I thought we were coming to Ireland for a football game (and, of course, to experience natural beauty and culture), but I learned that I came to Ireland to fall in love again with words. Don’t get me wrong, football is important. I grew up loving sports — the community, the commitment, the will, the strength, the excellence — for all those reasons, I love sports. But before the football game that brought us here (which I will write about), I remembered that I love words.

The Museum of Literature Ireland

Our day began at The Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLi). I have loved Irish writers forever. The novelists, poets, and playwrights I have read and watched through the years stir something deep in my soul. They sit square in the middle of sadness, fear, hopelessness, and isolation, and allow me to feel something else. I feel joy, reverence, belonging, connection, and more. The MoLI is a small museum next to St. Stephen’s Green Park. It houses a carefully curated collection of Irish writers’ works. It artfully walks visitors through Ireland’s literary history deliberate and intentionalpace. Visitors can watch film loops of Irish poets reading their poetry, read books written by Irish writers in a reading room, title the novel they have inside, follow a timeline of James Joyce’s life, and have tea at a lovely garden side cafe. Indeed, the MoLi is a familiar and peaceful square inch of Dublin.

ESPN College GameDay

After the MoLI, we walked to ESPN College GameDay. With rare exceptions, we watch College GameDay every Saturday during college football season. It is part of life’s rhythm. So, attending College GameDay in real life, in Dublin, Ireland, was beyond exciting. The weather was beautiful, and the energy was electric. The music. The crowd. (For a split second, I forgot I hate crowds.) The DJ warmed up the crowds of sign-carrying football fans. Excitement built as the time for the broadcast neared. The commentators took their places one by one. Every GameDay season has a new introduction, and it was cool to watch this year’s from big screens, all seeing it for the first time. The show started, and we stayed for the first few segments before heading to the stadium. We walked and soon realized all the pubs were jam-packed with people drinking a few final pints before the game. We landed at Thomas Rody Maher’s, about a mile from the stadium, with an hour to spare.

The Game

What can I say? Our team — Florida State University — lost a close game. It is always heartbreaking to lose, but losing is especially awful when you travel across an ocean with 25,000 people and are sitting in a sold-out stadium with 45,000 people. Losing the season’s first game is awful because it portends a dark future. Having a team that does not play well and cannot find whatever it takes to win is awful because it speaks to this team’s spirit and drive. Most of all, losing when sitting next to the winning team’s band is like salt in a wound. After the loss, our thoughts turned to the fact we still have the majority of our trip ahead of us. We stopped for sushi at the Japanese restaurant next to our hotel, not wanting to hear the victorious Georgia Tech fans still celebrating. (Our hotel is a Georgia Tech Alumni Association Dublin touchpoint.) Platitudes filled the elevator as two Tech fans offered up words of solace. “The season is young.” “Y’all will bounce back.” They are right. The season is young. We will bounce back.