LONDONDERRY — We began our sixth and final day together by checking out of the Maldron Hotel, loading our suitcases onto the bus and settling into our seats for the three-hour trip back to Dublin Airport. Our drive through the sprawling outskirts of the city, past the never-ending lush green fields, was the perfect backdrop for Professor Ari Goldman to once again pull out his harmonica. A group of students reprised songs from the bus ride from Belfast to Londonderry and harmonized with Goldman’s accompaniment to music beloved by the class, including “Four Green Fields.”
The music shared also extended to songs in Hebrew and Spanish. Goldman taught the students “Shalom Aleichem,” a Jewish song inspired by the greeting of the same name, translated to mean “peace be upon you.” It’s traditionally sung to welcome the arrival of Shabbat, which would begin at sunset later that same day. Student Rosario del Valle serenaded the class with a Catholic melody by Chilean singer Romina González Romanini. The song, Encuéntrame, signifies looking to God when you’re feeling lost.
Music continued to fill the bus until we stopped for a quick lunch at a rest stop off the highway, where students also stocked up on Cadbury chocolate to bring home. Once we were back on the road, it wasn’t long before our bus finally arrived at the airport.
As we said goodbye to Goldman, who would be spending the remainder of the weekend in Dublin, we were also reunited with student Bella Bromberg, who left Londonderry on Thursday afternoon and traveled back to Belfast to continue her reporting on Buddhism.
At Dublin Airport, we were surprised to find the line for check-in and bag drop much longer than anticipated. Dean Melanie Huff was the only person from our class able to check-in ahead of time through the Aer Lingus app and avoid the line, but unfortunately for the rest of us, all we could do was wait anxiously and hope to make it through security and board our flight on time. And eventually, we did.
But right before our flight took off, a group of students noticed something out of the window of the plane that we hadn’t encountered all week: rain. It was a small, particularly funny moment, especially since our professors anticipated a rainy trip this year, similar to last year’s class reporting trip, and told us to plan and pack accordingly.
Our experience in Northern Ireland was the opposite. Every day showed us blue skies.
In seven hours, we were back in New York. Once we landed, we said our final goodbyes with hugs at baggage claim. After six days together, our journey was over. But the memories from this trip, both professional and personal, will stay with us forever.
Following our return from Northern Ireland, once we had settled back into our daily routines, I asked my classmates about how they have been processing our trip.
Del Valle reflected on the privilege to experience Northern Ireland, from the beautiful landscape to the rich history, with the Covering Religion class. “The group was very special. Everyone was warm, kind, and every moment was pretty full of joy,” del Valle said. She also shared that it was very meaningful to hear the powerful testimonies from sources and class speakers who lived through the Troubles. “Many people opened their hearts; they shared their personal stories, and that human connection that we had was really special. I am grateful to experience this at Columbia Journalism School.”
“It was an amazing opportunity to be able to go to a new place, not as a tourist, but as a reporter, because I was able to immerse myself into the culture and really get to know the people who lived there,” student Nichole Villegas said. “I was able to understand the way that they lived, which is much different than the way that I grew up. So that was a really important experience to not just swoop in and observe, but to actually come into this new place and be fully immersed in the community.” Villegas’ reporting about Bloody Sunday, specifically, was a lesson in being open to any story that comes her way. “I met an older couple while watching the sunset, and I just waved and said hi, and then they shared their whole story with me,” she said, adding that the couple had lost family members during the Troubles. “The fact that they had so much trust in me made me really want to do their story justice when I write it and really accurately represent what they went through and what they’re currently going through,” Villegas said.
Bromberg wrote in a text message that her heart longs for Ireland. “I’m already plotting my return,” she said. “Traveling anywhere is such a gift, but to do so after intensively delving into the history of the place — and alongside classmates I’ve grown so fond of — made it a pretty unparalleled experience. Our trip will live on in my memory fondly for years to come. And “Four Green Fields” may go down as my favorite song of all time.”
Student Karen Lindell shared a notebook entry from the last day of the trip: “On the last day, I thought about all the walls we saw in Belfast and Londonderry, much less fortified than in the past, yet still standing. Walls are just stone and brick and wire, though. On our trip, we experienced the humanity that will perhaps someday knock down the symbolic walls: storytelling, listening, community-building, reconciling. As Professor Goldman said after a round of harmonica campfire songs on the bus, ‘Thanks for singing with me.’ Thanks for singing with us, Northern Ireland. Your song needs to be heard.”
I’ve reflected on some of the parallels between our class and the interfaith organization I reported on in Belfast. The Northern Ireland Interfaith Forum, which was formed a few years prior to the Good Friday Agreement, promotes peace and reconciliation between the faith communities in Northern Ireland through opportunities to come together and meet regularly. Historically, these were groups that would not have shared space for one another at the same table, but because they built trust and friendship over time, they are able to now engage in interfaith relationships and foster a productive dialogue about current events. Even when they disagree.
Our class has built a foundation of both trust and friendship through our weekly meetings together. When we cover difficult topics or discuss opposing viewpoints, we do so in a productive, meaningful way because the students and professors have cultivated an environment of respect since the start of the spring semester.
As many students in the class and I now look toward graduation in May and reflect on our time at Columbia Journalism School, I’m grateful to have experienced the opportunity to report and travel abroad alongside such a remarkable group of people.
Being a part of the legacy of the Covering Religion class — a 30-year legacy — is a true privilege.
Photo at top: View of the horizon outside the plane window heading back to New York (Photo by Liza Monasebian)