expose the students to ‘behind the scenes' Belfast, they visited Stormont to witness the historic Northern Ireland Assembly in action and to meet the MLA's. They also went to see Dr Ian Paisley Snr preaching at his church and took a tour of the political murals of East and West Belfast (following an expert talk on the subject by Professor Bill Rolston of University of Ulster). The one thing they were not expecting however, was to be present in Belfast at the time of an attack by dissident republicans on a soldier and PSNI officer. These shocking and unforeseen killings presented the students with the human face of what still is a fragile peace in Northern Ireland.

Of all the groups that I have accompanied on such trips to Belfast over the years, this group seemed to really absorb everything and I could literally see them learning, changing their perspective on what is a very complex situation. As one of the students put it: ‘ It's easy to read about the political situation in Northern Ireland, but to meet politicians and actually experience and witness the situation in Northern Ireland allows one to grasp the reality. Books give facts, but people give emotions. This experience has put a face to the struggle in Northern Ireland'