When visiting Ireland, don’t bother going to see any of the gaols. The most notable thing about them is that they have somehow been allowed to retain their ridiculous “gaol” spelling. Even when one is studying say, the hunger strike or the Easter Rising, it is not important to go to see the location. You can imagine what a gaol looks like, or if you are imaginatively disinclined, I suppose you could simply find pictures. What you get when you go to a gaol is rather a long walking tour and somewhat dubious history lesson. (and possibly depression)

The Peace Walls are some of the better-known legacies of the Troubles. They are not as interesting as the murals, or as impressive as the seats of power. This is to say they are somewhat unnecessary as far as stops go. Well, you will probably want to go just so you don’t have to explain to everyone that you meet that you made an actual decision based on what some sarcastic blogger said, but you will be underwhelmed. The Peace Walls are, as far as walls go…poorly constructed? Uninteresting? Perhaps this will show you why;

Apologies if the panorama doesn’t work for you, but this is what I understand to be one of the more visited sections of peace wall. It isn’t very… anything is it? The images on this aren’t as good as the murals that can be found elsewhere. So I hate to say it, but this is just another stop that isn’t entirely necessary.

I understand why we were given a campus tour of Queen’s University. I really do. It’s just… did we have to have a tour of Queen’s University? Again, Victoria was great, but it’s going to take more than just a name to get me to care about a tour. I have never really appreciated campus tours, they are made for people who are not me. I have absolutely no use for them, even if I am going to spend time on that campus. If someone points out something I might want to do, I probably still won’t do it. I think this is exceedingly clear at this point, but I keep to myself whenever possible. That said, it did make me feel as though my school’s architecture was…lacking. Perhaps this will show you why.

I will let you try and figure out which one is named after Victoria and which one is named after of some random town in southern Illinois.