Dublinfest

So like three months ago when I didn't have any work to do, I played in a lacrosse tournament. Just kidding. It was like two weeks ago. Dublinfest is a tournament hosted by the Dublin lacrosse teams (surprise!) and teams come from places all over Ireland, England, and Scotland. By teams I mean mostly men's teams. There were only 4 women's teams in the tournament, so this will be a pretty quick one.

So we had 6 games to be played over two days. Our first was against a team from Aberdeen. The uniforms they ordered hadn't arrived yet. Logically, their first instinct was for all of them to dress up as Waldo...like from Where's Waldo? It seems like a clever idea right? You know, lull us into a false sense of security. It's pretty hard to take a team seriously when they look ridiculous. But we still won. Next game was against the Manchester team. Anyone who knows me is probably aware that I like to take lacrosse somewhat seriously, and I'm a fairly competitive person...but man those were the meanest bitches I've played against in my life. I wasn't angry that they beat us. I was angry that one of those steroid British freaks intentionally slashed me in the head with her stick. Needless to say they were the least popular team in the tournament...

Anyway, last game was against Leeds, who were good at lacrosse (we didn't even score on them. oops.) and fairly classy, which was nice. Day 2 was more fun. We started off against Aberdeen again. They got their uniforms. They were bright purple. And all the names on the backs were Harry Potter characters. Scottish people are my favorite (excuse me, *favourite*).

It gets better. Remember those nasty Manchester manladies? Well we were pretty fired up (we beat Aberdeen again), and we wanted to crush their spirit. Guess who beat those fools? YEAH UCD YEAH! (They were really disgusted and pitiful afterwards because we're really not that good a team and they had won the tournament the previous two years...hahaha). NBD.

Unfortunately, after expending all of our energy on defeating the evil people, and losing some players (people just left and went home after Manchester...it was that big a deal), we had nothing left to play against Leeds again. So we played for like 10 minutes and then forfeited. Usually this would upset me because I think quitting & giving up in general is SAD, but I really can't even acceptably express how pleased I was to mindf*** Manchester.

Tournament results: UCD 3rd place. Out of 4. Better than losing (sorry Aberdeen).

What am I doing here?

Don't get me wrong, I've actually been really busy here for the past few weeks. It's just my personal opinion that what's been keeping me busy are things that would most likely not be of any interest to anyone else. But, as it's been a while since my last update (and, as I don't want to leave my favorite stalkers hanging for fear of a Misery style punishment), I will document things.

School work: Yeah, believe it or not, I've actually had to do work. I guess the way it works over here is the profs like to lull people into a false sense of security, during which many stop attending lectures...or doing readings...or handing in assignments...and then they pile on the workload and terrify everyone into studying again by giving sample material to prepare for exams (during which many realize that they have no idea what's going on in the class or what their prof's name is...). Don't worry, I'm too much of a nerd to be one of these people.

Weather: Did you know that Ireland actually does receive sunlight? With the amount of fake tan I've seen since being here, I didn't believe it, but it actually gets WARM and SUNNY here. Like the past 2-3 weeks, I've actually been able to go outside a few times without a coat on, and wear SUNGLASSES, and even SHORTS. I was afraid that being out of Philly meant that I would miss the proper smell of spring and those random days where it hits 70 degrees and suddenly everyone is lying on College Green in bikinis. And yeah, it's not quite the same here (because the second a cloud moves over the sun, you start to get the chills), but it's close enough.

Lacrosse: So this past Friday and Saturday, the UCD women's lacrosse team had informal matches. These matches included a mix of players from Dublin, Belfast, Galway, and other places which I don't remember. What you should know about this is that these random players, and about a third of the UCD team are on the Irish Development team...meaning they're going to be representing Ireland in the Women's Lacrosse WORLD CUP. As the cocky American that I am, I figured that this Irish team would probably be a bit of a joke in comparison to teams I've seen back home. NEWS UPDATE: They're actually really good and beat the American team a few years ago...

So the way the teams were split up, it was the National Irish Team versus everyone else (so they could practice playing together with the new players who just made the squad). Sadly for me, I was on the everyone else team. As in the team on which the players run the wrong direction of the goal. And can't catch. Or throw. Or pick up the ball off the ground once they've missed the catch or dropped the throw. Needless to say, we were massacred. Even though I wanted to yell at everyone at half time, it was still fun(ish).

This week we have a three day long tournament called Dublinfest, which means we miss class and play three games a day on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the winning teams from those games play in a final match on Thursday. I think we have a shot, especially since we won't be losing 99% of our GOOD players to the Irish Team.

Social life: I take it from the conversation I had with my grandmother just an hour ago that it's possible that there's some gossip in this department. "This department" specifically being my (I actually cringe a little when I hear these words) "love life." Yes, I am now dating an Irish boy. His name is Jason. He's on the guy's lacrosse team, which is how I met him. He is very nice. And he has won the love of my roommates by bringing an Xbox to our apartment. Don't worry, I told him I would only marry him if there is a shooting star directly behind him when he proposes.

Stay tuned for the Dublinfest update...and next weekend's trip to LDN!