We did a little bit of pregaming at Ryan and Cians while playing COD and listening to some music. Definitely fun times. We headed out, feeling fantastic around 10ish. Ryan made me rip a little bit of his everclear before we left which didn’t end as well as it should have but whatever, “that that don’t kill you only makes you stronger”….yeah…that’s it….
When we finally got to the show, one can only imagine how beyond excited I was to be there at that moment. Similar to Dropkick on St. Paddys, or Big D on Halloween or pretty much anytime I’ve ever seen GirlTalk. I was amped. Even at Andrews Lane theater it was cool to meet so many other Americans who were there but had never seen Girl Talk. I even met a few people from my American and the Wider World class who recognized me as “THE BOY FROM BOSTON THAT THE TEACHER ALWAYS TALKS TO!!” I’m telling you I get more recognition from that class than anything else by a massive amount. Haha I love it though and it was great. The place was relatively empty when we got there but after the two opening acts went on I realized how full it had got and how crammed in we all were. When Greg finally came out on stage my life was perfect. He went on after midnight so it was officially my birthday when play your part came on. Damn. I freakin love girl talk. I helped boost marielle on stage and when I got on I was immediately by Gregs side with not a care in the world and no where else I would even remotely want to be at that moment. Literally. I probably could not come up with a better situation. After the show when I told him it was my birthday I got a high five and a hug along with his red hoodie he wore out to the stage. The man of the hour from Pittsburgh knew how awesome his life was and I like to think he knew how epic and legendary he made my 21st birthday. When we finally got home we were completely completely covered in sweat and disgusting. Luckilly Ryan was waiting for us with some cold drinks and some more COD before bed. Absolutely unbelievably beyond awesome and fantastic. I will obviously never forget how overwhelmingly fantastic it was and I still had a huge day on Saturday to go. Man life was good. God Bless America baby. I love college.
As well, I obviously survived my 21st birthday. It really was a fantastic fantastic day. Besides the fact that I’ve now been around for 21 years, Ireland played rugby against Wales for the championship of the 6 Nations tournament. Most people that read this wont really comprehend how big a deal this is, but Ireland has not won the 6 nations Grand Slam since 1948. That’s 61 years. Considering there are only 5 teams they compete against, the significance of the game was enormous. The bar on campus had set up some giant t.v.s and was playing all the days games leading up to the final match at 5.30. That morning I watched the France match with GShlan and Julia and Camille in Julias apartment. For no real reason what so ever, I got up off the couch near the end of the match and as i looked outside i saw someone standing by our window below. Standing there looking into the window was none other than Ty and his girlfriend, back form Galway!!! It was really really awesome to see him and meet his girlfriend and i am totally pumped he was here to celebrate the day with us. Before he left to go park his car at the B&B down the street he told me to come to the car with him where he had a little birthday present for me. As he leaned in the car he handed me a completely full case of Stella pints! (With a few Carlsbergs and Guiness thrown in for some color!) AWESOME!!!
What a great start to the day!!!
Before we headed over to the old bar I was able to talk to everybody back home on Skype and they all had good wishes etc etc.
By the time we got to the old bar with Ryan, lisa, emma and marielle, (everyone else was meeting us there) my day was already off to a great start. Ryan bought me my first drink, something I’ve never had before called a Paulner Weissenbeir or something. pretty good, strong, but kind of a fruity taste. We luckily secured a couch and kind of took it over from the people that were sitting next to us, but i dont think they cared too much. they were really cool. (shout out to Mary...hope your massive paper is going well after the celebration)
The game was epic and everyone in the place was going crazy the entire time. At the beginning of the game actually I bet 5e that one guy, Fitzgerald, would score the first try. (10-1 odds) About midway through the first half, Ireland seemed to score and the place went absolutely bizerk. I went even crazier when I saw that my man, number 11 had been the one to score! MY excitement was sadly short lived though because when they reviewed it, the ball had been passed forward. O well. The money went to charity and it was only 5 bucks. and that minute of excitement was close to worth it. ha ha.
Anyway, By the second half all my French friends had gotten there, Amparo, Katha and their group, along with Ty and his girl so we had quite a crew. The last four minutes of the game were absolutely insane, with 2 different lead changes, the last one when Irelands O'Ghara (face of the team pretty much) scored a drop with a 2 minutes to go to put Ireland up by 2. Everything was going great and every irish fan watching was counting down the seconds until the game would end. Then, with less than 30 second left on the clock, someone from Ireland committed a penalty. From the 49 meter mark, It was down to one final kick from a Wales player. If he made it, Wales would win. If he missed, 61 years of dreaming would alas become a reality.
A few seconds later, grown men began to cry. shouts of joy could be heard throughout Ireland. many a pint of Guinness were spilt on the floor, and the fields of athenry were sung countrywide by men and women alike linking arms and singing their favorite victory song. The waiting was over and Ireland were the champions!
After the game everyone was super excited and full of energy. Camille made dinner for us and he made his specialty which is pretty much just pasta and meat,onion sauce, but he does it really really well and its probably my favorite thing to eat here. It was Cam, G, Ty and Sarah for dinner so that was fun to all hang out before the people came over for the party to start. Right after dinner as I was getting something from the cupboard the lights went out and Jenny and Julia walked in with a cake with candles on it for me. It was really really really really great and I was totally surprised. I’m pretty sure there were 21 candles on it too.
Everyone was hanging out and luckily the French speaking was kept to a pretty low does. ha ha. I guess nothing to ridiculous happened at night, until we started playing Kings later on but I definetly think that everyone was there had a blast. Even sarah and Amparo and their german friends came for while in the beginning with ANOTHER cake for me! Katha was the only one to stay late though…that other group went into the city to celebrate someone else’s birthday and go to a club. ( I was plenty content to stay at home) Lisa was obviously there with her margaritas, Camille helped me with the bottle of Jamesons, Tomas and his girlfriend took some of my beers, Ryan manned up against whatever it is that has had him sick and drank his Everclear, Jenny and Julia were infatuated with each other, and Cyril and G watched us all make fools of ourselves….. so for the most part it was business as usual....haha... there should be some pictures online soon. Well maybe not all of them. Sorry Ger.
In all, my 21st birthday was pretty epic. Pictures to arrive soon.
right now it is Monday afternoon around 2.30. I just got back from a nice little constructive excursion where I picked up some food for dinner tonight. I am going over to my host families house and I am making them dinner so i went and picked up all the ingredients I would need for some hopefully fantastic chicken parmigana. I’m excited.
I also set up my bank account because my card finally came in the mail. sweet. and i saw my favorite bank teller there who wished me a happy belated birthday. shes great.
Katharina let me use her bike while she is in Cork so that was pretty awesome to be able to ride that to Tesco as opposed to walking too.
And now I’m going to go and cook like a crazy man. Cheers! Tomorrow at this time I will drinking wine with the two best American girls in Italy!
If I knew, I'd stay... One place given to a motherfucking PIG !!!!! grrrrrrrrrrr
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