Irish Sports are Cool

Soccer is a popular sport for children to play in the US, as in many countries in the world.  However, professional soccer is not very widely watched in the US, falling behind American sports like baseball and American football.  In Ireland, as in much of Europe, soccer, or football, is very popular.  While many Americans know about the popularity of soccer in Europe, few people know about other sports in Ireland, such as Gaelic football and hurling.

This weekend I had the pleasure of watching two very big sporting events in Ireland at a pub designed for watching sports (it had a GIANT screen as well as a few smaller ones).  Many people who know me know I love baseball and hockey, so I was eager to learn about Irish sports.  Both games I watched took place at Croke Park, which is in Dublin.  The city was abuzz with enthusiasm for the games on both days; more people than not were wearing jerseys and many cars had flags sticking out from the windows.  Some shops displayed balloons in the teams' colors.  It was nice to see that everyone was into the games.  It was also a good experience to watch the games with Irish people who they themselves were invested in the outcomes.  It allowed me to take part in one of Ireland's cultural aspects.

The Living Room, where I watched both games.  Here you can see everyone looking up toward the big screen.

On Saturday, Co. Dublin played Co. Mayo in a rematch of last week's GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) All-Ireland Gaelic football semi finals.  Gaelic football is a combination of soccer, rugby, basketball, volleyball, and American football.  It's a very exciting and fast-paced sport, and pretty physical- at one point one player nearly strangled another!  I really enjoyed watching it and was happy that Dublin beat Mayo; I rooted for Dublin because that's where I'm living

On Sunday, a few friends and I went back to the same bar to watch the GAA All-Ireland Hurling Finals.  Aptly named, the finals are the last game in the season, and determine the champion county in hurling. Hurling is similar to Gaelic football, but players use a smaller ball and a paddle with which they can hit the ball kind of like a baseball.  Because of the nature of the game, it seemed rather fumbley to me, and wasn't quite as exciting as Gaelic football.  Co. Kilkenny, which has won the finals many times in recent years played Co. Galway, which hasn't won in nearly 30 years.  I rooted for Galway because I like underdogs, but Kilkenny prevailed in the end.  I had a good time, but I think I like Gaelic football a little bit better.

After the game, some friends and I walked around the City Centre and strolled through St. Stephen's Green, which is a little bit south of Trinity College.  I am getting used to finding my way around the City Centre, but it's hard when I can't access google maps because I don't have data on my phone (only wifi), street signs are hard to find, and maps are few and far between.  But I'll get there eventually!

The Grafton St. entrance to St. Stephen's Green.

Today I had another orientation, this one about the internship aspect of the program.  The study abroad program I am in is cool because not only do I take classes, but I will also be doing an internship the second half of the semester.  I then had my first class of the semester/in Ireland/at DCU!  I can't believe classes have started already (even though they started at BU last week).  I'm not really mentally prepared to do work but I'm sure I will get back into the swing of things soon.  Also, it was weird going to classes on Labor Day, as they don't celebrate that here (but it will be even weirder going to my internship on Thanksgiving).  

I am not used to cooking for myself.  I cooked raw chicken by myself for the first time Saturday and it came out really good so I was super proud of myself!  I am also not used to having to buy groceries and such.  Unfortunately this kitchen did not come with any pans; we've been cooking everything in pots but since pots are not non-stick, all our food sticks to the pots no mater what we do.  So either we need to steal a pot from another apartment or buy one.

Also wanted to point out that the cheese and the chocolate are really good here.  Cadbury is amazing and I will be taking some back to the US because British Cadbury is banned from being sold there.

Lastly a few more differences I wanted to point out:

• The floors here are numbered differently.  Ground floor is zero, and the floor above that is one.  So what we call the third floor, they call the second.  It takes some getting used to.
• The ambulances are yellow, which makes sense as yellow is easy to see.
• The police do not carry guns, which was a little weird to me at first, but they manage without them which is interesting.  In fact their name actually translates to Guardians of the Peace, which I think sounds nice. 

The rest of the week I have classes until Friday, when I am leaving Dublin for the first time to go to Glendalough in Co. Wicklow!