The First Days In Dublin
Greetings from Dublin!
After waiting two long long hours in the customs line, we finally arrived yesterday! We are staying at a hostel called Jacob's Inn. Although there are 6 of us girls in one small room, it's actually a lot nicer than I imagined a hostel to be like. Theres a terrace attached to the fourth floor, which has already proven to be the place to hang out with everyone with its big tables and great views. Yesterday felt like one big blur of a long day, we essentially spent 36 hours awake and traveling around. We went straight from the airport to Croke Park, the 3rd largest stadium in Europe, which is home to traditional gaelic games. This huge stadium could easily house professional games, yet elite level athletes play various gaelic sports here without getting paid, so it is considered amateur sport. They dedicate so much time and energy to the sport and play it at such a high skill level, and yet they do it for free. They simply play for their love of Gaelic tradition and representing their home towns and counties.This would an unreal concept in America, and I think its really speaks bounds about Irish culture.
After, Croke Park we went on a walking tour guided by an Irish historian around the city, checking out the most influential spots in Dublin for Irish history. Just these few places like Trinity College and the Dublin Castle, gave us a good feel for the city we would get to explore for the next week. Later that night, for our welcome dinner as a group we went to an Irish pub called Celt's down the street from our hostel. They had the whole back room reserved for us with walls covered in the most random, most interesting things, and had live music. I had an amazing cottage pie for dinner with nothing other than Guinness to drink. We then all hung out and played games on our rooftop terrace until it was time to pass the heck out.
We have these tiny "pods" for beds which are basically a claustrophobic nightmare. They're these twin beds that are completely boxed in except for the front to get in, which can be closed by a curtain, with a light and outlets on the inside. But dang they were actually so so comfortable, I slept like a rock.
We left this morning for University College of Dublin for our first day of lectures. Our first lecture discussed the Irish Sports, History and Culture, next we went to one of their Sport Labs and performed VO2 max tests, an isokinetic pull, and a optojump test in their high performance gym. We got lunch at their student cafeteria and ate it on the lawn of their campus which was next to a beautiful pond. Our next lectures were then on exercise prescription and neurorehabilitation. As a hopeful therapist, the neurorehab lecture was super interesting and related a lot to what I would love to do in the future. It was awesome to get to here from this professor about their neurorehabiliation process and strategies here in Ireland.
After we got home and settled, we all went to Beer Dock, a restaurant right down the street from our hostel for food and a few pints. Then we all ended back at the Celt, where we had been the night before, to end the night with some live music! We tried to request Wagon Wheel like true Gamecocks, and the singer had no idea what that was. We got second best though, and he sang Sweet Caroline!
After waiting two long long hours in the customs line, we finally arrived yesterday! We are staying at a hostel called Jacob's Inn. Although there are 6 of us girls in one small room, it's actually a lot nicer than I imagined a hostel to be like. Theres a terrace attached to the fourth floor, which has already proven to be the place to hang out with everyone with its big tables and great views. Yesterday felt like one big blur of a long day, we essentially spent 36 hours awake and traveling around. We went straight from the airport to Croke Park, the 3rd largest stadium in Europe, which is home to traditional gaelic games. This huge stadium could easily house professional games, yet elite level athletes play various gaelic sports here without getting paid, so it is considered amateur sport. They dedicate so much time and energy to the sport and play it at such a high skill level, and yet they do it for free. They simply play for their love of Gaelic tradition and representing their home towns and counties.This would an unreal concept in America, and I think its really speaks bounds about Irish culture.
We have these tiny "pods" for beds which are basically a claustrophobic nightmare. They're these twin beds that are completely boxed in except for the front to get in, which can be closed by a curtain, with a light and outlets on the inside. But dang they were actually so so comfortable, I slept like a rock.
We left this morning for University College of Dublin for our first day of lectures. Our first lecture discussed the Irish Sports, History and Culture, next we went to one of their Sport Labs and performed VO2 max tests, an isokinetic pull, and a optojump test in their high performance gym. We got lunch at their student cafeteria and ate it on the lawn of their campus which was next to a beautiful pond. Our next lectures were then on exercise prescription and neurorehabilitation. As a hopeful therapist, the neurorehab lecture was super interesting and related a lot to what I would love to do in the future. It was awesome to get to here from this professor about their neurorehabiliation process and strategies here in Ireland.
After we got home and settled, we all went to Beer Dock, a restaurant right down the street from our hostel for food and a few pints. Then we all ended back at the Celt, where we had been the night before, to end the night with some live music! We tried to request Wagon Wheel like true Gamecocks, and the singer had no idea what that was. We got second best though, and he sang Sweet Caroline!
well done!
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