Cavan with Eoin: Gaelic Football, Rolling Hills, Pubs and Homecooked Food

            This was an incredible, once in a lifetime, study abroad experience; and one I certainly never expected to have. I’ve become very good friends with one of my Irish roommates named Eoin, and we’ve been hanging out. He offered to take me to his house for the weekend for some good homemade food and to watch one of his team’s Gaelic Football games. It was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up on.

The roads in Cavan were…interesting. They would hardly fit two cars across, which now and then required reversing off to the side to let the other car by. Coupled with a general disregard for the centerline, which often disappeared, and road stretches the length of 2 or 3 cars maximum without a hill or corner, plus speeds that didn’t seem to match the terrain at all. Regardless, everywhere I looked while we were driving seemed like something that you would only see in pictures. I couldn’t absorb it fast enough, which made Eoin laugh. He laughed as he told me that the driving age was 17, but you could drive a tractor on the road at 14, so if they needed to go anywhere they would just pile on one of their farming friend's tractors and show up at practice or the lake with 15 of them all holding onto something on a tractor. Just the thought of it made me laugh. At the end of the trip, he said I opened his eyes to Cavan and hadn’t really ever noticed how scenic it was because it was just always where he was.

On Friday, we got to the house in time for dinner, and Mrs. Cusack had made a huge feast of beef stew that had cooked all day with potatoes and vegetables. Eoin dropped his bag in the mudroom, and joked with his mom about why the laundry wasn’t done already. She just rolled her eyes, and said it was her passion to do it. It was that type of relationship. After we ate dinner, she had made us an apple pie that apprently was her specialty. After a few bites I could tell why, it was delicious. Eoin told her it was a little too sweet, and maybe she could’ve added some more cinnamon, but it was clearly just to get her going. She just laughed at him. Eoin had training for football at 8:30, so I went with him and Mr. Cusack, who was one of the coaches of the team. After about an hour, Mr. Cusack and I left back toward the house. We got back to the house and met Aoife there and I sat with her, Eoin’s sister, and his mom and dad at the table, and talked over a couple of pints. We covered seemingly everything, including intersting situations with Irish people they knew who were either illegal in the US, or who couldn’t get visas extended and had to come back, and who had paid for sham marriages and a well known smuggler to take them there for employment under the table. It was fascinating. Eoin came home later, and laughed saying that he felt bad that I was stuck with them, and asked them if I was a suitable replacement for him so he could run away. They just laughed. When Eoin returned, Mr. Cusack discussed purchasing a house which was a “good deal” at 115,000 euro and financing it for him and his older sister as an investment property to help them get on the ladder. I thought they were joking, but apprently they weren’t, which was interesting.

We spent Saturday with Aoife (Eoin’s girlfriend) and her two sisters. We went to their house, and after opening the gate and pulling up the beautifully landscaped driveway we were at her house, on one of the many lakes in Cavan. It was stunning. I met her sisters there and her mom and after brainstorming activities, we were soon off again. We went to their country club for lunch and Coronas

The country club where we had lunch

Eoin's gaelic football match

and it was gorgeous, it used to be the mansion of the plantation owners. After lunch we were full, so we lounged around on a huge U-Shaped couch in the club. We walked around outside after, and after struggling with the map we ended up back at the car. We headed to a local store and picked up cupcakes and ice cream, which was delicious. Afterward, we went to one of the lakes where everyone gathers in the summer and spends their days relaxing. We spent a long time skipping rocks. Eoin and I were the only ones who successfully skipped them, but we laughed a lot anyway. Everywhere I looked was beautiful, either a lake, hill or just plain green and the sun was shining all day. We returned to the house later for Eoin’s team’s gaelic football match. Mr. and Mrs. Cusack were going out to a party that night, so she made us Chicken Curry with rice and vegetables and potatoes on the stove for dinner. We lounged around for a while, as we were both wiped out from the day and watched videos of roller coasters and funny things we had seen online. Aoife had an awards ceremony that night in New York Sports Bar, and we were supposed to be there to meet up with her later, so that was the general plan. We picked up one of Eoin’s teammates, 28 year old, and the three of us made our way into the town of Cavan. We went to McMahons to a live music bar in an alleyway named Blessings, where we stayed for a while until Eoin realized that he was in trouble for not being at New York on time. He just shrugged his shoulders and we all laughed about it. We headed to New York after a while, but met some more people that Eoin knew were on the first floor, so we didn’t make it up to her until much later. We stuck to our story that we were there the

Imperial night club

whole time, but she was smarter than that and rolled her eyes and laughed. Apparently this is typical for them. We stayed for a while, then headed to the Imperial night club, which was the only one in Cavan. It was really cool, with multiple levels. Again, we ran into people that they all knew and ended up talking for a long time. It was cool though, they included me in every conversation, just as if I’d grown up in Cavan my whole life too. I think the coolest thing was that no matter where we went, everyone stuck together regardless of how many people we met that joined us, and the going out scene was about talking and joking with eachother all night as opposed to going separate ways and meeting up later. We took a taxi back to Eoin’s house, and Eoin suggested we make curri sandwiches with the leftovers. After a night out, I obviously didn’t decline his offer, but Aoife wasn’t having any of it and didn’t spare her opinion on how disgusting they were. I thought they tasted good, and so did Eoin, so we didn’t care. We watched some Toy Story that was on TV and went to bed.

