Are You Ready For Some (Gaelic) Football?

Yesterday, I went to the NFL Finals (not to be confused with the Super Bowl) at Croke Park in Dublin. Ireland's National Football League is an annual Gaelic football tournament featuring the 32 county teams of Ireland. The 32 teams are divided into four divisions, and the top two finishers in each division are promoted one level while the bottom two finishers are demoted one level. Yesterday's games were the Division 1 and 2 finals (the main event)!

From what I saw, Gaelic football seemed similar to rugby in some ways. Players run with the ball, taking a dribble every few steps, and pass by throwing or kicking the ball to one another. You can score one point by kicking the ball through (American) football-style uprights, or three points by kicking it past a goalie and into a soccer-style goal beneath the uprights (there were none of these "goals" in the first game, the Division 2 final, but two in the second game).

In the first game, Kildare beat Tyrone 16-11 to win Division 2. It was a tight game throughout, and Tyrone actually led 10-9 relatively late in the contest, but Kildare scored seven straight times to take control. The crowd (or at least my section) was very pro-Kildare, so there was a lot of excitement during this stretch.

In the second game, under a downpour of rain, Cork beat Mayo by the same score (16-11) to win Division 1 and the NFL. Cork trailed 9-5 at halftime (each game consisted of two 35-minute halves plus stoppage time), but came out firing in the second half - scoring two goals to go with five points, while holding Mayo to only two points. This time, the crowd was very pro-Mayo and came away disappointed (although I was rooting for Cork because of my hatred for mayonnaise... call me a bandwagon fan if you must).

Despite the weather, it was very cool to experience an Irish sport firsthand (and at a relatively high level of competition)!

Venice and Munich

Francesca in Venice!

St. Mark's Basilica

Our gondolier

View from the gondola

Frühlingsfest!

A liter of beer

The Devil's Footstep

The two P's (Paolo and Peter) in the beer hall

At the carousel bar

I returned to Dublin on Wednesday from my trip to Venice and Munich, which was probably the most fun trip I have taken so far. I spent three days (Friday-Sunday) in Venice and two days (Monday-Tuesday) in Munich.

Venice is a very difficult city to navigate, as we learned very quickly when we got lost on the way to our bed and breakfast. Thankfully, we were not in a hurry... we spent most of our first day there wandering around the city and eating gelato whenever we encountered it. We made extensive use of the "waterbus" that ferries people around the city.

On Saturday, we visited the Piazza San Marco and St. Mark's Basilica before continuing to explore the city - taking periodic breaks to enjoy some authentic Italian food (I don't think I have ever consumed more pasta over a three-day period). That evening, we took a gondola ride - which featured a song (unfortunately, the gondolier was not a very good singer).

On Sunday, we took the "waterbus" to the islands of Murano and Burano - where we did some souvenir shopping and exploring. Murano is famous for its glassmaking, a fact quite evident from the contents - and prices - of its souvenir shops. Burano is covered with brightly colored houses, which are quite unusual sights for a resident of central Pennsylvania.

Early (read: too early) Monday morning, we took a train to Munich. The train itself was very nice (quite Harry Potter-esque), and the ride featured many beautiful scenic views... unfortunately, I slept through some of them. Upon arriving in Munich, we stopped at our unexpectedly nice hotel before eating lunch (wiener schnitzel, of course) and heading to Frühlingsfest - which is essentially a small-scale, springtime version of Oktoberfest. What more could one ask for than carnival rides and beer halls?

On Tuesday morning, we took a guided walking tour of Munich. The tour was very interesting, despite the cold and rainy weather we had to endure. One of the most interesting stops on the tour was the Frauenkirche, or "Church of Our Lady," which has a very interesting backstory. Built in the 12th century, it was completed in 20 years (then-record time) - supposedly with assistance from a very unlikely source, the Devil. As the story goes, the Devil promised the church's builder a speedy creation provided he refrain from adding windows to the church. Cleverly, however, the builder tricked the Devil by adding side windows which are not visible from the front of the church. Enraged, the Devil stomped his foot in the church's foyer - leaving what is known as the "Devil's Footstep."

Thankfully, the weather had cleared up by the time we returned to Frühlingsfest for a second day of fun. After several liters of beer, it was time to call it a night before our return flight to Dublin on Wednesday - which ended up being an adventure in itself, as we spent much of Wednesday morning attempting to find a way to get to the airport. After several options fell through, we took a taxi - which got us to the airport just in time. Mission accomplished!

Now, back to studying for finals...

Beginning of the End

This is my last week of my classes. I already took one final exam last week, and have another one on Thursday - leaving four more for the May exam period, which ends on the 12th. It feels strange to be almost done with classes, but I am looking forward to having a few more weeks to enjoy Ireland and travel.

I will be spending part of that time (the break between the end of classes and the start of exams) in Venice and Munich... I am leaving Friday morning and returning to Dublin next Wednesday. I am looking forward to finally visiting Italy, and Munich should also be a lot of fun... Springfest, which is apparently the spring equivalent of Oktoberfest, will be going on while I am there. Of course, I will also be studying hard the whole time!

(Also, much thanks to Mom and Dad for wiring me some emergency money for the trip... I was rudely robbed of my card by an ATM on Monday.)

I might travel a bit more during exams downtime, but for the most part I plan to enjoy what little time I have left in Dublin with all the great new friends I have made - and possibly take a few day trips around Ireland, which I still need to see more of!

In completely unrelated (and arguably irrelevant) news, I ate a one-pound burger the other day:

It was awesome.

The Most Pathetic Blog Post Ever

I have been pretty busy, so I haven't updated this in a while. Instead of writing a long post, I am just going to give a quick recap of the past month or so (and then get back to writing a paper, which hopefully will end up being slightly longer).

