Ireland: Boys in Blue

During the bus ride on our way to our Gaelic Games program, I learned so much about how the Irish are when it comes to sports, specifically football (soccer).

One of the two coaches who "trained" us that day said:

"When people ask me to explain what sports mean to Ireland, it's like they're asking me to explain what air means to everyone. We live for our sports. We breathe it." 

Since I've never really followed any international sports team, I had no idea how passionate the Irish were when it comes to playing their games. I mean, I guess every country is very into their sports in one way or another, but what struck out to me the most about Ireland and their sports is the fact that the athletes (at least those who play in the All-Ireland Football games) do NOT get paid at all! 

And I quote our coach:

"These players who'll be playing at today's final game, they don't get paid. Not a single cent. They play purely out of passion and pride for their team, for their county."

For all of their sports, teams are categorized based on the counties represented in Ireland. For example, Dublin and Mayo are two separate counties, so there's a Dublin team, and a Mayo team. The team you belong to is "assigned" to you at birth. Whichever county you were born in, that automatically becomes your team should you choose to enter the world of sports. I guess this is exactly what fuels their passion, pride, and loyalty!

Ireland: Gaelic Games

Game face on!!! Ready to dominate these Irish sports!
(c) Bryan Koop - Official SAS F'13 Photographer

As a dancer, all my time for extra-curricular activities was devoted to the dance studio, and never to an outdoor playing field, except during my senior year in high school when I joined the track team. That's the most I've ever done as far as sports go.

But one of my goals on this SAS voyage is to experience new things (activities, food, transportation, etc) in every country we go to. So when I read about the Gaelic Games Experience on the list of field programs available to us in Ireland, I jumped at the chance at trying my luck with Irish sports...or, well, sports in general.

So that beautiful sunny Sunday in Dublin, I hopped on a bus together with 13 other fellow SAS-ers, excited (and a bit anxious) at the thought of a sports-filled day!

Irish Football

So this is basically like soccer, but with different rules. Now, I know squat about the rules of American or Philippine or whichever country's soccer, but I did ask if Irish football was different from the kind of soccer that is played during the World Cup. Our coach said yes, Irish football is a wee bit different. One of the main differences is the fact that as opposed to the soccer I know, the ball in Irish football is barely kicked around on the ground. I'm not gonna go into details about the rules because i'm finding it difficult to explain and illustrate the moves allowed in the game. But, I am gonna brag that I scored a goal during practice!! Buuut.. never again during the actual game. Haha #athleteprobs #charot

(c) Bryan Koop

Hurling

When I first heard our guide say that we will be hurling that day, I was like WHUT. Hurling to me (and probably to everyone who is not Irish lol) means umm, throwing up. I thought they implied that I won't be able to take all the sports we'll be doing that day and that I'd have to hurl. Lol. So I was kinda relieved when the coach explained that Hurling is another type of Irish sport, similar to what field hockey is. You go around chasing a ball with a hurling stick (shaped a bit like a hockey stick) and try to maneuver the ball into the goal.

(c) Bryan Koop

Love From Lisbon

After three days of battling rocky seas, we finally docked in Lisbon, Portugal, this morning! I know I haven't put up all my Ireland posts yet, but I hope to get around to finishing that soon. I've been occupied with schoolwork these past few days, so I haven't had time to really blog. Well, that, and the fact that the constant swaying of the ship made it hard to focus because I was exerting all my effort into not getting seasick!

Anyway, that's all I have to say for now. Much love from Lisbon!

Ireland: Pouring The Perfect Pint

Guinness Storehouse Brewery!

As part of our Guinness Storehouse Dublin Brewery tour the day we arrived in Ireland, we were taught how to pour the perfect pint of a Guinness beer through the Guinness Academy. There's a whole technique to pouring a drink; they don't just pull, pour, and go. Two key things that make a perfect pint: (1) it must be filled to the brim (2) it must not have any overspill whatsoever!

