Hey all so quick pre-EuroTrip post to update you on the last couple weeks…sorry I fail so hard haha. Well rugby is now over, sadly, though I guess it’s good since I’ll be gone all of April. But we made it to the final!!! :D Seriously, the team is SO GOOD. Rafa and I have discussed who would win, UCC or Bowdoin, and we actually can’t decide. So tough. But about the final:
We were set to play University of Limerick (UL), which is right near us, but of course everything has to happen in Dublin. The team bus left at 5:15pm on Thursday…but my Irish test got out at 6. Fml. So Rafa and I ended up taking the early train up to Dublin…5am to be precise. So after a lovely night of little sleep and nerves, we got to the station at 4:30am. We had tried to book tickets online but they wouldn’t go through, so obviously we decided to get them at the station, not really worrying about the train filling up or anything. We get there, go to buy tickets, and find out a nasty little detail: tickets online, 14 euro; tickets at the station, 66 EURO. Yeah, fml. Rafa and I kinda share a look and simultaneously think, Eff this, like they need us. We try to barter and bargain but no luck—it’s either pay the money or don’t go. And we can’t get them online, cause it’s within the 90min that the train leaves. We end up getting tickets for the 7:30am train, hoping that Eimear (our captain) and Theresa (our coach) don’t gut us. Luckily, the guard we’d tried to guilt into letting us get on the train allowed us on the 6:15am train, which was the really fast one so we ended up getting there right after the 5:30am train. PHEW. I obvs slept the entire way, including in the station. I don’t think I’ve ever slept sitting up, my head on a bag before. Oh sleep deprivation how I dislike you.
The game was insane! Like an absolutely unbelievable game—we were totally spellbound on the sidelines. Everyone played SO FREAKING WELL like the entire time it was amazing. We even got a new mascot, Kenny the Red M&M, which Kelly convinced a convention to give us, along with the green and orange ones. So I of course carried it up and down the sidelines screaming and cheering and taking lots of pictures (with my new/old camera…thanks Mom!!). We did lose, 7-5, by one conversion kick, but it really was just bad luck. We were equally as good as UL and if the ball hadn’t gone into touch I think we could’ve run back to their end and drop-kicked for a win (that would be 3 points, btw). A frustrating end to the game, but everyone was super proud. The bus ride home was filled with shenanigans, aka lots of drinking. Rafa and I serenaded them with some songs from home, which the Irish seem to love. They also love ‘Grenade,’ ‘Ireland’s Call,’ and ‘The Fields of Athenrye,’ all of which were sung over and over and over AND OVER on the 4 hours home. I did not drink, partially cause I had no money but also because I know my bladder. There was a new rule—no randomly stopping to pee like usual. On our ride home from NUIG we stopped like 7 times for the bathroom…I wanted to kill someone by the end. We got home and went out in our rugby gear, which was really fun. It was Captain Morgan night or something and I got a t-shirt that barely fits over my top half, so obvs that’ll be someone’s gift when I get back. One of the girls, Niamh (pronounced Neeve), turned 21 that day so we made sure she had an epic night. Did eventually go home to bed since I’d barely slept and am a wuss.
Now rugby is over, which is bittersweet. Everyone knows I have a love-hate relationship with the game: I love it, but I hate being so nervous all the time. But I am sad because I won’t get to see the girls really at all again. There’s Intravarsities and the Rugby Ball, but I’ll be gone by then :( It was an awesome time, and I really hope I get to see them all again in May.
Slán go fóill!
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