Well we officially have less then a month left on this trip and as each day goes by I realize more and more just how unique this experience truly has been. From a soccer game, to a birthday celebration, to traveling to UK territory, this past week has been very eventful for my friends and I.
On Friday, Aidan, Price, and I visited another St. Patrick’s FC soccer game at their home stadium Richmond Park. With it being their last regular season game, and their opponent (Bohemians) also being from Dublin, we found ourselves in a sold out stadium. The atmosphere of this game, also known as the “Dublin Derby” was out of this world. My favorite moment of the game was when Mason Power, our favorite player, scored what we thought was the game-winning goal in the 75th minute. The stadium erupted, everyone around us went wild, and it felt like pure chaos in the best way. But just seconds later, the referee called it back for offsides, and the mood flipped instantly—players, coaches, and fans all lost it. The energy and noise in those few moments gave me goosebumps, and it’s something I’ll never forget. After over 100 minutes of super physical soccer, the game ended in a 0-0 draw, which was not a desirable score for St. Pats who needed a win to move up in the table.
Straight after the soccer game we headed into the city to meet up with Ellix and his family. It was super fun to meet his family and hear about their few days that they spent in Ireland, as well as celebrate his moms birthday which was also on Friday.
Saturday morning we were up bright and early on our way to Belfast. It was a pretty easy day, we visited the Titanic Museum and went through a Taxi Tour which taught us some history and allowed us to look around Belfast. Saturday night was my favorite part of the weekend, my favorite soccer team (Real Madrid) was playing in a very important game, so my friends agreed to find a outdoor spot to hangout and watch the game, luckily just a few minutes away from the hotel, we found a beer garden streaming the game and it was so much fun to watch the game with my friends.
Sunday we were up bright and early to head in the Derry direction. Molly and I sat together for this bus ride and talked the entire time so the ride flew by! Sunday and Monday were then spent in Derry, we got to visit the Rope Bridge, hold sheep, and learn some fascinating history. I thought our visit to the sheep place was super cool and I was very surprised by everything we were shown. Sunday night my friends and I found ourselves at a karaoke bar, and we learned that maybe karaoke isn’t for us….
After a long weekend it was nice to be back in our apartment Monday night, eating ice cream and catching up on our shows. I look forward to making even more memories in our next few weeks here!!