I think that one of the more interesting aspects of this trip was the opportunity to experience a country’s history from its own perspective. Often, whenever I’m told about the historical events that happened in a country, it almost always comes from an outside view. Then there’s also the opportunity to see the after-effects of historical events from a much more personal experience.

For instance, for most of my stay in Ireland, my class stayed in its capital city, Dublin, which has been pivotal to early modern Irish history. It was here that the movement to gain independence from Britain reached a critical point when the Easter Rising of 1916 happened. To give a brief overview of the event, during Easter week in 1916, an armed insurrection was launched by Irish Republicans with the goal of establishing an independent Irish republic. However, the insurrection was poorly thought out and only managed to gain control of Dublin. Over the next four days, the British would bombard and assault Dublin until the Republicans surrendered. The public outcry over the British conduct and the execution of the leaders of the insurrection would give momentum to the Irish Independence movement. All of this was happening near O’Connell Street, which was only a five-minute walk from the hotel that we were staying in.

Even today, when you go to center O’Connell Street in Dublin towards the General Post Office that used to be the headquarters for the Irish Republicans, you can still see the bullet holes from the rising on the columns of the building, a sharp contrast to the now bustling downtown center. It is something that I don’t see back home where the history of a town or city might not even extend to a hundred years. Here in Ireland, some of their towns have a history that covers over a thousand years which blows my mind just to even think about. Ultimately, I feel that this trip has helped me gain a new appreciation for history in general.

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