Rebel 9 in Ireland

This morning we went to Belfast and started off at the Áras Uí Chonghaile (James Connolly Visitor Centre) and toured the site to learn about James Connolly, and his impact on labor movements throughout Ireland and the world. For Connolly, his view on Marxism was that it should be an internationalist movement and not solely…

Today we walked around Downpatrick and learned how the 1798 Uprising impacted the town and surrounding area. A few years prior to the uprising, the American and French revolutions showed the European lower classes that it was possible to overthrow a powerful monarch and install a democratic government. In Ireland the Society of United Irishmen…

Today we met with some religious leaders from multiple communities in the North. Catholic Father John Murray, Presbyterian Reverend Owen Patterson, and the Church of Ireland Dean Henry Hull. We discussed how the different faiths currently live in peace in Downpatrick, even though the Catholics form a large majority. We also talked about how the…

We started the dating going to the Saint Patrick Center in Downpatrick, where we learned a little about the history of St. Patrick himself. Our tour started with the early life of St. Patrick. Born into a wealthy family in Roman Britain, Patrick was taken as a slave by Celtic raiders at the age of…

Went to the Moors in County Down to go hiking. Went to see the “Smuggler’s Cave” where they would hide smuggled tax-free goods from the Isle of Mann. Also saw the reservoir that was created to supply Belfast with clean water.

Going to keep this one short. It was travel day on Friday June 9th, so me and Brendan Savage from Division 1 in Albany left JFK at 7:00pm and landed in Manchester, England Saturday June 10th. After that layover, we flew to Dublin where we met Tim Campbell, the Director of The Saint Patrick Center…