September 6th, 2015 | Uncategorized
School starts this upcoming Tuesday so why not take a little adventure outside of Waterford before our schedules become hectic? Now you are probably think, how does two Waterford Wildcats already know their way around Ireland? During Katie and I’s time in Waterford, we befriended our first Irish friend who is also in the graduate business program at WIT, yet our new Irish friend, Stanka, is actually from Croatia. Stanka is a tall, beautiful, and genuine girl who quickly showed Katie and I the tricks and trades of Ireland’s system. On our free Sunday, Katie, Stanka, and I took the bus to explore the city of Kilkenny around 1 p.m. The game didn’t start until 3:30 p.m. so us girls visited the Kilkenny Castle and walked the streets in to random stores to pass the time. Visiting a castle in person was on my bucket list coming to Ireland because in my opinion, castles remind me of royalty and romance and are a protective barrier from enemies. What’s more breathtaking than admiring an entity that symbolizes so much power and the Kilkenny castle was definitely more than I fantasized.
After our brief exploration, we decided to watch the game in a small pub with “grand” Kilkenny fans. Out of us three girls, not one of us knew the rules of hurling or has seen a hurling match in action before but there is always a first for everything. Hurling, a traditional Irish sport, is comparable to lacrosse except the players do not wear protective padding. The competitive match was intense entailing a lot of physicality and action. I will admit I do not know much about hurling, but it seemed that Galway controlled the tempo of the game for majority of the game implying that they would win the match, a first time in 27 years. Unfortunately, the Kilkenny Cats, historically known powerhouse in the hurling championship matches, unexpectedly got the upper hand and won the game. Instantly, two American girls and a Croatian felt the waves of exhilaration in the pub from the die-hard Kilkenny fans and couldn’t help but join the madhouse joy. With one city fully explored in Ireland down, “silanche” (cheers) to many more Ad-Friend-Tures to come…
Victory Scholar: Jazmen Boone
Present University: Waterford IT
US League: CAA
Club/Community Partner: Waterford Wildcats
Alma Mater: The College of William and Mary
Sponsored by: Teamwear Ireland
