Devine and Ward Continue Euroblog for Lacrosse
July 29, 2009 | Women's Lacrosse
July 29, 2009
Cardinals Ruby Devine and Lyndsay Ward are in England and Ireland playing with American International Sports Tours (AIST). They had a moment to sit down and send their teammates another update on their competition.
After spending four days in London we took the bus further North to Manchester. In Manchester we played an English club team. The team had some great players and was composed of many players from the Scottish national team. We played at a complex outside of the city of Manchester with the most beautiful fields I have ever played on. The grass was the greenest grass I have ever played on and the field was picturesque. The competition was also pretty good but we were able to pull off another win.
In Manchester, we took a trip to the Manchester United stadium. I am from New Jersey and always though Giants Stadium to be huge but it did not even compare to the Manchester United Stadium. I was in awe at how big of an impact soccer has on the culture. Although soccer is popular in the States it is nowhere near the magnitude it is in Europe. It is amazing how a sport can be so popular everywhere in the world except the U.S. hopefully the game will become more popular in the future.
We spent two nights in Manchester and took the bus down to Holyhead and caught the ferry to Dublin. The ferry ride was about three hours and upon arrival into Ireland I had fallen in love. Pulling up to Dublin I saw the countryside which I had always heard about and seen in movies. That night we went to the Arlington Hotel and saw irish Step dancing and traditional Celtic folk music. The next day in Dublin we went out to the countryside of Glendalough. Glendalough is famous for its glacial valley and the Early Medieval monastery. I love hiking so being able to hike around the trails at Glendalough was a real treat for me. We were able to see lakes and watefalls and all of the woodland that has never been settled upon. Glendalough is actually the place where both the movies "P.S. I Love You" and "Braveheart" were shot.
In the afternoon we played the Irish Developmental team, lacrosse is still a very young sport in Ireland so the team was appreciative of playing an American team that had many more years of experience playing the sport. The next day we woke up early and did some touring around Dublin. Our first stop was the Book of Kells at Trinity College. It is incredible to think that something could be created with minimal resources and be so beautiful. We also saw Bono's hotel The Clarence, The Temple Bar, and the Guinness factory. We were able to take a tour of the Guinness factory and see how it is made and all of the other factors that go into making a company successful. Dublin was by far my favorite city as I enjoyed all of the sites and just the overall spirit of the city. I found the Irish people to be incredibly friendly and extremely helpful.
Unfortunately our trip was only 10 days long but was of the most amazing experiences of my life. I was lucky enough to be able explore two beautiful countries and play lacrosse at the same time. I think I know have the travel bug and can't wait to start planning my next trip to Europe next summer!
