As this marathon of course begins the final strides this week, I've opted to provide another up-to-date report of the experience thus far and vow to write another after the courses completion.
Since my last post, I've been in 3 different locations. The first and more obvious/less exciting, includes my final week in Derry. There was a purge of get-to-know-you-outside-work events which to my benefit. Be it Easter weekend, I was invited to attend service at a local church with Grania, a supervisor for Abby and Andi from Children in Crossfire. Immediately following, we were invited to her home for a good Irish Easter lunch. Soup and conversation was provided.
The next day, I was invited to a golf outing that included: my co-worker Michael Barr, his step-son Connor, and I. It was a good nine hole course with breathtaking views of the Irish countryside. We chose not to keep score, and with that in mind, I won. After the golf outing I was greeted with a nice Derry/Irish stew made by his wife, Michelle. If finishing your plate and asking for more is courteous, then consider me Princess Diana. I had to reposition my belt buckle one more notch. Complimenting the deliciousness of the food and dessert, I was taken to meet the parents of Michelle in their home at the Bogside before attending a Derry City soccer match that night. Derry City was playing Cork City and lost a terribly fought battle 4-1. The home crowd was sure to let the team know about how they played, in a very colorful manner.
The rest of the week was packing and preparing, both for the trip to Dublin and also the final round of papers following. There was a farewell lunch from the PRG with a nice card and a Celtic jersey given as a farewell gift. All things considered, I'm going to miss the organisation. They really made me feel welcome, appreciated and worth something- they must have a framework strategy on how to win over Americans.
From there, a bus took us from Derry to Dublin in a matter of about four hours. Although the island is about the size of Wisconsin, it sure does take a wee bit longer to reach those destinations; it must be the narrowroads and lure of a scenic route. Anyway, Dublin was intended to be a well deserved break that would reunite the group and give us a basic understanding of how the South views the conflict in the North., as well as, take our minds off the image a 20x20 inch monitor complimented with a modernised mini-type writer. It worked. There were meetings Co-Op Nothern Ireland program focused on breaking down misconceptions between groups across the border; we met the kids invloved in this program too. There were also informal interviews with political officials leading up to their election (expected to be announced in the next week or so) and also a tour of the Dail- The Republic of Ireland's government system. Interesting stuff. Besides all of the academic arrangements, there were some less formal group bonding experiences. For example, a trip to the St. James Gate Brewery to understand a little more about the Guinness beverage that has been eating away at our pockets. We were also booked into a Literary Pub Crawl around the district so famous for luring renowned Irish Literaries throughout their life. Two actors led the tour bridging the connection between the pubs and the writers. There was reference to James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, and Oscar Wilde to name a few. On a lighter note, a few of us took some time out to read James Joyce aloud in the park see picture.
Overall, the Dublin experience was (expensive) wonderful. The pictures I took from these events are sitting on another person's camera; mine has the lens stuck open and would require $240 for a camera store to look at it. I've decided to use my father's engineering intuition to pry the camera open and fix it myself. All or nothing. I will post the pictures in the next few days, just as soon as I recieve them back. Just recently, we've also received a cd slideshow from Nigel, the program director, containing a compilation of everyone's photos from the trip so I may post some more there. Expect more pictures next post, I've overexhausted my words already in this post.
I'm now currently back in Coleraine/Portstewart. All week we've been stuck in the lab writing our Independent research essays- mine is examining the role of the murals in Northern Ireland's shared future. Depending on the grade I recieve, I'll post the paper. We've also been working on a Dublin reflection paper in which we are required to climb inside the head of a person from either community and reflect on how they percieve the Ireland/Northern Ireland relationship to be. They were finished on Friday and we celebrated accordingly. Time has caught up to me. Will post more in a couple o' days.
-Mahon Subihne <---------------My name in Irish/Gaelic.
Pub Crawl
St. Stephen Green
Tourists in Dublin
A lot has 
happened since. On March 7th the Northern Irish electorate spoke, they want to see a functional assembly. Four DUP members, Three Sinn Fein, Two UUP and One SDLP representative will make up the assembly ministers. If the assembly is set up, it will be the first time in the history of Northern Ireland that both communities will have equal representation in the government. History in the making folks.
nting bikes along the coast for about 50km. 'Twas quite the hike up and down some of the steepest hills I've ever experienced on a bike...we're talking legs of fire after the ride. Immediately following the ride, we caught a bus to Cork and found a nice, cheap Bar/Hostel to stay in. 10 hrs and about an equal number of pints later, we made our way to Blarney to test the kissing abilities of 4 c. old stone. It was a great time and I finally recieved the Gift of Gab that I'd been searching for my entire life. 
standing with are residents, one is a Protestant born in the Bogside while the other (Dr. Evil) was a former army official. Both had some of the most interesting and compelling stories to tell.
ast of Donegal. While walking down the aisle I was stopped by a fella who said, "Matthew?" To which I responded, "Yes"...."Matthew Sweeney?"..."Yeah, I don't recognize you, where do we know each other from?"..."Why are you speaking in an American accent?"..."Because I'm American". So it turns out the fella plays in a band and his fiddle player is named Matthew Sweeney and has an uncanny resemblance. So to think, there's another me in Northern Ireland; same name, same look. We haven't met yet, but once we do you'll know because the world will implode. 
March 6. This date means I haven't been able to post in a while. It also means that tomorrow will be a historic day in the
history of Northern Ireland. Campaigns are coming to an end as politicians finish up their restless PR events- helpless to mark of the voter. Some talk here of riots on election day over Sinn Fein's decision to support policing. Peggy O'Hara (top poster) is the mother of a Hunger Striker; she won't hold her seat if elected because the party exists to steal votes from Sinn Fein. The bottom campaign poster is of the SEA party with their candidate Eamonn McCann. I heard him speak a 100 m.p.h. today with clarity on racism. He doesn't plan on getting elected, but hey...why not try, eh? On the bottom is a framed letter from the Ulster Volunteer Force to the parents of a Bloody Sunday victim...(use discretion if you can make it out) just to show you how serious the conflict was/is.
The internship at Peace and Reconciliation Group is developing a stronger meaning. Not only am I just simply shadowing the supervisor on his daily activities, but I've been delegated with some responsibilities. The first, was to research and write a handout on "reasonable force". I used the Tony Martin case from Norfolk and this handout was given to a training session on Saturday. He's fool to have faith, but they seemed to enjoy it. 
The temperature has been nice here (so sorry to rub it in, but I'm sure there's good sledding, or ice fishing eh?). We got a Hollywood hail storm here- as you can see in the picture. What you can't see is the 250 production crew member named Al above the picture dumping a pail of paper snowflakes for the picture (hence the Hollywood hail storm).
etter. 
father was born. Alongside it, is also the view from a remote village in the countryside named Corrymeela. The sheep were excited and very photogenic- they're omnipresent out here. There is so much landscape and open area that you can see weather patterns brewing miles away. Our trip to Corrymeela i
ncluded some icebreaker activities, delicious food, and our first step in conflict resolution...delegating internships.
Similar rocks can be found on the Scottish coast as well. There are also a couple of pictures of an ancient castle right on the cost I've only included a few due to space constraints. 
