Irish Winter Wonderland

The weekend started off with flag football. The founder of the American Football Team at DCU had told us that the flag football team was always looking for players. We decided to take advantage of that fact, and Saturday morning Elizabeth, Molly, Jack and I headed out to practice. They were very glad to see us, for only four Irish players were at the practice. We started by running "routes" which was quite entertaining, but a good warm up nonetheless. Although my team lost in the 4 vs. 4 game, I did score a touchdown and had a blast experiencing a slightly different delivery of the game. The group practices every Saturday, so despite our traveling, we will be back again for another shot. Next time I'll be looking for a win!

The rest of the day was pretty calm and was centered mainly around my paper for my Contemporary Irish Society class. I'm writing about abortion in Ireland. With the passage of the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution, abortion was declared illegal in Ireland. With all the controversy that this topic entertains in the US, I'm very interested in how the idea is perceived in Ireland.

Saturday night we experienced an unexpected surprise. SNOW! It rarely snows in Ireland. The climate is moderate all year long, and the country does not know how to handle snow. We were all dressed up and ready to go to city center when we were hit by incoming snowballs on our way to the bus stop. Turns out, a group of Irish students from our apartment building were having a snowball fight. It did not take much convincing for Molly, Elizabeth and I to run back upstairs and put on some snow gear for the fight. We spent the rest of the night running around DCU, making snowmen and enjoying the fresh 2 inches of snow that had turned the campus into a winter wonderland (if only for the night). It was a small taste of home as we experienced the familiar weather and made new friends in the process.





This morning Mike, Jack and I went to what was another beautiful mass at our Interfaith center. If it wasn't so peaceful (not my forte), I would learn to play the harp because I am becoming a huge fan. I think I'll stick to the Bodhran for now but who knows what the future holds. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, but very productive. My afternoon consisted of a trip to Tesco (the grocery store), a workout at the gym, and more paper writing.

For dinner, Meghan and I cooked a chicken! This was only our second attempt at the meal, but it proved a success. We were so excited that I just had to take a picture. The cooking situation has been an experience here, as the ten of us in my apartment work to share the single oven and stove. As you can see, we are making the most of the situation and have been enjoying it.