I was awake around 9 the next morning, when Mr. Cusack came in and asked if I wanted to ride with him to go pick up Eoin’s sister at the church and stop by mass. Eoin and Aoife were still sleeping, and he said he wouldn’t waste his effort to go up and ask them. I agreed, got dressed, and headed out the door with him. When we went to mass, I think everyone in the cathedral stopped to talk to him, and he introduced me to everyone. He laughed with me as he told me about their night out, with his brother and four other couples. He joked and said he was glad it was his brother’s turn to pick up the bill, because it was at least 600 euro by the end of the night. Apparently they all ended up at one of the country pubs after the town with a bunch of people from the town, where one of his daughter’s friends birthday party was being held. Apparently its normal in Cavan for everyone in the town to head out to pubs and celebrate birthdays together, regardless of age. He laughed though, and said I impressed him, because he was sure that with Eoin there were a good few pints. I just laughed so that I didn’t incriminate anyone. When we returned to the house, Mrs. Cusack was finishing putting together another feast, or “fry” as they call it here. They joked about loving having visitors because she cooked so much, but I could tell that she took care of them pretty well no matter who was there.

Mr. and Mrs. Cusack headed off to Northern Ireland (part of the United Kindgom) for Eoin’s            

sister’s match, and Aoife, Eoin and I were left at the house. Aoife was still struggling but had to go to work, so we laughed quite a bit about her quitting. When she went into work, Eoin and I headed over to one of the pubs down the road to watch the Liverpool vs. Man City soccer game. The pub was absolutely packed and people were having a great time. Apparently this is Sunday. There were whole families there as well as what seemed to be the usual crowd, and they were all joking with Eoin, who hates Liverpool on the basis that everyone else likes them so they were having a blast mocking eachother when one would score or mess up. After we left, he showed me the lake

The lake where he hung out growing up

where he would always hang out as a kid, and talked about all the times when he would go out on his friends 4 wheeler around the lakes, knowing that if his parents found out they would kill him. The lake was, yet again beautiful, but the water was really cold. Because they don’t get the warm temperatures in the summer really, the water never really warms up, and the lakes can get dangerous because there is apparently strong suction of some sort. He and his friends got caught on a little row boat when they were younger without life vests or anything, and were in a lot of trouble because of safety concerns. It was really cool to hear how he grew up, and how in some ways it was so similar to how I did. We went up to the resevoir next, and there we realized 360 degree panoramic views of just rolling hills and incredible nature. Even he said he was taken aback by it, and it was the pefect sunny day to top it off. After a while of climbing around the fenced off resevoir, we headed back to his house. His

parents had just gotten back, and made us another feast of delicious steak and potatoes with other things before we headed back. They called it the weekly “last supper”. Eoin said that his mom cried every time he left, and she quickly retored that they were tears of joy and they had a party when he’d gone. We had tea and dessert again, and headed off. I thanked them for everything they’d done for me, and an amazing weekend, and they said they’d hope to see me again maybe even in Dublin sometime if they were around. I hope I get to see them again, they were awesome. We picked up Eoin’s friend and played a new remix CD Eoin made all the way back.

From the water reservoir

            When we got back to DCU, we dropped his friend off at his house, and he invited us in. We went in for a while, and just sat around the living room and laughed and joked. Again, it was just like I’d been there with them for years. His friend made tea and brought out cookies for us all to eat. Apparently that’s quite the Irish traditon, no matter where you went or what age you were. I certainly didn’t mind it! His one friend reminded me a lot of my lacrosse friends. We finally got to DCU later, but were both so exhausted that we crashed. This was by far one of my favorite weekends abroad, no question. I almost dread going back with the American kids! Maybe I’ll just stay…

Perceptions:

1. Community- everywhere we went in town there were people that Eoin knew, and it didn’t matter whether they were old or young, we had a conversation with them. But it was more than just a conversation, it was personal with them asking how his internship was going, how his week went and what he was up to next week or what his opinion was on the next gaelic football match. Although this is true to an extent at home, it’s on a much more reserved or private level and only with close friends. Reflected in the Gaelic football team alone, Eoin’s team included players up to 38 or 39 years old, and the sidelines were populated with guys from every age on above it that used to play on the team. He and his friends around his age were laughing and joking and making fun of them just like they would eachother, like there was no age gap. There is no upper age limit with his team, you play until you don’t have another hit left in you. There were even some of the older members of the community at the field just to watch the training and support the club that they used to play for.
2. Family- this is a huge focus of life in Cavan, and it reflects in much of what they do. Eoin’s sister had a football match in Northern Ireland, and Mr. and Mrs. Cusack never considered staying at home or doing something different, despite chilly weather in that area. On Sunday, I went alone with Mr. Cusack to mass, and we stopped on the way in to the cemetary, neighboring the church. It is a tradition for Mr. Cusack to sprinkle holy water on his parents’ and grandparents’ graves on Sundays as well as a couple of other relatives. We tend to get so caught up in daily life, and move so far away from  eachother that this is something that we couldn’t do, but holds so much meaning. He was happy to tell me all about them, and what they did in the town.
3. Devotion- it was a Friday night, and where was everyone? At the Gaelic Football pitch for training. All of them, as a team together. The funny part is that everyone goes to different colleges in different parts of Ireland, but they were there to train. One kid was there who just flew back to Ireland the night before from America because of visa issues, after 6 months of being away. I can’t say that I would be doing the same.

   

   On the way to the reservoir

   His house was pretty cool too

   

   The view from my window

   

   All glass