Students visit Northern Ireland

Twenty eight students and four members of staff travelled to Northern Ireland as part of their IB course work. Important sites visited were:

• The Giant's Causeway on the North Antrim coastline. The Giant's Causeway is a World Heritage site, National Nature Reserve and Northern Ireland 's premier tourist attraction. Popular mythology attributes the creation of this world famous site to the Giant Finn MacCool who is believed to have built this remarkable pathway of stepping stones across the sea to Scotland so he could engage in battle with his rival giant Benandonner. The geology shows that the Causeway was a result of intense volcanic activity that took place some 60 million years ago when molten rock poured out over the landscape to form deep pools of lava. The slow even cooling, and the contraction of the rock as it cooled, resulted in the formation of the many regular-sided columns of basalt that make up the Grand, Middle and Little Causeway.
• Dunluce Castle sits on the edge of limestone cliffs and is connected to the mainland by an arched walkway.
• Londonderry (also called Derry, also called the Walled City). A guide took the students onto the Walls and into the Bogside to show them the murals and explain the history of the area. The politically divided community in Belfast is clearly illustrated in the wall murals associated with each community. Northern Ireland contains arguably the most famous political murals.
• A tour of the Belfast city and the dock where the Titanic was built.
• Stormont, the parliament building of Northern Ireland.