Welcome to modern day Northern Ireland.

After a sleepy bus ride north, my class and I reached the city of Derry, in the county of Derry, formerly known as Londonderry. Like nearly all of Ireland, this city is steeped in history, dating all the way back to English plantations in the 17th century.

Today, the schism between loyalists (those still loyal to England) and nationalists (those who support a unified Ireland) is still present.

Throughout the city, we saw giant murals, painted along entire the sides of buildings. These man-made monuments were designed to either commemorate an event, remember those lost, or simply to make a profound statement. Many did all three.

We visited the site of a terrible travesty – where 13 people were gunned down by soldiers of the British army during a civil rights demonstration. An event now known as Bloody Sunday and made globally known in a song by U2.

Hundreds of citizens were gathered in a peaceful demonstration, intended to call attention to discrepancies of civil rights between the British and the Irish. However, after police forces perceived some sort of violent threat, they opened fire in a crowd of people.

This would be akin to the United States police force shooting up the non-violent Civil Rights protests of the 1960s.

Bullet holes have been left unchanged in the walls – an ever present reminder of what transpired.

This trip was rapidly shifting from smiling to somber. On to Belfast…

When we got into Belfast, we got the do’s and don’ts of the area. Unfortunately, there were far more “don’ts” than “do’s”.

Belfast was a city completely different than any other I have been in. It put me in mind of the footage you sometimes see of war-torn Eastern Europe; or even Berlin in the 1980s.

We walked alongside 30 foot barbed-wire fencing, planted directly through the center of the city. These “peace-walls” are raised nearly every year and houses literally lie against them.

Much like Derry, there were murals everywhere; letting you know exactly on which side of the split you stood. It was a strange site indeed, seeing the entire side of one building draped with a painting of the flag of England.

It is, however, a city struggling with both it’s heavy history and the push for European modernity. Tourism is beginning to increase and many feel financial success may be the last hope for peace.