I had spring break for the first two weeks of March. I stayed in Dublin for the first week, and my parents visited at the end of the week. That was fun.

During the second week, we visited Francesca in Spain and went to Madrid. That was fun.

After coming back to Ireland, we took a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher. That was fun.

I was back in Dublin for St. Patrick's Day, and my friend Julian visited. That was fun.

I now have a lot of work. That is not fun.

The weather is really nice, though. That is fun.

I only have three more weeks of actual classes (then a break, then final exams). That is not enough.

I am going to Venice and Munich from April 20-25. That was will be fun.

I will upload pics when I am done with these papers. I guess that will be fun.

Weekend in Scotland

 View from top of the castle

 Interesting...

 Just shooting a cannon...

 Some mummies at the museum

 Our hostel

 Loch Ness (no Monster...)

 With David Hume

 With Priya

 With a piper (and Jenna)

With Kate and Jenna

This past weekend, I visited Scotland with my roommates Jenna and Kate (Luke, my third roommate, stayed behind in Dublin). We flew into Edinburgh on Friday morning, walked around the city all day, then took a day trip to Loch Ness on Saturday before flying back to Dublin on Sunday morning. It was a very fun (and very exhausting) trip!

After arriving around 8:00 Friday morning, we first visited Edinburgh Castle - which, conveniently enough, was literally across the street from our hostel. The castle was very impressive, and offered a beautiful view of the entire city (and, thankfully, the weather was cooperative). After exploring the castle, we moved on to the National Museum of Scotland; some notable sights at the museum included Dolly, the first cloned sheep, and a T-Rex skeleton that took me back to my childhood.

Once we finished looking around the museum, we met up with my friend Priya - who is studying abroad in Edinburgh this semester - and ate lunch (clearly the most important part of the day). In the afternoon, we toured Holyrood Palace - the official home of the Scottish monarchy - and walked around some scenic areas of Edinburgh.

That evening, we went on a "Ghosts and Ghouls" tour (ironically, I have yet to experience a Gettysburg ghost tour). Although I didn't see any ghosts, I did get to hear some cool stories and drink a free glass of wine - so I would call it a success.

After a soothing night of sleep in the luxurious Castle Rock Hostel, we were off to Loch Ness (with a few stops along the way). The bus driver was full of information - although I missed a lot of it, because it is apparently physically impossible for me to ride on a bus for any length of time without falling asleep. I did wake up in time to see Loch Ness, but - unfortunately - the "Monster" did not make an appearance. That's what I call false advertising...

When we returned after roughly 12 hours, Edinburgh was overrun with Frenchmen. The Six Nations rugby tournament has been going on for several weeks, and France and Scotland were scheduled to play on Sunday. The French seemed fairly confident in their chances - and rightfully so - but, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), we would not be around to witness their celebration the next day. By that time, we were back in Dublin, relaxing after a long weekend and preparing for another week of classes.

Newgrange and Trim Castle

Newgrange

Trim Castle

On Saturday, I went on a day trip to Newgrange and Trim Castle (in County Meath, about an hour away from Dublin) with a bunch of other study-abroad students. Newgrange is a Neolithic monument/passage tomb that predates Stonehenge, and Trim Castle is a medieval castle that might be recognizable to anyone who has seen Braveheart (large portions of the movie were filmed there).

The trip was a lot of fun, even though I had to wake up early and was functioning on very little sleep. The day began at Newgrange, where we walked around the visitors' center before taking a bus to the monument. I managed to make friends with the driver on the way, although he knows me as "Powell" (I guess it's a little more Irish).

We then got a tour of the tomb, which is completely dark for 360 days of the year but is aligned with the rising sun on the year's five longest days (Dec. 19th-23rd). Every year, thousands of people enter a lottery for the chance to experience the winter solstice at Newgrange. Unfortunately, we had to settle for a simulation.

After lunch, it was on to Trim Castle - which no longer has any floors (other than the ground floor, of course) but can be explored only by stairs and bridges. Surprisingly enough, Mel Gibson was not there. After touring the castle, we returned to Dublin with plenty of time left to enjoy a night out on the town.

I will be traveling to Edinburgh this weekend (leaving on Friday morning and returning on Sunday morning), so I'm sure I will have plenty more to talk about soon. I also will try to upload a few more pictures to the blog in the next few days.

First Month in Dublin

Hi everyone!

I've been meaning to start a blog about my experience in Dublin, but I've been so caught up in that experience so far that I keep forgetting to write! So here goes...

I have been in Dublin for about a month now. It took a little while to get acclimated, but I am settled in now and everything is going well. My roommates are great, and we are living in a nice (enough) apartment located in the "city centre." Grafton Street - one of Dublin's main shopping streets - is a short walk away, and our apartment is surrounded by tons of shops/pubs/etc., which makes it easy to have fun exploring the city and difficult to remember to go to class! (Just kidding...)

Speaking of classes: they are going well so far, but the format is very different from what I'm used to. Large lecture-style classes are the norm here, although some classes have smaller "seminars" or "tutorials" each week. Also, final exams are weighted very heavily (100% in one of my classes).

I'll worry about that when the time comes, though! For now, I'm just enjoying the experience - doing new things, meeting new friends, and drinking Guinness (but not too much, of course). I visited London two weekends ago with my roommates and had a lot of fun doing touristy things (Changing of the Guard, Greenwich, etc.), and I'm going to Edinburgh in two weeks.

Sorry this post is so short, but it would be impossible for me to recap everything I've done in the past month (and I'm not sure anyone would want to read all of it)! In the future, I'll try to update this blog a little more frequently.

Slainte (Cheers),
Paolo