It all started the 31st of October.
A group of exhausted young adults, some of them had been up since 4am, from
England came to Northern Ireland to take part in an exchange that would help
them to get a better understanding of how politics work here and to discuss
many issues around identity. IDENTITY!!! My biggest issue by far! I would love
to take part in this - I thought - and I was so glad when I was asked to
participate.
We spent three amazing days together having
many discussions and different tours; I have to say that I went for my fourth
bus tour since I was living in Belfast!!!... But I enjoyed it very much! We
went to Stormont, for those readers who are not from here and they don’t have a
clue of what that is; Stormont is the Parliament of Northern Ireland, such a
gorgeous building!!! But my highlight tour was undoubtedly the ghost tour.
Ghost tour? Yes, I know it sounds a bit strange, but it was Halloween and that
trip was just amazing! A scary dressed girl guided us all around the dark and
narrow streets in Belfast city centre, such a brilliant time! As a funny story,
the same girl was our guide the next day for the bus tour, nobody realized at first!
Apparently that same girl was the waitress that night in a local pub where some
people went for some drinks, but I don’t know how true that story is as I did
not witness this so can not confirm ;) If it were true, it would be impossible to
be more hard working than her!
But my favourite session was about sharing a
song that represented us in any way. I could listen to many different tunes,
some of them related to the roots and others related to something on their
daily lives, but all of them had something in common, IDENTITY! When I had to
choose mine I didn’t have to think even for a second, I knew it immediately,
“Nau” of “Luar na Lubre”. My country is Galicia, my nation is Galicia, my heart
belongs to Galicia. I explained to them about the idea of Spain as a country made
of many different identities together, where the Government doesn’t even give a
chance to discuss about the future, to discuss if we want to go together in
this ship or if some areas would prefer to travel independently to a better
future… Everybody was shocked about the fact that in the northwest of Spain we
were Celtics, and that the song I shared with them was so “irish”. Yes, in
Galicia we don’t do flamenco and we are not all the time eating paella and
attending bullfights!
This part of the exchange came to an end
creating a net; and everybody got a chance to thank the other participants. We
built a lasting relationship, and the good thing is that we will meet in
England again!!!!
The second part of the exchange started at 4am,
when my alarm rang and I jumped out of bed. I was tired and sleepy, but looking
forward to it!!! I knew it was going to be a long trip to Westminster, our
first stop in London! I tried to get some sleep on the plane, but certain
people didn’t make this part possible; ehem, ehem…
I am not going deeper with this part of the
exchange as Emelie already explains everything in her post. But I would like to
say that I had an amazing time in London. I enjoyed the city so much and I loved
the fact that I could visit that massive place from a completely different
point of view than my first trip as a tourist. Having this alternative tour of
London around Brick Lane and getting the chance to discover all the street art
in the area just made my day, and once again, all that talent placed on a
picture is so related with the issue of identity!!! Some people may say I am
obsessed with that, I prefer calling it being passionate, with coherence and
strength!
My favourite session in London was when we
shared a symbol, something that represented us in many ways. It was great
hearing about other people’s interests, from memories to feelings or things to
fight for, I loved the fact that everybody was so passionate about many aspects
of their lives! Once again, I took this opportunity to explain to the crew
about my identity as a Galician person. My symbol was actually a person,
Alfonso Daniel Rodríguez
Castelao, one of the biggest
representatives within the Galician Nationalist Movement. My intention is not
to bore anybody, so I invite you to “google” him and
discover one of the most inspirational people in history.
 |
| (Sketch made by Castelao) |
- You are a Galician
- And you are a stupid
Time to pack. Come back to the airport and return
to Belfast. I want to come back, I definitely want to come back; as a visitor,
as an inhabitant, who knows… I want to come back to London as me, Luís, to keep
on growing my identity…
I hope you have enjoyed the reading as much as
I enjoyed the experience :)
Luís
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