The Place I Call Home

I am from Northern Ireland.

It is the 96th smallest country in the world, has a population of approximately 1,799,392 (as recorded in the 2010 census), the biggest city is Belfast and the country itself is 99.15% white in ethnicity, with 91% of that statistic being born and bred in the country. It's made up of the six counties, Fermanagh, Antrim, Tyrone, Londonderry, Armagh and Down and the flag is the Ulster Banner.

We have a thriving arts and culture sector, with musicians, painters, poets, and writers being well supported by the community, as homegrown talent is taken seriously. Surf culture is growing on the north coast, which hosts some of what I think are the most stunning beaches in the world.

Since we're such a small country we're incredibly proud of anything that we can call our own, from C.S. Lewis to Liam Neeson, from the Giants Causeway to the Mourne Mountains, we're a patriotic bunch, even if we don't admit it.

This is the place I will always call home, the place that I'd like to stop pushing away.

Before I moved to Scotland for university I adored Northern Ireland, but after having lived in a country with more than 3 trainlines for almost 4 years, it's become a place that I struggle to return to. It feels like a bubble, restrictive and bland, sometimes a little bit backwards. When I go home I can't get a bus after 6pm and I have to rely on friends and family for lifts everywhere because I can't afford to drive. When I do want to escape my hometown I have to get the train which travels only 12 miles in the space of 40 minutes. In Scotland I spend the same amount of time, and less money, going 30 or 40 miles down the road to Glasgow, with the ability to further to the capital city of Edinburgh or, if I fancy it, as far as London. 

I don't know where I'll be later this year, but I know that if it's Northern Ireland, my main aim is to learn to drive. I want to explore the place I call home in my own time, on my own terms. I want to fall in love with it for my own reasons, not just stick it out because I have to.

I have reasons to be bitter about where I'm from. It holds a lot of negative memories, there were a lot of people who really tore me down, made me feel like I wasn't good enough. But university has taught me that everyone is worth my time, no matter who they are, so it doesn't matter if people still think I'm a nerd because, well, I am haha. But I embrace it these days.

But I don't know if I'll ever have to really call it home again. It will always be the place I return to, but it might never again be the place I reside. Who knows, really?

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