How to pour the perfect pint:

(1) Hold out the special Guinness glass with your left hand at a 45-degree angle towards the tap nozzle
(2) Pull the lever of the tap with your right hand from up above all the way down til it can't be pulled any further down to allow the maximum flow of beer into the glass
(3) When the beer reaches the Guinness logo on the glass, tilt the glass upright
(4) Let the beer flow continuously with the glass in an upright position until the liquid reaches half of the harp icon printed on the glass above the Guinness brand logo
(5) Allow the surge to settle, and then instead of pulling the lever towards you, push back the lever away from you to pour the final foam to top the glass
(6) Wait for the foam to reach the brim of the glass, being absolutely careful not to overspill!

There were specific terms used to explain the process, but I can't remember what they were so I apologize if my wording seemed a bit off! Hehe

After each of us got a chance to try our luck with the beer taps, the Guinness Academy printed off personalized certificates for everyone, making our experience totes legit (yup, I did just use totes)!

Commercial Break: Happy One Month SAS Fall '13!

Today marks our voyage's one month anniversary!! It's been one full month since we first embarked on the MV Explorer in London! Gosh, that feels like ages ago!! Time sure does fly on this trip. One month down, two and a half more to go! 6 countries down, 9 more to go! Let the adventures continue!

P.S. The seas have been really rough the whole day, so it's been a struggle trying to walk to class today. We all looked like drunk college students who can't get their steps straight! Staying awake in my classes proved to be difficult as well (more than usual haha) because the rocky motion of the ocean was rocking me to sleep! Oy vay. Oh well, at least I'm not seasick!

Diggin' Dublin

Hello from Ireland!!

I don't have much time at all to blog about my Irish escapades as of the moment, but I just want to say that I am absolutely loving this place! Everyone keeps asking me what my favorite country has been so far, and I would always have a difficult time answering because I really do love all the countries for different reasons, so it's hard to pick just one! But right now, I can probably honestly say that Ireland has made its way to the top of my list.

I have so much to say about Dublin! Stay tuned!

Le French Experience

The beautiful Eiffel Tower all lit up

 Just an overview: Our stay in France covered visits to 3 cities: Paris, Giverny, and Le Havre. Since the Port of Antwerp was very near the Port of Le Havre, an option to stay on land and do an overland travel was given to the shipboard community. That means we were allowed to travel from Antwerp and in to the next port of call (Le Havre) on our own, on land, as long as we were back on the ship on the last day at the Le Havre port. So my trip went from Antwerp to Paris to Giverny to Le Havre, all by bus.

PARIS

Aside from all the sightseeing (Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe) and the river boat cruise along the Seine River, here are the highlights and the things I learned from my stay in Paris:

(1) Crepes, Croissants, and Chocolat Chaud

It would almost be a mortal sin if you skip out on the crepes and croissants when you're in France! I had croissants for breakfasts, either with jam or Nutella, and then had crepes for dessert whenever we were out for lunch and dinner. To hell with calories! When in Europe, calories from pastries do not count. I also had my fair share of their chocolat chaud aka hot chocolate. It's just so good. Why can't all hot chocolates be that delicious.

Croissant with Nutella or jam, pain du chocolat (chocolate bread),
bacon, orange juice, chocolat chaud (hot chocolate)
CALORIES DON'T COUNT IN EUROPE OKAY

Chocolat chaud viennoise <3

(2) Navigating Skills

In Paris, I learned that my navigating skills were actually pretty on point! I used to hate metro maps because I never had the desire nor the energy to try and decode all that was written/drawn on it. But these past few weeks in Europe have pushed me to get over my laziness and figure these maps out. I discovered that it wasn't that complicated after all! It also helps that i'm a visual learner (as opposed to being an auditory or a kinesthetic learner) which means that my strength is in learning and remembering things through sight and images. My photographic memory retains visual information of which street we were on based on the buildings/objects/signs surrounding it. And that helped a lot!

I don't look this lost anymore

(3) Bike Tour

We went biking again, yay! But this time, we biked under the rain, riding around the city donned in bright yellow ponchos. Biking in Belgium was awesome, but biking in Paris was amazing! Thankfully, it wasn't pouring rain the whole time we were biking. The weather would alternate between rain/drizzle and a bit of sunshine. We were a huge group, too, so the dynamics were different than when I biked in Belgium with just 2 other people. We had to make sure no one got left behind or was too far up ahead. I had such a great time biking, and as I've said, the rain added that new touch of adventure to the experience.

Our group with our tour guide

On my bike