Our schedules were packed pretty full today in Derry. We woke up to of course another amazing meal provided by Mr. Slevin at the Clarence house. I know I will definitely miss the amazing full Irish breakfast every morning. After filling up our stomachs we made our way down to the college to go to class. Today wasn’t just an ordinary day in class with a lecture by the professors; instead Eamonn and Maureen were invited into our class to talk with us. They are working with a project for Northern Ireland called Towards Understanding & Healing. The project is all about providing a safe place for a group of diverse people to feel comfortable about sharing their stories. By providing a place to listen and share each other’s stories, it allows people to open their minds and explore others perceptions and attitudes.  We all put our chairs in a circle and we started by each person telling everybody what their name means and where it comes from. Some girls knew what heritage their last name came from and some are not for sure. After that we did a little game that helped everybody just relax and have fun. One person would stand in the middle of the circle and say something like “everybody who is wearing a scarf move” then those people would move to a different seat and whoever was left without a seat in the middle had to say something else. It really helped us laugh and just get comfortable in the environment.

Once we did that for a few minutes, Maureen and Eamonn started telling us their story and about the troubles of Northern Ireland. When I knew I was coming to Ireland I thought it was just going to be such a green happy place that had no problems. However, today my eyes were opened and I found out that Ireland does have troubles just like every other country has their difficulties too. There is a big divide here amongst the Catholics and Protestants. The separation is so bad that for the past 40 years it has created a lot of unnecessary violence and hatred. They told us that the Catholics were taught to not like the Protestants and vice versa. A lot of innocent people have been hurt and killed by these problems. Therefore, this project was created to help bring the two cultures of people together to hear each other’s stories to hopefully open minds and inspire peace in Northern Ireland. While they were sharing their stories to us, one of the girls from our group told us a story about her life and we were so glad she did because I think it helped us feel like we could open up with each other. Maureen and Eamoon were telling us that we can make a difference and that it all starts with each person being more understanding and be the change you want to see. Spending the morning with them some of us girls, including me, became comfortable in the environment and started to cry. For me it was truly inspirational and touching, I want to help others and make a difference in this world. Being on this trip has been so life changing and helped me grow as a person and I realized that this morning that I can do it, which made me started to open up and cry.

After a moving morning we all got excited for our spa day which was provided free of charge by the Cosmetology program at Northwest Regional College. We got to choose between a massage, a facial, a pedicure and then we could also get our hair cut and styled. I got a massage and my hair cut which was amazing! Then we all came back to the Clarence house and got all dressed up for our farewell dinner provided by the college. We got to eat at the school’s fancy restaurant called the Flying Clipper, which the students in the culinary program get their learning experience at. It was an incredible 4 course meal! The food was delicious and we are all so thankful for the dinner. Tomorrow we pack up and are on our way to Dublin till Sunday when most of us are going back home to the states.