Ireland Journal

by Danielle Wacker

June 3, 2007: Today we got the chance to play the U18 national irish team, and it was a good match.  At the half, we were down only by 1-0, but unfortunately another 3 goals were scored by the Irish to end the game at 4-0.  Although the game ended up as a loss, it was a still a great experienced playing against skilled players.  Most importantly, fun was had by all. 

Because the game was in the morning, we had the rest of the day to see some sites.  After a shower and lunch, we headed off to tour the city of belfast.  The bus dropped us off at castle court ( a center point in belfast that contained many stores).  It was at this point where many of us could be let loose to go on a shopping spree... only to find that everything was way overpriced.  But nontheless, it was a very good place to experience the Irish culture. 

In the city of belfast, there were Irish pubs, restaurants, service stores, and consumer goods stores.  We were free to taste the food and take in the Irish culture.  Although many of us did not leave with a handful of shopping bags, it was still cool to look at their fashion compared to ours. For dinner, we were picked up at castle court and taken to an inclusive dinner at a castle.  This castle was amazingly beautiful that over looked the irish coastline.  After dinner, we were able to go out on the town and see what the night life was like.