Ultimate with a side of Stab City

Last Thursday I got to see this performance of Irish arts put on by the university.  They had professional trad musicians come in as well as sean-nós singers (signers who sings in Irish) and dancers.  It was a very cool and a very authentic version of Irish arts.

That weekend I went south to Limerick to play in an tournament.  The tourny was really well run with music playing and food served all day.  We played mostly Irish teams though there was a team from UK and Amsterdam.  We played well and ended up 9th out of about 19 teams.  For the finals we got to see this Irish club team play this UK team with a lot of players from the Great Britain Worlds team.  It was the most beautiful ultimate I have seen in my life.  Most mind blowing was that the girls has way better throws than the guys.  This one girl, # 14, absolutely blew my mind.  At one point it would look like she was going to take an easy dump throw, the next she throws a huge break throw the width of the field for a score.  Unbelievable.

Limerick is sort of a working class city.  It used to be called the 'Stab City', but has been cleaned up a bit more.  No one got stabbed but i kept my guard up the whole time.

The Great Britain team

Last weekend I went to Cork for a one day Ultimate tournament.  I went down early with my friend Colin from Wisconsin and stayed with Colin's friend near University of Cork, a bit outside the city.  We arrived to a dinner of crepes with lamb and onion, crepes with vegetables and cheese, and a crepes with Nutella and strawberry dessert.  That night we sipped some wine along the river and discussed adventure.  We also got egged.  Apparently the youths of Cork like to egg people as they walk home from the bars, and the place we stayed was right in the middle of the war zone.  We didn't get hit bad, but it hurt my pride more than anything.  

The next morning I joined the ultimate team for the tournament.  Im not sure how I feel about the team.  I had fun playing, but its just not the same as playing with your really good friends (I'm looking at you Marquette).  I might play another tournament with them but I don't know if Ill get real attached to them.  One bright side was that the team is very light on handlers so I was able to play handle all day and throw some really stupid scoobers and hucks.  I also got a layout-D.  If you have no idea what I just said, its frisbee talk and I apologize.  

that night we went to a local brewery and tried some local Cork beer.  I tried one called Phuca as well as their Shannon Stout.  It was a quite night and so was the next day.  I didn't get to see much of the city but that was Ok.  I needed a weekend to relax a bit.

Phuca

Cliffs of Mordor

Over the course of the weekend a large group came together.  We battled through rough weather and slight hangovers on our metal,  8 wheeled passenger stead (bus).  It was a free trip, payed for by included with our stay here, and though it was supposed to only be for Marquette students, we snuck out St. Joseph's roommate and our friend from University of Wisconsin onto the bus.  The fellowship was lead by our Marquette liaison's son, Paul, seeing as she had the flu.  Our fellowship made a few stops at some lame castle and another less lame cave, but then we were off to our real destination.  The Cliffs of Moher.

As we arrived, the sun showed its self to us and we witnessed a sight that was in every sense of the phrase: Breath taking.  Out of both awe and dizzying fear, the cliffs literally make you stop and just wittiness them.  Though the site is obviously a huge tourist spot, it takes nothing away from how beautiful they are.  There were  some walls and barriers up to maintain safety, but there was also a section to the south that you could walk along private property, barrier free.  

Earlier in the bus a smaller group of myself, two of my housemates and our friend from UW had decided spontaneously that our goal was not fulfilled and that we had to continue onward to the town of Doolin (about a half inch away from the Cliffs of Moher according to this map).  We were told that we could follow a trail that leads north along the coast from the cliffs all the way to Doolin by our liaison's son Paul.  Paul did us well.  Breaking from the fellowship, we hopped the fence and started our journey to Doolin.  Of all the things I have done in Ireland so far, this hike was the most monumental.  The trail was definitely there, though it was almost never safe.  We walked along sheer cliff drops of a height that, without any doubt in your head, would  kill you.  But the thing was, it was so high up that you couldn't even comprehend how high your were.  All we could do was giggle, and in fact we did, a lot.  I felt like the kids in Stand By Me.  But really there aren't words to describe what it was like.  We didn't find out until we got home that when the weather is bad wind can pick people up and off the cliffs, even in the touristy section.  (don't worry mom and dad, we made our primary goal not to die for this trip) My roommate took lots more pictures and there's a link to them on his blog.  

Eventually, we strolled into Doolin Town found a hostel to dry our soaked/muddy feet.  Doolin is actually a really big tourist spot but it is practically shuts down in the off season.  So, most everything was closed.  However, we were able to find a pub with some food and the Gaelic football game.  Then we found another pub with great trad music (thats what the Irish call traditional).  Since it was the off season, its was only locals in the pub.  Some guy even pulled out the spoons and played them.  Next day, we packed our tired asses onto a bus back to Galway and got some sleep.

I got a head start on facial hair February

The start of the trail.  This was probably the safest part.

We walked all the way from where I took this picture to the furthest point you can see.  After that we still had another hour of hiking to Doolin.

Sweet Hostel