Best Week Ever: Ireland Edition Numero Uno
Emily Bisso
Issue date: 4/27/05 Section: Distractions
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Well kids, here I am from the great green motherland of Irish lasses, lads, and Guinness. And here's what I have to share with you from abroad...what a week we have had so far.
THIS WEEK'S TOPICS INCLUDE
1. Drunk Valerie on the street
We first had the fortunate occurrence of meeting drunk, slightly insane Valerie (no last name required, or provided) on the streets of Tralee (location: Southwest Ireland, County Kerry). She took one look at Tom Borda and hexed him. Lately, we see the beyond-deranged Valerie as more of a Tralee fixture of sorts. She likes to sit on the corner and hex anyone that comes by, making wild obscene hand gestures, but we figured out that if you stick around long enough, she invites you to her birthday party (which takes place every night) with all of her friends.
2. Tea
Only plebians drink coffee there across the pond. Apparently, everyone drinks tea over here. I'm a huge fan now, and I get a little antsy when I don't have my tea. It's become an addiction...fueling my caffeine habit. It's so crazy...'coffee' bars really don't serve much coffee at all...just the standard black. It's all about tea. They may as well be called 'tea bars.'
3. Sheep
Everywhere you look in Ireland - left, right, under your bed, in the closet, whatever - there are sheep. Specifically lambs. That's right folks - lambs everywhere. Proliferating. I mean, I realize we're smack in the middle of the spring and animal loving and whatnot, but I haven't seen that many baby animals except for lambs. They run around and look like little dogs, and they dot the otherwise green scenerywith puffs of white cotton.
4. Gaelic football
You have not seen intensity until you have seen Gaelic football. Our entire ragtag group of 20 (including Rob Rain, who sports a spotlessly white baseball hat with the Irish flag and 'Ireland' emblazoned across the front in the hopes of looking more 'local') hit the field to watch this sport. It's a crazy amalgamation of rugby, soccer, American football, and brutal man-domination. Bizarrely enough, I felt like I was watching a W&L game of some sort since we were watching the White-and-Blue team play a Blue-and-White team. The goal posts are nuts - they're soccer goals with field goal posts on top. Pretty amazing, and they don't even wear padding.
THIS WEEK'S TOPICS INCLUDE
1. Drunk Valerie on the street
We first had the fortunate occurrence of meeting drunk, slightly insane Valerie (no last name required, or provided) on the streets of Tralee (location: Southwest Ireland, County Kerry). She took one look at Tom Borda and hexed him. Lately, we see the beyond-deranged Valerie as more of a Tralee fixture of sorts. She likes to sit on the corner and hex anyone that comes by, making wild obscene hand gestures, but we figured out that if you stick around long enough, she invites you to her birthday party (which takes place every night) with all of her friends.
2. Tea
Only plebians drink coffee there across the pond. Apparently, everyone drinks tea over here. I'm a huge fan now, and I get a little antsy when I don't have my tea. It's become an addiction...fueling my caffeine habit. It's so crazy...'coffee' bars really don't serve much coffee at all...just the standard black. It's all about tea. They may as well be called 'tea bars.'
3. Sheep
Everywhere you look in Ireland - left, right, under your bed, in the closet, whatever - there are sheep. Specifically lambs. That's right folks - lambs everywhere. Proliferating. I mean, I realize we're smack in the middle of the spring and animal loving and whatnot, but I haven't seen that many baby animals except for lambs. They run around and look like little dogs, and they dot the otherwise green scenerywith puffs of white cotton.
4. Gaelic football
You have not seen intensity until you have seen Gaelic football. Our entire ragtag group of 20 (including Rob Rain, who sports a spotlessly white baseball hat with the Irish flag and 'Ireland' emblazoned across the front in the hopes of looking more 'local') hit the field to watch this sport. It's a crazy amalgamation of rugby, soccer, American football, and brutal man-domination. Bizarrely enough, I felt like I was watching a W&L game of some sort since we were watching the White-and-Blue team play a Blue-and-White team. The goal posts are nuts - they're soccer goals with field goal posts on top. Pretty amazing, and they don't even wear padding.