After having one of the best breakfasts ever, we are heading off to Ireland.  For many people it’s their last week and they are going home Sunday.  I, however, will be going to Barcelona after this week.  I’m both happy and sad about this.  I’m a little bit jealous of the people who get to go home now.  I wish I could be seeing my family, sleeping in my own bed, and eating home-cooked food.  I miss having a routine and having a closet instead of a suitcase.  I especially miss my family and friends and I can’t wait to see them again.  Today is father’s day and I really wish I were home with my dad to celebrate with him.  He’ll just have to settle for a “Happy Father’s Day” e-mail instead. 

I almost feel like I’m going home too because everyone is talking about it, but then I remember that I won’t be, which is kind of saddening.  Right now I am only halfway through my trip- 5 more weeks to go!  However, I am really excited Spain.   I think it will be my favorite country that I visit.  I’m excited to meet new people, having different living arrangements, have warmer weather, become fluent in another language, and to eat different food.  I’ve noticed that the menus in the restaurants are very similar.  They all seem to serve the same fare.  It’s good food, but it’s all the same.  I’m excited to eat somewhere that uses lots of cilantro!

So off to Ireland!  We took a ferry ride over there.  This was the nicest ferry that we have been on.  It had free wifi and a movie theatre.  I like it a lot.  We arrived in Belfast, where we’ll spend our first night.  Belfast has a lot of history of ill will between Catholics and Protestants.  Fortunately, some of that ill will is finally starting to die away.  This enmity between the Catholics and the Protestants dates all the way back to Henry VIII when he decided to split with the Catholic Church in order to marry Anne Boleyn.  Since then numerous disagreements, both religious and political have come between them.  The city itself is split into Catholic and Protestant areas.  You could tell which area you were in by the flags- Catholics displayed Irish flags and the Protestant donned the Union Jack.  However, some of the antagonism between these going away and people are moving on.  I think that there will always some small degree of prejudice between the two groups that will never fully go away.  Just like in the U.S. there is still some prejudice against minorities, and women still aren’t getting paid as much as men.  And though I think the world has taken enormous strides in overcoming these biases in the past few decades, there will always be some people whose minds can’t be changed.