My first week in Ireland was probably the most exhausting weeks I’ve ever lived through. By the second day, I was too excited to see as much of Dublin while I was still there to feel any remaining effects of jet lag. As the other students on my program were just arriving, I set out to do some exploring; in the morning I went to see Dublin Castle.
The castle was built in 1204 AD and is still used by the Irish government to hold events and host dignitaries. The cool thing about Dublin Castle is that it has been at the center of most of Ireland’s history. It was built after the Norman invasion of Ireland in the mid-1100s and housed many inmates who were imprisoned during Irish revolutionary efforts. When Ireland gained independence, the castle was handed over to the new government and it has seen every presidential inauguration since. It has also seen many European Council meetings while the Republic of Ireland has served as president of the European Union.
In the afternoon, the students on my program decided we should all do an activity together so we went on a double-decker bus tour of Dublin. These are incredibly cheesy and annoy drivers to no end but it seemed to be the best way to see as much of the city as we possibly could. Dublin seemed to be the type of place that it takes a while to get to know. So, with little time to spend there, it was acceptable to indulge ourselves in shameless tourist behavior.
The next day involved a much more hands on activity: an introduction to Irish sports. Our program leaders arranged for us to go to a Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club and learn how to play “Gaelic games” which include hurling and Gaelic football. Both of these games can be traced back to the indigenous people of Ireland and are very intense, demanding sports. After watching some videos of the sports we were about to learn, I became hesitant about how aggressive they might get. We were taught Gaelic football first. To me, it seemed like a combination of a lot of other sports. It’s similar to American football in that you kick the ball up from the ground but you can also dribble the ball like you can in basketball. However, you can’t throw it or pick it up with your hands so it is also kind of like soccer. Hurling is a lot like lacrosse but the players use paddles instead of nets to get the ball into the goal. After we were taught the rules of Gaelic football they broke us up into two teams that faced off in a match. Even though we were all trying our best and having a really good time, it was still pretty obvious that we were brand new to the game. The younger kids at the club seemed to get a good laugh out of us being such amateurs at their sports. In Ireland, hurling and Gaelic football are games that kids will usually play from a really young age and are followed by everyone in the country. Seeing a group of young adults playing these sports for the first time and being completely unfamiliar with the rules was probably a rare and hilarious site for many onlookers. Even though playing Gaelic games for the first time was scary and different, it taught me a lot and since I will be exposed to a lot of things that I’ve never done before, I should probably get used to doing things that scare me.