Here We Go

Posted By: KeeganRyan

Posted On: September 18th, 2017

Attending: NUI Galway

Hey everyone,

The last two weeks have flown by and so much has happened. I’ve flown across the Atlantic and come to Europe for the first time, gotten to meet my fellow Victory Scholars, seen two awesome cities in Belfast and Galway, started school, and attempted to adjust to living in another country. The whole experience has been eye-opening, different, fun, and rewarding. A few of my personal highlights are:

• Getting to meet the other Victory Scholars and everyone associated with Sport Change Life. All of them are extremely positive and it truly does seem like a small family. I also really liked to hear about the history of the company, goals for the future, and some of our responsibilities and opportunities this year.
• Going through coaching class with the one and only Barney Ball. Barney has a vast knowledge of basketball and we were fortunate enough to hear from him and even get to see some demonstrations. He gave us a lot of games and tips that will surely help with our coaching and volunteer work this year.
• Meeting my Titans coaches and teammates. The first night I got to Galway, I was able to meet up with our coach, Paul, and several of our teammates. The next day we got right into it with workouts and practice. The team is full of great guys from all types of different backgrounds and I can’t wait to have some fun with them throughout the year.
• Getting to see NUI Galway. My college back in the states was relatively small and had a community feel to it. NUI Galway seems huge to me. It takes about 15-20 minutes to walk across campus and the school has beautiful, old architecture all over. I’m still trying to see all of it but so far I’m impressed.
• Hiking Cave Hill. On our last day in Belfast, the whole group climbed to the top of Cave Hill and the view did not disappoint. I’ve done a little bit of hiking in New York but the view of the city was something completely different and seemed like it should have been on a post card.

My first few weeks in Ireland have been a lot of fun and a great experience. I’ll try to keep you posted throughout the year so make sure to stop back for more stories and blogs!

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