Leaaavinng on a Jet Plane
Well, I’m officially back in "Amurica.” Initial observations: more variety in beer, things are cheaper, better snack food.
Generally I don’t write about “doing things” but I’m going to make an exception here for the exceptional last 24 hours in Dubs.
After packing on Friday, Mike and I headed into the city for the World Cup (USA – Slovenia match). He was donning the USA jersey, I wore an American flag as a cape. The first half of the match was pretty disheartening but when the goals started coming in the second half, it was pretty incredible. When the second goal happened, Mike literally clotheslined me off of the bar stool in a bear hug. It was pretty weak that they didn’t count goal #3, but life goes on. Between the French loss to Mexico on Thursday and the England – Algeria tie, I’m overall pretty happy about the Cup.
I couldn’t have hoped to spend my last night in Dublin any differently (well, unless of course the entirety of Team America and the Blackrock Crew would have been there). We went to Messrs Maguire and hit Pygmalion later on. On the way back, Eunan and I (for some reason unknown to me) stormed across Blackrock’s front lawn Call of Duty Omaha Beach-style. It was outlandish in every possible way (and I’m covered in cuts and bruises)… Afterward, we killed the remaining booze and sat around as Eunan continued his reign as “DJ Eurotrash”.
I didn’t think I had any emotion left after the infamous “Goodbye Blackrock” week of drinking and crying, but yesterday morning proved differently. It was incredibly hard to say bye to the half of Team Ireland in appearance. (But at least they have a flag signed by Team America to remember us by…)
It was a long day of traveling, glad I left with everyone but getting to the airport at 07:00 for a 12:50 flight was brutal. As much as I love the USA, the first experience I had with an American on Saturday was some clown from Arizona who actually thought their Holocaust-status immigration law was a fantastic idea. Not exactly the greatest first impression of a place I hadn’t seen in six months.
Thank you Ireland for a fantastic semester. I will forever remember the five short months that I had there and cannot wait to return. I met some incredible people from all over Europe and it has been a genuinely eye-opening experience in every possible way. Expect a post later in the week that’s a bit more reflective of the overall experience – I wrote it already but I want it to be legit.
Oh, PS – a few of Team America wanted this, so anyone else who’s interested: I made a Blackrock playlist, appropriately titled: “Back in Black(rock)”. Direct download link: Back in Black(rock).
Back in Black(rock) track list:
I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas
Hey, Soul Sister – Train
Stereo Love – Edward Maya ft. Alicia
Tik Tok – Ke$ha
Galway Girl – Steve Earle
Riverside – Sidney Samson
Little Lion Man – Mumford and Sons
Show Me Love – Michael Mind
Sexy Bitch – David Guetta ft. Akon
Never Gonna Give You Up – Rick Astley
The Irish Rover – The Pogues
Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
Save Tonight – Eagle-Eye Cherry
Leaving on a Jet Plane – John Denver
Dog Days are Over – Florence and the Machines
A Little Piece of the World Cup Action
Forty minutes into the World Cup and the USA scores (thank you, Robert Green). Fast-forward a little under an hour later and the match is over. I have never been prouder about a tie in my life. Call me a bandwagoner, I accept that. Bandwagons are fun (woo, Blackhawks!).
Image courtesy of ESPN.com
The first professional soccer game I’ve watched more than 30 seconds of was a few weeks ago when I went to Murrays Bar to see a Byron game. Honestly, it was more about the company and the pitchers in that case. I can’t say I was that interested or paid too close attention to the game.
The first game I really intently watched and cared about was an Ireland v. Paraguay game at RDS. Free tickets were the motivation, but it was a great experience.
I understand why soccer/football doesn’t have mass appeal in the USA. It’s not high-scoring, it’s perceived as being kind of lame, and anyone who knows anything about it knows that on the pro-level there’s an unbelievable amount of bogus dives an attempt to draw penalties. It is not so much that I hated on soccer previously, I just did not really give it much of a chance.
I’m not a huge sports guy (which is why I don’t write about sports on here), and I only watch football game on my own volition (or baseball/basketball if it’s the playoffs/March Madness). Since being in Ireland I’ve paid more attention just for the simple fact that my European friends here all watch soccer and my American friends here are constantly debating basketball.
I’ve had several discussions on the subject but it’s interesting to imagine a world where America was dominated by one sport, as is the case in many countries. Imagine LeBron James as a keeper or Rajon Rondo as a midfielder. I cannot say I know enough about sports to have an engaging conversation on the matter but it’s interesting living in a world where interest is divided between baseball, football, basketball, and to a lesser degree hockey.
It’s awesome to see the World so intently focused on what is obviously a much more global sport than anything I have paid attention to before. I am glad to have been in Ireland for part of it because I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on the games when I return to the USA. I know four years ago, I didn’t watch more than a few minutes of the World Cup. As much as I generally prefer other sports to soccer, I’m a little bit jealous to see such intense focus and fanfare about something that the majority of Americans couldn’t care less about.
The “Study” in Study Abroad
It goes without saying that being on a “study abroad” semester is not really about studying (in a true academic sense, at least). Unfortunately, some schools either do everything in their power to fight this reality or they simply acknowledge it and offer minimally relevant academia during the experience.
As a brief disclaimer: Boston University probably has some of the best study abroad offerings in the USA, I am pointing out here the advantages of the Dublin Management program more so than hating on the programs which have less-than-desirable structures.
I’ve seen a couple approaches schools take to handle the “study” in study abroad that fall short in my opinion:
Method #1: We know that Study Abroad is kind of BS academically, so we’ll embrace that and give you fluffy “cultural” classes taught by BU professors.
Method #2: We know Study Abroad is kind of BS academically, so we’re going to overcompensate by piling on the workload.
In one case, you have to basically put a semester aside, as nothing will count for credit beyond liberal arts requirements (which most people have covered by the time they study abroad). In the opposing case, you are deprived of travel and cultural experience by having an inordinate amount of workload.
The Dublin Management program was a bit different. Rather than taking classes by BU professors, we were directly enrolled in University College Dublin’s American study abroad program, coupled with an internship placement in the last two months.
By taking classes side by side with UCD and ERASMUS (euro study abroad) students, not only was I able to engage people from different backgrounds, I was exposed to a very different academic setting. In Ireland, I had about eight hours of class per week (four classes), whereas at BU it would be 16-20 hours. Learning is much more self-motivated rather than hands-on. Evaluation was mostly essay-based, instead of the traditional American multiple-choice assessment.
Grading is a bit different in Ireland as well – class averages are C-range and it’s much rarer to get A’s. Most of the BU students achieved marks comparable to what they’d receive at BU, but inconsistencies are ironed out by the minor adjustments (1/3 of a letter grade, i.e. B+ to A-) made by BU when transferring the grades. This allowed us all to experience a relatively different academic environment while at the same time not having to worry about our grades as much.
In all honesty, I could not be happier with the way BU treated the academics in this program.
This semester, I have studied local culture. I can tell you what “craic” means and why it’s okay to “slag” someone. I have seen the four corners of Ireland in my travels to Belfast/Derry, Galway, and Cork (and have gotten “proper locked” with the locals in all of the above). I have seen palacios in Spain, cathedrals in France, canals in Holland, and museums in London. I now know that I want to live in Amsterdam at some point in my life. I have even studied the sentiments toward America in Europe. I have learned that it is as ignorant to say all Europeans hate the US as is to think that all Americans suck.
I have an appreciation for these things that no classroom, teacher, or textbook could have taught me in large part due to the freedom BU provided in this program.