Sunday Morning was perfect for sleeping in and skyping Momma. Anna, Maggie's friend from Paris, was still staying with me so I got up and me and Claire took her around Dublin some more. We walked around western Dublin city and saw some less touristy areas. We ended up at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Such a beautiful place, worth seeing a few times. The weather was chilly so we went back home and just hung out. Laura was finally back from Marrakesh, Morocco so I was glad to see her. :)
I decided it would be a good idea to take a nap in preparation for our plans to stay up and watch the Superbowl. A local club called Kobra was having a Superbowl Party in association with UCD. Superbowl the American way...beer in solo cups and hamburgers served. We all thought it would be fun to watch the game and toast to American culture a bit. After my nap (or rather, laying there in the dark for an hour with my eyes closed), I got ready, rounded up the troops and headed to catch the bus.
We met up with Stacy, Jen, and Mariel at the club. The place was packed, we missed the national anthem, but were faced painted by some Irish students when we walked in. Why Not right? There was a big projection screen in the center of the room (not quite Hooked Up Installs HD, but still good). We found a place to sit/stand, and watched the game. It was hard to choose who to root for, so I kind of cheered for both. Into the second quarter, Claire had made friends with some Irish students she ended up sitting next to. The one girl, Aoife, (pronounced Ee-Fa) was so nice. She had studied abroad at the University of Minnesota for a year and loved all things America. She loved Minneapolis, loved Keeping up with Karadishans, and wanted us to find her an American to marry. Her dream husband is a Texican, a mexican from Texas. She laughed with us about how Dublin shut down because they got an inch of a snow. As a former resident of Minneapolis, she knew what real snow was like. She was impressed with my knowledge of Derry, where she is from, and about my limited Irish History knowledge. I guess my Wednesday night class is paying off a little. She insisted I have a beer with her, and well, you don't mess with Irish culture so I headed to the bar with her. She stopped to talk to some American guys, who I knew were not from Texas. We ran into her friend Leanne, who she introduced me to. I told her my name was Brittany, and she goes "Brittany Metz!". I was like yeah? And she's like you are in my Business Excellence class and in my group! Talk about a small world, right? She was so funny and was telling me about the Irish way and basically to just talk to everyone because the Irish don't care and they are just friendly. And also that Irish guys love Americans, so just go up to them and say, Hi I'm from America. (There we go, Linds). We got coronas, after waiting at the bar forever, but Leanne pushed ahead. She offered to pay for it, but I told her I had it, no worries. Leanne and Aoife said that I should go out with them, so I'm thinking that'll be fun. Meet some actual Irish people instead of more Americans, from Chicago.
When I headed back to where Anna, Claire, and Stevie were, I found Claire in the middle of a booth surrounded by new friends. I climbed in there with her, and started talking to her new Irish friend Derek. Derek was with his 2 friends... whose name I didn't catch...although Claire said she thought one was named Edna. Both were out of undergrad and one worked at a firm called PriceWaterhouse Coopers, in case we were familiar with it. We were like, oh yea, we're a little familiar with it, thanks. Derek made fun of my American words... and my inability to pronounce Galway correctly. He also filled me in on some of the rugby rules... and we were correct on some of the rules we guessed on. I totally pulled the American card to ask him about what's popular in Ireland..music, movies, etc. He basically said anything American, as America controls the world.
He passed out with his shoes on... so they felt like it was appropriate to mess with him.
All during this, the game was going on. Let's just say that Ireland does not share the Superbowl Commercial phenomenon. While my friends in America were indulging in Budweiser and Doritos Commercials, I was watching commercials for Dominos, Van Insurance, and Sensodyne. Kid you not, like poorly made commercials. I was thankful when they turned on music during the commercials. Nothing says America like Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z, who they call Jay Zed. That and a bunch of Irish and American students rocking out to "You Have to Fight for Your Right to Party" and "Born in the USA". Let me tell you, it was inspiring. And the fact that every time the Saints scored or made a play, they chanted/sung "When the Saints Go Marching In". It was a definite Saints dominated crowd. We thought that it would be mostly Americans but Aoife told us that there were a lot of Irish people there so it was at least 50/50. Some stuck out as more Irish then others, especially the group of guys that kept chanting SACK SACK but instead it came out SOCK SOCK.
It was a perfect American night surrounded by some awesome Irish people. Everything they say about the Irish is true. They are friendly and full of humor, easy to talk to, and laugh with.
When the Saints won, everyone was celebrating, singing their favorite song (When the Saints Go Marching In). I also think that a lot of people were throwing their glasses down... not sure why. I think that's more of a Greek thing than American or Irish.
The game ended about 3 am Ireland time, and Anna had to catch a bus to the airport for her 6 am flight back to Paris. We caught a cab (sorry a TAXI, I got corrected about that as well). We all had such a great time. I would say it's the most fun Superbowl Party I've ever been to.
Ofcourse by the time I got home and checked my email, it was like 3:30 am and I was wide awake. By the time I fell asleep it was probably 4:30 which made waking up at 8:30 for my 9 am class a little difficult. It also meant that I fell asleep for about 3 hours this afternoon.
Tonight I had tacos with the girls and planned some more of London and Spring Break! Life is good. :)
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