The first thing we did today was go to Stormont and learn about how the Northern Ireland government was run. We also learned the history of Stormont and how it has changed from when it opened until 2015. DUP and Sinn Fein are the largest parties in Stormont with the most MLA’s. We enjoyed it as it taught us about how the conflict in Northern Ireland has been resolved and continues to be resolved with ‘The Peace Process’.
We then went to the Youth Centre in the afternoon and did some activities and games for example pool and table tennis. in the youth centre we also chilled out and listened to some music.
Area visits was our next thing in the day and we visited the Irish peoples area’s and homes. They told us some things about there area and whether it was Republican or Unionist, this was interesting as we seen the effects it had on their communities during the troubles. We also seen some of the Irish boys and girls friends and families and they were very nice. It was a fun and enjoyable thing to do.
In the night activity Paul Deighan came and spoke with us about the conflict in Northern Ireland from the start up until the Good Friday Agreement. This was the most educational part of the exchange so far as it was explained so well but the Basque group couldn’t understand it all so one of their young people helped them as they are very good at English, it also showed us the whole story of the troubles, everyone expressed there opinions which made a great discussion! This session had everyone thinking and learning most importantly. The Northern Ireland group all found it enjoyable but as the Basque group didn’t understand everything they where slightly confused but we helped them as much as we could.